Swedish Greenleaf after having 20 years recording stoner\desert rock music, they release their new record in 26th of March: “Echoes from a Mass”. Taking advantage of the new record release, Vangelis Giannakopoulos had a conversation with the band about the new record and the band.
Pre-order "Echoes From A Mass" now: https://smarturl.it/EchoesFromAMass-NPR
Rockoverdose: Greetings from Greece. My name is Vangelis and I would like to thank you for having this interview. After “Hearing the Rivers” we are now waiting “Echoes From A Mass”. You have proved all those years that you never settle. Now what shall we expect from the band?
GreenLeaf: Hey Vangelis! Well the biggest difference between this album and “Hear The Rivers” is probably the ambience and heaviness. ”Hear The Rivers” was a pretty blueasy, playful and groovy album. While this one is a bit more sincere and honest. The lyrics are much more personal and the songs more on point. A little bit more a punch in the face maybe. I’ve been going through a very tough time, during 2020 and I like to think that you can hear it in the delivery of the songs. We also changed the theme quite a lot. We skipped the nature sort of theme that we had on the latest three albums and talked more about emotions and reality.
Rockoverdose: Listening the “Tides” I have witnessed a more concrete production in the music while it keeps the raw character of the band. Is something changed on your approach in production?
GreenLeaf: Yes we wanted this record to sound a lot bigger and “Tides” is a perfect example of just that. We wanted it sound almost ghostly and epic. Like the vastness of space haha.
Rockoverdose: You are in the road for more than 20 years. Looking back then what is that you would have done differently. In terms of music of course?
GreenLeaf: Not much really. We are pretty happy with how Greenleaf have been evolving through the years and it’s also cool that the scene has grown a little bit bigger in the same pace as the band almost. Nowadays we play when we like and when we have time and it’s just great that people still wanna come and see us play!
Rockoverdose: If anyone asks me, what kind of music Greenleaf is playing then I will answer immediately: Rock n’ Roll. Will you describe it that way? Which are your influences?
GreenLeaf: That or heavy rock is probably how I would describe it too. I’m not interested in putting a label on it though. It’s music you either like or you don’t. Influence wise we are grown up on 70s rock like. Zeppelin. Sabbath and Deep Purple. But nowadays we take influences from all different types of music. I for one loves indie rock and pop like: Jim James, Junip and instrumental stuff like Gösta Berlings Saga and Tonbruket. My melodies usually comes much more from pop, soul or blues then heavier stuff.
Rockoverdose: There is huge amount of music and bands playing stoner\desert rock and you managed to stand out. Which do you think is the secret formula?
GreenLeaf: Like I said on the last question it’s probably the combination of Tommi’s heavy oriented riffs and often softer melodies. The combination of hooks and loudness haha.
Rockoverdose: Sweden has a very big tradition in music in all genres. Where do you think this is related to?
GreenLeaf: In Sweden you either do sports or music as a kid and it’s probably because of the winter and the darkness that is half the year around. There’s not much else to do. And with the cold and the dark you get a pretty heavy mind that forces you to be creative. You need to escape into something else. And in many cases that is creating music.
Rockoverdose: Which bands you would choose to tour with if you had to start touring tomorrow.
GreenLeaf: To tour with Melvins would be really cool I think. We all love that band. And they seem like very funny guys.
Rockoverdose: It is more than obvious that you enjoy touring and doing shows. Which are the plans of the band now that you can’t tour?
GreenLeaf: Haha write music and spend time with our families. Not much else to do really.
Rockoverdose: Any message you want to give to your Greek fans?
GreenLeaf: Hope we see you soon! We love playing greece. We will be back when this shit is over.
Rockoverdose: Thanks again for this interview, hope to see you soon in Greece. Keep it safe!
For RockOverdose,
Vangelis Giannakopoulos
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