Interview with Nightfall

AN INTERVIEW WITH NIGHTFALL

Quite some time I got the "Deaf Metal Sampler", released by the Deaf division of Peaceville (may they RIP). I still think it's one of the best quality death metal (and associated genres) sampler released, or at least the very best one ever to find its way into my personal CD collection.

Anyway, to get to the point, on that CD was a beautifully haunting track by a Greek band called Nightfall that I had hitherto been unaware of. It was "Enormous / The Anthem of Death", which reminded me of My Dying Bride but simultaneously took things in a different and quite fascinating new direction. On a Metal Market a few months later I scanned the surroundings for CD vendors and quickly met some people of the French label Holy Records (the Nightfall label) so I could buy both their debut album and their then new CD, "Macabre Sunsets".

At home, I was brutally sucked into the epic world of Greek War Metal. At once unrelenting and strangely melodic, Nightfall's music touched me, if not profoundly, at least prodigiously.

Not too long ago I got the opportunity to interview vocalist and bass player Efthimis Karadimas via mail. I took this opportunity gladly, of course, in order to find out more about his music and his rather unorthodox view of life as we know it.

Below you may find these writings.

Can you tell me something about the events surrounding the foundation of Nightfall?

Efthimis: We actually began as a band in autumn of 1991, two months before the release of our first and only demo tape, "Vanity". However, I've been into dark poetry and literature more than those five years of Nightfall's life, so the only "new" for me was the so-called "official" founding of the band.

Is Nightfall a full-time job?

Efthimis: Of course it's not, and I don't think it's ever going to be! The reason is that it's impossible to melt together art and business, art and real life, without distorting the balance between the two. You know, art is something really personal; it gives a tremendous deal of spiritual pleasure to the artist - the mother of it - parallel to the carnal pleasure of our flesh gets by fucking or masturbating or whatever else. Don't forget that man is ambitious, too, therefore the more we get the more we want. So it's up to everybody to decide what's his aim; what will he gather, the fruits of the earth of the tearbeams of the moon? By the way, there's nothing more stupid for a band than to consider itself underground while its members are longing for tomorrow's "glory" and popularity along with a big label. Underground is something someone does for his beliefs in art and because he's too "young" for the moment, so he doesn't become too popular.

Can you already reveal to us part of the mystery that will be your next album, such as a possible difference in musical style, its title, when it'll be released, some song titles?

Efthimis: The only thing I can tell you for the moment is that it's going to be released in September '95. It's entitled "Athenian Echoes"; more will be revealed in a few months.

Will you be touring again in support of the new album and, if so, when approximately?

Efthimis: Normally right after its release - so that'd be sometime in autumn '95.

What musicians are you most influenced by personally, and which musicians are the band as a whole most influenced by?

Efthimis: There's no influence by other musicians. Inspiration flows rich all over our abyssic nature. All an artist has to do is to be "able" to get those amazing vibes, by simply "jumping" on a higher plane than the rest do. We believe in the individuality of the man, therefore all artists, even if they express the same emotions sometimes, have something special, something that is unique.

Where do you get your lyrical inspiration?

Efthimis: I used to read and write poetry; my poetry of death. I've reflected my most "weird" and desirable passions; these words are my inner tears. I have nothing to preach through them, we hate all the kinds of "messiahs" (political, religious, musical...), furthermore their low, poor followers. Nightfall has no "fans" but an independent people who get inspiration by our art! We are not surrounded by weak people who desperately want to be told by us who to believe in, what they should and should not do, etc.

What does the Greek text on the back of "Macabre Sunsets" CD liner mean in English?

Efthimis: It's a poem inspired in Greek. I've never translated my poems. I just write 'em down straight like my inspiration gave them to me.

What does Nightfall have that other bands don't have?

Efthimis: The only thing I can say is that we haven't mixed our art with business. Therefore, no matter if somebody likes what we're doing or not, he knows that it's like pure hell! True!

What is your favourite band, and who is your favourite bassist?

Efthimis: All the bro bands throughout the scene, moreover all those that I am in touch with, are my faves. I see "music" more like art, you know, as a strictly personal way of expression with a wide philosophical base. And most of the guys in the scene are artists - not all, due to the trendy posers' plague of the last few years.

What is the book that made of an impression on you recently?

Efthimis: The "Devil's Notebook".

And which film?

Efthimis: "Margot Reine".

What song will you want the people to hear, in many years, on your funeral service? The truly majestic "Enormous - The Anthem of Death" perhaps?

Efthimis: I'd like for them just to be able to listen to my whispering tunes as the black sun rises and my moon becomes deep red.

What is to you the music released of 1994?

Efthimis: All as well as none.

What do you recall as the worst ever moment of your life?

Efthimis: The very first time I ever spoke to another human being.

If you could be Aladdin for a while, which three wishes would you make?

Efthimis: Die, die, die!

If you were sent to a deserted island and you could only take with you 5 CDs, one book and one luxury item, which would they be?

Efthimis: A notebook, a pen and an instrument would be more than enough!

What invention do you hope mankind will come up with soon?

Efthimis: Oh man, I cannot stand people with serious health problems, morever I can't think of myself being tortured by a disease or whatever. My way is that either you live on the top, or simply die. Lying on a bed because of a problem is the worst thing that might ever happen to me!

Which person alive today would you most like to meet?

Efthimis: None.

What is the thing you most hope to be remembered by?

Efthimis: I don't give a shit whether I'll live eternally in people's minds or not. In one way or another I am immortal by myself.

Now some words to react to...Macedonia.

Efthimis: Mine, yours, him...maybe some time I'll gain this kind of power so as to be able to play those kinds of games.

Religion.

Efthimis: The only source of hope for the weak people. Also a great business unit with lots of profits. The only thing I like about religious parties is that they successfully keep the mob low, there where it deserves to be - servant.

War Metal.

Efthimis: Conquer the lands of your desires with no mercy at all.

Septic Flesh.

Efthimis: Cool.

Elend.

Efthimis: Cool.

Venom.

Efthimis: Cool.

Dynamo Open Air.

Efthimis: Stoned to death.

Greece.

Efthimis: The ancient one has (almost) nothing in common with the one now!