I first saw My Turn in Jack’s studio. They were recording
their demo (Noble Intentions) and I was enjoying my last day from a romantic
trip to Greece. The romance is gone, but
My Turn isn’t. I am happy to say that I
finally managed to see them play live after 2 years at Fluff fest and in Prague
and it was even better than I expected!
They are even cooler because they accepted to answer some questions for
us. Here it goes.
1. First of all, thanks
a lot for taking some time for this interview. We know how busy you guys are!
Tell us a little about your band, a short history and about the music.
Nikos: Actually I am the less busy one
cause I don’t have a job like the others, although I study at the
university. My Turn were formed during
the summer of 2010, with Fotis on guitar, Markos on drums and Apostolis on the
mic, spent some time rehearsing with no bass player and then Sergios joined in.
There was a change on the line-up during 2011 with Drosos taking the place of
Sergios on bass. And on spring of 2012 I joined My Turn as the bassist, which
was like a small personal achievement, cause I’ve listened to these guys from
the very beginning and I’ve been to many of their shows, and I was also a close
friend of them. My Turn from the start wanted to write sincere aggressive music
with honest and touching lyrics about personal and socio-political stuff as
well. We strongly believe that hardcore/punk is more than music, no matter how
cliché this phrase is.
Apostolis: Hey, first of all thanks for your endless
support. We appreciate it more than you could ever imagine. I think that Nikos
pretty much covered everything, concerning the band history, with his answer.
My Turn was something that we were all searching for and we are very proud of
being a part of this. Keep this in mind; we are here to stay.
2. You’re playing
positive hardcore punk when we’re living in the “dark ages” of hardcore –
negative hardcore, upside down crosses, pissed up youth, slow melodic music,
fancy riffs and all. How do you feel about this?
Fotis: I have no problem listening to
negative stuff as well, at home I am always playing a lot of nasty stuff
(especially black metal and dark hardcore). However, for us as a band it comes
more naturally to create something positive and uplifiting, albeit fast and
aggressive. It’s just who we are and how we roll in life. In hard times you can
join the dark force or try to resist the “ice age”. We are definitely having it
rough if you know about the state of our country, but we still choose to deliver
a positive message through an intense medium.
Nikos: Yes, it seems that these years the
hype in hardcore is negative dark hardcore and all the stuff you mentioned. I
personally have no problem with that side of hardcore. I have a problem with
anything in hardcore that is happening cause of fashion and mainstream-ism (I
love –isms!!). If someone does her thing out of sincerity and love for it, then
I am completely supporting any style of hardcore/punk. The thing is that punk
and hardcore are always evolving and the roots are sometimes too hidden to see
them, but that does not mean that every band has to play the same way bands
played during the 80’s or the 90’s, and that’s the beautiful thing about it. It
differs from place to place and from band to band, and that’s awesome! I feel
that positive energy, outlook, thinking, whatever you name it, is an important
fact of my life, cause it’s something that drives me to do positive things.
This does not mean that we don’t have our negative attitudes or that we are
always positive about everything. We are just normal, trying to focus on the
positive sides of the fucked-up shit that happen around us, cause you really
can’t make up with a good solution if you’re always thinking about the bad
things.
Apostolis: Positive hardcore / punk is mainly
our thing, but I don’t know why everyone treats us like we are a ‘happy’,
ultra-positive band. First and foremost we are a hardcore / punk band and we
have had enough with separatism and elitism in the past. The hardcore / punk
scene should be united no matter the music style or the aesthetics. We have
shared the stage with bands varying from nihilistic punk to post-hardcore and
we definitely don’t want to exclude someone because of his music preferences or
the clothing, as far as we agree values-wise. As anyone can notice the dark
hardcore imagery with the inverted crosses and the darkish atmosphere is the
thing nowadays. In my opinion, if it’s heartfelt it’s not bad at all. If it’s
done with the intention to be trend-approved, it’s bullshit. The hardcore kids
can recognize the difference and they do not need any hardcore messiahs to
follow. Death to false hardcore, haha! Concerning My Turn, we believe that
spreading out positive messages to a pessimistic scene is something we are
destined to do. Everything around us is ‘dark’, the hardcore scene should give
answers and solutions and not just moan about all the bad things around. We are
down to earth, though, when something or someone pisses us off, we take no
prisoners.
3. All of you are
Straight Edge. Tell us why you are sxe and how does this work for you in a
scene where alcohol and recreational drugs rule?
Apostolis: I am straight edge for almost a
decade. For me it started as a personal choice and then it transferred into a
social / political statement. Drugs and alcohol are widely accepted in the punk
/ hardcore scene and that’s a huge problem in my opinion. I strongly believe
that hardcore / punk is miles away from being just another music style. It has
its own values, its own principles and its own culture. Why should we adopt all
the bad habits of modern society while we could create a strong sub-culture and
spread out our own ideas? Hardcore / punk without politics is nothing at all.
It’s another music style like r’ n ’b and techno. And straight edge is about
politics. Drugs and alcohol are used to manipulate the masses, to close our
eyes and push us to fall asleep in front of the state’s invasion to the
society. Why do we have to pollute punk with them? And obviously I’m not
talking about ‘purity’ or political correctness… On the other side, anyone is
free to use (or even harm) his own body the way he wants. Consequently, I’m
opposed to any prohibition by the state. But there’s a boiling point when a
personal choice could harm other people and then we have to react. People
should educate their selves and stop doing things that harm the whole humanity.
Straight edge without self-education is nothing for me. Following blindly the
straight edge beliefs is silly! I always laugh when I listen to edge people
discussing whether they should drink coffee / tea or not. Get a fucking life.
Last but not least, straight edge is a tolerant movement that is very connected
to the anti-authoritarian ideology, so watching Nazis infiltrating this scene
is totally dramatic.
Fotis: I guess that each one of us is edge
for his own particular reasons, for me it works very well, especially after
having a messy past with substance abuse etc. Straight edge is great if you
want to know what you’re doing, be present in the moment and be fully
responsible for your actions. But that’s something most people want to avoid..
And yes, there is pressure to drink, smoke, party, fuck around etc, but it’s
just something that I learned to live without. I am so happy to have embraced
this straight edge lifestyle, for me it’s like… “I made my choice”. I can’t
take blame or care about the actions of those who waste their lives getting
constantly drugged.
Nikos: I’ve been Straight Edge for 5 and a
half years now. I was never really into alcohol, I’ve tried it sometimes but it
never gave me anything good to cling to it. I was into punk rock and hardcore
punk and all started when I heard about Straight Edge through Minor Threat and
Youth Of Today, realizing that this was exactly what I wanted to be and do.
Sometimes it feels weird in this scene where alcohol and drugs rule, but it’s
so much better than the 80’s now, and there is more awareness about the
straight edge issue by people who are not, and that’s kinda cool. The place
where we feel more outcast is the mainstream society, where alcohol and drug
culture rules and through this, the state manipulates and control the masses.
That’s why I see straight edge and the whole sobriety thing as fully
revolutionary and radical ideas, which did not appear at the 80’s but existed
for years in the anarchist struggle and theories through the history.
4. On your album
“Athens” you have the song “Orange juice and punk rock”. How do you feel about
sxe being a strong mean of fighting capitalism, while for some, Coca Cola,
Starbucks, Nike and Ray Ban are very accepted in the hardcore scene around Europe?
Fotis: You are very right to point this
out. Unfortunately we all fall victims of this brand consumerism. We all fill
our emotional void through buying brands (it might not be Coke but a cool skate
brand or a new hardcore label). It’s a personal effort to try and eliminate
some of these products from our lives, and each person is doing as much as they
can I guess. Some just give in and become “brand whores”, some others take it
to far extremes and end up making a parody of themselves by spending more to be
more underground. Organic vegan no-brand clothing can be another form of
capitalism, you know.
Apostolis: Straight edge clowns are everywhere
in the worldwide hardcore scene. You know, those guys and girls that believe
that being straight edge means you have to wear a youth crew hoodie, Nike
air-max and eat pizzas in front of a gorilla graffiti, while discussing about
that lost green vinyl limited to 5 copies of the first test press of the Chain
Of Strength record. It’s totally
pathetic. Straight edge is MORE than this. Straight edge stands against
capitalism, against exploitation and against the new world order. Straight edge
is a political choice first and foremost. I drink Coca-Cola and I occasionally
enjoy a Starbucks coffee, even though I’m trying to avoid them… Nobody’s
perfect. Capitalism has created a lot of mind traps that need an endless fight
to not fall into them. We have to be aware, we have to have our eyes and minds
wide open and fight fire with fire. ‘Orange juice and punk rock’ is without
doubt our most ‘offensive’ song till now (since ‘Fuck You Very Much’ has not
been recorded yet!). It’s an open verbal assault to all those punks that think
that punk is getting too drunk to fuck. It’s a verbal assault to all the
preachers that try to impose to us the ‘right’ thing to do, while a couple of
minutes later they openly support the multi-national companies of tobacco and
alcohol. It’s a fuck off to all that well-established society of punk /
hardcore pioneers that only care about getting stoned and getting laid.
Nikos: Straight edge started as a rebellion
against the alcohol and drug culture that had interfered and was and still is a
huge part of the underground punk/hardcore scene. From then on, straight edge
has been expanded into different directions, there are those who see the
political aspect of it and its strong radicalism and there are others who see
it as another hardcore fashion, a way to show off and a useless macho thing. It
is a strong mean of fighting not only capitalism but the whole system that
wants people to be unaware of their everyday reality. In my point of view,
straight edge goes further that any scene’s borders and has its roots in the
radical sobriety, the idea of being sober and aware of what you think and do,
and of course be in touch with reality. Supporting those multi-million
companies and the whole capitalist system is sadly accepted by the hardcore scene,
although I think that living in a city in this world, supporting capitalism is
unavoidable, except if you remove yourself from society. Anyway that’s another
story. The main thing is that the hardcore/punk scene should be fashion-free
and it is time to be a real threat again to capitalism and to the state.
5. Tell us more about
the lyrics, please!
Nikos: Apostolis who wrote the lyrics can
say everything about them. I am gonna say one thing only. Straight edge is
punk.
Apostolis: The lyrics mostly deal with everyday
life of the metropolis of Athens with its ups and downs. They are stories
filtered by emotions, nothing more and nothing less. Friendship, personal relationships,
the hardcore scene, the straight edge, animal rights and even spirituality are
topics covered lyric-wise in ‘Athens’. This time we decided not to include
lyric explanations in the insert of the record. We want people to read a story
and make it their own. It’s great that we get such a positive feedback
concerning the issues we deal with as a band. Some of the lyrics may sound
pessimistic but there’s always a happy ending if you read carefully. We need to
give a positive outlook to the world and even though Athens city is like a huge
beast striving to absorb all our feelings and our creativity, we try not to
stop fighting.
6. Let’s talk a little
about veganism. For me, going vegan is one of the most important things i did.
Some of you are vegan, some vegetarian. Tell us a little about this.
Nikos: I went vegetarian almost 4 years ago,
and 2 years ago I turned vegan, cause I realized vegetarianism was simply not
enough for me. It is one of the most important decisions I’ve made in my life,
with straight edge and punk/hardcore being the other 2 most important things.
The way I see it, veg(eteri)anism is not a dietary choice, it is a political
statement. It is the compassionate idea of respecting every life on this
planet. It is the rejection of speciesism, the thinking that the human species
are superior to the other species, and because of that superiority, humans have
the right to oppress and use the other animals and nature as resources, food,
clothing, whatever. I totally connect it to the whole total liberation issue. I
strongly believe that as long as other species and nature are being treated
that way by humans, we as well can never be really free. Some people think that
veg(etari)ans are elitist groups of people, not giving a fuck about the
exploitation of humans, just caring for the animals they love so much, and
that’s not totally wrong. There are lots of vegans that live in their little
vegan world, deep in apathy about the other ways the system exploit
humans/animals/earth and that’s really sad. But that’s just one more thing that
capitalism tries to have like its own, having the consumers go on with the
products they love, be it vegan or not, and that’s not gonna solve anything for
us, the animals and the planet we live in. Only the total opposition to this
system of exploitation can bring us the solutions we dream of. And that can be
achieved in a lot of ways, including some illegal actions. I am gonna end now
cause I could go on for hours talking about that subject.
Fotis: I was personally vegetarian for 6-7
years and switched to vegan about 2 years ago. This has been one of the most
life-changing (or should I say life-affirming) choices for me. Being vegan is
good for the body, the soul, the animals, the environment… everybody wins. It
is a radical change to take in one’s life for sure. It is very different from
vegetarianism because you have to be so much more careful of what you can and
cannot eat. Forget about all the cakes, sweets, pies and other crap that
contain milk, butter or eggs. When I think about the animals that spend their
whole lives rotting in cages only to produce dairy/eggs and finally become meat
on a plate… it all makes sense to make the change, it’s all the awareness I
need in order to be vegan and never look back.
Apostolis: I am vegetarian since mid 2003. It’s a lifelong
decision I made at the age of 20-21, being an omnivore till then. Like straight
edge, vegetarianism for me, besides being a personal choice, has to do with my
socio-political overview. I believe in equality between all the living species.
I strongly oppose the widespread public opinion that humyn is the emperor of
this planet and has the right to oppress, imprison and kill the rest of the
species. I know that in many aspects of this life, even the non-meat eaters
suppress animals in many ways, be it our clothes or our way of life. Roads for example
have destroyed the nature and a lot of its life. Companies and factories
producing non-meat included products, still destroy at a lower level the animal
and natural life, by using energy, oil and other means of the so-called
civilization. Unfortunately, these are thing we can hardly avoid as long as
capitalism exists. Vegetarianism or veganism without politics is another trend
along with the inverted crosses and the dark imagery we talked about before.
And when these movements adopt the elitist attitude, they definitely suck.
Animal liberation goes hand in hand with humyn liberation and we should never
forget about this.
7. We know that Fotis
just opened a vegan shop in Athens, Bamboo Vegan. Can you tell us a little
about it? How do you keep your prices low while supermarkets are everywhere
having smaller prices and bigger influence?
Nikos: Fotis will answer that question. I
am just gonna say that it’s a great vegan shop with awesome food and other
products and should be supported by everyone.
Fotis: Well since I was small I always
dreamed to run my own shop, so I could be myself and not care about bosses etc,
and of course provide a kind of service I would be proud of. As veganism grew
really important for me and my girlfriend, we decided to go onboard and do it
full time. As for the second part of the
question, it is impossible to keep the same prices with super markets. The
reason is that they buy thousands of items per time and therefore get crazy
discounts from the manufacturers, so it’s impossible to beat super market
prices. However, as a small shop we try to stock and sell good products from
small companies that can’t be found at super market shelves, so that provides a
good alternative for people. And then
it’s also up to each person if he/she wants to buy local or just support the
big corporations.
8. You guys toured this summer. You played with
Vitamin X in Croatia (right?), played Fluff fest and the PreFluff in Czech. How
was this tour for all of you?
Apostolis: This was actually our first tour. We
did some weekend mini tours in Germany, Italy and Bulgaria in the past, but
this was the first time we, as a band, rented a van, loaded it with backline,
merchandise and a couple of friends and headed to explore new territories.
Playing all these great shows with a lot of well-established bands from Europe
and USA, was a lifetime experience for us. We will never forget the memories
and all the amazing people that showed their support to us, by setting up a
show, sharing the stage, cooking or offering us their floor to sleep. Hardcore
is about solidarity and this tour proved this statement true. We love playing
shows and that’s why we have hit the stage almost 60 times in our 2-year show
experience, and we can’t wait to head for more & more tours. There are a
lot of unknown seas we have to sail in.
Nikos: This tour was like a dream that came
true. I’ve toured before with my other band, but not for 10 days. It was a
unique experience, meeting all these great people at places we’ve never been
before. All the shows were pretty awesome and we shared the stage with some of
the best European and US hardcore bands nowadays, including Vitamin X, Nine
Eleven, Coke Bust, Anchor, Hunger, Unveil, and many many more. The Sick As We
Are is a great festival and everyone in Europe should consider it giving that
fest a chance next year, it takes place at a beautiful area near a river. Fluff
was a thrilling experience. All these kids who traveled from all over Europe,
the distros and of course the delicious vegan food. We made new friends, met
with older ones, and saw all these great bands delivering spirit on their
30-minutes of life, as I like to call a hardcore show. Being on the road for 10
days was really awesome and I can’t fucking wait to do it again, sooner or
later.
9. Does the diamond you
so often use for a logo means anything special to you? I know I could easily
make a story about it, but does it have any special history or it just looks
cool?
Nikos: Well, I think both of that. It looks
awesome and it has a special meaning. The diamond is something of great value.
That’s what this band and generally hardcore/punk and all these values that
connect with it means to us. It’s something precious and something that shines
in our eyes and hearts at these dark days we are living.
Fotis: Nice question, but I guess it means…
absolutely nothing.. Just kidding! I think we wanted a nice and simple image to
go with our music, something not too fancy. In my mind I would say that the
diamond represents hardcore and its importance for us. Diamonds are precious
and rare, and so is the rebellious essence of hardcore J
Apostolis: The diamond is a strong symbol that
stands for the importance that My Turn and hardcore have to us, as Fotis and
Nikos said. Besides that, we like the aesthetical part of it. It looks nice. To
be honest, there isn’t any special story behind it!
10. Besides being in My
Turn, what other bands are any of you playing in?
Nikos: I am playing in a band at my
hometown, Volos, named Alectό (we recently changed our name from Eternal Hated) -
alectovolos.blogspot.gr -. I play bass and sing there, we are a 3-piece dark
hardcore band. I am also part of another project band with another member of
Alectό and a member of a
crust-grind band from Volos called Unfit Earth - unfitearth.wordpress.com –
check these guys out, and we play some dirty raw fast hardcore punk tunes.
Apostolis: Right now I am not playing in any
other band. I just focus on My Turn and my other hardcore / punk activities.
11. Other projects you
guys are involved in?
Nikos: Besides playing in these bands, I
co-run a blog/distro called Ferae Naturae XVX ( ferae-naturae-xvx.blogspot.com
) promoting the struggle for Total Liberation(Human-Animal-Earth Liberation)
and other anarchist/radical views and literature. I am also a part of the
World’s Appreciated Kitsch Collective (wakhc.blogspot.com) , with which we book
shows mostly in Athens.
Fotis: Aside from My Turn I try to stay
involved in the hardcore scene as much as possible… I do a hardcore fanzine
since 2004 called Take Your Shot. I’ve done various blogs and zines during the
years, and love the idea of spreading hardcore through the print medium and
generally through images/words. I am currently preparing the 2nd
issue of a vegan straight edge fanzine called xSacred Lifex. Musically I am
supposed to play drums in a post/rock/black metal band, but we don’t rehearse
as much
Apostolis: I run World’s Appreciated Kitsch
records since 2006, having released tons of records from various bands from all
over the world. Moreover, I am a part of the World’s Appreciated Kitsch
Collective when it comes to booking shows. We are very active in Greece,
organizing a lot of shows & tours. I also book European tours for local
& foreign bands. I used to publish Keep It Real fanzine, but now, after 7
years of existence, it’s over. Last year I released a personal edition / book
called Think, plus the 2012 World’s Appreciated Kitsch calendar feat. photos I
took from various shows all over Europe. 2013 calendar is on the works, as
well. Moreover, a fanzine / book called Statement is the new project I should
start working on anytime soon. By the way, you can check out my blog for
reviews & more: www.wakhc.blogspot.com. Last but not least, I run a distro
since early 00s and nowadays it has transformed into Uprising Hardcore Distro (www.uprisinghardcoredistro.blogspot.com).
Not to forget to mention that I organize hardcore / punk DJ sets in a weekly
basis. When it comes to hardcore / punk activities I’m involved in almost
everything, since hardcore / punk is my life.
12. Many people have strong
feelings of hate and disapproval regarding the internet and the changes web 2.0
brought into our lives, such as social networking sites (the most demonized).
How do you feel about this subject?
Nikos: I have mixed feelings about the
internet and technology in general. Despite the fact that technology makes our
lives easier, I don’t see it as total good or evil. It depends on the way
someone uses it. However, in order to have technology evolved, there has come a
lot of oppression to fellow animal beings and nature. So here comes the
question, are our lives more important than the lives that are being tortured
for the evolution of technology? I bet I know the answer by most humans.
Anyway, the question was about the internet so I’m gonna leave the technology
subject aside and I hope everyone can think about it on her own and find some
answers. The internet has brought communication at another lever, you can have
contact with people from all over the world, and that’s awesome cause you can
interact with them and get to know about something that in other ways you
wouldn’t. It’s awesome that you can promote music and ideas through it freely,
you can share your band’s album with anyone in the world and promote your music
to places you cannot play live. That are the good things that internet can
provide in my opinion (lots more are included but I will not name each one of
them). As far as personal communication goes with the social networking sites,
I have mixed feelings about that too. You can stay in contact with friends and
people you love even if you live hundreds of kilometers away. However the
communication through a pc screen is not real communication. In order to really
communicate with a person, there needs to be closeness, touch, voice hearing,
eye-contact, all these factors that make the interaction real. Internet fits
perfect at the world we live in. Our everyday lives are fast paced and we don’t
even have time for ourselves, let alone for the people we care about. Modern
society, with millions of people gathered in huge cites, isolates the self and
converts it to an unknown mass. Through the internet isolated people can choose
their identity, even if this identity is not real. It serves the system in the
best way to keep people away from free and real interaction, keep them home,
living life through a screen, when real life is outside of these four walls and
these flat screens of discrimination.
Apostolis: I pretty much agree with Nikos. The
internet has made a lot of things easier to do. Band-wise, it requires less
effort to promote your album, book a show or a tour and share your music with
people living thousands of kilometers away from you. On the other side, bands
and individuals do not have to TRY a lot to achieve things, they get ultra
spoiled and arrogant. In general, I believe that exposing our lives and
activities through web is something we must avoid. Internet can manipulate the
masses and can work as a Big Brother that is always watching our next step. Faceless
and emotionless communication is what the system and the state need in order to
keep people apathetic. Nothing can be compared with real communication, real
love, real hate, real passion & real anger. Life is out there and not
behind a PC screen.
13. Tell us a little
about Greece. Is the economical and political disaster there affecting the
punk/hardcore scene in any way?
Apostolis: Being a vital part of society, the
hardcore / punk scene is definitely affected by the so-called crisis. This
affection can either be positive or negative. I think that the scene has been
affected in a positive way since a lot of people start to get politically
aware, form new bands, organize D.I.Y. concerts, self-release their records and
book their own tours. The high unemployment rates equal to plenty of free time
for local punks to take care of things that they truly live, you know! Kidding…
Obviously, people cannot easily attend major shows, but the hardcore / punk
scene was never based in that kind of shows, in my humble opinion. Underground
shows with cheap entrance (or no entrance at all) gain a lot of attendance and
positive feedback. I believe that the harsh political / economical situation
will lead to a new hardcore / punk scene based on the Do It Yourself ethics,
where values like solidarity will be widely accepted. Or at least, this is my
dream…
Nikos: The economical and political
disaster affects every aspect of the everyday life here, so it definitely
affects the punk/hardcore scene, mostly economical. When people don’t have
enough money they cannot support each show, or buy albums from local bands and
support them in that way. However this situations strengthens the scene, cause
of the political disaster. More bands and people become politically aware
nowadays, cause there is no other option. We are living through hard times,
with the ascent of the neo-nazis, the police brutality that takes place every
day at every city, the more harsh laws and the whole terror that the state
causes. So, these times we need to organize ourselves in groups of support of
our everyday lives. We need to fight back, and music is a weapon we can use for
the spread of our revolutionary ideas and actions.
14. Anarchists in
Greece are very active. I am not
necessarily talking about riots, but organizing infoshops, food not bombs type
actions, etc. How do you experience this first hand?
Nikos: Yes, anarchist struggle in Greece
has a huge history. There are many squats which is something that strengthen
the movement here, and because of that you instantly have a place where you can
do events to spread the revolutionary anarchist ideas through live shows,
movie/documentary screenings, infoshops and free food for everyone. That kind
of actions are sometimes more important than riots, cause they bring people
together. At first they bring people closer in order to organize these actions
and then you have an opening to the rest of society who want to take part or
learn something about anarchist struggle. So you have lots of people coming,
interacting with each other and sharing ideas and opinions on any subject.
Also, one more important factor is that through that kind of actions you reject
the whole idea of money that this system is based on. Of course you need money
to do these actions, but the relationships built are not based on money or on
exploitation. And to end this I’d like to add that these actions are a proof
that another world is possible, it depends on each and every one of us to do
what’s possible and help each other build the world we dream of. Solidarity is
the power we have.
Apostolis: The anarchist and anti-authoritarian
movement is very strong in Greece since the beginning of the 20st
century, and especially through the 70s and on. There are a lot of squats and
info-shops in almost every city, and activist actions take place daily all over
Greece. In my opinion this movement should be more open to the society and not
exclusive or elitist as some times is. The total liberation of the society will
come only when every kind of authority will be destroyed. The free world is not
a utopia and the anti-authoritarian movement proves this every day with the
variety of activities that take place. We should reclaim the streets and take
back our stolen lives.
15. Tell us a little
about those street concerts that are going on there during summer. First of
all, how cool is that?! I could never imagine such a thing happening in
Romania, at least not now. How does such a show is organized? Police, city council,
laws, neighbours etc.
Nikos: Haha that’s actually pretty cool
yes! There are lots of open street concerts happening during the summer all
over Greece. It depends on the people who organize it. Sometimes some people
try and get permission by local police or the city council, but in most cases
you just go to the public place you wanna do the concert and just set up
everything. Of course that needs lots of organization and a group of people
behind that who are working hard so that nothing will go wrong. It is time to
reclaim the streets and the public spaces for spreading our views and the music
we all make. We need to get out of our close-minded boxes and do something
ourselves. Change acquires actions.
Apostolis: Reoccupying the public spaces (squares,
universities and streets) is one of the coolest things, with benefit /
solidarity concerts being among them, that the DIY hardcore / punk scene can
offer. Working together with other people or collectives in order to set up
such a show is great and life inspiring. Usually, the city council or the local
police are not involved, but sometimes especially when it comes to university
campuses, a kind of permission is needed. But after all, we all know that
together we CAN do everything. So let’s unite and do it.
16. This is all for
now, anything else you want to tell us?
Nikos: Thanxvx a lot for that interview and
the awesome questions. It means a lot for us that you gave us the chance to
express ourselves through these cool pages. Waiting for the printed copies!
Everyone take care of yourself and of the people you love. Never give up the
fight for total liberation. Go Vegan!
Fotis: Thanks for this interview. Love,
hardcore, vegan food . These are “the finer things in life”..
Apostolis: Thanks a lot for everything. It’s an
honor to be featured in a fanzine that some of us follow since its inception.
Stay gold / strong.
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