Delete The Mass is one of my favorite new grindcore bands. I especially love their full-length debut. I wanted to know more about them, so I decided to do an interview with them. It got delayed a bit, but it's finally here.
How did the band get together?
George V. (vocals): The band was initially formed by two close friends, me and the other George (drums). We decided to play some crust / grind stuff for fun, then we realized that we had some interesting ideas and the label crust / grind was replaced by anything extreme (or not) we had in mind. Therefore we took it (a little bit) more seriously and the rest of the members joined us sooner or later. After some time, a demo and a full length, plus a few changes of the members and instruments, today Delete the Mass are: George C.: drums, Sotiris: bass, Stergios: guitars/vocals, George V.: vocals.
What are your main influences?
Sotiris (bass): Well, each individual in the band has its own influences. George V. is more into experimental grind stuff like Discordance Axis and Gridlink, Stergios is a die-hard Napalm Death fan and also likes stuff such as Deicide, Repulsion, Mayhem etc., some of George C.’s favorite bands are Nasum, Phobia and Origin, and some of the bands that I consider my influences are Slayer and Voivod. The final outcome is a mixture of our influences that takes place during the arrangement of the stuff we are working on at rehearsals. Of course the bands mentioned above are just a tiny sample of the music we like; we’d spend a lot of time if I start mentioning all the bands we listen to!
Were any of you involved in other bands before Delete the Mass?
S: Before DTM Stergios had a grindcore band called Asscunt Fester, but they split up before releasing anything, and I had a two-year spell at thrashers Suicidal Angels. Nowadays, apart from DTM, George V. performs in Conspiracy of Denial and Abyssgale, a crust and a black metal band respectively, and Stergios has a brutal death solo project called Profane Deed and a black metal project called Stygian Darkness.
What is the meaning behind the name “Delete the Mass”?
G: Forget what the "normal" says, follow your own will and heart, spit blood to learn the truth, take nothing for granted, fuck the labels and the stupid grouping of people, fuck religions, throw away anything you don't need, be yourself. You don't need too much to be OK. Things that have "mass" physically collapse and rot.
I understand that Greece is undergoing a major financial crisis and intense social unrest. Do these events influence the contents of your lyrics?
G: Not all of them. Some songs in Maza, like The Yard, have a strong social content but usually the lyrics were more general with lots of allegories especially on songs with Greek lyrics. We want to play and write what we really feel the time we play and write. I'm not gonna write lyrics for politics if I don’t feel it and I'm not gonna say "tommorow I have to concentrate so that I can write something with social content". Same holds for music. We like not to have a specific pattern; instead we want to create on a whim. The proof for this fact lies in the lyrics and the songs as long as one can notice lots of variations between them. However, in a crisis like that, being influenced in creation generally is something you can take for granted. So as long as the crisis influences our lives and therefore our psychology, it is reasonable to say that it has influence on the lyrics as well, at least a bit. To be honest one of the basic factors that keeps me in the band is to kill my nerves.
George V. (vocals): The band was initially formed by two close friends, me and the other George (drums). We decided to play some crust / grind stuff for fun, then we realized that we had some interesting ideas and the label crust / grind was replaced by anything extreme (or not) we had in mind. Therefore we took it (a little bit) more seriously and the rest of the members joined us sooner or later. After some time, a demo and a full length, plus a few changes of the members and instruments, today Delete the Mass are: George C.: drums, Sotiris: bass, Stergios: guitars/vocals, George V.: vocals.
What are your main influences?
Sotiris (bass): Well, each individual in the band has its own influences. George V. is more into experimental grind stuff like Discordance Axis and Gridlink, Stergios is a die-hard Napalm Death fan and also likes stuff such as Deicide, Repulsion, Mayhem etc., some of George C.’s favorite bands are Nasum, Phobia and Origin, and some of the bands that I consider my influences are Slayer and Voivod. The final outcome is a mixture of our influences that takes place during the arrangement of the stuff we are working on at rehearsals. Of course the bands mentioned above are just a tiny sample of the music we like; we’d spend a lot of time if I start mentioning all the bands we listen to!
Were any of you involved in other bands before Delete the Mass?
S: Before DTM Stergios had a grindcore band called Asscunt Fester, but they split up before releasing anything, and I had a two-year spell at thrashers Suicidal Angels. Nowadays, apart from DTM, George V. performs in Conspiracy of Denial and Abyssgale, a crust and a black metal band respectively, and Stergios has a brutal death solo project called Profane Deed and a black metal project called Stygian Darkness.
What is the meaning behind the name “Delete the Mass”?
G: Forget what the "normal" says, follow your own will and heart, spit blood to learn the truth, take nothing for granted, fuck the labels and the stupid grouping of people, fuck religions, throw away anything you don't need, be yourself. You don't need too much to be OK. Things that have "mass" physically collapse and rot.
I understand that Greece is undergoing a major financial crisis and intense social unrest. Do these events influence the contents of your lyrics?
G: Not all of them. Some songs in Maza, like The Yard, have a strong social content but usually the lyrics were more general with lots of allegories especially on songs with Greek lyrics. We want to play and write what we really feel the time we play and write. I'm not gonna write lyrics for politics if I don’t feel it and I'm not gonna say "tommorow I have to concentrate so that I can write something with social content". Same holds for music. We like not to have a specific pattern; instead we want to create on a whim. The proof for this fact lies in the lyrics and the songs as long as one can notice lots of variations between them. However, in a crisis like that, being influenced in creation generally is something you can take for granted. So as long as the crisis influences our lives and therefore our psychology, it is reasonable to say that it has influence on the lyrics as well, at least a bit. To be honest one of the basic factors that keeps me in the band is to kill my nerves.
What's up with all the cat people on the cover of your first demo? I'm really confused by that.
G: Me too bro...!! Isn't it confusing?
One year after releasing your first demo, you released your full-length debut, Μάζα. I understand that the word means “Mass” in english, but what is the deeper meaning behind it on this album?
G: I think the description of the band name above reveals the answer. We would like everyone to delete the "mass" and the "mass" is something bad for us. We believe that it is what you need to throw away in order to become happy. The "too much". The "common". The same shit you get every day. Or even the stupid mass of people that think they know everything except they now nothing... But in every kind of art, even so in extreme the artist needs to keep some secrets so that the audience will try to imagine what the artist needs to say, think and examine carefully the art. One same thing may have different explanations and meanings. That's why I was so sarcastic about the cat thing above… haha! (That's bullshit, we just found the cat picture on the internet and we were too lazy to put an actual cover… GRIND TILL DEAFNESS!!!).
Could you tell us a little bit about the recording process on this album?
S: The whole recording process of Maza, as well as the mixing and mastering procedure, took place at the infamous Meatbox, our rehearsal studio. It was a really low budget production, since the total cost of the equipment used isn’t more than 500-600 euros (that’s what we had available… sorry haha!!). Our drummer George took care of the entire production, we didn’t want anyone outside of the band involved. Also, note that although the album was released after the line-up changes that took place, the recordings were already done before. That’s why the line-up appearing in Maza is the old one.
What has been your favorite touring moment?
S: We really had a lot of fun at our visit in Thessaloniki last March for the 2nd Greek Death / Grind Scene festival. Apart from meeting old and new friends, we also ended up completely wasted on both nights that we spent there and we’ve got some hilarious stories to tell!!
Any plans for the future?
S: At the moment we are arranging the material we have in our hands for what will be the second DTM full-length. We already have 9 new songs completed, and we have the riffs and lyrics, as well as the main structure for the rest songs, so the only thing left is just to perform them at studio. The new stuff still has some DTM characteristics, but at the same time it’s very different from our previous work, definitely more extreme and closer to death metal. Also, unlike the previous album, most of the new songs have Greek lyrics, with only a few songs having English ones. You can hear a sample of our new work at the following link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkZjfWVazd8), where you can see us rehearsing the song “Ορίζοντας Γεγονότων” (Event Horizon).
Any final words for your non-Greek fans?
S: We really want to thank everyone for supporting us, it’s great to see that people far away from here like our stuff. Make sure to check our page www.facebook.com/DeleteTheMass for any updates. Always feel free to get in touch with us either by inbox on Facebook, or at dtmathens@gmail.com. Last but not least, thanks go to you too for this interview. Cheers!!!
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