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One could easily say that Blue Night Trip is a rock n’ roll supergoup, since its members (apart from the bassist) have significant past having served in other bands. The ‘new breed’ will be appearing at “Diggin’ Out Fest Volume 2”, on 6th January (An Club), so this is the right time to get them introduced. If you also like “High Fidelity” this one’s definitely for you…

[Update:Due to unfortunate events the band won’t be able to appear at “Digging Out Fest”]

As far as I know, studying your past for this interview, you all originate from previous genre-related bands! Would you like to tell lastdaydeaf.com readers ‘who-is-who’ then?

Blue Night Trip‘s current line-up consists of 4 individuals, some of whom have played but also previously coexisted in other bands.

Namely: Panos Mellor(guitar-vocals) was a founder member of The Lizardz and has been participating in The Ducky Boyz for the last years. Panos Ramone (drums) was a member in The Psykicks and B-Sides and had also been together with Ske (guitar) in Toxica Apovlita and The Tipsies. Takis-Ap (bass) has his first participation in a band here in BNT.

Checking your YouTube videos, you choose both to perform both in Greek & English language. Don’t you believe that rock n’ roll should be sung in English then?

The lyrics of the band are entirely in English, except for one song. We had a request to participate in a cd collection from the fanzine “Piravlos” in which Greek bands would contribute with one of their songs but only in Greek lyrics!

The song we contributed, pre-existed with English lyrics (since the time when Panos Mellor was in The Lizardz), and we just changed it into Greek in order to meet the requirements of the project. In all other respects, we believe that Rock N’ Roll has such an expressive attitude and immediate feelings that language can’t be a restriction in any way.

One of the songs that I liked most was ‘The Night’. The story behind this catchy-as-hell tune?

Panos Mellor:‘The Night’ was inspired several years ago in a summer night at a beautiful beach, influenced by the feelings of that particular night. It was completed the same summer but in a different place, not that much different actually.. On the island of Ios.

Essentially this song links these 2 places together as one, which was really like a refuge for me in a period that I felt I really needed that..

How difficult (or easy if you prefer) is to find local venues to perform live as Blue Night Trip these days? Do you believe that Athens Night scene is a ‘helper’ for bands like yours?

Finding a venue isn’t a big deal, you just have to go after it. The main issue that may appear is the treatment of the hosts towards the bands. We hope someday this will change.

As you state you share the same love for psychedelic music, garage and indie. In addition, you don’t want to “cage” yourselves in a certain genre. Would you like to discuss the reasons behind this?

The reason that we chose not to use labels in our music, is because each one of us has different musical tastes and Blue Night Trip is the “vehicle” through which we set a common course in Rock N’ Roll.

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On 6th January you will appear in “Diggin’ Out Fest Vol.2”, along with The Dark Rags, The Cyclothymics & The Dead Dranks. What should we expect from you that night?

Our passion for Rock N’ Roll!!

Which are your most memorable moments since forming Blue Night Trip?

Luckily we have had many good times as a band.  Lots of fun during the rehearsals, channeled  into momentary creativity and so on! Οur 1st live at After Dark with a nice atmosphere and positive comments was motivating and still memorable. Some bad times have appeared as well, like when we were about to perform live at a social-political venue and a team of far-right hooligans attacked the whole place.. But we’d rather let these times fade in the past!

Which are your 3 life-changing records, movies & books?

Records,movies,books…hmmm…

Panos Mellor:

Records – The Doors – ‘Strange Days’, The Clash – ‘Give ‘Em Enough Rope’, Tripes – ‘Tripes’ (1985)

Movies – “Midnight Express”, “Fight Club”, “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest

 Books – “The Missing Piece Meets The Big O” (Shel Siverstein), “1984” (George Orwell)

Panos Ramone

Records – Guns N’ Roses – ‘Appetite For Destruction’, Ramones – ‘Ramones Mania’, The Sound –‘From The Lions Mouth

Movies – “The Crow” (Alex Proyas), “Bitter Moon” (Roman Polanski), “Lemon Popsicle” (Boaz Davidson)

Books – “La Philosophie Dans Le Boudoir” (Marquis de Sade)

Ske:

Records – Black Sabbath – ‘Black Sabbath’, NOFX – ‘Punk In Drublic’,  Ramones‘¡Adios Amigos!

 Movies – “Dead Man”, “Psycho”, “Pulp Fiction

Books – “The Dream Of A Ridiculous Man” – Fyodor Dostoyevsky, “Listen, Little Man!” – Wilhelm Reich, “Illusions Perdues” – Honoré de Balzac

Takis-Ap:

Records – The Velvet Underground – ‘The Velvet Underground & Nico’, Love – ‘Forever Changes’, The Dream Syndicate – ‘The Days Of Wine And Roses

Movies – “Chungking Express” (1994), “Dead Man” (1995), “The Intouchables” (2011)

Books – “Α Clockwork Orange” – Anthony Burgess, “On The Road” – Jack Kerouac, “2001: A Space Odyssey” – Arthur Clarke

What’s next for Blue Night Trip then? Recording your debut EP or even album? 

 After a long delay, we have started the recording of our first album…stay tuned! 🙂

Photo credits: ek (2nd one)

Christos Doukakis