Hails Marianna, how are you? and welcome to Arsenal Del Metalero, can you tell how started your band: Project Renegade?
Hello to you too and thank you very much for this opportunity! Project Renegade started as a duo project by our drummer Ody and myself back in 2014. We wanted to make heavy music and to write music that we liked 100%. Since we’ve known each for over a decade now we’ve had a pretty clear view of what we wanted to create, how we wanted to sound and what we wanted to express. After having some difficulties with line-up changes at the beginning, we found Tasos (guitar) and Makis (bass) to complete our line-up. Our main incentive is to express ourselves without limitations and without being victims of stereotypes and trends that we see ruling the music scene.
Recording and producing “Cerebra” was a very rewarding and exciting procedure. Seeing original music take its form in the studio is like giving birth, we were not really sure what to expect and how it would turn out. We actually entered the studio with the intention to write a demo just to have a means to book some live shows. After recording drums though we were left with no line-up and Ody and I decided to do a full production in order to find other musicians to complete the band and because in the end we wanted to represent our music in the best possible way. We learnt a lot through the whole experience and I believe it was the right move to introduce ourselves to the outside world and to have some knowledge of the whole process before writing our first full-length album. The recording and mixing took place at Matrix Recording Studio Athens with the help of Dimitris Misirlis and the mastering was done by George Bokos (ex-Rotting Christ, Stone Cols Dead) at Grindhouse Studios Athens. Regarding the lyrics of “Cerebra”, I would say that they have an introverted direction, meaning that they are a depiction of my personal feelings. However, you won’t find generic love songs in there. I would say the lyrics are more socially driven. For example, in “Pressure” I have expressed my thoughts about what it is to be a young person living in my country, with all the hopes and dreams that anybody in my position can have, how much psychological effort it takes to survive in a reality that gives you no solution as to how to move on and built your life and how that reality affects you and your relationships. So the lyrics are inspired by a personal point of view of the world but I believe that they can easily be applied to anyone and have an all-inclusive character.
Thank you very much! Well up until now we’ve been called many things. Gothic metal, nu metal, groove metal, symphonic, progressive etc. I believe that if you ask any member of Project Renegade what type of music we play, we will simply answer “heavy music”. I know that it is a convenience to have everything tacked away in boxes and under labels in our minds, but our music and music in general is not here to convenience anyone. Our music reflects who we are as people and therefore it has many aspects because we as personalities have many aspects. There are heavy guitars, riffs and groove in what we play, melodies and dynamics, electronic sounds, big orchestrations and weird synths and I hope that there will be even more elements in the future. We don’t have limitations when we write music. We just do what we like and if we are satisfied with the outcome then that’s a song. For example we may combine an orchestra, an electro-loop and a g-funk whistle and if we like it we will use it. Since the alternative metal genre is more of a melting pot kinda term, I guess it would not be wrong to use for those who insist on labels.
We are currently at the pre-production stage of our full-length album, which we expect to start recording late 2017/early 2018. There is a lot of material and an evolution in our style and music, which we are eager to record. The name of the band is the result of two different things. “Project” is because as I mentioned before it was just me and Ody who started the whole thing, it was like a project before it actually took the form of a band. “Renegade” because we didn’t want to do what was the trend in our music scene, because we do things our own way, because we decided not to follow the general way of living, thinking and behaving and because we want to put a distance between our band and what’s expected. “Cerebra” was actually Ody’s idea. We were talking about the inspiration behind the lyrics and the music of our EP and how each song is connected to a different emotion. We were having a conversation about that and because Ody has studied some neuroscience stuff at the university was explaining to me how each emotion is triggered by different parts of our brain and that in the end it’s a “cerebral matter”. So you know inspiration hit, maybe he was also watching some X-Men cause he is a big superhero fun and there you have it! Also we depicted that whole idea on our artwork by connecting each song with the area of the brain that triggers the corresponding emotion. You can see that on the back of our CD! The logo of our band was made with nothing more than the thought that we wanted something computer-like, or code-like. So our graphic designer came up with several ideas and in the end we chose the one you see now. I would not say that it is inspired by Linkin Park but more from the Matrix trilogy. Of course we really like Linkin Park and they are one of our biggest influences. We really appreciate how they revolutionized the sound and brought heavy music in the mainstream audience and we are huge funs of the whole nu metal scene. When we heard about Chester Bennington’s death we were all together cause we had a rehearsal and we were all speechless. At first we hoped it was a hoax but as the media kept confirming the news we were really sad and couldn’t believe it. Even the next days we were depressed, shocked and dumb-founded. To lose such an inspiration and a talented musician is always something that makes you reconsider your life and choices. And of course it makes obvious that musicians are also human and go through their own difficulties. Depression, bullying, criticism, personal tragedies, everything can affect people in different ways. It is very easy to judge behind a keyboard and shoot hate at people. If only we spend that time trying to connect with each other and help those in need. In no way suicide is the answer and every time someone feels that way I beg him or her to seek help and to find someone to talk to!
The video was made by the team of The MÉTA Project, who directed and produced it. We had a lot of fun shooting the video and I believe that it will be an experience we will never forget since we haven’t done something like that before. We had a real connection with the crew behind the cameras so everything went really well and we are eager to do that again!
We are currently discussing about future shows, I don’t think about a tour but for separate gigs cause we are really invested in the upcoming album.
I would like to thank you for the interview and to thank all the people and fans who support us and are eager and open-minded to check our music! You are the motivation behind all this and we want to really know you and share thoughts and dreams with you!
To know more about Project Renegade:
https://www.facebook.com/prenband/
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