Awake & Gallo

It is not often that we conduct interviews with progressive rock/ambient bands here in subexistance. This time, we make an exception with Greek sensations Awake And Gallo and specifically founding member Giannis Dimoulas.

-When was the band created?
-The band was created in the middle of 2009 and consists of me and..... . We both had tried a few musical projects the previous years., Sakis with blues and psychedelic rock and I worked more with space rock and ambient music. We knew each other several years before launching the band and I should say I was a big fan of Sakis, since I had seen him play live several times. I remember that I loved his technique and excessive play, so when he proposed me to cooperate and compose music it was a very pleasant surprise for me.

-What have you released so far?
-I have released three personal albums as "Awake" and if I had to descibe their sound I'd say it is mostly experimental rock and space ambient. Before that, my first steps were in a band called Psychosoap (2005) and we played experimental rock. Sakis has released a lot of his works ranging from blues to progressive and psychedelic, most important of which was "Experimental Souvenir", where I helped a little. As "Awake And Gallo" we have released one full-lengthed album. It is called "In Search Of The Universal Truth" and it was released in 2009 (even though most songs were recorded in 2009). It was shared for free in music scenes, places that we used to hag out, concert areas, had in had and of course through the internet.  In short it is a mix of experimental and space rock with a few touches of ambient.

-How would you describe your sound? What are your basic influences?
-I prefer that the listeners make his their own conclusions about our music but I can certainly tell you that what we try to play, whether you like it or not, is true music with only one goal: the deep mind trip of the listener. Our intention is no other than that and this can be found in the tracks' length and in the free structures of our composions. Something between space and experimental rock with ambient added here and there. A cosmic flight, reflection of our memories in life and our musical influences which vary, mainly from the 50's,60's and '70s. We love a lot of different things and it is prominent in the way we play. We listen to blues and rock'n'roll, progressive rock, ambient and progressive electronic and we particularly adore the german underground scene of these decades.

- How did you like the experience of playing live supporting Ozric Tentacles?
-This gig happened in Thessaloniki and I want to acknowledge now the help of our friend Lazaros (my bandmate in Psychosoap and creator of Bodies Floating Down The Muddy River) who played metal organ, sound effects and made a few ..."games" with the FM with his legendary portable radio player. His aid was crucial, since did not use any drums and he helped us sound complete. For me, it was my first ever live and having the opportunity to support a big name like Ozric Tentacles was certainly a big deal as it was also a test, in which we tried to find out if our experiment was successful, as we tried to guide the audience's mind in a specific situation. And it's important that we didn't play alone, we were judged, intentionally or not, in comparison with Ozric Tentacles. I do believe that we had good results if I judge from the audience reaction (nobody fainted hahaha...). We only played two previously unreleased 20-minute songs. Two tracks written for that show only, somewhat a surprise for those that knew us and also a personal bet, as one improvisation followed the other. A test that we will repeat in our next live, too. An experiment, homage to music's fields that have influenced us and gave birth to Awake & Gallo.

-Do you believe that there is an interest in modern prog-ambient scene?
-Yes there is. My opinion is that especially in ambient there are a lot of hidden diamonds waiting to be discovered. As far as the prog scene is concerned, it has a lot of new things to show, since there are a lot of high-class musicians who are represented through this scene. The problem is that sometimes the music itself plays a secondary role to the showcase of technique, something that may lead to good compositions and ideas being covered up. This is of course my personal opinion. In ambient music, things are clear even though the writing process is not easier.

-Your songs are not very complicated, yet they require the listener's attention so that he can "feel" them. Do you intend on writing this kind of music or does it come out impulsively?
-As I said before, there is no such intention. The reason that our composions are not so complicated is simply that I cannot follow Sakis' technical level. He is a musician, while I am mainly an "explorer". Writing our music is mostly spontaneous. We try to submit the listener into a situation of psychological intersection bombing his ears and brain with sounds which will create a sequence of "soundscapes", created of course by his own brain. This is what we tried to do in the concert, combining sounds from guitars, flute, vocals, keyboards, effects, metal organ and the aforementioned radio player. We hope that we managed to submit the audience in this state, even at 60% of it.

- Finally, what are your future plans?
-Now we are preparing our second cd, which will be a concept album and we will have help from one very good friend in it. I believe that we will finish it at the end of summer. After that, we will try to play a few gigs. It is a bit difficult, because of our jobs and the distance (Ilive in Athens and Sakis in Thessaloniki). For example, before our first live we had only made three rehearsals together and because of my inexperience our joy was doubled after we had finished and we were releaved by the results. Generally though, there is not a specific plan. This project is free and based solely in our love for music and expression. There is no hurry, we write music when we think that we have something to say.

- Thank you very much and good luck in your efforts.
- Thanks a lot!

D.Damien.