Interview with Braveride

The band's style is characterized by a pure epic feeling and a modern sound. All lyrics are inspired by fantasy themes with knights and witches. The band was founded by Marios Christakis in 2004, They have released 4 albums so far. The Great Awakening is coming out in 2025.
Alan – Hello to the land of Zorba the Greek.
Marios – Hello! Yes, land of many epic moments and history too ;) 

Alan – The band Braveride was formed in 2004. Who founded it? And who has stayed since the beginning until now?
Marios – The band was formded by me with a very clear view of what music I wanted to compose, that created some boundaries and limits to find another musicians to get into the same vision, from time to time musicians steped into the band and left the band but always in good mood and braveride continue all these years forward, so now we have a new line up once again.

Alan – Could you introduce the band to us? The current one? And does anyone from the band still play in other bands?
Marios – Me at guitars, Wolf De Iullis (ex-chrysalid) - bass, Marcello Vieira (Invisible horizon,Atland) – vocals, Antonis Oldgeorge – drums , Antonis will be replaced by George Stamoglou (ex-nightrage) because of the band new live performances needs.

Alan – It is stated everywhere that you have 3 albums, no matter how I count, I have 4 albums coming out.
Marios – That's correct ;), 4 albums. Heroic deeds is our first and I am very proud of it but it was a rough producted material (from production side of things) and because the "new" streaming services outhere, i decided to leave it out of them because as it's sound could not fit well . But it was our first with very good songs in it with stong bathory atmosphere in some of them. We already done some new recordings to reproduce at least 2 of it's songs in new production and maybe give them free to the world as singles.
 
Alan – This year, 2025, you released the album The Great Awakening. Who did you release it with? How satisfied are you with the label, with the cooperation?
Marios – Our new album is released by by Rockshots records and we are very happy for it because they give a great support to the band. The final procuct is top notch deluxe digipak and except that, label has physical distribution to all the world and a great line of contacts between them. So, we are at our best moment ever!

Alan – Where did you record, where did you master? And did anyone help you with the album?
Marios – The album mixing-mastering and overall production has been made at Devasoundz studios from Fotis Benardo and Grigoris Giarelis. Some instruments recorded at different studios (vocals for example).

Alan – The whole album is again in epic metal? Or did you add a little bit of other melodic metal genres?
Marios – The band always plays music from epic to powel metal with approaches more to the one or to the the other side and always with symphonic elements in it. Strong appearance of classical guitar here and there too. So, the new album is a great example of epic-power metal with symphonic approach ;)

Alan – The concept of the lyrics (knights, dragons, witches) again, or will it be based on something else?
Marios – All of our albums are concept based, fantasy sword and sorcery theme, and they are linked from the first album in the same fantasy world that I created though the years. "The Great Awakening" is the final conclusion to our big story. I want to say here that a listener has to read the lyrics from album to album to understand the thematic connection between them.

Alan – Could you briefly describe the songs? Both musically and lyrically?
Twilight – Instrumental intro of the album with classical guitar and flute as main elements, a little spooky-fantasy atmosphere in it.
Executioner – One of the strongest and heaviest songs of the album, executioner is a spiritual good force that came to bring justice to the world, killind demons ;) 
Nightmares are Real – More epic approach at it where the listener can "see" the ghosts-demons and "nightmare" things to take shape and steo into our world (fantastic world).
Souls are Marching – This song gives the perfect emotion of desparate situation where the evil forces march in war, strong symphonic composing approach.  
Temple of the Unholy Reign – A heavy song with neoclassical elements and a clear power metal chorus, here we dive into one of the most evil headquarters of the evil forces.
The Gate – Poledouris (conan movie composer) meets braveride ;) , very atmospheric song with classical guitar as main instrument and some great soprano solo, our hero finds the way to win the war, he found the gate!  
Delfekor – Delfekor is one of the most beautiful places in the world, a positive song where the listener takes vibes of revenge and hope for a final good end. Changes at tempo and different rythms from verse to verse and with a great solo in the end. A song to be played live totally!
Gionis – Gionis is a sad greek fairytale but I changed it a little to fit better in our concept. Is a side story that happens in our concept and it speaks about an evil witch and two brothers....it is a theatrical song I can say, bombastic cuts and some great changes through it.
Unspoken Terror – Here we are into war, dragons unite with elves and sorcerers of light too fight the evil hordes, many lead guitars at the same time and the song is one of the most direct from the album but with stong "crazy" composing approach I can say.
The Final Confrontation – This is the final song, the final song of the saga too! So, it had to be EPIC...and it is! I really like big epic-bombastic songs but I always want big songs to be SONGS and not copy – paste ideas and big themes where you hear them again and again just to fill the gaps. So , this song is a big crescendo I may say. Starts easy and builds step by step. Different verses and one of the best choruses of the album and crazy solo phrases before the end. Lyrically is very detailed too and helps the listener to enjoy this last part of the story.

Alan – How is playing in Greece? Any interesting things?
Marios – Metal Greek scene is at its best, many great bands and great productions. Festivals and live events at many places now.  

Alan – Speaking of playing, do you have any funny experiences with the band while performing?
Marios – I have a sad experience to NOT playing ;) , I always wanted braveride to perform live but because of members changes this was always difficult. At 2019-2020 we were near to do it but some minor problems inside the band and covid next "burned" the timing once again.
Now, we are ready! We will play live at Golden Rules Festival at 29 August and it will be great because it will be a real celebration for us and we do our best to have a killer live perfromance there. 

Alan – Can you dance Zorba? I know it's not the original dance, taken from the movie. But it worked. Funny and good.
Marios – I do only headbacking ;), that is the only dance I know ;)

Alan – What about concerts or festivals abroad? Where have you been? where have you traveled to? And what are your experiences with that?
Marios – Volos and Golden Rules Festival will be our first and after that we will do our best to travel outside of Greece too. Our purpose is to have great quality gigs everywhere we will be asking for. Not big tour (...you never know), but good gigs to support the album and reach more people and then get into the studio again for the next album.

Alan – Speaking of traveling. Do you know the Czech Republic or Slovakia? And any bands?
Marios – I have travel at Czech Republic and I loved it, EPIC! I have not visit Slovakia...
I am sorry but I don't know or hear any band from these place but I will be happy to know and learn if you have some good suggestions!

Alan – During your travels, what interesting local things have you eaten and drunk?
Marios – I am very easy person and I like to taste new things, so at any place I travel in the past (personally) I taste many things, I like France cooked meat byh the way and I will try to taste many things in our future travels with the band (we wish for it)! 

Alan – For this year, 2025, and for the new album. What do you have planned? A tour of Europe? Greece? Music videos? A full-length fantasy film?
Marios – Golden Rules Festival is a big priority because we have to show to our fans that we are here and we can play live, braveride is not a "studio band", we can play what you hear and I want braveride to have stage performances and keep things moving before we continue to our next album.
Music composing and guitar progress is the most important thing for me and live appearances is the gift to this internal struggle for me ;)
About fantasy film;) who know maybe we will be viral in the future and someone will want to do it ;)  
 
Alan – Thanks for the interview. I’m really looking forward to visiting you somewhere. Bye, and good luck.
Marios – Thank you too Alan, I really appreciate this, Greece is an open destination for you , just contact me ! Stay epic! 
https://braveride.com