METAL DRUMMER
Member of the following bands and projects:
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Pantheist - Doom Metal
Drums in the "The Pains of Sleep" EP available from Serpent's Lair Productions
The Lost Legion - Epic Metal
(aka The Clan of Steel) with members of legendary UK underground black metallers Skaldic Curse , Demagogue and Fen
Drums in the debut album currently promoted on our myspace profile and the "Songs of the Drenai Mythos Demo" available for free download here
De Profundis - Dark Metal
A genre-bridging, critically acclaimed, metal band with deep roots in doom metal
Folkearth - Folk Metal
A folk metal project band featuring musicians from across Europe. My performances will feature in the next two albums from Folkearth
Get Wind - Blues Rock
A blues project with my childhood arts/tour manager friend and moderator of the greek guitarist forum kithara.gr Arg0 and other greek musicians (for when I go home for hols)
...of Shadows - gothic metal
solo project currently on ice
Releases:
SOLD OUT
Full contents on the band website, click on the album to hear them
SOLD OUT
Sample video
Noteworthy ex-memberships
Kharkov Diners
Drums in the "Today Tonight" video clip currently on MTV2, Kerrang TV etc. - check it out on their homepage
Monsterworks
Drums in the "Goatboy in Wonderland EP", and track released in the UK Terrorizer mag CD
Kingsize Blues
Reign of Swords
Landslide
Hourglass S.O.E.
Stuff about me:
"The Mad Greek" is the term most loosely applied to me when people get to meet me at the personal level (the pic is dropping hints). That's probably because I dont give a rats' arse about what them lot - anyone else not in my lot - think about what I say, do or feel. People get the idea pretty much as soon as they meet me. Being loud, forthcoming, daring and nothing like your average tight-arsed brit kinda accentuates my attitude. Funny thing is that I am nothing like your average greek, no pointless machoism, no megalomania, no cockyness. Just plain interest in having one hell of a good time. Not to say I dont respect people; I do, but all of them have earned it in their own way. Not easy to earn my contempt, but rest assured that if you will, you'll bloody well know about it. Straight out with it.
Friendship's paramount . I will not sacrifice that for anything, especially not the whims of my cock (or somebody else's) and boy are they many. Having said that, being the Mad Greek I've been accused time and again of trying to pull my mates' birds but I've never done it, and never will. I will get pissed off if someone misunderstands me or lets his/hers inhibitions spoil the fun or cause trouble, but forgive and forget costs less hassle than revenge and regret.
METAL IS EVERYTHING , the Monsterworks song and band creed has a funny story behind it. It comes from a 7Up advert where the catch phrase was "Thirst is everything". Jono decided to use that for the band as "metal is everything". I liked it. Alot. In fact, it is for me a way of life . In fact, the full creed is IMAGE IS NOTHING, METAL IS EVERYTHING . To be honest I dont think that attitude is gonna get any band anywhere, but its a statement against all this overfluffed nonsense that metal is what shade contacts you're wearing, not what you are trying to convey with you music.
I play drums (really??? we hadn't guessed by now...) for doomsters Pantheist and also a few other metal projects, like The Lost Legion (a 5-piece featuring members of Skaldic Curse and Demagogue, dedicated to making power metal songs based on the works of David Gemmel, best known for his Drenai novels), and Reign of Swords (another 5 piece with members of Ten Masked Men, Abgot, Gridlock Takedown, focusing on fantasy-themed power metal). The funny thing is that I like Doom and Gothic Metal quite alot! You know, old Paradise Lost and Anathema, My Dying Bride, old Theatre of Tragedy, Tristania, The Vision Bleak, also some stoner/prog stuff like Psychotic Waltz and Spiritual Beggars, etc. etc. but I honestly cant find any other musicians up for something spanning all these genres, and interested in using improvisation as a means to deliver the music. I dont believe in selling merchandise, CDs or MP3s, I believe in giving a reason to the audience to come and see your shows. Playing the good old anthems is great, but would you go watch Iron Maiden once a month? Once a term? Every 6 months? Every year? Maybe year or so for most fans, the rest...(?) But what if you knew that every time you watched the bands you liked, the songs' theme would be the same, but the delivery and content would be different in such a way that you'd recognise the song, but it would be almost new, every single time. Maybe then you'd go see that band more frequently, would you not? McBrain does it on almost every song - but gets away with it. Of course this isn't my little bright idea alone, but a development of the wise words of my drum tutor Albert Panayiotopoulos , one of the most respected greek drummers. What he said was that waiting for CDs to sell was futile, and that money in playing music can be made by gigging (tickets+merchandise). Well, P2P, lack of acumen in music business and the plethora of free music available from sites as this have placed all the credibility in Albert's words, and putting on a show the musician's (rather than the dancer's, or the actor's) way is what I think will make the difference. Thse ideas have cost me the drumthrone in a few bands, like e.g. Kharkov Diners, but one day someone is going to understand what I am talking about....
Aaah, that I would have the time to fully pursue Metal to make a living... But short of a sex change and long nights on Athens's Syngrou Ave., or the dole, like everyone else, I need a job to make a living and power those double pedals, and fund those Paiste Signatures. That's made easier with a degree in Molecular Biology, and a PhD in Pharmaceutics . Funny thing's I always studied biology and chemistry for fun. I just happenned to be able to understand it... So, in daytime, I look like a semi-respectable long-haired eccentric scientist. Its even funnier when I am working in lab with dodgy chemicals, in my own little world with my mp3 player on, doing sing-along stuff to Bal-Sagoth, Marduk, Thou art Lord etc. I occasionally notice quite funny, scared stares from colleagues - I even engage into discussions about the meaning of the music, religion, violence (you know, all the crap the outsiders preconceive about metal), but hey! Am I the scary Greek Mad Metaller or what? I was working in a research lab making new vaccines against stuff like MRSA superbugs and biological weapons, until recently. Now I am working at Imperial College on more hardcore stuff, like pulmonary RNAi therapeutics against respiratory diseases such as flu, biological weapons-grade pulmonary viruses, COPD, acute lung injuries, apoptosis in ischaemic reperfusion injury and stroke. Looks pretty good, might get some decent publications and hopefully more pennies to buy more cymbals and pieces of kit with...
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