EMQs With Zivanished
EMQ’s With Zivanished
06/08/2024
What is your name, what do you play and can you tell us a little bit about the history of the band?
Hello there! I’m Miguel, I play bass and do backing vocals (if that’s what we can call it) for Zivanished!
The band was formed by Louis (guitar, load vocals) and Constantinos (drums, backing vocals) Syrimis. The idea was to take metal music and play it with local Cypriot dialect Greek. The songs ‘Sto Xorkon’ (“In the Village”) was first uploaded to YouTube in 2009, and ‘O Kafkas’ (“The Fight”) in 2011 with topics and themes relating to Cypriot life.
I could be wrong, but there’s a good chance we were the first people to think of doing a metal song in Cypriot dialect and then actually recording and uploading it, and I think that’s important; it’s a pretty key feature of us and our sound.
The two songs got a fair bit of traction online, and the band booked its first ever live show in 2011. After a few lineup changes, I joined in 2015, and we’ve been writing and recording new songs ever since, about themes varying from the typical (“I Ttoumpa Tou Kourkoujellou” which is about some idiot buying a flash car and crashing it immediately because he wanted to impress a girl he saw in the road) to the bizarre/horror theme (“To Vouttiman”, about a guy making the traditional Cypriot soujoukko sweet, usually made by dipping walnuts or almonds on a thread into boiling grape juice, but in this case replacing the nuts with a person they want to execute) to the quite real (“O Ios Tis Poutanas”, about the Covid-19 pandemic and how it basically messed up everyone’s lives). We also take rather a dim view of the Cyprus Orthodox Church as an organization, and many of our songs are not-at-all veiled attacks on them and their corruption (both financial and spiritual) and insulting their choice of jacuzzis and luxury cars. I don’t know what the people who built the stone circles listened to, but they’d probably be surprised to hear us.
We veer between music and comedy, and I like to think that we make a successful blend of the two.
We also have another band called Infected Syren, which is a more typical horror-themed punk/hardcore mix of genres, along with a second guitarist. Zivanished was for quite a while just a side project, but it’s kind of taken on a life of its own now!
How did you come up with your band name?
Zivania is Cypriot a spirit made of the distilled leftovers of pressed grapes. It’s usually sold at in shops at around 45% alcohol, but some ‘home-made’ varieties can go much higher.
Drinking too much of the stuff will cause you to black out, or ‘vanish’. A ‘zivania-vanish’ if you will, ergo, Zivanished. This name made its appearance in 2014 and has been here since.
What Country / Region are you from and what is the Metal / Rock scene like there?
We are from Cyprus, but we all lived in the UK for a significant period of time. The metal scene here has produced a fair few notable bands with some international reach, so it’s a rich ground and there are new bands coming up all the time. We are very excited to see how it develops in the future!
What is your latest release?
Our latest release is our EP titled “Sex, Via, Zivania” (Sex, Violence & Zivania).
Who have been your greatest influences?
Our influences are strongly metal-influenced, with some d-beat punk, crust, and grindcore vibes creeping in there. We throw a hefty dose of comedy into the mix, with many jokes and joke songs. Think bands like the typical Slayer, earlier Metallica type vibe with a good amount of Gutalax, Immortal, and Anal Cunt thrown in and you’ll start to get the picture. Each of us are into slightly different types of music, which makes a cool combination. I have also recently gotten extremely into Clown Core, and I’m not sure anyone can even define what kind of music they are (throw jazz, grindcore, dubstep, and lounge music into a blender and you’re off to a start) but they are definitely the most talented musicians I’ve seen live. They are also absolutely hilarious and have mastered the comedy aspect as well as being absolutely world-class musicians.
What first got you into music?
Personally, it was my sister’s mate in school who lent me two albums, Fear of the Dark and Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, by Iron Maiden. I was like, 13 or something. As soon as I heard Moonchild for the first time, I was like ‘ok, that’s it, I want to play bass and I want to play metal’. It was pretty cool because it made me want to get into music, so I saved up my pennies and bought a crappy bass and an amp and proceeded to beat the crap out of it for hours at a time. I then caught wind of Stratovarius and some other power metal bands, and their virtuosity and inventiveness made me want to actually get serious about music, enough so that I ended up doing a degree in it at university in the UK. On the way I got into all sorts, like the typical Metallica/Slayer/US metal type stuff, then Dream Theater, which led to Opeth, which led to Emperor, which led to ever crazier and darker stuff, until we get to Clown Core and I think that’s some sort of end point, because I’m not sure where we go from there. I can’t wait to see, though. I love discovering new stuff.
If you could collaborate with a current band or musician who would it be?
Semi-locally, there’s an excellent Greek band called Anorimoi (or ‘Immature’ in Greek) who do a great job of blending comedy and metal together, we’d love to play with them sometime.
As for more internationally, I think we’d vibe very well with a band like Rammstein. If they let us use pyros on their set, I’ve got some cool ideas of what to do with them. We’d also vibe well with Gutalax, our humour is similarly stupid, if marginally less toilet-based.
If you could play any festival in the world, which would you choose and why?
Probably Brutal Assault or something like that. A festival on the more extreme side of things. I’d want to vibe with bands who are not too dissimilar from us, with crowds who wouldn’t care that they can’t understand what we’re actually saying, hell, even most Greek people struggle to understand what we’re saying.
What’s the weirdest gift you have ever received from a fan?
Soap. A set of handmade, lovingly crafted artisan soaps, made with natural ingredients specific to the band’s theme. It even has zivania in it, which from what I knew about soap until very recently was not even possible. A thoughtful, wonderful gift, and much appreciated, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard of another band ever having gotten something like that.
If you had one message for your fans, what would it be?
If you’re reading this, and don’t speak/understand Cypriot or even Greek, I just want to say a massive thank you for giving us a chance and checking us out. Despite the song themes occasionally being exceedingly dumb, a lot of hard work goes into writing, recording, and rehearsing them. On stage we give 100%, nothing exhausts me quite like a Zivanished show but at the same time, few things are as rewarding.
If you could bring one rock star back from the dead, who would it be?
Oh man, I could make up an entire festival lineup just of people who died, who I’d like to bring back. But as a bass player I just have to say Cliff Burton. He was cut down before he even reached his prime, and it’s upsetting to even think about what could have been. Criss Oliva and Randy Rhoades are another two who were taken from us far too soon, in easily avoidable circumstances.
What do you enjoy the most about being a musician? And what do you hate?
Communicating. Playing live makes a huge connection between the band and the crowd, and when it really happens right, it’s indescribable. A lot of our songs are, in between the dumb jokes and crass wordplay, an expression of frustration and anger at so many things in society, both here and around the world, that need changing and seeing people get so far into it is really rewarding and special. We don’t play music because we just want to – it’s a fundamental need, like one needs oxygen or water. It’s a compulsion.
What I hate… well, see below.
If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?
I mean… where to start…
The past is gone, that’s for sure. The technology that allows us to listen to music from all over the world on demand, which allows us to distribute our music to everyone in the world, is also what undercuts how much artists get paid for it. When you write a great song and it takes off and you get a few million views or plays on various streaming platforms, the payoff is completely laughable, whereas the companies who do the streaming profit nicely from it. Artists are simultaneously the most important and the most expendable parts of the equation.
Now with AI coming in as well, who knows maybe artists will just get lazy and get AI to generate their music. Maybe shops, venues and so forth will stop paying performing rights and just pipe AI-generated music everywhere, cutting out yet another revenue stream, however small, for artists. Yet music is a human necessity, and human basic need, and if people accept listening to some soul-less algorithm creating sounds with no actual feeling or emotion behind it, we’re in real trouble. Only live performances will really be impossible to replicate, and what will keep musicians alive and active. If artists can’t make a living, then all the passion in the world will eventually not be enough.
And of course promoters and venues have caught on to this, and are demanding a cut of merch sales, which is… look, I get it, they’re businesses as well and have staff to pay and overheads to cover and whatnot, but it just feels like an additional kick in the teeth to have to fork over a cut of merch they paid nothing for, which is why many bands are just not selling merch at the venue and do a dodgy ‘meet us outside’ thing or just purely living off online sales. Jack Gibson of Exodus recently said that he feels like a glorified t-shirt salesman, and he’s kind of right, to an extent. When merch sales become the biggest income for a band, you know things are messed up. With travelling, touring, everything being so expensive, overheads are through the roof and have to be made up somehow.
I just wish the music was the most important thing, like it used to be, but now we sell stickers and mugs. So it goes.
Name one of your all-time favourite albums?
A. How do I even narrow it down… off the top of my head, top 5, which may well change tomorrow:
1. Iron Maiden – Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
2. Emperor – In The Nightside Eclipse
3. Alhambra – Sigfried
4. Stratovarius – Elements Pt. 1
5. Rotting Christ – Kata Ton Daimona Eaftou
What’s best? Vinyl, Cassettes, CD’s or Downloads?
“Best” in what sense? When it comes to the overall combination of sound quality, convenience, and durability, I think CD is probably the best. It’s the only truly ‘immortal’ medium – vinyl might be as well, but is quite finnicky and while it has arguably better sound quality, it’s just not that practical or portable. But CDs will literally last forever if not physically damaged. Cassettes decay over time and need to be cared for, and downloads, well… one fried hard drive and that’s it. Plus with streaming, artists can have their songs taken down or deleted at any time.
What’s the best gig that you have played to date?
Honestly, the last one. We played in Limassol here last month, and it just seems every show we play is more intense, heavier, louder and more in your face. The crowds get more fanatical about what we do, and Zivanished has established itself as one of the best live shows amongst metal bands here, which is saying something.
If you weren’t a musician, what else would you be doing?
I’m a musician and I also have a ‘regular’ day job as a solicitor. I worked as a professional musician, briefly, until I just decided that I hated the idea of playing in cover bands, and as for weddings/events like that? No way. Teaching didn’t appeal to me and I lack the patience. I wanted to keep music ‘pure’, in a sense. It’s basically impossible to make a decent living from just playing metal, anymore, especially with just one band.
Louis is a full-time musician and producer, and handles all of our recordings as well as work for other artists at his Syren Blast studios here in Cyprus. Check out his work!
Constantinos works as an animator, putting out some pretty sick work, and also designed our logo, our tshirts, and the creation of our music videos from an artistic point!
Which five people would you invite to a dinner party?
Ozzy, Jens Johansson (Stratovarius keyboardist), Lord Phillips (former UK Supreme Court judge), Werner Herzog (film director), and Chef Zhan of the Taste Show YouTube channel to cook for us.
What’s next for the band?
We’re starting to reach out beyond the shores of our island, we already have many listeners from non-Greek speaking countries all over the world according to Spotify, and we had a very successful festival appearance in Romania. Playing outside Cyprus and trying to make a greater mark is the next phase of our plan for world domination!
What Social Media / Website links do you use to get your music out to people?
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?
Why would any person of sound mind call it a tea cake? There’s no tea involved in any stage of the production process! Nobody in their right mind would consider it a cake. Imagine rolling up to a five year old’s birthday party with one of those and some candles planted in it. The child would be mortified. Do you dunk it in tea? Or is it because people eat it as part of the meal that some people refer to as ‘tea’ which never made any sense to me, just like the rules of cricket. What the hell is going on? What’s the etymology of this? And as for a muffin… imagine going to a café and ordering a muffin and they bring you that. Personally I’d be outraged. A cob? Isn’t that for corn? A batch of what? What is a barm and again with the cake that isn’t a cake! What madness is this??
Calling it anything other than a roll or a bun is quite frankly insane. A bap is just about acceptable.
Thank you for your time. Is there anything else that you would like to add?
Thanks for having us! Come check us out if you’re ever near where we’re playing, come visit Cyprus to enjoy some good weather, great food, and of course zivania. You’ll get the full experience! Thanks for reading, thanks for listening, and hopefully see you on the road!
Disclaimer: This interview is solely the property of Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
