| Interview by Burt Wolf with Angelos, bass player & backing vocalist for HOMO IRATUS. Interview done November 2002! |
| PLEASE GIVE SOME OF THE BACKGROUND HISTORY OF HOMO IRATUS & HOW YOU FORMED? WERE ANY OF YOU IN OTHER BANDS BEFORE HOMO IRATUS? The band was formed in 1998 as a trio & released a 6 track demo "Absecence Of Progress" after a month of life. That demo got great reviews from mags & zines all over the world. The Mitch (now off the band) & I were added to the line up completing the missing positions. The idea of forming the band came from the need to express ourselves through the extreme scene & sound & convey our own musical & lyrical ideas...the funny thing is that when the band was being formed I was asked to join, but couldn't at that time...only to finally become a member a year later! WHY WAS THE NAME HOMO IRATUS CHOSEN FOR THE BAND? HOMO IRATUS means "Angry Human" in Latin. It has been positively accepted & people have been proven to be open minded & saw the whole meaning past the "homo" whose initial meaning is "man" or "human" in Latin. The name is the living-breathing engine of the band & has a direct connection to our lyrics & music of course. Yet this Angry Human does not turn anger into violence, but to focused thought on to what cause this anger & why. HOW WOULD YOU BEST DESCRIBE THE STYLES & SOUND OF THE BAND? Brutalmoshprovokingpitgrowlinggroovedeathcore!...phew! HOW DO YOU FEEL YOU'VE PROGRESSED FROM YOUR FIRST DEMO "ABSCENCE OF PROGRESS" TO YOUR CD "HUMAN CONSUMES HUMAN"? Every new recording is a step forward in all levels. More concentrated song writing, new ideas, technically, experimenting & of course the addition of two band members that by nature changes all those facts from one step to the other. I ONLY HAVE YOUR "HUMAN CONSUMES HUMAN" CD & I KNOW IT'S BEEN OUT FOR A LITTLE WHILE NOW, BUT HOW WELL HAS IT DONE FOR YOUR GUYS? It has been positively accepted by friends of the extreme scene as well as being the source of great reviews (which were quite surprising) from mags & zines like, TERRORRIZER, METAL MANIACS, S.O.D., VIOLATED ROT & many others. And having in mind that we come from a country that hasn't got a tradition in this kind of music, we couldn't ask for more especially from our first release! HOW DID YOUR DEAL WITH ARCTIC MUSIC GROUP COME ABOUT? The usual way plus a once in a life time chance. Phil Fasciana had a copy of "Human Consumes Human" (self financed at the time) & told us he was interested in signing us to the label. Then two months later Sifis of WIZARD LIVE PRODUCTIONS (Greece) with whom we cooperated a lot comes up & tells us "I'm bringing MALEVOLENT CREATION & HATEPLOW to Greece & you're going to share the stage with them!" It was only then we told him that Phil was interested. It was a once in a life time chance (especially in this country) someone would have to actually have a label's A&R & Vice P. see them live! Things worked out the best way... YOU HAVE A FOUR ALBUM DEAL WITH THEM, HAVE YOU RELEASED ANOTHER ALBUM YET OR IS THERE ONE IN THE WORKS? We have recently released a 4 track EP "Knowledge...Their Enemy" with 4 audio tracks (including a track from the upcoming full & a cover of SEPULTURA's "Roots Bloody Roots" with the addition of Ethnik Greek instrumentation) & 2 video clips for the tracks "Tomahawk Cruise Messiah" & "Project: New World". The second video has footage from the show that Phil Fasciana saw us. We are planning to hit the studio for the next full in the following 2 or 3 months. WHICH HOMO IRATUS SONG WOULD YOU SAY BEST REPRESENTS WHAT YOU GUYS ARE ALL ABOUT? We are all about all the songs. We can't (& neither I) seperate one from the whole...HOMO IRATUS are "Human Consumes Human" actually & also HOMO IRATUS are every song individually... COULD YOU GIVE A LITTLE INFORMATION BEHIND THE COVER ARTWORK FOR "HUMAN CONSUMES HUMAN"? Well. The cover message is pretty straightforward. A human consumes a human by breathing his air actually through a pipe that unites their heads which are covered by gas masks while an eye watches from behind...the weakest withers...but will another stronger take the place & the breathed becomes the breathed? And how many (generations?) will this situation last? This image is unfortunately the reality by which this planet works & there are always people that don't get affected by the consuming situation & just sit back & watch! Further more the gasmasks present a possible form of the human entity which seems to step closer to reality day by day...will the "aparatus respiratorum" require a gas mask addition to secure our survival in the environment as we shaped it? WHAT IS SOME OF THE LYRICAL CONTENT IN YOUR SONGS? I think I have covered a big part just now, but let me add something. Our lyrics speak of real world situations which people either deny they exist or lie bare before their eyes & they just don't see them. It's time we accepted the filth that surrounds us & open up to see what has been going on arround us while we were blissful & engulfed by our own personal world others have possibly created in order to keep our eyes closed while they are still open. HAVE YOU GUYS PLAYED OUT A LOT? WHO ARE SOME OF THE BANDS YOU'VE PLAYED WITH & WHERE WERE SOME OF THE PLACES YOU'VE PLAYED? Unfortunately we have not gigged outside Greece yet & we are looking into the matter right now. Inside Greece we have played in every possible city with bands like MALEVOLENT CREATION, HATEPLOW, IMPALED NAZARENE, NAPALM DEATH, CHILDREN OF BODOM, ROTTING CHRIST & many others. |
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