Thank you very much!

Do you have any reactions from the press yet?

Yes, definitely! This Godless Endeavor is at the top at all the magazines in Europe. We always keep hearing so many good reviews, everybody says that it is great, maybe our best release until now. Basically, we couldn't even imagine such reactions...

Yeah, of course, we all know that we made a very good album but, you know, you cannot be that objective with your own work and now that we see the reaction of the people we are so happy...we didn't expect this.

Sentient 6! Definitely that. This is also my nickname on our forum.

Well, it's a sequel to the lyrics because musically the two songs don't have many things in common. I am a robot that tries to understand the behavior of the people and a day comes when I destroy everything and kill all the people [Laughs]. I think that this could be an alternative reality for our world.

Yeah, who knows, maybe it will. It is sure that we will all be dead by then and the next generations will have to deal with this. The robots are collecting such big amounts of information that this could lead some day to their rebellion.

I don't think so...I haven't heard anything about the Japanese edition. After all we like it very much the way we made it so we want people to have access to this. We want people to hear it. Basically it's quite unfair. I don't know yet but I guess it will be included in the digipack edition.

No, we couldn't change it. You don't fuck with Randy Rhoads. Randy Rhoads is history, we cannot change the things he wrote. We completely respect Ozzy and Randy Rhoads and we would never do something to dishonor them. As for The Sound Of Silence I know that the fans really like it but I don't think that Simon & Garfunkel will be pleased about that [Laughs]. But that song, we could change it. We tried to keep this one close to the authentic version.

The cover art of This Godless Endeavor is absolutely great. But many people mentioned that it reminded them of the Into The Mirror Black cover. Is there a sequence behind this or did it just happen?

I understand what you are saying. When I first saw it, it reminded me of the Into The Mirror Black cover a lot and this is not what I have imagined. But I realized that it was the right one. It is like a sequence from the past, the way to unite the past with the present and I think this is an album that can do this. In my opinion this is the greatest Nevermore cover album until now. It is very beautiful.

Well, as I said this wasn't my initial idea for a cover. But yes, the cover shows the feelings that derive from the album, the atmosphere through the whole album. It is not an exact correspondence between the lyrics and the cover but by looking at the outside you can know what to expect.

As a matter of fact, just now they called and told me that it is ready and it looks absolutely great! It is ready in Los Angeles but I cannot watch it because I am far away and tomorrow I'm flying to London for the press work. I am so anxious to see it that I can't wait [Laughs]. I don't know when I will be able to see it but I am really looking forward to it. Did you see the photos with that guy in mud? He is a very talented actor but I have to kill him at the end of the video. [Laughs]

I guess that it will be released on the digipack edition or something like that.

You're going to participate in Gigantour. What do you think of the other bands that will be taking part?

At the beginning it was quite strange because I thought that these groups couldn't be on the same stage but after a while I realized that these different bands could bring so different audiences and maybe new people will listen to our music that didn't know us until now and maybe will become our fans too. When you see the participations you can't understand how bands like The Dillinger Escape Plan and Nevermore will play together. But D.E.P. even though they are different from us, they play very good music, they are one of the most promising Nu-Metal bands. All the bands are very good at their style and exactly the fact that we are different will help us all. At the beginning there was so mush fight about who will play after whom and how much, who will have the biggest playlist and it had been decided that we all play 30 minutes. No more arguments about that and it is a very good solution.

I don't know if you heard about this, but Dave Mustaine didn't want Rotting Christ to support them due to his spiritual beliefs...

Yeah, I know what you mean, I've heard about that. There is not much to tell. Everybody is free to believe anything he wants to; I just think that Dave misunderstood the whole subject. I have met the guys from Rotting Christ and I don't think that they are Satanists or something. I think that Dave overreacted on this.

Judas Priest! Definitely Judas Priest. With Halford of course!

No, nothing at all! We are beginning a European tour on September 15th and our last stop will be Greece!

I would really like to say some things about that because the whole subject was misunderstood. At that night Jim was at the hospital and he almost died...! It wasn't funny at all. It was so hard for us to know that our best friend was at the hospital completely alone. I was at the hospital all the time because what he really needed was a friend. The only reason that I came back to the venue and played was for our Greek audience that we care so much. But you can't imagine how difficult it was for us to know that Jim was alone at the hospital without anyone around him that could talk English, not knowing the place at all. But we all had to go to the scene and play for the Greek audience that is so supportive. The promoter told us that if we don't play, people would burn down the place. We did it for our fans and I really want people to understand that. I am telling this because I learned that people said some bad stuff...

The reaction that I got was that Nevermore is a great band and one of the very few which with a member at the hospital they came down to the venue and performed...

Yeah, but you know, I learned that some of them said cruel things and couldn't understand what a sacrifice we made. Most of the people told what you said but I have to mention it because there was a part of the audience that wasn't satisfied. I guess that this happened because we didn't play the whole set. But we played as much as we could under these circumstances.

Yeah, he is much better now. It was very difficult for him and so was for us but he's almost gotten over this by now. Thank you.

Yes, we plan to release a DVD! We have so much material from all these years from live shows and backstage stuff. There may be included some video clips. We want to make it very special for our fans so I think it will be a double DVD.

[Laughs] Yes, maybe from Athens, why not? The Greek audience is one of the best! People there are crazy!

Of course! First of all European audiences are much bigger than in the U.S.A. and more enthusiastic. Our best audience is definitely in Greece.

Yeah, people are going crazy down there. We know that they love us a lot and we are so happy when we learn that we are playing there!

The issue is that Steve writes music exactly in the Nevermore style. This is why he became a permanent member of the band. He is so close to us and you cannot tell which songs he actually writes. Can you?

Be my guest...

No.

No, actually Jim wrote this.

Yes! You found one! You are the only one so far that found even one. You are the first actually. You did so well!

Yes, I am very satisfied. I think that Andy Sneap [producer] made a very good job. Century Media had to do the job so we were very anxious if they would put a lot of money on this and then the CD would be much more expensive. Now with five euros you can buy it from the Internet. We didn't want to make our fans think negative of us. Yes, I am very satisfied.

Yes, I have stopped drinking for quite some time and I feel much healthier. I have a special diet too and in general I look after myself. My doctor says that my health now is in a very good condition and I am very happy with this.

Thank you too!