Jag Panzer is one of the most favorite bands of the Greek heavy metal community. Their new album “The Deviant Chord” will be released on September 27th, and due to this Rock Overdose and Michalis Zounarakis had a very interesting conversation with the band’s guitarist Mark Briody. Enjoy!
Rock Overdose: Hello and welcome to Rock Overdose. How are you?
Mark Briody: I am doing very well. Busy doing lots of press which is a good thing. I hope you are doing well also.
Rock Overdose: Your new album, “The Deviant Chord”, will be released on 27th of September. Tell us a few words about it.
Mark Briody: It’s been many years since we had released an album, so this one is important to us. We tried to do something a little different by putting lots of variety of metal on the album.
Rock Overdose: 6 years have passed since your last studio album. Why your fans had to wait so much to hear something new?
Mark Briody: That is all my fault, I am a slow songwriter. Plus I had been kept very busy with the reissues and dealing with getting our song ‘Harder Than Steel’ in the film ‘Dark Places’. That was very much work, much more so than I had imagined it would be. But it was a great experience and exposed many new people to the band.
Rock Overdose: We’ve heard just one song from the album so far, but the fans seem to like it very much and they will support your new album. Do you think that the album will have a warm welcome from the fans and from the press?
Mark Briody: I hope so! The people I have heard from like it so far. Of course there are always varied opinions on any release from any band, but I think in general it’s getting a good response.
Rock Overdose: Which are your plans about the promotion of the album? Will you visit our country, Greece, once again for a show, maybe?
Mark Briody: We will start planning a tour after the album comes out. Of course Greece will be one of the main countries. We have always had a special relationship with fans in Greece. I always love playing in Greece. Also on a small note, you have El Sabor chips which I love!
Rock Overdose: After all those years with Jag Panzer, do you have a favorite memory that you’d like to share with us?
Mark Briody: There are many many good memories. But I think the best is always when I received the box of vinyl from our first e.p. As a child I always dreamed about making an album. Opening that box and seeing the vinyl was those dreams come true.
Rock Overdose: Maybe something you’d like to change?
Mark Briody: I think the biggest mistake we made was not releasing an album immediately after ‘Ample Destruction’. We had the songs written by we were waiting for a large record deal. Many companies were sending out people to watch us live, so I thought that deal was coming. But I the same time we had some offers from bigger indie labels. We should have taken those offers and released the album. That was a mistake I wish I could take back.
Rock Overdose: You played in a lot festivals in the US and in Europe and the most of them are almost exclusively in the classic heavy metal style (like Keep It True festival for example). Have you heard some new bands on those festivals? Which new bands did you like the most?
Mark Briody: There are always great new bands to hear at those festivals. I few years ago I heard Atlantean Kodex and was blown away. Great band. Of course they aren’t a brand new band, but the festival was my first exposure to them.
Rock Overdose: What’s your advice for the new bands that they make their first steps in the music industry nowadays?
Mark Briody: I would tell anyone that they should enter the industry with a love for the music, not money. Chasing money in this industry is a bad idea and a recipe for failure. You have to love the music and put your soul into the music.
Rock Overdose: Thank you very much for your time and for the interview. The epilogue is yours.
Mark Briody: Thank you for the interview! It was cool. We hope to make it to Greece soon! It’s always great for us there.
For the Rock Overdose webzine,
Michalis Zounarakis