Blackened Horde: How did the band get started? How did you meet and how long have you been together?
Nick: Asphodel started back 1992 with a different line-up and style of music. The current line-up is me (Nick-guitar), Maria (vocals), Andrew (bass), and Alex (drums). Apart from Asphodel we are all very close friends. We’ve been together in the band for two years.
Blackened Horde: How would you describe your music?
Nick: It’s not easy to describe our music. Many people who listen to Asphodel’s music faced to the same problem. This “problem” shows that Asphodel has developed a personal sound without trying to imitate anyone. I could say that our music is a mixture of doom metal, hard rock psychedelic and other music styles.
Blackened Horde: What are your biggest musical influences?
Nick: We don’t have special musical influences. We listen to a little bit from everything but I think the core of our influence is the metal of the 80’s and the simple but very emotional music of 60’s and 70’s.
Blackened Horde: Who if, if any do you consider the bands idols?
Nick: We don’t have any band idols. Of course we would like to be successful as some popular mega-bands of our days but even if we don’t achieve it, it would be cool for us to express our feelings and to have fun playing for ourselves and our friends for a lifetime.
Blackened Horde: What made you want to be in the band? And if you weren’t in the band what would you want to be doing now?
Nick: Well I like to play the guitar. I dream and think of the world on my own way. I need some friends to understand me and to help me express myself. So this keeps me devoted to Asphodel if I wasn’t in the band… maybe I would have formed another one. If I hadn’t be related in music, I would perform another art (possibly painting).
Blackened Horde: What are some of your favorite bands that are really popular today?
Nick: Such bands are Iced Earth, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, King Diamond, Paradise Lost, Savior Machine, Type O negative and many others.
Blackened Horde: How many demos/albums do you have? Tell me about them.
Nick: We have released “Alone In Fear” demo (1993) and a rehearsal tape (1994) both of them in the vein of doom thrash metal with brutal vocals. Later in 1995 we were about to release a second demo “Silent Rain” but to some serious problems, this release was canceled. Las year Asphodel put out the “Loom of Sounds” demo with four tracks of dreamy heavy doom rock and female back and lead vocals. It’s our best release so far and I believe it’s something really different. I didn’t expect that “Loom of Sounds” would go so well and touch so many people. This gives us wings to create something even better.
Blackened Horde: If you could play with any band who would it be and why?
Nick: I never thought about it, I don’t know. It would be nice to play with any famous bands because this would be a great experience for us for many reasons.
Blackened Horde: Who writes the majority of the music?
Nick: The main composer of the songs is me. I bring some ideas and guitar riffs and tell the others how I imagine the song. Then we work it together.
Blackened Horde: Who has been the favorite band you’ve played with? Why?
Nick: Unfortunately we haven’t give many gigs and the bands we have played with so far weren’t something unforgettable.
Blackened Horde: Where did you get the band name from?
Nick: Asphodel is a kind of lily that according to mythology was said to cover the elysian fields (the underworld of the ancient Greece). I think its a good name for our band as it sounds cool and doomy.
Blackened Horde: Describe what the band is like live?
Nick: We are a very lucky band as our singer and front woman is Maria. On stage she is very active as well as charmful and every to “speak” to the crowd while Alex is abusing with no mercy his drumset. I think even the live show of Asphodel’s something different.
Blackened Horde: If you are gonna do any kind of video what would be in it?
Nick: If we had intension to do a video we would try to adopt it to the meaning of the lyrics of course this would be difficult (just have a look at the lyrics to see why) so a second thought would be a video from live performance.
Blackened Horde: Are there any tour plans made, if so tell me about them?
Nick: No, for the moment, there’s nothing of some of us are either working or studying but in the future we will surely hit the road sometime.
Blackened Horde: Where do you think the band will be in 20 years from now?
Nick: Ha ha!! maybe we’ll be a legend like Black Sabbath or Deep Purple. Let us be serious. What can I say now? I think that I will never get bored playing music even if 20 years have passed.
Contact them at:
Asphodel
50 Em Pachla Str.
74100 Rethymnon
Greece