Interviews

When looking for new music and artists,your ears and eyes should be open to every direction.

I have to admit, I've discovered a great deal of interesting material through other people's posts. Especially when a non Greek person posts a Greek artist,I find it a quite intriguing case to explore. It certainly means the music is so good that language cannot be a barrier. It didn't take long to confirm how special this artist is and I have been following him ever since. His first EP "FREAKWAVE CASSETTE VOL.1" was recently released and many people were really excited about it. I'm no exception , thus I'm here talking about Eddie Dark...

If your favourite sounds are darkwave, post -punk, electronic with maybe some goth influences,you can check all the boxes in Eddie Dark 's creations.His music is a patchwork of all the above in a very progressive and self mastered way. Effortlessly transferring you in the past , however, in a futuristic way. Lyrics written in Greek and it's another asset adding to the radical sound as they're quite sarcastic, controversial and caustic on the whole.

I immediately decided I wished to have a chat with this extraordinary artist so I started tracing down his social media only to discover something exceptionally weird on his Facebook page, confirming even further the uniqueness of this being...

*Special thanks to @karol.fandi for the  photos. 

ES. ElektroSpank is warmly welcoming you to its world Eddie Dark. It's a chat I've been eagerly waiting for as I'm quite curious about the guy behind this project. Still I can't resist but ask you right away in what way are you connected to a Funeral Home which is the first thing to read on your FB page?

ED. Rent in Athens is really expensive right now, so I had to think outside of the box in order to find affordable housing. I thought why not live in the back of a funeral home? (It has the word home in its name after all).
So that's where I've been living and writing music for 2 years now and I highly recommend it, especially for musicians, you can sing as loud as you want and the roommates won't wake up.

ES. Dead silence ,but you produce sound under these circumstances .Something is telling me, contradiction is a trait of yours.. How inspiring is it to be a living among the dead?

ED. I contradict myself on a regular basis, and I like that about myself. I don't want to consider myself alive to be honest, because if this is what being alive is, I'd much rather be dead.

ES. Your sound is vibrant, combining different elements and so "explosive" that even the dead won't be able to fight the urge to dance around. Who were the artists who influenced this exceptional outcome?

ED. I'm heavily inspired by artists like John maus, Ariel Pink, Choir Boy and PsychicTV. There is something really really dark about their music, expressed in a very honest but silly way.

ES. You do everything by yourself. You're a one man band.Do you ever feel the need to ask for a second opinion ? I guess your "roommates" are too idle to contribute in anything. Do you occasionally have to turn to the living for help?

ED. Freakwave cassette vol.1 was written and produced entirely by me (except ΝΟΣΟΚΟΜΕΊΟ, a friend helped me there) but that's not always the case. I'm planning to release a full length album very soon, which really was a team effort. I love working alone, but I know where my skills fall short.
Luckily I'm surrounded by extremely talented people that are always happy to help. Most notably Socrates Antypas, my mixing engineer and sometimes co producer. I'm really lucky to be working with him, he really is genius.

ES. I mentioned "contradiction" above and it's a feature observed all around you. Your music is vigorous the lyrics sad. You're young and lively though "hanging out" with the deceased, literally...What's the "Fun in the funeral" Eddie ? Is everything black and white?

ED. Contradiction is an art, a difficult one, it takes a lot of courage for a person to go against himself. I consider myself a fool, so it's in my best interest to sometimes do the opposite of what I think. I want my music to be happy but with extremely depressing lyrics, I just find the thought of people dancing and having fun with songs about dying in a hospital extremely hilarious.

ES. Your lyrics which are very honestly describing the world around us, are written in Greek. Not very easy to listen to let alone understand. Did it ever cross your mind to express yourself in a more familiar language so as to attract a wider audience?

ED. I'm not planning on writing in a language other than Greek for the time being. I always admired bands that wrote lyrics in their native language, there is a sense of authenticity in that. Aren't people bored of only listening to English and French new wave? All the words are already used to death in those languages, I would die of boredom trying to sing in English.

ES . Since we're talking about your lyrics, each track seems to be a short story with a different theme (War,futility,vanity,suppression,toxicity,inner struggle,separation ). Are they your experiences or could they be narratives from others ? like your lifeless roommates let's say.

ED. Mostly my experiences, I love to tell stories that have happened to me (most of my friends call me egocentric, and they are definitely right)but If I talk about my experiences, I can be extremely specific, the more specific a story is, the more shocking it can be.

ES. I've seen you performing live on videos uploaded by friends. Unfortunately I haven't had personal experience yet. I get the feeling you're not just a musician while on stage, it's a whole different artistic endeavour to express yourself. I'd like to know your perspective on that.

ED. I'm not a musician, I'm a story teller. My shows aren't just concerts, they are basically theatrical plays at this point. When I perform, I stop being me, I become a creature, a movie villain. I go out of my way to make the audience uncomfortable, I don't want them to feel safe, and I'm happy to say, I have great success in that. I write music to attract people, but I'm sure they stay mostly for the show.

ES. I need to openly express a thought I have when looking at your album's cover. It seems as if you've just stolen flowers from graves. You actually give the impression of being so familiar with the aspect of death. Are you fascinated by the beyond Eddie?

ED. I actually stole them from a grave! (Don't worry, I put them back) I'm not fascinated by the beyond, I'm terrified by it. That's why I write about it, to get used to it.

ES. Your music performances must be utterly exciting since they combine acting and your awesome sounds of course.I'm pretty sure the living will greatly appreciate attending them. Are there plans for live events during summer? Would you like to share them with our readers?

ED. This summer I'm ditching my black coat, for a colorful Hawaiin shirt. I'm gonna be performing at some pretty big festivals here in Greece, keep an eye out for me.

 

Info:

https://eddiedark.bandcamp.com/album/freakwave-cassette-vol-1-2

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100088641185277

https://open.spotify.com/artist/6yJE52HfekGJ9cC2a9Rg57

https://instagram.com/plastic_chameleon

https://youtube.com/@microplastik1235