Disillusive Play are a silent force in the contemporary female fronted metal scene. However, with their excellent, new album, “Songs for the Non-Existent”, the Greek melodic hard rock/metal band is taking the whole music community by surprise! Their fantastic melodies are coming to shake us down and reveal a mature music act, whose sophomore album sounds so exciting and captivating! Myth of Rock came in contact with singer Antigoni Kalamara and right below you can read what was discussed!
by Dimitris Zacharopoulos
You have just released your new, sophomore album. Which are your feelings about it? Would you change something now, if you had the opportunity?
Indeed! “Songs for the Non-Existent” was realized in both physical and digital formats on the 1st of August 2023 by WormHoleDeath records. We are very happy and excited about this, since we worked a lot under the difficult pandemic circumstances. No! We wouldn’t change anything! We are always trying to do our best, and that also happened in the “Songs for the Non-Existent” album.
This new album is released by WormHoleDeath Records. How did this deal with the certain label come up?
We are cooperating many years with Angels PR Worldwide Promotion and they helped us in the label searching procedure. We had many interesting options but after meeting the people of WormHoleDeath, we though that this would be the best one for us!
Where would you trace the differences between the new album and the previous, debut album? Is there a progress in your music and lyrics?
Yes, of course. Apart from the binding between us that is clear 5 years after the “Open Arms” release, this time, we made a real group work concerning the ideas in both music and lyrics. We tried again not to put limits or restrictions in our ideas and this led to an interesting variety among the 11 songs of the album, which we really think that are very strong! Moreover, this time we had a very good mixing and mastering procedures that they enhanced a lot our sound and last but not least, this time we have a lot of guests!
I would say that your style is a combination of hard rock and metal, with many other elements (AOR, progressive metal, alternative rock etc). Do you agree with me?
Bingo! That would be the right description!
I believe that your strong characteristic is the melodies. Which are your trademarks, in your opinion?
Bingo again! Melodies are like a goal for us. We want to produce songs clearly different from each other that they will have such music and lyrics that everyone in the audience will be able to remember afterwards! Every song we want to have its own signature.
How much important is feeling and atmosphere in your songs?
Feeling is everything. This is the start and the end in music generally, and therefore in our songs too.
Which are your favorite songs in the new album? Why?
I really can’t choose only one song! Every song is unique in a different way, so I will challenge you to answer this question!
Who is the songwriter in Disillusive Play? Where do you draw inspiration from?
The music of the album is written by Jim Knikos (lead guitar) and me, Antigoni Kalamara (vocals).
Who is responsible for the lyrics? Which are your lyric topics?
Three are the suspects for the lyrics! Jim Knikos (lead guitar), Michalis Mytilinis (bass) and I, Antigoni (vocals).
The main sources of inspiration are the modern society, the everyday life and the feelings that come along with these. More specifically, in the “Songs for the Non-Existent” album, a wide range of thoughts is revealed concerning criticism, racism, inequality, persistence, weakness, unfulfilled dreams, family, past relationships, life choices, suppressed souls, despair and hope.
Where and when was the new album recorded? Who was the producer? Describe the whole recording and production process, please!
The album was recorded by Jimmy Katsaros (The Silent Wedding) at Underground Music Studios, it was mixed by Bob Katsionis (Stray Gods, ex. Firewind, ex. Septic Flesh) at Sound Symmetry Studio and it was mastered by Nasos Nomikos at VU Productions.
More specifically, each one of us recorded in a separate session at Underground Music studios, and so did the most of our guests. Marios Karanastasis (vocals – The Silent Wedding) who participated in the “Song for the Non-Existent”, Iliana Tsakiraki (vocals – Enemy of Reality) who recorded the backing vocals for the whole album and Panagiotis Bourazanis who played the bass in the “Queen of the Night”. The only exception was Bob Katsionis who recorded the keyboards for all the songs of the album and he made the mixing afterwards at his own cave! (Sound Symmetry Studio)
In the new album you have some significant guests – Marios Karanastasis, Panagiotis Bourazanis, Bob Katsionis and Iliana Tsakiraki. How did these guest appearances come up? How was it to cooperate with all these musicians?
We are very glad and honored to have all these great guests in our album! I will start the description with the connection with the Silent Wedding band. All these years we have our rehearsals at Underground studios and we are friends with Jimmy and therefore with all the members of his band. Quick reminder, Jimmy had also produced our first album “Open Arms”, in which Johnny Thermos (The Silent Wedding) had recorded the keyboards for it. Therefore, the collaboration with Marios Karanastasis (The Silent Wedding) in the “Song for the Non-Existent” was something that came naturally and we were sure that the result would be very impressive, as it did! Panagiotis Bourazanis was fairly and highly recommended by Jimmy for the guest that we wanted to have in the “Queen of the Night”, while Jim contacted Iliana and Bob in order to make them actually members of the band (for the recordings, at least!), since we knew them by their work and we believed that their contribution would be very important!
I also liked very much the album cover. Can you give me all the info about it?
The credits for the album cover go to Gogo Melone! The idea behind it, which is the same with the first album’s one, that Jim had since back then, is the following. Every song is represented through a symbol, for example “Why” by a question mark, “Sisyphus” by a man that carries a stone, “Song for the Non-Existent” by a family etc. All these symbols are included/hidden in the cover of the album.
How did Covid-19 pandemic affect you?
Oh, it affected us a lot. We couldn’t have any rehearsal all this period and each one of us was forced to work alone on the material of the second album, which was totally new for us. However, as people say “what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger”!
Which are your ambitions for Disillusive Play?
We would like to be able to create songs that people will love now and over the years!
I have always wanted to ask you – how did you come up with this band name?
The name of the band was an idea of Jim (lead guitar) and Panos Zotos (rhythm guitar many years ago). It means that our songs are going to be about problems of everyday life by dealing with thoughts that reveal the deeper feelings and help us escape from the illusions.
Live shows – how much important are they for Disillusive Play? Your tour plans?
We love live shows!! It’s the most important moment for a band. It’s the only moment in which you can share your music and your feelings with the audience and have an immediate feedback! It’s a blessing!
We will take part in the Balkan Metal Meeting 6 which will be held in Club Mixtape 5 in Sofia, Bulgaria on Friday 8th September 2023 and after that, the next step will be to arrange the live show for the official release of the album. Of course, more are about to come, so stay tuned!
Send your message to the fans!
We want to thank our audience for the support, the Angels PR Worldwide Promotion for arranging this nice interview and of course you! We hope you are all doing well!
Stay tuned for the release live show and find us in our social media and our official website (www.disillusiveplay.com)!
Stay heavy!!
