Savvas Betinis
Kinetic
•
December 9, 2007
Hello Yiannis, thanks for this presentation and your good words of course! Yes, Corrosion is our new album. We started back in 2003 as a four-member band, I on bass and vocals, Manolis Mamas and Stavros Bonikos on guitars and Kostas Alexakis on drums. All of us were coming from other historical Greek underground bands, from ACID DEATH, BRAIN FADE and WISDOM. In 2003 we joined our forces to create KINETIC. Having our first self-released mini CD, titled Soul, Emotion, Flesh we inked a deal with Sleaszy Rider Records and in late 2004-early 2005 our The Chains That Bind Us full-length CD was out. We made our best to promote it by ourselves by making a lot of gigs and sending promo-packs that we created and finally we broke that contract. Now we are in Burning Star's roster and things seem to be on a right way...
Well, finishing the The Chains That Bind Us Hellenic Tour we started processing the new songs. That season a new idea was born; Can we put the band into its limits? The second one was how we could do it. We decided to put two completely new instruments, keyboards and female vocals. The next problem was how these new instruments could work with the band having in mind that our style, this Swedish/American Death/Thrash with many Power/Heavy elements, isn't flexible in such experiments and the last thing we wanted to do is to create another Gothic/Atmospheric/SomethingLikeThat band... Vaggelis Kakarougas (keyboards) and Margaret Staikou (female vocals) made to give the band a new feeling, more melodic and more aggressive. We think we made not to tear down what we had created but to drive it in a new era!
It is the feeling that is born to someone that gets in touch with our new material. Having lyrics touching hate and music including Heavy/Thrash/Death/Black even experimental parts Corrosion was the better word we could use to describe the album. This feeling of hate is expressed through the artwork, having this doll really destroyed and even raped; in someone's mind, this doll symbolizes all of as, humans...
Yes, we made the whole work once again. Stavros Bonikos (lead & rhythm guitars) was the band's sound engineer, he made the whole recording, mixing and mastering and we, the band, made all the work on production. We just did it once again because we think this was the better thing for the band. Having everything under YOUR control gives a kind of safety. Of course if you have such an experience to do it! Having enough one from our previous CD and even from our self-released mini CD, we took the decision that it is better for us to work alone.
The most important thing for an artist is not to resume himself on anything new. After finishing everything with The Chains... we got into the idea of putting the band into limits; that means we tried to make our style better without tearing down everything and build up something other. Vaggelis Kakarougas and Margaret Staikou were the two persons and new members that made this idea to be true. Of course, we tried to make better songs including more things than just Thrash/Death.
In Corrosion all the artwork was made by Nick Gazetas, he helped us a lot on The Chains... artwork that was created by Kostas, our drummer. This time Nick made the whole work. We chose this cover between four ones. It symbolizes the feeling of hate that lyrics exude. This emotion is stronger in everyone's soul nowadays and this destroyed and maybe raped doll that is seen at the cover symbolizes the personal hell of hate that anyone from us, the people, is hiding inside his soul...
It was a cool experience! We had a lot of things to do during that season and filming a video was another trouble. John Tsigounakis was the person that made it come true; he was the one that made both our video clips for The Chains... CD. The filming took place at the famous Texas Club of Athens some days before our appearance at Athens Rockwave Festival. It is a dignified video clip on a song that include all the new elements that someone can find in Corrosion.
Haha, yes, we have the continuity of Never Ending Winter from our first album. It is Winter Still Remains. It is just the end of the story that Never Ending... describes, the man that hates himself and everyone from his environment takes the decision to take revenge for his loneliness...
It is all the negative emotions that everyone can feel sometimes. It is the feeling of hate, loneliness, discouragement that all of us have in our souls. Is there any way for all these to be just a past for everyone? No! That's the way Winter Still Remains...
It was a dream that came true! Sharing a stage with megatherions like these is an experience that is never forgotten. I will never forget the day that my mobile rung and I was told that KINETIC will be the opening act for Rockwave's second day under the names........ Next period was a total alarm for us, the same time that we had to finish the recordings for the new CD. Fortunately everything worked well, we had a very good appearance, as about me... I just can't forget Margaret's face, she came to the band some weeks ago and her live experience was very-very small... a total terror!!!
Greek scene... An open wound... I am into this theater of madness almost 20 years. I have met bands that deserved to be in every metalhead's heart... Anyway, things are much better than 10 years ago... At least there are some bands that work really hard to make their dream come true. On the other hand, the Greek fans are more receptive to the Greek bands. Of course there is a lot of work to be done but at least we are on a good way... That's my opinion.
Yes, it was Manolis's dream to have his own recording & rehearsing place. Stavros was his partner and yes, rehearsing and recording at home is a real blessing for a band! You can create from 0 point and you can tear everything down when you think you have to do it...
There was a totally different view on how the label should work with the band. We love KINETIC, it is our child and we want to see it growing day by day. Sleasy Rider trying to give a kind of support to all the bands of its roaster forgot to give enough one to some people that showed they love what they do and they are willing to work and cooperate. That means many things. Just keep this; I made the whole promotion for KINETIC by pressing promos by myself, contacting media, arranging the interviews and the live shows... and many other things... Anyway...
After breaking the contract with the previous one, we got in touch with many other labels. Burning Star Records had the clearer plan for us. The thing that really impressed us was that although they were into the scene for just 3 years, they managed to have more foreign bands into their roster than Greek ones. Things are going well and our desire is to remain in that way.
It is Death/Thrash with many Power/Heavy elements, including many melodic and dark parts.... I know it isn't the correct description but I think that anyone that will hear the Corrosion will find something interesting in it.
We are on the way to arrange the appearances that will constitute Corrosion Hellenic Tour. Our plan is to start from late January 2008 and have gigs to many cities of Greece. We'll try to play in some festivals out of Greece also, of course this is a big plan and there are many parameters that have to be arranged. On 11/11/2007, we had the chance to share the stage of Athens Gagarin Club with ARCH ENEMY something that was a really good way for the fans to get in touch with our music...
Nothing happened with the sound engineer! The problems started from the first moment we hit the stage, facing major problems with the stage monitors on such a way that I have never faced all the past years I or the other guys play on gigs... Bad machines? Maybe yes, maybe no. The most important thing was that someone that called himself Tour Manager had the idea that it was a good time to have conversation with Vaggelis when the band was on stage for the reason that our set was 27 minutes and not 25 as he commanded and finally at the last song I found my mic muted... In anyway we made to complete our set but of course that was a very unprofessional behavior that we will never forget!!!
Thanks a lot for your time and interest, too! Check KINETIC guys, we won't disappoint you!
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