INTENSITY
Questions asked by Jon Wilde, added to Rock Realms 9th July 2010.
Greek band InTensity have a new EP "Times" out in digital format (with physical copies on the way soon). We caught up with founder member Ilias to find out more.
Hi Guys, thanks for taking a moment to answer these questions. Hope you are well?
Ilias: Everything is great!
Can you give us a brief history of InTensity – how you formed etc...?
Ilias: Kostas and I first met in 2007 while playing in other bands of the same genre and we realized how similar our musical tastes were. So from then on we started writing down some ideas and searching for other band members. After many lineup changes, we found Dimos on drums and Kostis on bass. We didn't have much luck with vocalists though so we decided that I would try my best to sing on our songs. Unfortunately Kostis left the band some months ago for personal reasons.
Did you know what sort of music the band was going to play right from the start, or has it developed considerably over time?
Ilias: We pretty much had an overall idea of what we wanted to play - complex song structures, odd time signatures, heavy riffing and clean passages - but still throughout those 3 years we've been a band, we have incorporated many more influences and styles both music and sound wise.
How would you describe the sound of the band to someone who hadn’t heard you before?
Ilias: We try to achieve a very modern sound, sort of a fine line between progressive metal and alternative metal, in our songs. It is a mix of intense drumming, heavy guitar riffing with modern guitar sounds, melodic and mellow parts in between, all to accomplish a constantly evolving song.
Who or what would you list as your main influences?
Ilias: Progressive masterminds such as Pain of Salvation, Tool, Porcupine Tree and many more (way too many to list here) and of course bands from other genres such as post rock, math rock, alternative rock and extreme metal.
What is the music scene like where you come from and has it had a big influence on your development?
Ilias: Greeks who are into metal mostly listen to and play extreme styles like death, black, thrash metal and the modern styles such as metalcore, deathcore and so on. Lately though there have been some amazing progressive rock/metal bands from Greece presenting themselves, which we have come in contact with and generally there is a very supportive atmosphere in our genre.
Tell us about your debut EP... It has taken a long time to reach completion. Is it a relief to finally have it on sale?
Ilias: Oh yes. Finally we managed to release it! It features 4 of our first songs with a running time of just over 30 minutes. It is a representative sample of InTensity and a sample of what is to come (although we have matured a lot musically since 2008). We just released it digitally and we hope to get the physical packages in our hands soon so that fans can get the real thing with the booklet and the lyrics and enjoy the rest of the artwork we prepared.
We had finished all the instrumental recordings back in late 2008 and from then on, the endless search for a vocalist just kept pushing us back. Finally after I took over all the vocal duties, we started working in overdrive to re-record the vocals, mix and master it and release it. So yeah. Big relief. The poor thing was collecting dust in my hard drives for far too long!
Did you sometimes think you might not finish it?
Ilias: Yes. Many times we were on the verge of just giving up. Everyone, for his own personal reasons, had other priorities at times thus not focusing on the band at all and the whole “vocal dead end” situation didn't help at all.
Where do you find your writing influences? Where do you look for inspiration?
Ilias: Musically that is an easy question. It is a mix of what we listen to and what we would like to listen on a song. It is what we would like our favourite artists to play and since they don't, we do it ourselves. Lyrically we draw influence from everything that is going on with the world. Mostly sociopolitical stuff and how every change affects mankind.
Is there a single story behind the songs, or are they all standalone tracks?
Ilias: A bit of both actually. On our EP we deal with personalities of our “Times” (therefore the EP title). We get in the heads of 4 different people and how they view the world and how they choose to react. So you can say that there is a central theme there. On the new songs though, the lyrical themes will be much broader and not so much from a personal view.
How does the writing process in InTensity work? How would a typical song be created?
Ilias: So far, Kostas and I will have a basic song structure ready which builds up from there with new ideas and then Dimos would add his own drums and Kostis (the ex-bassist) would add all of his basslines. From there I would write the lyrics and the vocal lines and we generally end up with a song that we are all proud of.
Do you do anything special in the studio to get your sound, or are you quite a ‘traditional’ band?
Ilias: As far as drums, bass and heavy guitars go, we go with a straight-forward modern heavy sound so in that manner we are a bit of a traditional band but for all the clean guitar sounds, all the synths and effects we use and the vocals, when we get to the recording and producing stage, we like to experiment very much with new and old effects, strange sounds, multiple instrument layers and always try to achieve something new and unique.
Do you enjoy the whole studio/creative experience, or do you prefer playing on stage?
Ilias: Kostas and Dimos mostly enjoy playing on stage and giving it all they can. For me even though I like the live stage, the studio is the most rewarding experience since I do all the mixing and producing and have all the creative freedom I want.
Do you get chance to play many live dates?
Ilias: Not really since we recently had some line-up problems, but we hope to start again from the coming September with fresh enthusiasm so that we get to promote our new EP.
What is one of your live shows like? What should fans expect from one of your performances?
Ilias: A lot of headbanging! Well, we try to give our 110% when we are on stage. We just get up and enjoy it as much as we can and we hope the fans do too!
What’s next for InTensity? Are you working on a full length album?
Ilias: From August we will start rehearsing again in hopes of more live shows and we plan on recording again next October for our first full length album with all-new songs.
Any question you love being asked that I’ve missed? If so, what’s the answer?
Ilias: Well just to let fans know that “Times” is available for purchase on iTunes, Amazon MP3, Emusic, Napster and our BandCamp profile: http://intensity.bandcamp.com/. There and at http://www.myspace.com/intensityband they can listen to our songs and for more info on us they can visit our official page at http://www.intensity-band.com/.
What are you up to once you’ve finished answering these questions?
Ilias: Promoting our EP, pressing the final CD so that it is released on stores and sending some singles to radio producers for some radio air time!
Anything else you would like to mention?
Ilias: Not really. We hope you and your readers enjoyed this as much as we did and we hope they enjoy our music too! Thanks a lot for this opportunity and have a great summer!
Thanks again to Ilias for his time, and keep an eye out for the InTensity EP on the aforementioned websites.
http://www.myspace.com/intensityband
http://www.intensity-band.com/
