Overdose

Friday, June 12th, 2009, posted by K.Panagiotis

Overdose is a very promising underground band coming from Greece. Just some days before their concert in Thessaloniki, we had a conversation with the band which talks about the upcoming EP and the plans of the band in general.

In a couple of days you’re playing at 8ball live stage in Thessaloniki. What should we expect to see there from you? Anything special?

Cerberus: First of all we have several new tracks that we’ll present on Saturday. Other than that, I believe that we’ve finally managed to form a tight unit with our new drummer and this is something that will be more obvious when we’ll perform live. Also, we’ve prepared our own version of a great song by a well-known band and we’re planning on playing it to the people at the show this Saturday.

May I ask which track that is?

Cerberus: I can’t tell you that… It’s a surprise (laughing)

What about the name of the band?

Cerberus: It’s a really great track by “All Shall Perish”. We’ve worked really hard on this one in order to bring out our best possible performance, cause of respect to the song and to the band.

You said that you’ve finally managed to form a tight unit with your new drummer. Do you believe that this is an important thing for a band?

Cerberus: Definitely! Regardless of the music and the style, the members of the band need to cooperate with one another and need to be able to understand each other. Only then will the outcome be the desired one…

What are your plans after Saturday’s show?

Slang: This is the final show for this season for us. Starting this September we are thinking of going abroad. We’re discussing a couple of shows in Bulgaria and then maybe the Netherlands, but I can’t tell you anything more about that, since nothing has been actually arranged yet.

Cerberus: To tell you the truth, we’re going on vacation to Bulgaria; that’s the initial plan. But we are discussing with several booking agencies from Bulgaria to perform live there as well, with some friends of ours from Bulgaria. So, it’s possible to do that as well, but nothing’s certain.

Why did you initially decide to go abroad? Do you believe that you’ve done enough shows in Greece or you believe that it’s better to go abroad for some reason?

Cerberus: It’s a fact that we’ve done several shows in Greece and people have already seen us perform live more than once each. Even though we like seeing our friends and people we know watch us perform on stage and we love their support, we strongly believe that going abroad is a good thing for the band. We will be able to get more people to listen to our music, which is really important for us.

Fot: To be honest, metal in Greece isn’t that advanced or popular, if you want to call it so. People in Greece listen to Greek music and go to “bouzoukia” in their majority, if you know what I mean… I believe that this is not the case abroad. People abroad are more into metal and thus there are more opportunities for bands like “Overdose”. I may be wrong, but we’ll go abroad, starting with Bulgaria, and we’ll find out…

What about your EP? Is it finished yet or not?

Slang: We’ve finished mixing the tracks and now we’re working on the cover.

How many tracks will be included on this EP?

Slang: It includes an intro track and four other tracks and it’s a self-financed release.

Cerberus: We should thank “Independent Sound Studio” though, for the recording part of our EP. They helped out a lot and we should say that.

Do you believe that it’s difficult for a Greek metal band to sign with a label?

Fot: It’s not that difficult, given that the band has something unique to show in order to stand out from the rest of the bands that currently exist. But, it’s true that Greek labels are still not as good as labels from abroad. It will take them time to reach the level of big labels from other countries. But following the example of “Human Rejection” I believe that a Greek band can do things abroad, which is difficult, given that everything is self-financed when it comes to touring.

Cerberus: I don’t believe that there’s a Greek label that has the ability to promote a band well abroad, nor do I believe that they dedicate enough effort for this. Everything we’ve done so far, we did it ourselves; we’ve done shows, we’re working on our EP now…all by ourselves.

Is there a distribution agency that will handle your EP’s distribution or will it be solely by you?

Cerberus: We’ll do all the distribution ourselves.

Fot: However, there will be several stores, mostly in Thessaloniki that will also hold our cd, such as Micro Extreme, which also represents Scull Candy in Thessaloniki – and Scull Candy sponsors us now.

Slang: You’ll help us out too…right?

If I can, sure! (laughing). So, what’s the title of your EP?

Cerberus: “Beyond Hope of Salvation”

Does this title mean something special to you?

Cerberus: It’s also the title of one of the tracks included on the EP. The track’s lyrics are about people in modern societies, who have turned into sheep and do not object to things imposed on them. We are forced to do things that we don’t like, but we soon get used to… Therefore, we are “Beyond Hope of Salvation”. I know it’s a little bit pessimistic, but it’s our view of the world today.

We’ve seen that in the U.S. for example, every state is famous for a specific metal sub-genre; Florida is famous for its death metal bands, New York for its hardcore bands and so on… I believe that this is the case because all such metal bands managed to cooperate with one another for the good of music. Do you believe that Greece will reach such a level at some point or not?

Cerberus: For the time being I can tell you that Greece has reached the point where bands form groups. This is not done for the good of music, but for the good of the bands and the band members. Bands play together on shows ‘cause their members are friends and not because they play good music. There are bands that try to diminish the value of the rest in order to prevail, regardless of whether they’re good or deserve to stand out… We don’t care about that! We simply care about the music and all we do is try to write good music.

What does the word “Overdose” mean to you?

Cerberus: “Overdose” is an attitude and a way of life to me. I do everything in its extreme and I’m willing to try new things and always to their extreme! This is what “Overdose” means to me.

Slang: It is indeed a way of life and it definitely shows in all our songs and to tell you the truth, this band is much more than a band to me. It’s five years of my life and I’ve dedicated myself to it! People have come and gone from the band, but now we’ve reached a point where we all feel each other as being our family… We’ve been through a lot and we’ve managed to stick together and this is very important to me.

Cerberus: Our goal isn’t to become the best metal band in Greece… What we’re aiming at is to write good music that people will enjoy listening to and to have fun doing that. All the rest will follow when the time will come.

Fot: I believe that each one of us does his thing in its extreme… Some people associate “Overdose” with drugs, but what I tell them is “Overdose in everything!” I, for example, get frustrated easily, Vag is extreme when it comes to fooling around and having fun, Cerberus is extremely sensitive, even if it doesn’t show, Slang totally lives his life in its extreme and Jim may seem an easy going and low profile person but he’s still in the spirit of “Overdose”.

Jim: What can I say…? They’ve said it all! (laughing)

Vag: “Overdose” to me is vagrancy in its positive meaning and family…

Cerberus: I’ve written on our myspace profile (www.myspace.com/overdose999) what “Overdose” is to us… It’s a counter-way of action to all systems of control! It’s one’s justified right to react to anything they see and don’t agree with… People evolve within the context provided by the society, but they ultimately reach a point where this is not enough and that’s when they react… That’s what I think at least…

Interview by: Rena Kostopoulou.

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