Unfortunately, what the fans of hard music in our country feared and avoided came true. A summer that under normal circumstances would be full of music, beers and groups, suddenly… lost its sound.
release festival, Eject Festival and Athens Rocks "silenced" and already last week announced the cancellation of their music events for next summer, renewing the appointment with the fans for the summer of 2021!
Greek festivals, in fact, did what a few days ago they had done huge music festivals abroad such as Download Festival in Great Britain and Wacken Open Air in Germany.
The blow to the world of hard music from Covid-19 is strong. We are talking, after all, about one of the most powerful papers in the global music industry with millions of tickets, thousands of employees and of course hundreds of bands for which concerts are one of their main sources of income.
To get an idea of the size we are talking about, according to the American magazine Forbes, idealized in reporting on the economy, investment, industry and commerce, expert analysts say losses in the music industry could reach $ 5 billion and possibly even surpass them!
As is completely normal, the Greek bands that participate both in the domestic festivals and (mainly) and in those abroad could not remain unaffected and are already counting the losses and "weighing" their losses, from this unprecedented situation.
Ο Sakis Tolis, the emblematic frontman of Rotting Christ, who are the absolute exportable "product" of our country in terms of hard music and the people who not only introduced black metal to the general Greek public but were also loved in countries that traditionally have such sounds, such as the Scandinavian, spoke in the newsbeast.gr about how he experiences the unpleasant situation that was created, the consequences of the outbreak of his pandemic coronavirus in music, the "long war" for which the artists should prepare but also the "new good music" that promises to the people who listen to the biggest Greek band.
- Good evening Saki, how do you spend these difficult days and how did the space go in quarantine given that the members of a band like Rotting Christ are, under normal circumstances, in constant motion.
I would say like the lion in the cage! After three years of continuous movement around the world, a protein was found to do what even in our worst dreams we had not thought: To keep our house inactive in concert!
After the first shock, however, I can say that all this isolation began to work and a little positively, since after a long time we began to delve into many values of life that the frantic pace had not allowed us to appreciate until then. Also the fact that two days before the lockdown we would be in the US where we would start the American tour, makes us feel a little lucky! As for how we are doing, I have the feeling that people will not be very interested…
- Is this a creative period for you or does it prevent you from writing and composing new songs?
I consider myself lucky to have the guitar and the composition as a weapon in any difficult ordeal of my life. So I grabbed my… gun and started fighting. I was saved!
- How strong was the blow received by the space in general and Rotting Christ in particular?
So strong that many of my colleagues around the world start thinking like "Plan B" even the change of career orientation! There are tragic stories out there but also here in Greece, which I hope will not continue and, above all, calm and dignity will prevail. I'm really sad that our industry will be the last to return to the famous "normality", so we have another big challenge to face. As people of art, however, we will fight it in our own unique way.
As for us after the cancellation of 78 concerts in 2020, I can say with confidence that we are experiencing this situation and in fact in extreme form since 90% of the concerts are outside Greece and I think we will be late to fly again and if we do not I would like to see myself as a victim of the excessive measures that have been taken, often exercised by complex people. But believe me we have gone through even harder. Our roots start in the late 80's with what this may mean, for those who know, so what does not kill us makes us stronger!
We will fight it under any circumstances as we have already fought it in our 30 years of involvement with the scene.
- Did you arrange concerts or other events (let's not forget that in theory, at least, you are still in the promotion phase of "The Heretics", your last album) which were postponed or canceled? Is there a plan for the next day?
The canceled concerts as I told you are many and everyone is trying to transfer them into 2021 τι Something tells me, however, that in 2021 things will not be so rosy for us so we will have to prepare for a long war. For the first time I hope I am wrong in what I say!
- How are the sales of your products going? Do the fans of your band support you in this difficult phase, given that you have essentially lost your job and therefore your sources of income?
At first I do not see the people who love and follow our band as fans but as fellow travelers on this magical path we have chosen. We are one of them and we would not accept any funding or emergency assistance from them even if they have offered to do so. They have already supported us a lot all these years. We do not need to push situations during these difficult days as we know that they themselves will face financial problems during these hours. I think we owe them good news music!
- At the end of March you took a very nice initiative and announced that you will donate to the World Health Organization the proceeds from the sale of a t-shirt of the band. Tell me two things about this idea and how it evolved in the end?
Yes, I preferred to give than to ask since I considered this to be right in these difficult and wild times we live as humanity. This initiative was not universally accepted, I would say, but to tell you the truth, I feel that I did it against the demon himself!
- A message you would like to send to Rotting Christ fans?
NON SERVIA… they know!