Traditional Epic Metallers "Wotan" have just announced that they are going to play a gig in Cyprus in July 13th , so i took the opporunity to have a chat with their guitarist Mario Degiovanni about the band .
-Hello Mario . What are Wotan doing this time as a band , and what are your expectations and plans for the future?
-We are working hard on the songs for the upcoming next cd , "Nibelugenlied" . It's 5 years we are working on these songs , and believe me it will be our masterpiece . It will be a double concept album with 18 brand new songs , without any intermissions , intros , spoken parts and other bullshit .
-Who writes the songs for Wotan ? What's the usual process ?
-Vanni (the vocalist) writes all the lyrics , always , and i usually write the music . Usually we start with a guitar riff or a chorus melody , and then we all together work for the song . Sometimes songs come up very quickly but sometimes it's a long procedure . We don't finish any song unless we are 100% satisfied .
-You have played at many cities . Where did you had the best responce from the fans ?
-Greece has a very special place in our hearts. This is beacause we've played there lots of times , not only in Athens , but Thessaloniki , Xanthi , Komotini , Drama etc . Also in Spain we had a very good responce , and of course in Germany .
-Is it easy for a Traditional Epic metal band like Wotan to find a label and to play gigs abroad?
-Of course not . It's a very underground status , and usually its fans who organise gigs for us around Europe . About the labels ... In 2012 probably the labels are not so important .You know for an underground band with internet contacts it could be easy to find distro , mailorders etc . If you want to make the difference and go out from the underground status you need a good label . With a good distribution and promotion in all channels . It's very difficult . Actually we don't know wich label will publish our next cd .
-Would you ever change the style of music you play for any reason?
-Never . From the beginning in the 80's 'til now . This is the music we love and feel inside us . And it always will be !
-What does Heavy Metal mean for you?
-Good question ... It's not only about the nusic ..It'an attitude , a filosophy of life , a beliefe . Heavy metal gives you the strength to go on through all the difficulties of life .. Everyone ahas own problems (school,work,health,family) and i think Heavy Metal really could help everyone of us .
-How do metal fans in Italy respond to Wotan ?
- In the last years , we played very few gigs in Italy . There are no more spaces to play Heavy metal .It's sad but tue . Hope to make some better in the future , he have a good fan base here .
- You are playing in Cyprus in the 13th of July . How didi this came up?
- To be honest we had to play in Cyprus last year . Tragedy End Agency contacted us ( I think some Cypriot fans of Wotan got in touch with Tragedy End) and all things are going on very easily and so we confirmed the 13th of July with Grave Digger .It's the first time for us in Cyprus and will be very exciting .We will also play 2 new songs from our upcoming album live for the first time !
- Send a message to the metal fans in Cyprus .
- Be there brothers ! You will never forget this show and we promise you , we will give you 110% of ourselves and we will play a very special setlist .
