INTERVIEW: 1) First of all, I congratulate you on your second album ‘In The Name Of Rose’. This album has nice melodies, great production from R. D. Liapakis, a perfect balance between speed metal and melodic epic, and very great vocals. You made your debut album entitled ‘Mirror Out Of Time’ 4 years ago. Which are the differences between the first and the second album? Do you feel grown up? Thank you very much for your nice words and I’m very glad that you liked our new album. The main differences are that our second album is our first work with a foreign (not Greek) label so the production managed to show a complete album in contrast with the Greek reality, where although our first album had a few remarkable songs ,it didn’t have a cohesion in production and the sound engineers didn’t set off the songs. Now about the grown up…this will be shown better in our next album, which will be more AOR and hard rock. 2) I’m curious of your band-name: Casus Belli is the Latin for “cause of war”. It is a cruel action. Is this a provocation? What do you mean with this? If you read the lyrics of the album carefully you will notice that our songs are totally anti-war, and from our side every violent action is condemned. But fighting for an ideal is very important even though your only weapon is music or art in general. Casus Belli is a well known Latin phrase and accomplishes a role…to give us recognition (for example Status Quo) 3) LMP has released ‘In The Name Of Rose’. Limb Schnoor is a talent scout, he was the discoverer of legendary Helloween and Angra. How does it feel to be “discovered” by him? Actually we discovered him! Fortunately he trusted us and he believed in us as a new comer band to co-operate with and we appreciate that very much. 4) How much important is to go out of one’s own borders for a Heavy/Power Metal band? Which are the chances? As far as it concerns Greece, any border that you pass surely you will find something better. Imagine that if you go to a country that has the most labels the chances to achieve something increase. But all these are not enough if the band doesn’t have the faith in what it does. 5) Greece is known as a fortress of true metal all over the world. Your old-style follows parallel lines, is this a musical project or does your metal come from the heart? Our music is what we are. For us the new, the innovation is respectable for the young guys but if you have noticed in all festivals headliners are bands that their members are aged over fifty. The new is always welcomed but classic also must remain. Someone was always before us. 6) Are you going to try a different type of metal music with LMP, a well-known German label? We have a contract with LMP and also we have something different to present. We don’t know yet if LMP will approve our suggestion, you will found out in a few months with the release of our new album! 7) Please, tell us something about your official line-up! Panos Dedes worked with the Spitfire, likely the most cult Greek metal band of the 80’s. He collaborated with Arvanitis (guitar) with whom he formed the “Condemnation”. Fotis (bass) comes from one of the most extreme Greek bands called Nightfall. Many artists have collaborated with you and lately you have chosen the German drummer Frank Huber. How do you conciliate your different experiences? Do you get on well with Frank? Our line up is Panos Arvanitis in guitars, Panos Dedes vocals and
Fotis Anagnostou in bass guitar. In the bands that you have previously
mentioned we were just session players. We are a very tight band
and the music beliefs of the three of us coincide. About Frank Huber… 8) Panos Dedes was chosen by Judas Priest among the last 25 for the position of vocalist in 1997. How did you feel? Was it an emotion even though you are Casus Belli’s vocals now? Well I must say that I was very nerve to try an audition for the vocalist for Judas Priest! I was much younger and I thought that I didn’t have anything to lose. A great experience that I will always remember although Owen is a remarkable singer I believe that Judas Priest without Rob Halford can not exist. 9) Probably the title of the new album was inspired by the film. Do you know the book by our Umberto Eco? Did you read it? To be honest with you I haven’t read the book ,I just have seen the film and it is one of my favourite. The religious fanatism exists until now, for example the reactions about Code Da Vinci. Although I am a catholic I don’t belong in any religion and I believe that the only and truly God is the real love and nothing else human fairy tale. 10) Whence did you get the bravery of speaking about things going so “far against the stream” in your lyrics? The lyrics are emanated from what I have been through , plus my beliefs about some things that happen in the world. For example I have experienced the religious pressure in my childhood. Lyrics are not a trick to complete a music, the come from my heart. 11) Are you working on new songs or are you planning to go on tour? At this time we are working on our new material and surely our next plan is a tour in Europe and I USA. But first of all we want to finish our new album and to find a manager we will organize all the promo tour. To sum up I would like to thank you for the hospitality and we want to give our regards all over the world and especially to our neighbour Italian fans. And lending a phrase from Biff “stay heavy metal thunders.”
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