It is always good to see that there are Greek bands who take their time to work on their songs and not simply run with their first demo at hand to every record label praying for a contract. It is also good to see such bands being really productive. In the case of Wheelrunner we have a band existing not that long (five years) but already with three demos in their arsenal and lots of live shows.
Mike K., the band's current guitarist, formed Wheelrunner in 2000. With his friend Sotiris as the second guitar player, Filipos being a session singer and Spyros being the producer, as a session drummer, they released in 2001 their first self titled demo which included 7 tracks. In early 2002, Aris Bartzokas joined the band behind the drum set. The band later on (28/10/2002) performed its first gig under the name Wheelrunner. A couple of weeks later the band decided to go on with one guitar player, thus Sotiris left. In March of 2003, John Vogiantzis became the voice of the band. Two months later the band attempted their second recording. They started recording Rock & Roll Lover, a 6-track demo that was in a more Hard N' Heavy vein. In June Wheelrunner finished recording and looked for a permanent bass player. It was in August 2003 when Makis Petritsis replied to an online advertisement of the band.
Thus Promo 2005 was born. This three tracked demo shows a band confident about its sound. Traditional hard and heavy music in short and catchy compositions that stick in your head for good. Their groovy Metal will make you tap your feet. Vocalist John Vogiantzis has a great voice considering the Greek tragic standards.
Though the up tempo opener Natural Born Rocker is really a kick ass composition, I believe that it is the second song, Made Of Sin And Pleasure, that blew me away. Wheelrunner prove that some values last forever. Traditional hard n' heavy will never die as long as acts like this one will defend the genre. I'm pretty sure we will hear from them really soon.