Interviews: NOIZ RITUAL

On this new occasion, we have had the opportunity to interview the Alternative Rock/Metal band NOIZ RITUAL from Greece. Check out this band and follow them on their FACEBOOK PAGE.

1. Where did you get the idea for the band name, you plan it or come out just like that?

Mantalena: You know how this goes, we were brainstorming really hard to find a cool name, because you always need to have a cool name, and Nick liked the word ritual very very much. One of the ideas was to call ourselves The Nipple Ritual but it kind of fell through because we would risk having people thinking about "other stuff" and not our music. Then our second bass player Elias, who's currently living in Singapore, popped the idea to call us Noise Ritual, but I went into thug life mode and suggested spelling it Noiz instead. Sounds cooler, doesn't it?

2. Why did you want to play this genre?

Nick: We like this kind of music very much, we grew up with it and we felt that it was a good platform to combine different music ideas and styles. It's the kind of genre that is very dynamic and you can easily go from softer ballad vibes to full rage mode. Also, I can find some windows to drop in a solo occasionally.

Giannis: I'm a grunge kid, I love vocalists like Chris Cornell, Layne Staley, and Eddie Vedder. This music is like an evolution of the 90's grunge music and it gives me the opportunity to combine melodic clean vocals with heavier screamy stuff.

3. Did you know each other before the band was formed?

Mantalena: We all kind of knew each other. The story goes like this, Nick was doing mostly studio projects and did not have a live band for some years after he left his previous band Ghost Season, and Ι thought it would be cool to start something together, so we went for a jam and he invited a friend from work, Elias. The jam went very smoothly, so we thought we needed a singer. We both knew Giannis from his other band 4Lt and asked him if he wanted to jam. And he came! Unfortunately, after a while, Elias had to leave Greece and move to Singapore for work, so Nick asked Yul Sada whom he knew from older collaborations to take up the bass. That's about it. We now have two bass players, Elias joins us on stage when he is in Greece and we’re playing a show, he has some weird pedals that make his bass sound like a distorted guitar, and super fun.

4. Each band member's favorite band?

Nick: I don't really know if I have a favorite right now, but I listen to a lot of The Midnight and Don Broco lately. If we are talking about all-time favorites, I'd probably say old Iron Maiden stuff, Pantera, Dream Theater of the Mike Portnoy era, and Breaking Benjamin.

Giannis: Pearl Jam all the way.

Mantalena: Junkheart is up there at the top of my list, you should check them out. I also love listening again and again to Parkway Drive, Gojira, Rage Against the Machine, Bullet for My Valentine, and Blink 182. Yul

Sada: I'm more into old technical thrash stuff, Sepultura, Coroner, you know. I also dig 2000s nu metal, Sevendust, Deftones, Slipknot, Korn, Mudvayne.

5. Who or what inspires you to write songs?

Nick: Inspiration is a tricky thing, sometimes your ear catches something, and then your brain processes it for some time, so later a variation of this idea might pop into your head and you don't really remember where it came from. Other times a simple beat, a misheard lyric, or maybe a tune from the TV you listened to while cleaning the house can spark your imagination and get the creative juices flowing. Sometimes an idea might come after jamming for hours, or by playing a riff wrong and thinking you actually like it better this way. I love happy accidents, it makes writing music so much more fun.

Mantalena: I'm more like Ts ts ts ka ts ts pa do do pa do do psssss! See? Writing drums is so much simpler!

6. Where was your last gig?

Mantalena: At a friend's wedding party! I was the maid of honor, and it was more like a concert than a wedding party because the bride and the groom played also with their bands and it was tons of fun!

7. Where would you like to act?

Giannis: There are so many great stages around the world that we would like to perform, I guess that Hellfest is a very big but distant dream, but it never hurts anyone to dream, right?

8. Whom would you like to feature with?

Nick: It's really hard to choose, there are so many amazing artists out there! I would love to hear a solo by Nick Johnston or Jack Gardiner in one of our songs, but at the same time I don't, because that would mean that I would have to learn to play like that to perform it live.

Giannis: Eddie Vedder. Please make me pregnant. I want your children.

9. Whom not?

Yul Sada: We don’t like trap music. So yeah, no trap artists for us. No thanks.

10. Have any of you ever suffered from stage fright? Any tips for beginners on how to beat that?

Nick: Playing shows in different stages under weird and mysterious circumstances can be hard, you always have some sort of anxiety or nerves before playing, it happens to everybody. The best thing to think is what I heard Nick Johnston say once: if you make a mistake you won't die, life goes on.

Mantalena: So you go up there and you play, and have fun, even if you don't play perfectly. What's the point otherwise.

Giannis: A couple of beers could help too!

11. What bands have inspired you the most?

Yul Sada: I think I'm speaking for everybody here, Deftones, Limp Bizkit, Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, Alice in Chains, Three Days Grace, Nirvana, Linkin Park, Bring Me The Horizon, Breaking Benjamin, and in general bands from the grunge music scene of the 90s and its permutations, the 00s post-grunge, alternative metal and nu metal stuff and generally all groove metal stuff.

12. What's the weirdest thing a fan has ever asked you for?

Nick: This is a story from my previous band, we were playing a show in the UK, and one guy asked if I wanted to trade one of our t-shirts for his own. He wasn't from another band wanting to trade merch, nope, he wanted to trade me the sweaty t-shirt he was wearing so that he wouldn't have to spend money buying merch. I thought it was so weird and funny at the same time.

13. What do you think of your fans?

Mantalena: They crazy bastards sure know how to make noiz!!! I really like the fact that people who come to see us always have a great energy and vibe, we really have fun on and off stage. Yul: The best thing is when people who have never seen us before become fans instantly. I love their reaction to the bubble tricks that Giannis does!

14. What do you think of our site?

Nick: It's awesome, I like how it has diversity! You can find a wide variety of new interesting bands while doom-scrolling on your page. Keep spreading the good music!

15. Something to add?

Giannis: Thank you so much for having this lovely chat! I'd like to say that we have a new EP coming out soon, so keep an eye out, the first single will drop in a month!

Mantalena: It was a pleasure, thank you for having us Nick: And remember to embrace the Noiz Yul: And join the Ritual!