Interview: Saisei (Written)

Greek genre-bending metal band Saisei are in the process of releasing their self-titled debut record, and have released 3 singles from the album, ‘Impetus’, ‘FMLT’ and ‘Saisei Goes Punk’ so far. We get to know them a little better in this interview.

1. Hello! Thank you for taking the time to chat to us. First things first, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got started.

Hi, my name is Stathis and I’m one of the vocalists in Saisei. First of all, thank you for conducting this interview! The band was formed in late 2019, during the COVID-19 pandemic by Stamatis Zografos (Guitars, Keyboards, Programming), Dimitris Pasas (drums) and Apostolis Diamantopoulos (vocals). Having diverse musical backgrounds as far as metal and rock music is concerned, Stamatis and Dimitris had a common interest in the UK metalcore scene. After a couple auditions, Dionisis Hassos (scream vocals) joined the group along with Thanos Galanis (guitars), which led to us releasing our first singles. A few months later, Apostolis left and me & Kostas Dimpalis (bass) joined. Following the release of 3 more singles, Dimitris and Dionisis decided to leave due to personal reasons. Apostolis re-joined the band, this time focusing on mainly screaming vocals. In the same year, Kostas Stefanidis (drums) joins Saisei as a recording member, and with this established line-up, we started working on our debut album.

2. Someone comes to you and asks you to sum up what kind of music you play – what do you tell them?

I’d say the foundation of our sound is rooted in metalcore, but there are layers of EDM, post-hardcore, and even some alternative rock or emo, that solidifies Saisei as a unique offer in today’s music marketplace.

3. What’s currently going on in your camp? New releases? Tours? Etc.

We’re currently in the process of releasing our first self-titled debut record, at the end of this year. We’ve been releasing singles from the album, 3 of them so far are out: “Impetus”, “FMLT” and “Saisei Goes Punk!” (feat. Kellin Quinn), and we’ll keep putting out more tracks individually until the official album release. An official music video has also been shot for one of them. Late December we’ll be doing release shows for the album in select places in Greece, while in January we’ll be doing a small European tour to support it.

4. What has been the most positive experience of making music to date for you?

The most positive impact of making music is people’s wholesome feedback on it, especially when I see it has affected them deeply. Seeing something you’ve put a lot of effort and a side of your personality in turn to inspire someone and have them express that gratitude in a message or a short “thank you” up close is the best feeling one can hope for out of creating music.

5. Likewise, what have been some of the more challenging aspects and how have you overcome them?

Around the time I was discussing joining the band I made a conscious decision to move to the US for personal reasons, even though Saisei is based in Athens, Greece. This has led to obvious issues and a need for meticulous scheduling for anything we plan on, but thankfully the rest of the members are understanding and supportive about my situation. Obviously a band of our current stature doesn’t make the means to support ourselves off our music, even though we’re working hard to get ourselves to the next level, so there’s a great deal of expenses on my end to make this function.

6. How do you handle the modern expectations of being in a band? Always online, having to put out content constantly, your success measured in likes and follows?

I think wishing for a return to the days of yore, where you send out a demo, a label or A&R person discovers you, and create your fanbase for you is a futile endeavor. For better or worse, the artist is now reliable for their own growth, and maybe that’s for the best since you now get a sense of control over your content and who your target audience is. I’d say in our case I feel pretty comfortable about our online presence and content, as we have a pretty good grasp on modern expectations; we focus on the business aspect of our band just as we do on the musical side, and divide tasks regarding the former between the six of us.

7. What’s something that really ‘grinds your gears’ about the industry/business these days and what would you propose is done to combat it?

Something that grinds my gears is the commodification of music and the way we’ve been conditioned to consume it nowadays. I’m not necessarily referring to Spotify and streaming services in general so much, as to the attention the average listener pays to music. On a mass scale it has become superficial, secondhand entertainment and that has diminished the importance of the art form, and it’s cultural impact. Look how much more easily the common person is invested in a 2-hour podcast than listening to music, when the same meaning or content could be surmised in a well crafted album. It hasn’t helped that the inevitable democratisation of music making means has given rise to badly produced, badly songwritten material (along with its many positive aspects obviously), but we definitely live in an era with the most musical releases than ever before, paired with the least generational imprint.

8. Speaking directly to listeners – what would you ask them to do to help support your music?

The two ways you can help support us are either support us on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/saisei_officialband) or get our music or merch straight from the source (https://saiseiofficialband.bandcamp.com/). Anything helps really, even buying us a coffee for 3 euros, as the first tier on our Patreon suggests.

9. Outside of the music, what do you do to relax?

I’m still trying to find the answer to that truthfully. I go to the movies a lot, almost 3 times a week, I enjoy a good book occasionally or writing little stories and scripts of my own. I did scuba diving recently for the first time and that turned out to be very calming and relaxing surprisingly.

10. Where can people find you?

Here are all the links people can use to find us:

Website | Spotify | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube