VODKA JUNIORS CHECK IN!

I first heard the name Vodka Juniors when I was watching a track by track documentary for Jaya the Cat’s album The New International Sound of Hedonism. Turns out the track Date with a Needle is a cover song! So I checked this Greek band and that started a mad journey that me and my friends are still on! There is a special spark that these guys light up through their music and in the past few years we’ve travelled to Thessaloniki, Bucharest and Serres to see them play live (a thing we’ve never done for any of the big ass bands we like by the way). This year they will come and play Sofia for the first time, they also have a new album out and that was a natural cause for this interview.

LC: The new album Warrior Anthems! What is the lyrical concept behind it?

VJ: Warrior Anthems is a tribute to the fighting youth of today. Everyone fights his own personal battles and it seems that as time passes by this world is becoming more and more hostile. It doesn’t really matter what your personal war is and against who, this album was written as a tribute to all the lost souls in the face of giants. A soundtrack for the modern day Davids fighting Golliaths.

LC: What made you experiment with slower tracks?

VJ: Fast tracks get all the attention on the music because they hit hard. In a sense they extract a physical reaction from the listener. Slower tracks are easier but give more space to the lyrics and maybe extract a more internal and emotional reaction. We love both and believe each has its place. We grew up with really fast music but nowadays we like to experiment with both slow and fast especially when we have a message we want to get across where the lyrics are more important than the music. Slower singalongs have an unmatched energy. Heaviness is not determined by fast/slow, drops and gains. In our heads how hard a track hits is set by the sincerity and importance of its message.

LC: There is a bigger team behind you on this album. How did things happen there?

VJ: Not a bigger team but a different team, since this time we recorded at Unreal studioz. We want the people we cooperate with to be friends first, just like one big family. The people we love, we want to keep them close… We grew up outside, lucky enough to be a generation that wasn’t imprisoned in front of a PC screen. So it just happens that we know a lot of creative people, musicians, painters, rappers, thrashers, skaters, bmxers, bikers or whatever. We all share the same passion for life. The endless, after midnight, strolling led into crossing paths with one of the best sound engineers out there and now a VJ family member, Alex Ketenjian. The Armenian, perfectionist, metalhead devil and his team embraced our vision. When we told them we want to cross jungle beats with punk rock they never laughed. Well maybe they did but only for 5 seconds… then they said let’s do this!

LC: A new record means a new tour. How do you plan your tours these days, what are they like?

VJ: We setup tours on our own and sometimes with the help of longtime friends we’ve met on the road. Each tour is different. We do play shows in front of thousands of people and also smaller shows in front of maybe 30-50 people. Each and every one is important and holds a special place in our hearts. Touring is always teaching us stuff and some of our biggest tours have been extremely challenging on a personal level. We’re leaving for our Balkan tour tomorrow and as I am writing this one of us is having a surgery right now and will miss the first show, another one just came out of a very serious operation last week still recovering, plus all the usual injuries. On a positive note when you strike that first chord everything’s gone, nothing can ever beat that beautiful feeling! We’re grateful we’ve been given the opportunity to experience life on the road.

LC: I think it is 10 years of Dark Poetry this year? Got any plans to celebrate?

VJ: Its ten years yeah! No plans to celebrate whatsoever. Dark Poetry was a side project and maybe we’ll revisit sometime in the future but for now we‘re full speed ahead with Warrior Anthems. We’re grateful Dark Poetry became a classic album and sooner or later we’ll come back to it. On the other hand the response for Warrior Anthems has been insane. We worked with all our hearts on the new sound and the new lyrics. The people are anxiously waiting to hear this beast live and I am telling you it’s a growling monster. We’re only just starting this journey and Warrior Anthems is a live experience that needs to be unleashed…!!

LC: The band itself is almost 20 years old now. What are the best and the worst moments in your journey?

VJ: Best moments are every friend we made, every distant place we got to see, all these battles against mediocrity, all these late nights spitting our guts out, every kid we helped through the music, every face in the crowd we’ll never forget, all the fears we conquered and all the times we screamed to feel alive and free. Worst moments are surely all the injuries and the realization as we grow up that although our hearts grow stronger, our bodies are holding back from all the abuse. But it’s the worst moments that make all these best moments really count I guess

LC: Vodka Juniors is a major player in the Athens scene. Is there anything you’d change in the underground if you could?

VJ: We’re not the ones to judge and say what’s right or wrong. This world’s full of those people. There are many things that are wrong in my humble opinion but we try to have a positive attitude. Instead of changing anything we focus on being creative and doing things the way we believe should be done. Offer an alternative to whoever wants to join. Sounds diplomatic but most people consume themselves on judging others instead of making something out of nothing. As one of our favorite dark poets Bill Hicks would say “the fucking peon masses… the useless wastes of fucking flesh that has ruined everything good in this goddamn world”!

LC: Can you name a few young bands from Greece you think people should pay attention to?

VJ: Wow this is difficult… Greece right now is an erupting volcano of music. Behind every door of a studio lies a hidden treasure. Don’t take our word, just start doing some research on the internet and you won’t be disappointed whatever your choice of music. Be it punk, rock, stoner, hip hop anything really. New albums from the underground that we listened recently were from Molisma, Youth Crusher, Friend of gods, Mad John the wise. Oh and just heard a crazy cover of Minorthreat’s “Out of step” all in Greek by «Πενιχρη Απειλη». Thousands more…!

LC: What does your family think about all this – the band, the time away, focusing on things they are not a part of? Has it ever dragged you down?

VJ: In the beginning it was no issue, as we grow up and we also start our own families it’s becoming a struggle. They get it though, this band is everything for us. This is our life one show at a time…

We hope to see you all in Sofia this March! This is our first time ever there. Don’t know how this happened after so many times in the Balkans!! Let’s do this

Vodka Juniors - Fighting Giants