Paradise Lost are undeniably one of the most influential bands on the scene. In less than a few months, they return to Greece as part of their "Embers of Europe" tour to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their album "Icon".
Guitarist, Aaron Aedy Aedy , declares that he is ready for their performances in front of his favorite Greek audience, on Saturday December 9th at the Principal Club in Thessaloniki and on Sunday December 10th at the Fuzz Club in Athens.
Read our interview with him below, in which, among other things, he reveals their future plans as well as surprises that will include those anniversary performances!
RockOverdose: Hi Aaron! We're very happy hosting you and the band again in our pages.How do we find you at the moment?
Aaron Aedy (PARADISE LOST): I'm good! Looking forward touring "Icon" which I love and also visiting your country which is one of my favorite places to play as well.
RockOverdose: Everyone loves this album, I think it's been for most the turning point in your career. Is it for you the point in your lives where you start realizing things are getting more serious and professional?
Aaron Aedy (PARADISE LOST): I think this happens with every album, especially once we got with music financials and released Shades Of God, we kind of knew the process of working with Simon. I think we felt like we were better musicians, we felt more confortable in the studio so that was a lot better, and also i thing that Greg (Mackintosh) in songwriting really came ον along of that time. I think we had some cracking songs and we were all super excited when we recorded it, I remember that.
RockOverdose: How difficult was it to achieve some of the old feeling of Icon, turned into something new in 2023?
Aaron Aedy (PARADISE LOST): Well, it's the same thing with when I get on stage to play live, I feel 18! You sort of remember how you felt about everything when you're up on stage, it's like the feeling I got when I first heard King Diamond's Abigail album or Candlemass Epicus Doomicus Metallicus. Our album "Icon" does that. It's easy because music is something that lifts the spirits anyway, especially when these memories attach.
RockOverdose: That's true. Aw you said you feel 18 and you've been always the “headbanger” of the band, even with shorter or no hair at all. How do you receive all this love? Does it bring you more responsibility to go on doing what you do?
Aaron Aedy (PARADISE LOST): To be honest, you have to headbang more with no hair because if you have long hair it looks like you're going crazy. I don't really thing about how the music makes me feel. First and foremost, as a band we appreciate of how fortunate we are to be here over 35 years later, making music that we love and the people like it. For me it's easy, when I see people enjoying it, we help eachother this way to have a great night! When you got people who enjoy your music as much as you do, or even more then it's easy to get energized that way. Even if you don't have a great day, which has happened sometimes you forget it when you're up on stage for an hour and a half.
RockOverdose: Going back to fan reactions and especially after playing “Draconian Times” on its whole, everyone started dreaming about an “Icon”-related tour which now takes place. Was it something you had in mind any way, or was it a good chance for things turning full circle on its 30th anniversary? Could we have more details on how the decision was taken?
Aaron Aedy (PARADISE LOST): I think that the 30th anniversary felt the perfect way to finish the tour of Obsidian, before finishing writing our new album. The timing was ideal really, there are a few albums like Draconian Times and Icon, that we want to play all through and people also want it. It kinda felt perfect to do re-record it. Timing and how much we enjoy playing the album is the reason we decided to do it.
RockOverdose: Mentioning “Obsidian”, 3 and a half years after its release, how do you see it as an album and what is the role of it in your longtime career and tdiscography?
Aaron Aedy (PARADISE LOST): I think that Obsidian has been received very well. It was literally released after the first lockdown, however at first we thought about releasing it after 6 months but finally we did it that time. So it's been 3 and a half years that we've been promoting this album and it's well received, the Obsidian songs are blending really well with the old stuff. I think it kind of fits really nice with the Icon vibe, it kinda suits in there. But it's time to write new stuff!
RockOverdose: The first album was released in 1990, 16 albums later, with an old one being re-recorded, how much of a pain is it to choose the setlist from almost 200 songs, most of which mean so much to your fans through the years and requests keep multiplying and getting weirder and more special?
Aaron Aedy (PARADISE LOST): It's quite hard. There probably 10 songs that you can normaly have in a setlist and to go down well. You can fit in songs to work but you always try, if you've got a new record to build around it. It's nice sometimes to introduce some songs we've never played live, which happens occasionally but it's hard. There're songs that almost pick themselves, you can't leave them out. I mean, we did one tour and left "As I Die" out and people went mental, so we put it back in! It can be hard cause there still some songs I'd love to play, that we haven't played for a long time. Songs like "Disappear" from our second album, or "Pray Nightfall", you can't play them all sadly, but we do try to put them in. I remember when Walter was in the band, he was like "Could we play this one?" and he was getting excited so we would put some in for him, but yeah.. it's hard but there's a bunch of songs you want to promote as a new release, and a bunch of songs that you always play.
I'm quite pleased that we're going to play "Sweetness" as part of the Icon set, which is a song we haven't played for a while and people have been asking. It's easy and funny enough I rehearshed it and in the first play I pretty much remember it, so hopefully we'll play it!
RockOverdose: OMG, that was my million dollar question! “Sweetness”! That will drive us completely nuts! Why did you feel it didn’t suit the vibe of the album ?
Aaron Aedy (PARADISE LOST): If Walter have asked for it when he was in the band maybe we would have played it. It's too many to pick and sometimes this happens when you change drummers. I'm looking forward to it and hope people will enjoy it!
RockOverdose: That's for sure! Well, Greece and Paradise Lost have become such a united term that counts 33 gigs all these years. Any special memories from any Greek gig that you’d like to share with us?
Aaron Aedy (PARADISE LOST): Well, I remember our hottest gig ever, probably in Rockwave a few years ago with Gojira and Machine Head. The sun was directly on the stage, it was SO hot!
I've told this story many time in interviews, I remember the first ime we've played, I think it was end of August or September, it was the first time I've ever heard an audience singing the melodies and the solos, and I was kind of blowned away by that! I've been in love with playing shows to your country, to be honest, cause the enthousiasm it's brilliant! The metal culture there is fantastic! I love how emotionally ingrain the music there!
I remember my first trip in Greece, I couldn't wait to go to the Acropolis and I still got the entrance ticket, I'm a big history fan! Consistanty we have great time in Greece and we make great shows!
RockOverdose: Nice! Please let us know what does the future hold after this tour, what about the new PL album which as you mentioned before is on the works ...
Aaron Aedy (PARADISE LOST): We started to put festivals for next year but at the momment the plan is to do Icon and then stop down for a bunch of months to make the new album. That's the plan!
RockOverdose: Thank you very much Aaron for this interview! You can send a message to your fans here in Greece if you wish!
Aaron Aedy (PARADISE LOST): It was my pleasure! Please never change Greeks, you're probably my favorite place to play! I love you! Thank you very much!
On behalf of RockOverdose,
Vivi Zapantiotou
Questions: Aggelos Katsouras
Tickets: https://bit.ly/SKGICON
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