Foray Between Ocean are a newly formed extreme band from Greece, with some of the better players in the scene involved in them. Stylistically somewhere between Death Metal, Post, Black with tinges of gothic magnificence, the band released their highly acclaimed debut “Depression Neverending” only a month ago on Prime Eon Media. Drummer extraordinaire, Kostas Mylonas (also in Paradox, Outloud, Sunburst etc.) answers a few questions after the bands live debut @ this years “New Long Fest”. Hear him out.
Foray between Ocean is debuting with “Depression Neverending” on Prime Eon, (well the album is out in Greece and coming out internationally in a week or two). Give us a few details about the album, the recordings and the release?
K: Our album was released by Prime Eon on June 20th and we are very happy working with this label. Their support in everything we do is amazing and we are planning together many great things for this release and upcoming gigs in the fall so stay tuned. Now about the album, everything started by Themis ‘Fad’ Ioannou left his former band and had a whole bunch of riffs that we used as the foundation for the compositions. The band was built up with each of us joining in overtime and adding little bits to the song and the final result is what you can hear on the album…
Introduce the members of the band and give us a bit of a background on each of them.
K: Everything started 3 years ago by guitarist Themis ‘Fad’ Ioannou (ex-Trendy Hooliguns) and his idea to create a new band with a far more extreme sound than anything he was involved in previously. He contacted vocalist Jon Tousas (Narcosis), originally to be the bassist, but when they jammed and he started singing – just to try out something, the choice was made to turn him into a singer, Then guitarist Dion Christodoulatos ( Sorrowfull Angels) bassist and Ilias Bouzeas (ex-Sorrowful Angels) who were common friends, were brought in, adding a lot of symphonic layers to the whole thing and I [drummer Kostas Milonas (Sunburst-New Day Slave-Paradox-Outloud)] joined in as well as I liked the whole thing. All together we’re responsible for “Depression Neverending” and the way that it ended up sounding, more or less. It’s a full band effort.
How do you identify the bands musical style, a lot of people that I hear heap you with a lot of core bands, but the music hardly is “core-y”. More like multifaceted death metal?
K: That’s a good question and you are correct in saying that the band is more like multifaceted death metal with a symphonic taste and some massive core grooves giving that way a different perspective in the end. I agree, but as long as fans like it, that’s all that matters.
The entire album deals with themes of loss/depression etc., is there no joy in the world of FBO? Why all the negativity?
K: We live in a world full of misery, depression, financial instability, wars and terror, so our songs could hardly be odes to joy. We’re describing the unraveling global mess that we are living in these days… and putting all the negativity in the music as a purge, a catharsis if you will.
How hard is it to be a band starting up, at this day and age and how much are you carrying over from past experiences with former or current bands you people are in?
K: Hhmm. It’s actually really hard to make all of this happen, because as you are getting older, the focus shifts, you get more problems with trying to balance a family and a steady job and mentally of course, you’re less prone to accepting situations that put more strain on you. So you need to somehow strike a working balance between “life”/family/work etc., and at the same time find the time to rehearse, travel around for shows etc. Trying to sync yourself with your band members can also be challenging – sometimes as people can have very different schedules, so it’s not an easy task, but we all do it for the joy it brings to our lives...
Is the internet a boon or a bane?
K: Depends on which way you look at it! For a new band from Greece as we are, it’s great, because people around the world can listen our music, watch our videos and of course buy our album online so that’s worth it. Now business wise, we all know that the music industry and the album sales aren’t booming with all these pirate websites and free downloads and even streaming not paying you a dime… it’s only a matter of making ends meet… but was it ever easy to really “make it”?
Where do you hope to be five years from now and what are your expectations from “Depression Neverending”?
K: Hopefully still doing this, on an international level with another album or two and a few tours under our belts.
Themis is working as a director and a lot of you guys are apt in Graphics arts – has this been a helpful fact? You’ve already posted a few videos, will there be more?
K: Of course this is a very helpful fact. With recession hitting Greece the hardest it’s almost impossible for new bands to pay for everything by themselves, so the fact the Themis can do the videos and all the graphic stuff with John, on a very professional level, helps the band a great deal without compromising the look or feel of our work. It also means that we can do something excaclty as we want, directly without any external influence. I am going to be uploading some studio play through performances and we’re just finishing shooting a new video for “Lost Sky”, which should debut in a few weeks from now.
Which bands and artists inspired you?
K: Some of the bands that have influenced our sound are: Cannibal Corpse, Dying Fetus, Suffocation, Death, Βehemoth, Dimmu Borgir, Black Dahlia Murder, Carnifex, Thy Art Is Murder, Suicidal Silence and many many more...
What are your plans regarding live performances? You’re playing this festival and doing a mini tour, after that is anything more in the cards?
K: Obviously we just played the New Long Fest in Athens, which was a fantastic experience for everyone in the band… as it was our live debut and we got some great feedback. After that we’ll do a mini Greek tour in October and in 2017 we are planning some shows in Europe, possibly as openers in a big tour, but all these things are not done, until the ink is dry on a contract, so we’ll announce something as soon as it’s a done deal and we can. Still you can keep up with us, and see all the upcoming shows in our official website here.
Time for our “weird questions:!!! If you were a god for a week, what would you do?
K: If I was a god I would like to change many things, in order to make this world a better place and retire on the last day to do a world tour with Slipknot, Behemoth and Dimmu Borgir! Not very godlike, eh?!
If you could be anyone else who would you like to be?
K: I would like to be Eddie Murphy cause I’m such a big fan of his and I want to live even for an hour his life…
How would you try to convince an alien race to buy your CD?
K: I would promise them a tour in their galaxy – if they would provide the interstellar transportation!
If your g/f or wife sold your instrument /collection to buy herself an expensive ring how would you react?
K: Next question please! Damn it’s the last one!!
Finish this any way you want!
K: We want to thank you for this interview and we are hope to be on the road asap and meet all our fans from all around the world…
K: Our album was released by Prime Eon on June 20th and we are very happy working with this label. Their support in everything we do is amazing and we are planning together many great things for this release and upcoming gigs in the fall so stay tuned. Now about the album, everything started by Themis ‘Fad’ Ioannou left his former band and had a whole bunch of riffs that we used as the foundation for the compositions. The band was built up with each of us joining in overtime and adding little bits to the song and the final result is what you can hear on the album…
Introduce the members of the band and give us a bit of a background on each of them.
K: Everything started 3 years ago by guitarist Themis ‘Fad’ Ioannou (ex-Trendy Hooliguns) and his idea to create a new band with a far more extreme sound than anything he was involved in previously. He contacted vocalist Jon Tousas (Narcosis), originally to be the bassist, but when they jammed and he started singing – just to try out something, the choice was made to turn him into a singer, Then guitarist Dion Christodoulatos ( Sorrowfull Angels) bassist and Ilias Bouzeas (ex-Sorrowful Angels) who were common friends, were brought in, adding a lot of symphonic layers to the whole thing and I [drummer Kostas Milonas (Sunburst-New Day Slave-Paradox-Outloud)] joined in as well as I liked the whole thing. All together we’re responsible for “Depression Neverending” and the way that it ended up sounding, more or less. It’s a full band effort.
How do you identify the bands musical style, a lot of people that I hear heap you with a lot of core bands, but the music hardly is “core-y”. More like multifaceted death metal?
K: That’s a good question and you are correct in saying that the band is more like multifaceted death metal with a symphonic taste and some massive core grooves giving that way a different perspective in the end. I agree, but as long as fans like it, that’s all that matters.
The entire album deals with themes of loss/depression etc., is there no joy in the world of FBO? Why all the negativity?
K: We live in a world full of misery, depression, financial instability, wars and terror, so our songs could hardly be odes to joy. We’re describing the unraveling global mess that we are living in these days… and putting all the negativity in the music as a purge, a catharsis if you will.
How hard is it to be a band starting up, at this day and age and how much are you carrying over from past experiences with former or current bands you people are in?
K: Hhmm. It’s actually really hard to make all of this happen, because as you are getting older, the focus shifts, you get more problems with trying to balance a family and a steady job and mentally of course, you’re less prone to accepting situations that put more strain on you. So you need to somehow strike a working balance between “life”/family/work etc., and at the same time find the time to rehearse, travel around for shows etc. Trying to sync yourself with your band members can also be challenging – sometimes as people can have very different schedules, so it’s not an easy task, but we all do it for the joy it brings to our lives...
Is the internet a boon or a bane?
K: Depends on which way you look at it! For a new band from Greece as we are, it’s great, because people around the world can listen our music, watch our videos and of course buy our album online so that’s worth it. Now business wise, we all know that the music industry and the album sales aren’t booming with all these pirate websites and free downloads and even streaming not paying you a dime… it’s only a matter of making ends meet… but was it ever easy to really “make it”?
Where do you hope to be five years from now and what are your expectations from “Depression Neverending”?
K: Hopefully still doing this, on an international level with another album or two and a few tours under our belts.
Themis is working as a director and a lot of you guys are apt in Graphics arts – has this been a helpful fact? You’ve already posted a few videos, will there be more?
K: Of course this is a very helpful fact. With recession hitting Greece the hardest it’s almost impossible for new bands to pay for everything by themselves, so the fact the Themis can do the videos and all the graphic stuff with John, on a very professional level, helps the band a great deal without compromising the look or feel of our work. It also means that we can do something excaclty as we want, directly without any external influence. I am going to be uploading some studio play through performances and we’re just finishing shooting a new video for “Lost Sky”, which should debut in a few weeks from now.
Which bands and artists inspired you?
K: Some of the bands that have influenced our sound are: Cannibal Corpse, Dying Fetus, Suffocation, Death, Βehemoth, Dimmu Borgir, Black Dahlia Murder, Carnifex, Thy Art Is Murder, Suicidal Silence and many many more...
What are your plans regarding live performances? You’re playing this festival and doing a mini tour, after that is anything more in the cards?
K: Obviously we just played the New Long Fest in Athens, which was a fantastic experience for everyone in the band… as it was our live debut and we got some great feedback. After that we’ll do a mini Greek tour in October and in 2017 we are planning some shows in Europe, possibly as openers in a big tour, but all these things are not done, until the ink is dry on a contract, so we’ll announce something as soon as it’s a done deal and we can. Still you can keep up with us, and see all the upcoming shows in our official website here.
Time for our “weird questions:!!! If you were a god for a week, what would you do?
K: If I was a god I would like to change many things, in order to make this world a better place and retire on the last day to do a world tour with Slipknot, Behemoth and Dimmu Borgir! Not very godlike, eh?!
If you could be anyone else who would you like to be?
K: I would like to be Eddie Murphy cause I’m such a big fan of his and I want to live even for an hour his life…
How would you try to convince an alien race to buy your CD?
K: I would promise them a tour in their galaxy – if they would provide the interstellar transportation!
If your g/f or wife sold your instrument /collection to buy herself an expensive ring how would you react?
K: Next question please! Damn it’s the last one!!
Finish this any way you want!
K: We want to thank you for this interview and we are hope to be on the road asap and meet all our fans from all around the world…