EMQ's

EMQs with SHINIGAMI

EMQ’s With SHINIGAMI

Hello all! Welcome to another EMQ interview, this time with Greek Classic Heavy Metal band Shinigami. Big thanks to Dionysis, Lefteris, Kostas, Vassiliki, Konstantinos and Christina for taking part.

What is your name, what do you play and can you tell us a little bit about the history of the band?

We are Shinigami and we play classic, 80s inspired Heavy Metal with a twist (female vocals & 70s inspired keyboards). The band was founded back in 2009 by our guitarist Dionysis and original bassist Hector. From the very beginning, our main goal has been to write and promote our own material rather than just performing cover songs. Since then, we have written many songs, have recorder two full length albums, played many gigs and, although we have had many lineup changes over the years, we have never lost our focus or our passion about what we do.

 Our current band lineup features Dionysis and Lefteris on guitars, Kostas on drums, Vassiliki on lead vocals, Konstantinos on keyboards and Christina on bass guitar. We can safely say that this is, by far, the strongest lineup the band has ever had.

How did you come up with your band name?

Two words, “Death Note”, haha! Seriously though, Shinigami, which literally translates to “gods/spirits of death”, are spirits found in Japanese culture that act as psychopomps. That is, they invite humans towards death. In modern times they have found their way into pop culture mainly through manga/anime, which all of us in the band enjoy. We felt it was a strong name for a metal band, so we adopted it.

What Country / Region are you from and what is the Metal / Rock scene like there?

We hail from Athens, Greece. The Metal / Rock scene around these parts is extremely vibrant. In fact, Greece is among the top 10 featuring most metal bands per capita in the world!

What is your latest release?

That would be our 2023 “Back From The Dead EP”. It features 4 songs originally included in our 2020 album entitled “Back From The Dead” re-recorded and rearranged by our current band lineup. The idea behind it was to introduce our new lineup to the world, close the “Back From The Dead” album cycle and pave the way for our next release.

Who have been your greatest influences?

Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Uriah Heep, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Accept, Dio, Savatage, Motorhead, AC/DC… they are probably too many to list here. Most of the greats from the 70s, 80s and even 90s have influenced us to some extent.

What first got you into music?

It’s tough to pinpoint exactly. Individually, we were all drawn to music since we were kids. A common starting point for all of us would be Greek music (both traditional and modern), as is the case with pretty much every Greek household. Other than that, we grew up listening to a wide range of musical genres such as Rock, Pop, Punk, Funk, Soul, Classical etc. And, of course, all of us were fervent listeners of all things Heavy Metal. At some point along the way, we decided that merely listening to music was not enough for us, we needed to create our own music.

If you could collaborate with a current band or musician who would it be?

Well, we always looked up to Bob Katsionis, one of the most prominent and prolific musicians of both the Greek and the International Metal scene in the past twenty plus years. Lucky for us, the good people at Angels PR, the agency currently representing us, went above and beyond the call of duty (as they always do) and brought us into contact with him and he ended up producing our 2023 EP!

If you could play any festival in the world, which would you choose and why?

Probably Wacken. In our minds, Wacken is currently the most prestigious Heavy Metal festival in Europe (if not the world). Most of our favourite bands have played there and some of them still play there on a regular basis, so being able to say we’ve played there would be a dream come true.

What’s the weirdest gift you have ever received from a fan?

Nothing in particular comes to mind right now. Sorry to disappoint!

If you had one message for your fans, what would it be?

Thank you very much for your love and support, it really helps us keep going strong. Expect more gigs, more songs and more metal from us. We aim to please and we are here to stay!

If you could bring one rock star back from the dead, who would it be?

Unfortunately, there are too many to choose from. However, we’ll go with a less obvious choice and pick Phil Lynott. A great singer, a great songwriter, a great performer… the whole package. The man exuded charisma! 

What do you enjoy the most about being a musician? And what do you hate?

Preparing for a gig (arriving at the venue, setting up our gear, performing a soundcheck etc) kinda sucks. It’s tedious work and it can be both stress inducing and exhausting. On the other hand, actually playing a gig is an absolutely rewarding experience, it’s the best and most fun time a musician can ever have.

If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?

It would be nice if one could earn some more money by being a musician. Playing music is great fun but the sad truth is it pays next to nothing. So, unless you are a relatively big name band, it is virtually impossible to keep up with the cost of being a working musician. 

Name one of your all-time favourite albums?

Just one? You have got to be joking! OK then, let’s go with “Demons and Wizards” by Uriah Heep.

What’s best? Vinyl, Cassettes, CD’s or Downloads?

There is no denying that there is a certain old school charm to vinyl that other formats lack. On the other hand, there is no way one can carry a turntable around to listen to music while commuting to work every day. In other words, “best” is a relative term. The best format is what works best for you!

What’s the best gig that you have played to date?

That would be the gig played at Remedy Club, Athens, December 2nd 2023 which not only was the first gig we played featuring our current lineup, but also our first gig since the start of the Covid pandemic. We were a little stressed out at first, fearing we might have lost “the touch” after being off stage for so long. But it went great, we played better than ever, the audience was amazing… all in all, it felt like a true homecoming! 

If you weren’t a musician, what else would you be doing?

That’s a tough one! If it weren’t for music, we wouldn’t be having this interview right now, would we? We would probably pursue some other endeavour where we would be able to channel our creativity (painting, acting, poetry etc). Honestly, though, we simply cannot think of anything else that could replace music in our lives.

Which five people would you invite to a dinner party?

What an unusual question! Let’s limit ourselves to picking musicians that inspired us to become musicians and are still alive and active today. So, we’d invite Tony Iommi, Richie Blackmore, Rob Halford, Bruce Dickinson and Mick Box over and have them share stories from their long career. Oh, and we’d have Stephen Fry moderate the whole thing, he’s always fun to have around.

What’s next for the band?

We are currently working on our next studio album. Recordings began earlier this month. We will, once again, be working with Bob Katsionis and, if everything goes according to plan, we are aiming for a 2024 late summer/early fall release.

What Social Media / Website links do you use to get your music out to people?

You can find us on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube at the following links

Time for a very British question now. As an alternative to the humble sandwich, is the correct name for a round piece of bread common in the UK either a Bap, a Barm (or Barm Cake), a Batch, a Bun, a Cob, a Muffin, a Roll or a Tea Cake?

This all sounds Greek to us (pun absolutely intended)! We are partial to Cornish pasties and Guinness.

Thank you for your time. Is there anything else that you would like to add?

Thank you for having us. We are Shinigami and we are here to rock your world! Expect to hear from us very soon!