9+1 Q&A with Μινέρβα

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.

Our story goes back to our school days in Korinthos where the three of us (George, Jim, Dennis) were born and raised. As schoolmates we just got together and played music but when we graduated everyone followed his own path and unfortunately we had a break, but not for too long. You may say that it was karma or something like this, but in the late days of 2017 we found the chance to get back together in Athens this time, and we decided that we really wanted to play music again as friends and not just for ourselves, but for others too, or spread the music we love to the world if you prefer. Then a few months later Spilios joined in, so everything got in place and now after 2 years, we are interviewed about all these!

Provide us with some info about your latest release…

Well during this season we released two singles, “Turn Me On” on October 12th and “Δράμα” (“Drama”) on January 28th, where the first one came together with our first ever video clip, and of course our debut album “Konserva” that includes those two tracks, was released on February 12th in all digital streaming platforms, and it will be available on March 2020 in black and coloured vinyl from Sound Effect Records. Also we have to give some credits to Alex Bolpasis who was in charge of the recording and producing process of the album, Nick Townsend who took care of the mastering, Xanthe Gesouli and Bewild Brother that were the main contributors of the album artwork, and George Barbas (Dexter) who was the video director of our video clip. In this moment we also want to unveil that we are currently shooting our second video clip, which will be released on March. We won’t spoil the track though!

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

We like to think that we get inspired from small everyday things. For example a long day at work or a night out with friends that ends up full of unexpected situations. When it comes to musical inspiration, we have a big love for the music of the past and also the revival. We all have different genres that we get inspired from, so the final outcome is a mixture of a little bit of everything.

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?

I guess if you fancy hearing four friends scream from the top of their lungs about stuff while beating their instruments with tons of reverb in the mix, then it’s a match.

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

Dennis:
Albums:
Polvo – Today’s Active Lifestyles
John Coltrane – A Love Supreme
Don Caballero – American Don

Books:
Alan Watts – The Wisdom of Insecurity
Kim Gordon – Girl in a Band
Henry Miller – Tropic of Cancer

Μovies:
Rather not mention.

Jim:
Albums:
James Brown – In the Jungle Groove
Blondie – Atomic
Miles Davis – Bitches Brew
Books:
Aristotle – Politics
Tom Robbins – Still life with Woodpecker
Douglas Coupland – Worst Person Ever

Movies:
Lord of the rings trilogy extended hands down!

Spilios
Albums
Τhe Steams – Wild Ferment
Coldplay – Parachutes
Explosions in the Sky – The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place

Books
Dennis Rodman – As Bad as I Wanna Be
All the Harry Potter books

Movies
All the Harry Potter movies
Watchmen

George
Albums:
King Gizzard and the lizard wizard – flying microtonal banana
The black angels – passover
The doors – self titled

Books:
The alchemist
Lord of the rings : the two towers
Old man and the sea

Movies :
A fistfull of dollars
Taxi driver
Fight club

Do you prefer studio or performing live and why?

We love both equal parts, honestly depends on the time of the year and what we have been up to as a band at that given time. Currently, we strive to get back on stage after spending a good amount off recording and finishing up our album with Alex, which is an always fun but often stressful process. Performing live usually for us means letting go and having the time of our lives on stage,you can’t really go wrong with that!

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

This is probably a great question for George to answer. It was a few months back, when we played in Samos island, and a local rap legend going by the name of “Terminator” after our live show, gave George a ping pong medal telling him that he is the best singer in the band.

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

Spilios: I have to go with Mercules. Because it was one of the first songs written by the band, it has a great song structure with both slow and up-tempo parts, it also becomes surprisingly dynamic during its progress, and of course it includes the word “Moustache” in the lyrics.
Dennis: Χρώμα/Χρόνος (Colour/Time) from our debut album is definitely a change of pace in terms of tempo and atmosphere compared to rest of the album. It’s also a favorite one to perform live, especially when the rest of our sets tend to get pretty hectic and mellowing out at some point is much needed.

Jim: Well this is tough because in my opinion the song that is most unique is not on this album and it is probably going to be on the next one. However from this one i will probably go with “Elevated” cause it is a song that was written in a certain place and time that meant a lot to us. Obviously the time has passed and unfortunately we gave up that place. Also this song is a bitch!

George: I think the the most meaningful song to us is “Xρωμα/Xρόνος” (Colour/Time) because it has a very direct way of describing how everyday goes by and how time flies without even taking notice. It talks about how a person can feel alone while surrounded by hundreds of people and I think that speaks to everyone. The music also is an endless loop that picks you up on the start and leaves you where you started thus creating a circle which represents the concept of repetition of time events.

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

Our closest plans are to promote and spread our debut album all over the country and possibly the world. Of course this includes playing as many live shows as we can, in the biggest venues possible! One thing is for sure, 2020 is going to be a very exciting year for us!

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

Jim:
Spilios:
Is there a live show that you wish you hadn’t played?
I don’t regret any of our live shows so far. There is only one show, the one in Kalamata city, that i wish that my picking hand hadn’t swell during our set, not because of the pain, but because i literally played awful and felt embarrassed!

George:
What do you consider to be a successful song?
Success comes when you make a song to communicate what you feel and the listeners not only feels it but also recognizes it inside him in a unique way. You can have a soul bond with a song that reminds you of people or situations, bad or good memories and that for us is a successful song.

Dennis:
Five bands you’d kill to see live:

Sonic Youth (too late)
IDLES (soon!)
Pile
Palm
Girl Band

Jim:
What would you prefer? A 10.000 crowded show only with men, or a 100 crowded show only with women?

I hope you are not surprised, but i would definitely pick the first one!

Photo credits: George Barbas (Dexter) (1st one), Argiris Liosis (2nd one)

Curated by: Christos Doukakis

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