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Hey hey, this band is some serious straight (hard) rock situation. Downtown Association is a great gang of  ‘boiled’ in rock musicians over the years. Despite DA, is a new band, its members hold a significant bio in their u/g rock CV. But, enough of my talks, let’s read what they told us before their upcoming shows on May 10th, at Eightball Live Stage (with 4LT., Circus Veil & SoundBound) & on May 11th, at Crow Club (with 4LT. & Drunk Jackals). 

Won’t avoid this one then! Please introduce Downtown Association to our international audience…

Hello world! We are Downtown Association, the urban-crafted hard rock band from Ladadika, Thessaloniki. We like playing high voltage music and we like playing it loud! On the guitar we have the mighty demon George Matikas, on the bass we have that weird-guy Nik Danielos, on the drums we have the legendary Mr. Tasos Duce and on the microphone we have the constantly-fabulous Dean Mess! Come taste the band!

You all have served in previous bands before Downtown Association. Has this experience been valuable and in what way?

Well, obviously we weren’t born yesterday, so everyone here has got a few years on his back. Starting with the order of appearance, George did his time co-founding one of the best bands on the heavy sound, Shock Absorber, Nik is and was always a wanted musician serving many bands with the toppest being Forbiden Seed and Bend For Eleven. Now, let’s say we all have been chasing a dream through our music, Tasos on the other hand has already tasted a good amount of it with his band Prassein Aloga and he is still craving for more.  Dean is the guy of the hard rock neighborhood, co-founding and still rocking with W.A.N.T.E.D. and Payday. We all have had our share of fun and experience in other bands which is the most valuable thing in this field. Of course we’ve learnt from our mistakes and of course we’re gonna make the same mistakes again!

Why did you choose ‘King Of The Hole’ as you first official video & ‘Dynamo’ as your first official lyric one? Do you believe that these two tracks best represent your sound & identity?

Sometimes a band has to choose. You know, all that voting and stuff. Well, in this case it almost came out unanimously! I scream, you scream, we all scream, ‘King Of The Hole‘! Requested by the  mob and the uneducated masses, ‘Dynamo‘ had to be visualized on screen. It’s also good for our younger friends to watch and read along. These two tracks are a good sample of our sound and musical identity but they still are a tiny taste of the band’s creative pluralism.

City Guide‘, your debut album, was released in December 2016. Now that the months have passed, would you do anything differently or are you utterly satisfied by the outcome?

Nope, we’re doing great! Still touring to present the album anywhere we can!

Past of the description on your Facebook account reads: ‘Downtown Association is the outcome of some dead-serious problem bastards weirdly met under unknown situations and formed an urban-toxic rock n roll ensemble. ’ Would you like to discuss please? Is this a warning?

(Laughs) Catchy phrase don’t you think? It’s full of contrasts and that’s exactly the band’s main characteristic. It’s a way to describe the variety of the ingredients that have been put together to form the core of the band. We are four totally different people forming the core of one consistent soul, the soul of Downtown Association which flows all around the streets of Ladadika. It’s magical, you should see. Anyway, we like to feel one with the space around us and this space is full of night-time energy, which is the strongest one and it comes with a glass on the side.

Which other bands (preferably underground ones) from Thessaloniki would you recommend we should take notice of?

Wow, this is a hard one. Cause we know, you know, we’re gonna miss a lot of good bands out there by not mentioning them. Thessaloniki rock city comes with a  phone-book-like list of bands to recommend. Let’s not name the ones we have already done and let’s raise our glasses firstly to the bands sharing the stage in the upcoming shows Circus Veil and SoundBound and then a few of our favs… So Dizzy, Walking Stone Giants, Jailcat, Ailafar, Wild Rose, Leftover Bullets, MG Shuffle, The Psalm, Hardland, Wardrum, Cult Of The Scum, Redrum.

What are you going to present on May 10th & 11th in Thessaloniki & Athens then? Are you going to present any new tracks?

Having had  our first official release out about a year and a half ago, we are still presenting most of our debut album ‘City Guide‘. But, as we have already done in our latest shows, we also play unreleased tracks from the upcoming second album.

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Should we expect your 2nd album within 2018? Plans for the rest of the year?

Yes of course. The work is completely done and we’re so proud of the outcome. The second full album is in our hands and soon to be released in the following months. 2018 is going to be a full year for us, as it has already shown from the start. Plenty of gigs and festivals are scheduled with the highlight of the Los Almiros Fesival in August and plenty of work is being done in the making of the third album. The sure thing is that you’re going to hear from us soon again!

Last but not least, mention the 5 (least obvious) albums that have influenced your sound the most.

Audioslave – ‘Audioslave

Ozzy Osbourne – ‘Bark At The Moon

AC/DC – ‘High Voltage

Skid Row – ‘Slave To The Grind

Aerosmith – ‘Pump

Photo credits: Condour Productions

Christos Doukakis