| ......................................INTERVIEW |
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| . | with Philip Griffiths, the Vocalist of German Progressive Rock Band ALIAS EYE |
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by
Sergio Motta,
Rio de Janeiro - Brazil
Sergio Motta - I would like to begin this interview with a question, which it basically represents a curiosity of me. By the way, how did this opportunity appear for you to leave your home-land and to form a progressive rock band in another country? Philip Griffiths: Well, I’ve been living here for ages so it seemed only natural to start a band over here. I guess german prog is not as popular in Europe and the Americas because of the teutonic accents but I think we found a way to circumvent that problem.Before originating Alias Eye, you and some other band’s members were already playing together as a cover band. When did you come at last to the conclusion you should have to create a repertoire of your own? Philip Griffiths: We used to play lots of Jimi Hendrix covers, which was fun for a while. But soon we needed to get the creative juices flowing and start composing our own tunes which is infinitely more satisfying in the long run. We grew together as a band while we were playing covers and it only helped us to find our own style and rhythm.According to you, the first release of the band, a Demo-Cd whose title is ‘’Beyond the Mirror’’ was very well received by the international press. Do you think as well the most part of your band’s fans is outside of Germany? Philip Griffiths: Germany is a vital market when it comes to presenting progressive rock. So we are really pleased that we’ve made some headway over here. Now its time to gain a foothold in other markets..I heard the Brazilian fans are great!The Alias Eye’s debut titled ‘’Field of Names’’ has seen the light this year, which according to you, it represents the essence of the band’s music through a diverse collection of tunes from a variety of different musical genres. Would it be then taken as a reflex of the musical taste of each band’s member? Philip Griffiths: Definitely! We all listen to different music and that surfaces when we work together. It’s really important to have a broad variety of musical tastes in a band so that you can really pool different influences and create something new.It seems to me that Alias Eye is today one of the most solicited bands for live performances, and I can see you are nowadays performing live in different places from Europe. By the way, are you restricted to your continent, or are you open for live appearances outside? Philip Griffiths: We’d love to play outside Europe; we’ll just have to see how the album is received in other parts of the world, so keep your fingers crossed and alias eye might be playing in a venue near you before you know it!As far As I have seen, Alias Eye has lately kept a very active career by doing a lot of live appearances inside and outside of Germany. Is it possible already for you to say you have a loyal audience wherever you are? Philip Griffiths: It’s difficult to motivate people to come to concerts when the band that’s playing isn’t called Dream Theater or Spock’s Beard. But we’re managing and people seem to enjoy when we play live...that’s all we need.Alias Eye seems to stand by a goal that’s to take the audience on a roller coaster ride through a myriad of different emotions. Would you admit this goal be changed into a philosophy? Philip Griffiths: In a way, you need a philosophy behind what you’re doing in order to captivate your audience…we just want to confront listeners with a variety of different moods and emotions because that’s what we feel music should be all about.‘’Field of Names’’ was recently voted as the CD of the month in the online prog community. By the way, are you able to tell us how stimulating it is for you on the verge enough of creating other works like this in times to come? Philip Griffiths: It definitely helps! You need backup from your environment in order to produce your best music. The music is for yourself primarily, but what good would that do you if it isn’t listened to?In October next you will be playing on the Eclipsed Festival in Aschaffenburg along with two other bands, Flower Kings and Mostly Autumn. What are your expectations toward this event, also for performing together with Flower Kings, which is unanimously taken as one of the most important symphonic progressive rock bands in the current musical scene? Philip Griffiths: We’re really looking forward to it! It’s a big break for us and we feel privileged to play with such bands as The Flower Kings and Mostly Autumn.It’s certainly almost impossible for most of the interviewers to conduct an interview with you without mentioning the existing connection between you and your dad Martin Griffiths, who once sang in one of the most known progressive rock bands from British scene, the then Beggar’s Opera. By the way, were you ever encouraged by your dad to sing the same musical style as he did? What’s his view toward Alias Eye’s musicality? Philip Griffiths: He really enjoys the music…I expect it takes him back to “the good ol’ days” with Beggars Opera. I don’t think I consciously turned to prog rock…it’s just the music I discovered on my own and really enjoy.You recently told me that your dad has still had a great pleasure for singing. Did you think already about the possibility of featuring him sometime as guest by sharing with you of an Alias Eye’s song? Philip Griffiths: We’ve been wanting to sing together for some time and the moment was right!Just to close this interview, would you like to impart any message for all prog fans in Brazil and in the world, who will probably have the chance of reading this interview? Philip Griffiths: I hope that you will enjoy our music as much as we enjoyed writing and recording it! Hope to see you soon!
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Frank
Fischer - Bass
Discography:
Alias
Eye Home Page
Alias
Eye was founded in late 1998 when Philip Griffiths, Matthias Richter, Frank
Fischer and Ludwig Benedek, who had been playing together for over four
years, teamed up with keyboarder Vytas Lemke. After writing a repertoire
of songs, the band recorded their first CD Beyond The Mirror in 1999, which
was very well received by the international press. |
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