Below you can read an interview I’ve conducted with Warhammer’s Hercules Giotis (vocalist & guitarist), where he talked about the band’s latest album Ashes And Cinders¸ touring with Poland’s Batushka, a new album in the making, and others.
Hi Hercules, how is everything going? First of all, thank you for your time having this conversation, and also was nice meeting you back in April!
Hi Carla and thank you very much for this interview, I really enjoyed our conversation after the show in Bucharest and it’s always a pleasure to talk with you!
As mentioned during our meeting in April, by then you embarked for a few shows in Romania, Bulgaria, and Greece together with Batushka and Diabolical. How was touring with them, again?
I can easily say that we have a special bond with Batushka and Diabolical. It’s always a pleasure to tour with such big bands. They are professionals and both times that we toured with them (the first time was in November in Northern Europe and UK) was an amazing feeling. They are great musicians and we learned a lot from them. Of course, I hope to meet them again soon in the future.
Yet you are promoting the latest release Ashed And Cinders, how is the public response of the album, still?
The feedback that we have especially from the people who join our shows is very good. They like our new material and this is very important in order to continue the hard work.
Let’s talk a bit about the album, what is the story behind it? Is this a concept album?
Yes, Ashes And Cinders is a concept album. The main topic of the album is the description of the stages of grief, by using a fantastic character, who is losing his best friend by a gunshot and he is passing through the stages of grief. The concept and the lyrics were created by our guitarist Dimitris Peppas.
It was interesting both to see and hear the use of the saxophone (Thanos). Somehow, the use of the saxophone in your music reminds me of Japan’s Sigh. Are you familiar with that band?
To be honest with you Carla, no, I don’t know these guys but of course, I respect them.
Tho, how did the idea come to introduce another instrument to the album?
The idea behind the saxophone belongs to our producer George Bokos from Grindhouse Studios Athens. Generally, we were thinking about adding some extra instruments (like the piano on the last song) but we didn’t think about the saxophone. We discussed it with George and we said ”Yes, let’s do it”. Also, Thanos, who is playing the saxophone, is a very good friend, so it wasn’t difficult for him and for us to cooperate.
In my opinion, usually, when extreme metal bands introduce other instruments to their music, not computerized ones, like the saxophone, violin, cello, etc., their music sounds more interesting. Using the sax, was like a challenge to you?
Yes, absolutely, it was a challenge. The whole album was a challenge. If you read some other interviews that I had given you will see that I am calling this album an ”experiment”. The main reason is that we were a thrash metal band and suddenly in 2019 we made this turn to the black and death metal paths. So the whole album was a challenge and the saxophone too.
Do you have in mind a new album? Did you start working on it already?
Yes, we are always writing new material. I would be a liar if I was telling you something else. We are working on something new, we have a lot of things in order to create something new, but for now we need to promote our 3rd album. When this circle closes, we will go to the next step.
How was the pandemic for you? Did it affect you in any way, especially when the album was released?
Personally, it was a very difficult period, mentally I was not and I am still not so good but the album and generally the whole production of music helped me a lot. I am trying to keep only the good things from this dark period like the release of our album, and the tours with Belphegor, Batushka, and Diabolical, but don’t forget that this pandemic kept us back. We had a tour in Asia- Oceania and after 3 years we are still searching for when we will do it. Anyway, we have to be strong and united in order to face problems like this.
What about tours/shows? Do you have some more scheduled for this year?
I can’t tell you exactly what we are preparing, but I will tell you that we have been working on something very big for the10 years of our existence.
To end the interview, is there anything else would you like yo add? Thanks again for your time having this interview. Hope to see you soon again!
I would like to thank you once again for this interview. It was an honor and a pleasure. With lots of respect to all of you out there!
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