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What inspired you to first start making music? And how did you come to be in your current incarnation? Or if you prefer, a brief bio about you.

Mount Echo was formed during the summer of 2018 by the two members of the electro duo Fizz4, Alexios Othon Theodoridis and George Tsitsanis, later joined by Othonas Tzamtzis on bass. Together we worked on some original compositions of Alexiοs and later on, we decided to collaborate with drummer Dimitris. There was the will to combine some specific styles of music and make our own different chord to the vast world of music. The songs until now are a combination of shoegaze and post punk. Our debut EP will be soon released. At the same time we continue to create new songs that have more electro elements than before. Hence why, on our first performance at Decadence club in Athens on the 12th of May, we will have an electric sample pad instead of a physical drumset.

Provide us with some info about your latest release…

Dimitris: We are currently working on our debut EP, called “Garden House Meditation”. It is our first attempt to form our own sound and combine a big variety of musical influencies, from shoegaze to post punk and beyond… It will contain four songs (two of which are already released) and possibly a very special cover of our favorite classic “Killing Moon”.
Alexios: The title ”Garden house meditation” was inspired by Dimitris after our first meeting and rehearsals at my old house and its bedroom studio, that had a lot of trees and a quiet peaceful garden right in the center of Athens. I am very happy that the environment had an influence on his inspiration.

Which ones would you consider your main influences both music-wise & non-music-wise?

Alexios: I was a teenager in the 80’s listening to Pixies, Sonic Youth, Dead can dance and 4ad releases, as well as to new wave classic bands like Bauhaus and The Sound. When the 90’s came, I found myself listening to garage and alternative rock and then in the 00’s, to electronic music. Αll of these genres, along with the musical influences of the other band members, are combined to form Mount Echo’s peculiar sound .

In what way does your sound differ from the rest genre-related artists/bands and why should we listen to your music? In other words, how would you describe your sound?

Dimitris: The sound of our debut EP (Garden House Meditation) is a combination of shoegaze riffs and vocals blended with a synth-wave orchestration. Most of our tracks consist of a simple bassline and repetitive drum beats, upon which we build layers of noisy but melodic guitars and heavy synths. This creates a very unique soundscape that we call “synth-gaze” (synth-wave + shoegaze).

Alexios: For me it is important to take advantage of some music technology, study the past, form some new ideas, and move forward. We shouldn’t stay too focused on the past, insread we should always try to create something new. Our music is based on a wall of sounds, just like in shoegaze. We could have 2 guitars but instead we prefer to use a guitar and a synth to create this wall of sound. This is what makes our songs different.

Please name your 3 desert islands albums, movies & books…

Alexiοs: Music albums : Fuck buttons – Tarrot sport, The soft moon – Zeros , My bloody valentine – Loveless.

Movies : Stalker – Andrei Tarkofsky, An elephant sitting still-Hu Bo, The lobster – Yiorgos Lanthimos.

Books : Liquid love – Zygmount Bauman, Sculpting in time – Andrei Tarkofski, L’ empire des signes – Roland Barthes.

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Do you prefer studio or performing live and why?

Alexios: Performing live is the main contact of the musician with the crowd. It is the outro of the musician. But without the one, you can’t have the other. All my life I wanted to create music for the first reason. Creation for a musician is the most essential. It is of course more convenient for me to compose music and lyrics in a quiet place away from rest of the world. Though sometimes the presence of other musicians can bring great ideas.

Is there any funny-unique story you would like to share with us, always in relation to your music ‘career’?

Dimitris: A quite funny story is the one about our initial name. We were first called “In sound” which we then changed into “Insound” since we though it looked and sounded better as one word. The only problem was that while there were no other bands called “In sound”, there were at least two other bands, a record store, a record company and a festival, all called “Insound”, so basically, that’s when we realized that we needed a more unique name. Thus, we made a huge list full of terrible name ideas, the best of which was “Mounds of Echo” which we all liked but ended up calling ourselves “Mount Echo” as we feel it best describes our sound.

Which track of your own would you point out as the most unique and why?

Dimitris: Our most unique track would have to be “The Fall and the Reconstruction” as it feautures Alexios’ Saxophone that gives it a decomposing jazzy vibe.

Alexios: For sure our most popular song is ”Your explosive eyes”, but I will vote for the song ”Silence”. It consists of 2 parts. The 1st reminds me of 4ad sounds and the 2nd brings in a shoegaze psychedelic noise riff. Actually, that is probably my favourite guitar theme.

Would you like to share with our readers your future plans?

Dimitris: Our near future plan is to release “Garden House Meditation”, as well as to share its tracks with an audience. Later on, we would love to further explore our sound and compose new songs for a second release.

Alexios: We would also like to play as many gigs as possible, here in Greece and- why not- abroad.

Free question!!! (Ask yourself a question) you wish to answer and haven’t been given the opportunity…

Alexios: What about the lyrics?

The lyrics are inspired from common ordinary situations and thoughts that cointain a philosophical or abstract aspect. Dreams , reality, present time, future and past coexist in a harmonic way. Sometimes it is hard to tell the truth from dreams, to tell what’s real and what’s a projection of our subconscence.

Curated by: Christos Doukakis

Recommended listening:

Connect with Mount Echo:

https://www.facebook.com/mountechoband/

https://soundcloud.com/mount_echo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKX91J6JGu0&t=10s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbsujAm1hrU