What made you decide that music is a thing for you?
Dorah: I’m not sure, music’s been keeping me company from a very young age.
Yorgos: I never really decided on it, it was just a feeling that compelled me into playing and writing.
George: I haven’t met a lot of people in my life that weren’t either fans of music or musicians, so it just came naturally to me. I put a lot of passion into everything I do and music’s an extension of that.
Vice: Everything they just said.
Introduce us to the members and your musical history.
Dorah: I’ve been playing drums and percussion since I was 12, The Velvoids is the first and only band I’ve been in. I also enjoy playing the piano and the guitar where I can mess around with melodies.
Yorgos: I’m a multi-instrumentalist, I started playing the piano when I was 9 and moved onto the guitar, bouzouki, drums, and bass, all in that order. I also recently started practicing cello and the double bass. I write songs and produce, and I’m the bassist for The Velvoids.
George: I play the guitar and I learned how to play when I was 16, I also own a lot of pedals.
Vice: I was given an acoustic guitar when I was 8 and a keyboard when I was 10, it grew from there.
Name me your 3 favorite Albums.
Dorah: The Beatles “Abbey Road”, “And Nothing Hurt” by Spiritualized, and Radiohead’s “Kid A” to name a few.
Yorgos: Only 3? You’re cruel. “Talkie Walkie” by Air, “Vrachnos Profitis” by Thanasis Papakonstantinou, and “Neon Golden” from The Notwist.
George: “Stone Roses” by The Stone Roses, “In Rainbows” by Radiohead, “Meat is Murder” by The Smiths, and “The Fat of the Land” by The Prodigy. That’s four.
Vice: “Pet Sounds”, The Beatles’ white album, Velvet Underground & Nico, “Exile on Main St.”, “Bringing It All Back Home” by Bob Dylan, that’s five for me.
What was the first song you heard that steered you into a music path?
Dorah: I can’t recall, maybe it was something by Michael Jackson.
Yorgos: It would have to be Manos Hatzidakis “Balada ton Esthiseon ke Paresthiseon”.
George: It was a song from Yiannis Kotsiras I heard when I was around 14, can’t remember what it’s called, though, I can clearly remember the sound of fingertips sliding onto the stings of a classical guitar, that did it for me.
Vice: I can’t really remember. Music was always really prominent at home when I was growing up, it was probably a mixture of things.
The music industry is the hardest industry in the world to progress in, How do you feel you are doing?
Dorah: I think, as a band, we’re pretty balanced in regards to what we’ve been doing over the years.
Yorgos: The band’s doing great and the tunes are really nice, there’s constant progress, I believe people respond to that.
George: It’s the hardest industry to those who really want to succeed and make a living off of it, I don’t know if we’re one of those bands, you know, we’re never in competition with anything, just into doing what we love.
Vice: Who knows, there are so many factors involved with being able to succeed in this industry and they’re not always the same for everyone, there’s a lot of luck involved too. If you’re trying to brainstorm or Frankenstein it in your head, you’re probably doing it wrong. Respect what you do, express yourself, and try to have a good time doing it. You can’t program it.
I’m seeing a lot of debate about women not feeling safe at music gigs, any thoughts on what we need to do to help?
Dorah: The fact that women may not feel safe in this type of environment, or any other environment, is an important issue and a difficult one. There’s been a social change toward helping this and that’s a good start, the fact that we’re talking about these kinds of things out in the open today is progress toward change.
As you develop as an artist and develop using socials what ways do you get new ears on your music? Any tips?
Dorah: Not really, we’re not into socials too much. It’s important, for sure, but to what extent I think it differs for everybody?
Tell us two truths and a lie about you.
Dorah: I’m an introvert and I like sushi. I have perfect eyesight.
Yorgos: Whiskey and beer. I can’t repair or fix a thing.
George: Two truths and two lies about you!
Vice: I’ll take the stairs where there’s an elevator and I’m currently a vegetarian. I hate airplane food.
What’s your thought on Spotify’s monopoly on the music industry?
Dorah: I feel the way everything’s evolving, it won’t stay like that forever.
Yorgos: I don’t like it.
George: You should watch Liam Gallagher’s video on making tea backstage talking about it, I totally agree with the man.
Vice: I can see how something like Spotify can make it easier for music fans everywhere looking to stream their favorite songs, discover new sounds, or create popular playlists, behind all that though, it really just is economically rewarding to the corporations, if the artists were making a decent share off their music being streamed via the platform, people wouldn’t call it a monopoly.
Do you sign up for any conspiracy theories?
Dorah: No, I actually avoid them.
Yorgos: Not my thing.
George: Like A.I. versus humanity? Sure.
Vice: I’ll watch or read almost anything. JFK, the moon landing, flat Earth, ancient civilizations and megalithic monuments, secret societies, Area 51. Most of them are totally ridiculous and make for good entertainment, it’s still better than television.
Did you buy anything you don’t need during the pandemic?
Dorah: Not really.
Yorgos: Gloves, masks, antiseptics
George: Yes, loads of wine.
Vice: I might’ve bought a pair of shoes.
What was the worst experience on stage?
Dorah: It was a show in Athens where the sound was really bad. We had a sound guy back then and even he was looking over to us from afar in his booth with both his arms in the air, in total despair, it was awkward.
Yorgos: I don’t think I had one.
George: One time on stage, right into the moment where a song was about to kick off, my fuzz pedal suddenly died on me, I just went crazy, wanted to break it into a million pieces.
Vice: There was a nice, small space in Paris where we had negotiated that they’d be providing the equipment for us, turns out the only guitar cable they had was about a meter long, it was funny cos I had to play with that loud Marshall amp right next to me, then that amp blew by the second song and it wasn’t as funny anymore.
Tell us something about each member that you think people would be surprised about.
Dorah: I’m apparently very good at doing impressions of a lot of people we know, Yorgos built his own recording and production studio with his bare hands, it’s called Lick Recordings. George really does have a ton of guitar pedals and knows when to use them, Vice is a really good cook!
What makes you stand out as a band?
Dorah: I’d say it’s the songwriting.
Yorgos: The honesty in what we do.
George: The rawness.
Vice: I don’t know, I mean it’s subjective, we’re unpredictable.
I hear you have new music, what can you tell us about it.
Vice: We started recording an album’s worth of songs around the time those COVID lockdowns started happening, our new single “While You Shine” came out of those sessions, although we went back to it and practically finished it a mere couple of months ago.
Talk me through the thought process of the new tune.
Dorah: It was a melody that had come up that we agreed we wanted to build on or try to get a song out of. After the initial keys and acoustic guitar we did during the lockdowns, we went back to it with the band and did the drums, guitars, bass, vocals, and overdubs. We recorded it all at home.
What was the recording process like?
Dorah: It was great, we had everything set up at home and we went about it pretty straightforwardly, it was fun. Sonically, I think it was when Vice improvised the main vocals one night when he couldn’t sleep, and played it for us the next morning when the song took shape and we built things around that. He tried to redo the vocals later on, maybe to get them done better, but we were all against it, it was left the way it was.
What was the biggest learning curve in writing the new tunes?
Vice: The learning curve revolved more around the recording process than anything else. During those lockdowns, all we had was a Shure 57, an AT2020, and a Tascam 24-track, it was tricky trying to track everything properly like that. When things started going back to normal and we were working on “Shine”, we just didn’t bother spending a bunch of money on mic’s and so continued to record the way we had become accustomed to. John Voulgaris who produced it also helped bring the best out of it, I think.
Would you change anything now that it’s finished?
Dorah: Thankfully, no.
Yorgos: I don’t think so.
George: Trying to fix things like that leads you down an endless path. You just have to allow yourself to get better at it on your next project, you grow through the process.
Vice: No, it’s fine.
Is there anything else you would like to share with the world?
Dorah: We’re preparing a new album!
Yorgos: We’re also rehearsing at the moment.
George: Yes! No one can climb up unto your shoulder unless you bend over on your own a little.
Vice: George and I have an ongoing bet on who can make the best-stuffed tomatoes and peppers.
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