Transcript of an interview I recorded with George Kollias of NILE- 20191010. Full article here. MAL-
On the line George Kollias from NILE, George, thanks for taking my call. GEORGE- Thanks for the invitation. MAL- NILE have got a new album coming out very soon, but let's just backtrack just a little bit. Let's talk about the new(er) guys in the band, Brad and Brian, tell us how we came to find them, and what they've brought to the band. GEORGE- Well, Brad is not actually a new guy. I mean, you know, obviously, he just joined the recordings of the past album, you know, so he didn't make it to the recordings except some vocals he did. So he's not actually a new member. He's with us for five years. So he's our guy now, you know, Brian also joined like a couple years ago, and it was a blast from the skies to find this guy. He's a super talented guitar player, vocalist, his songwriting skill, he contributed four new songs on the album, you know what it takes to join a band and contribute four songs, like huge respect. So yeah, they brought this fresh vibe in the band, they were really, really excited to be in the band. You know the team spirit is like insane, it's so big, you know, like we were like a really united team, you know. And I dare to say that this is the best NILE lineup and the best time we ever had in the band, and I'm in the band for more than 16 years, so mark my words, this lineup if you see the NILE live, you're going to be amazed. MAL- So how did the vision for the new album come about? And how did we go about getting that down, I can't say on tape these days, but how do we go about getting it recorded? GEORGE- Well, we did a lot of touring for 'What should not be unearthed', you know, previous album, and we were kind of late and people started pushing it. So I'm like, okay, they will take a break and getting in our studio, write the new thing and you know, then record it, you know, we did a lot of pre-production. So we started writing and we spent about a year on the pre-production. So we're talking about thinking about some of the songs. The title track, for example, it took like, nine recordings. So we did like nine different demos for one song. So it was a lot of pre production and this time we went for the best we could ever do like songwriting, the musicianship we wanted to be raised a little bit just, you know, we just polish a little bit the details and I think, what we achieved shows, you know, when you listen to the album, MAL- Now, I get the impression from what I've read that the, it was a little bit of a different recording process for you, having a lot of the pre production already done and then you coming in, is that correct? GEORGE- No, we always did that, you know we spend time with pre-production but this time we look into the details a lot, like try different feels like tried different structures, you know, like every little thing it counts, trust me and we didn't want to rush it so we took our time and obviously we have more experience to because we basically recorded the song ourself you know, and then we had Mark Lewis doing the mixing, mastering so the whole process was me and Karl you know the recording and you know, so I think we're more experienced now and you know, that played like a big role as well. MAL- With reference to you not rushing it I understand a lot was gone over again and discard it. Songs trimmed down because you know, bits didn't fit. How brutal was that? GEORGE- I think it's normal. You know, like it how happens every time. I think it happens for every band, you know, like, you can't write something and then go and record and be like, Okay, this is it, you know, songs need a lot of work. So I have my personal studio, Karl has his own studio that all three of them, you know, they were tracking their, you know, the demos. So everybody was working, you know, individually, and then you know, we put all the elements together. And it makes way more sense, you know, to work on a song and be able to listen to that different version. You know, like, for example, like if you change a beat there, How's it going to sound? Well, I have my studio so I can do it. I go down the studio, you know, deliver something different and then we judge so that's what policy was, for me, you know we spend a lot of time with these little details. And yeah, it only benefits an album. MAL- So how long do you think this album took you from start to finish and when is it coming out? GEORGE- The release date is November 1st. We deliver the album around July if I remember correctly, it took over a year. That was it over a year, but it's 11 songs, plus one more song which we didn't include on the album. And we will keep it for the future probably another release we'll see So yeah, it took like a about a little bit over a year. MAL- Right the release date as you mentioned November one 'Vile Nilotic Rites'. What happens for NILE upon release? Where are you touring? GEORGE- Still coming out for November 1. We you know, winter release that will be with TERRORIZER, North America, but it's a it's pretty big. It's like 45 shows. So that's gonna be a long one. But we just finished a European tour. We're back like two days ago. And the feedback for the new songs. We played three songs though the feedback was amazing. So we're very happy. Yeah, we've got to do a lot of touring and possibly get to Australia as well. MAL- Excellent. That's what we like to hear. GEORGE- Yeah MAL- We're stuck way over here on the other side of the world, it's getting a lot better lately I will tell you that. GEORGE- We didn't make it on the last album. And it was a big pity and also this time Australia was a request from the band, as well as Japan because we didn't make it to Japan either for the last album. MAL- George, are there any particular tracks you want to talk about off the new album? GEORGE- I can't really separate any tracks this time. Like I said, I'm the happiest ever, you know, with the production, with the songwriting, with our performance in there. All four songs Brian wrote was a big step up, contributed a lot to the band. Karl, you know, obviously as always, you know, he delivers some amazing music, you know, Brad also contributed a lot of riffs and ideas on the new songs, and for the first time I even recorded a track as well. I wrote a track yeah, so I took some time and you know delivered some music. That was fun. MAL- So it's pretty safe to say that George is pretty happy with the way NILE has gone with this album, 'Vile Nilotic Rites', and he's looking forward to it coming out. GEORGE- The happiest ever. And I'm telling you, I mean, it's always excitement you know when you have a new album and you like you know it's fresh and you know, you can't wait for people to listen to but man this time. I really really mean this is my favorite NILE album by far. MAL- Are you living in Greece still? GEORGE- Yes. MAL- And the rest of the band in the USA maybe? GEORGE- South Carolina, US, yeah. MAL- With what you were mentioning before with you having your own studio, and Karl having his studio. How does that work for you with recording? Do you find it works pretty well? GEORGE- Oh, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah. We, we have a lot of experience right now. So we wanted to take everything you know, control of everything. I think we managed to do like a great job and I don't know it's easy it's easy you know it's me and Karl mostly do the studio work and everybody's throwing ideas, I think it was the the smoothest recording we ever had. Not a think actually. I'm 100% sure again, you could ask Karl, he will tell you the same thing. So it was very very smooth no problems you know, we just took our time and deliver this album. MAL- Sounds like everyone's on the same page. GEORGE- Yeah, absolutely. MAL- All right, George Kollias from NILE, thank you so much for talking to me today. GEORGE- It was a pleasure. Thank you. MAL- Best of luck with the new NILE album, 'Vile Nilotic Rites', out on November one. Wish you every success with it, and hopefully we'll see you down here in Australia again soon. GEORGE- Yeah, can't wait to get there, man. Thank you very much. Comments are closed.
|
AuthorMetalhead who hates bad parking. |