NIGHTRAGE Mainman Talks Lineup, Label Changes

Revolution-Music.dk conducted an interview with NIGHTRAGE guitarist/leader Marios Iliopoulos at last weekend's Aalborg Metal Festival in Denmark. Download the 10-minute audio file at this location.

In other news, Metalzone.gr has posted a lengthy interview with Marios Iliopoulos about the group's split with its previous record company, Century Media, and ongoing difficulties in maintaining a steady lineup. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

Metalzone.gr: At some point in the past you stated that your previous record company, Century Media, had lost its faith in you. Was this the reason that you left?

Marios: The record company had lost the interest in Nightrage. You know, they have this policy to work in some other way. Generally they throw their money in high-profile bands. In fact lately they dismissed many bands from their roster. Of course, I don't blame them, OK, I am very thankful for what they've done so far with NIGHTRAGE, that is to say they released two albums and they made a name out of us and we've worked very much for this but I believe it was a wrong movement from their side to stop the collaboration with NIGHTRAGE because we came back with a third album which is even better. But OK, we are very pleased now with our new company Lifeforce Records, which is, of course, a smaller company generally in the dynamics but we are their priority and I believe this is the best for a band like NIGHTRAGE.

Metalzone.gr: Basically it is known that NIGHTRAGE is your own creation but you are also and the only original member.

Marios: Yes I am the only remaining original member of the band. I was the one who was always there for NIGHTRAGE, that is something that no one can take away from me, thus, at least.

Metalzone.gr: How much do you consider that these changes do help the band to advance?

Marios: Well, certainly it is not the best thing to change members but I believe this was the only way for NIGHTRAGE in order to survive. These changes had to be done so that NIGHTRAGE could be able to stand on their feet, otherwise we wouldn't exist now as a band, I believe. If I had been disappointed by the first album or the second one when we were changing members, right now I wouldn't write music for NIGHTRAGE or even I would have quit, I do not know. But like I said I am not that kind of person and I want to continue this vision and the idea and I hope very much, if there is a god, that from now on we will be able to show to people that, yes, NIGHTRAGE has a steady lineup. Perhaps this will take us much more time than the other bands had to, but what can we do, life is hard. My wish is certainly to have a reliable lineup because I‘ve been through a lot of difficulties here as a foreigner and there isn't a good understanding generally and people are…you know, there is no honesty from those people, you can't trust the people that you find to collaborate with, you know, it is hard but I believe that from now on things will change in the potential of NIGHTRAGE. Naturally this is a very bad thing to happen, it's not good to change members but I want to continue with NIGHTRAGE because I am the creator that writes the songs and makes all the work and I just want to find people that would want to play metal and who love what they are doing.

Metalzone.gr: Aren't you a little bit disappointed about all these?

Marios: I'm a little disappointed. I've been through a lot, all seven years that I live here in Sweden I've met a lot of difficult situations and generally I haven't still found what I was looking for but I don't give up, because, OK, like I said I love to play metal and I don't do it for any other reasons, neither to make money, nor to be glorified. I like to play this music I've always played since many years back and the difficult part is that in nowadays people are more interested in money than in love for the music, you understand? The situations have changed, they aren't like in the older days and it is very difficult to find persons that they really mean what they are doing.

Metalzone.gr: You seem kind of angry.

Marios: No, just disappointed, I am quite disappointed, generally with the situation that prevails in the metal scene at this moment. Perhaps I was a little bit unlucky also, you know, when you are a strange man in a strange country, you know, you get jealousy, there are people that can't put their faith on a Greek. Greeks, as you understand, don't actually have such a good reputation abroad although I believe that there are some really good musicians, that make some nice movements in order to achieve a high level for Greece and I believe that we are also a bunch of those musicians who try with our work and our achievement to put Greece on a high position in the metal map. But as you understand, living in a foreigner country, I have faced jealousy, I have faced malice, I have faced a lot of things, that could dissolve somebody but, OK, I believe that I am a strong character and I continue to do what I love.

Metalzone.gr: A lot of people believed that that when Tomas Lindberg and Gus G left, the future of NIGHTRAGE seemed uncertain forgetting that the music was almost exclusively your own affair. What do you have to say on this?

Marios: What I have to say is that this band is the band of Marios, because I created this band, I worked for this band. Neither Gus, nor Tomas have worked so much to make what I have made, I mean I have spat blood in order to reach up to where I am. I live seven years in a foreign country just to follow my dream. Of course most of the people did not know that, from the beginning. Everyone believed that because Tomas has a bigger name than mine, that this was one of his band but I can clearly tell you that Tomas simply, and of course I thank him very much for this, helped Nightrage so that some people can turn their faces and look in our direction but all the work has been my responsibility. Not even Gus, who is my best friend, had the time to deal with it as much as I did. He had other things to attend to and generally this was not the style of music that he would like to play anyway. I am also grateful to Gus, because he helped me a lot and especially in the first steps of NIGHTRAGE but this is the band of Marios. I worked for this band, I spat blood, I am the one that brought the band where it is and that is something that people should learn about.

Read the entire interview at Metalzone.gr.

NIGHTRAGE's video for the track "Scathing" can be viewed below. The clip was shot in January in Athens, Greece. The song comes off the group's third album, "A New Disease Is Born", which was released in April. The CD was recorded at Hansen studios in Ribe, Denmark with producer Jacob Hansen (RAUNCHY, MERCENARY, FEAR MY THOUGHTS, HEAVEN SHALL BURN).