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July 24, 2008 |
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Savvas Betinis
April 14, 2005
By Marty Ogilvie
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For those of you old enough to remember, there was a hit movie called Grease staring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. The title track from the movie soundtrack had the line in it "Grease is the word". Well, given the amount of talent coming out of Greece these days, I think that "Greece is the word" is more appropriate. Greek thrash metallers KINETIC have just recently released their debut full-length album, entitled "The Chains That Bind Us". The album is a great example of all out thrash metal, somewhat reminiscent of the mighty KREATOR. Vocalist/bassist Savvas Betinis took time out his schedule to chat with me about his band, their new album, and the burgeoning Greek metal scene.
Your new album, "The Chains That Bind Us", is a really good example of 'old-school, knock 'em down, straight ahead' thrash metal, with some Swedish melodic tendencies. The combination is very effective. Was this a planned direction?
Not exactly. In fact, we tried to create a sound that includes all our personal influences. First of all, KINETIC is a new band that is made up of members coming from other historic bands in the Greek underground. I come from a band called ACID DEATH, one of the few Progressive Death Metal bands Greece had, with some releases in the past. Manolis Mamas and Stavros Bonikos on guitars both come from a Power Metal band called BRAIN FADE, and Costas Alexakis on drums comes from WISDOM. As you can see, we are four different musical personalities with different influences. Being friends for the past several years, we united our forces to create a new band, back in 2002. Manolis and Stavros had some material totally different from BRAIN FADE's style - faster and in a rather Thrash way, and I I had many ideas in a rather Death Metal way. So KINETIC's style took this "Old-School-In-Your-Face" shape.
We like this mix and I have the idea that all the fans from Heavy til Death Metal will find something interesting in our music.
How has the response been to your album so far?
Very good! Although we were a new band, the fans seem to give enough attention. At least everyone who listened to "The Chains That Bind Us" had good words to say and this makes us very happy. You know, starting a band from "0" point today isn't the easiest thing, but we thing it's worth our while to try.
How does the new album differ from "Soul | Emotion | Flesh", your promo 2003 disc?
"Soul | Emotion | Flesh" was our first attempt to get in touch with the media and the fans, especially here in Greece. Although it was just a demo, we rated it as "self-released mini-CD" and the three songs it included were a small part of our entire musical work. There are enough differences between that demo and "The Chains". First of all, the demo's production was more "primitive", although it wasn't a bad production. Most importantly, with that demo, we came to understand how we can work together in the studio. It was something that helped us a lot with the recording process on "The Chains". Another difference was that its songs were less processed than their new versions in our full length. Generally, that demo helped us a lot with our first steps.
What is the songwriting process for the band?
It is a celebration that all of us have to participate in. Usually one of us brings a small "packet" of riffs - a basic idea let's say - and all the others "dress" it with their own ideas. In some instances, a whole song is created in just one rehearsal just because one of us had a good theme in mind and the others "continued" to the idea. This is the music story. After the music is complete, one of us writes the lyrics, which is usually me, without of course having something like a veto on the subject. Although our music preferences are different enough, we created something that everyone loves!
The video for "NeverEnding Winter" is a nice touch on the album. How important do you think it is these days to add the 'extras' to an album?
We had the "video clip" subject in mind since our demo days. We had the opportunity to make it for our debut CD and included it in the whole recording. It was a totally new experience for us since no one had such an experience in the past. It was made with a low budget, and without tremendous scenery or "glittering" clothing. I believe it is a dignified video that isn't shameful to be played somewhere. This season, we're preparing another video for "Heed These Words". Having such "goodies" in your recording you give a better profile and sense of professionalism to your fans, On the other hand, you have a better and more complete product than just a CD with your music.
Are there any tour plans for KINETIC? I think the band would be great on tour with a band like KREATOR - that would be a cool match up!
(Laughs) I played twice as a supporting act for KREATOR with my previous band, ACID DEATH, here in Athens. I love KREATOR! They come here again last winter but they had their own opening act so we didn't have the chance to play together with them. At the moment, we're on a Greek tour, visiting many cities outside of Athens and we have a full schedule until the end of May - playing a live show somewhere every weekend. If this sounds strange to you, I have to explain that we haven't had the chance to play in Greece for 10 consecutive days. We just use our weekends to visit all the cities we have arranged to play anyway. Recently, we lost a good chance to have a 15-day tour in Europe with a known band, just because it was bad timing for us. As you understand, KINETIC isn't our main profession although we'd love to have it. So having 15 days off from our jobs in March and April wasn't a very good idea. We hope to have the opportunity again next Winter.
Typically, it's difficult for extreme bands to get their music to the masses. How has the journey been for KINETIC?
Difficult enough - especially if we talk about a new extreme band. There are many reasons for it. First of all because there are a huge number of new extreme bands out there nowadays. You have to find a good way to be memorable to the fans. Because there are so many bands, the CD sales are very low and a bad production is a real killer for a new band's recording today. Because of the low sales, the labels don't have big budgets to help their bands in the studio or to do a better promotion for their recordings. It's a vicious circle. I really feel very sad when I see a band that's worth the fight but is seen as an "unasked object" just because a label doesn't do its best for promotion or because they have very good music but with a rather low production. We face the same problems especially because we come from Greece, the most "difficult" country for a new Heavy band.
Fortunately, we do our best and things work in a rather good way, I think. At least we don't wait for God's mercy from our label. We just try to move our ass and to promote our band wherever we can.
Your website is very effective. How involved is the band with the website?
Our site is Costas's "child". He created it and is responsible for the updates. It is a good and succinct website where everyone can find everything about us. It's worthwhile visiting it just to have all the information about KINETIC and to leave some comments in our guestbook.
There seems to be a lot of really cool music coming out of Greece these days, with KINETIC, MORS IN TABULA, and AIRGED L'AMH all releasing very good albums. All three bands play very different genres of metal. Can you give the METALEATER readers an idea of what the Greece music scene is really like?
It is a fact that there are many good bands coming from Greece and I will agree with you about AIRGED L'AMH. I can mention hundreds of bands who are well worth it in the scene like SHADOWS DANCE, VARATHRON, SARISSA, W.E.B., and many more. But there are so many problems that we face with our scene that it is certain that most of these good bands will never have their place. First of all, the fact that Metal isn't a popular style in Greece means that all the big media give nothing for its promotion. There are some small labels which just try their best but the results are rather poor just because the low CD sales and the big distributors disregard promoting a Greek label abroad. Another problem is that many bands have a very bad idea of what they have to do to get promoted. I have many examples of bands who think, "Hey! I have a good CD. I have a good rating in the Greek Metal Hammer. Okay. That's enough. What else do I have to do?"
This is a totally wrong way to keep your band in the public eye and fortunately this tends to vanish. The biggest problem is the bad view people have about the scene in Greece. You know, I felt very sad some months ago when I read in a forum where someone said, "Okay, no one would ever have a good idea for a Greek scene - a scene which consists of guys who just like having a good time playing music." Of course, we play music because we like it, but there are many things to be done after that fact. Many times, I am on my PC from 4 o'clock on a Sunday afternoon until 3 o'clock in the morning on Monday answering interviews and mails and this isn't just fun, it's good for my band's promotion. Generally our scene has many good names in all kinds of Metal and no one will waste their time by searching for Greek Jewels.
When you're not working on KINETIC, what keeps you busy?
First of all, our real occupations. Costas, Stavros and I are working as computer engineers and Manolis works as a supervisor in a clothing plant. Unfortunately, our occupations don't allow us to make everything we want with the band, except if we arrange what we want ahead of time, and that's how we lost the tour. Other than work, our families are our next priority and of course our friends also.
What music are you listening to these days?
We like many kinds of music. Of course, there is a small preference for Death/Thrash, especially Swedish bands like ARCH ENEMY and IN FLAMES. But we also like bands like DREAM THEATER, RUSH, and some old-fashioned stuff like MAYHEM, CARCASS, early MORBID ANGEL and of course DEATH. We also love 80's Heavy Metal and also other bands like CURE, LOU REED or even VAYA CON DIOS.
What's next for KINETIC?
First of all to prepare the new songs for our next full length. There are many new ideas. In fact, we almost have all our new ones written. We may try to reach a deal with a better label for this new one. Who knows? And of course many live shows.
Do you have any words for the readers of METALEATER.COM?
We want thank you so much for this presentation. Check out KINETIC, our friends. We won't disappoint you!!! [FIN]
» Official KINETIC Website
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