Ruins Of Time

Interview - Christos Chatzihonstaninos

By: Anders Sandvall

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AS: Would you please tell us some background info about the band?
CC: "Well, me and Juan met up in early January 1998 and started playing together. At that time we hadn't decided on what sound we would have. Later we got Mathias on keyboards who later switched to guitar after our lead guitarist left. I had some songs done already and they all sounded a bit different so we decided to simply play metal with no other label. We have had bassplayers, exactly 4 counting Oskar, our present bassplayer. We had one vocalist but I fired him due to lack of committment. Then we found Martin and just started to reherse with him and later we found Oskar and had a full line-up for the first time in two and a half years. So here we are trying to play as many gigs as possible."
AS: You seem to have had trouble finding members for the band why?
CC: "Mainly because Stockholm is totally drained of good musicians that are easy to work with and also great to hang out with. We had our share of assholes in the band. Some that didn't even last through an audition before we got pissed off. I think that the scene today, is not the same as let's say 7-8 years ago. Another reason is that Stockholm is full of people who either lack confidence or aren't that serious or dedicated. A guy could be the greatest bassplayer in his bedroom but when standing in front of a band that have played together for a few years he just freezes. Or for instance we had this guy come over to try out on vocals. He kept complaining that we didn't play a cover so he could try out. Martin downloaded some of our songs by himself, I gave him the lyrics, he practiced them a bit at home and came down to rehearsal and gave it his best. That's dedication. That's making a good impression. I can just say that I don't have any respect for that other guy that complained and ended up fucking around instead and acting childish, goofing around at our rehearsal. We told him to fuck off!"
AS: You have recorded two albums that were financed by the band. Can you see any development between those two records?
CC: "Well, the songs sound a bit different. On the first cd, For a new dawn, we had a lot of death metal influences. It was more raw and more spontaneous. Timetraveller has more melodies, harmonies and the vocals are different. The lyrics are about totally different subjects and the songs are more mature. I guess you have to listen yourself to find out."
AS: I find that you play heavy metal with deathmetal influences on your second record. Is that accurate?
CC: "Yeah, you're not that far from the truth. It has all kinds of metal elements. We all listen to different things in the band but I don't think it affects the music in Ruins Of Time that much. I listen to Rotting Christ, Anthrax, Iced Earth, Septic Flesh and Mathias likes In Flames and Opeth but I don't think you can hear that in our music that much. Maybe some at some parts of a song but not in whole."
AS: The sound on "Timetraveller" is extremly poor. Why? The drums are especially a mess.
CC: "Well, you have probably heard demo tapes with worse sound that people love. But the main reason is that we where to mic's short on the drums. With those two mic's it would have been a better drum sound. Since we work for a living we can't afford spending money on stuff like that whenever we feel like it. Personally, I think it sounds great with the exception of the guitars. They could have been a bit higher in the mix. Give us a real studio, a real budget and we'll get a better sound. We payed for everything ourselves and were not millionaires so with that in mind, all in all it's sounds great according to the amount of time and money spent."
AS: Martin has, in my opinion, a very limited capacity on lead vocals. What is your opinion?
CC: "Well, compared to what? We are pretty happy to have Martin in our band because we all get along. I could never have a great vocalist with a lousy personality in the band. All of the few vocalist we have tried have been chicken shit pussies that complain that the volume on the pa-system isn't high enough while the main reason was that the wimped out and whispered into the mic."
AS: I like the band as a whole and also the record; I find Martin to be the weak link. How do you comment on that?
CC: "Martin is used to singing the old German thrash metal way. He does what he does best. I don't think that for instance Tom Araya has the best voice in metal, but it fits the music. And many people like Slayer so he has to do something right."
AS: From where do you pick up your influences when you create music?
CC: "Since I'm the one who writes the majority of the music, I can only say it varies. I don't really know where the riffs come from, mostly I just sit and play with my guitar and try to come up with some good stuff and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. If I write one song in a month then I'm happy. As for the lyrics, Martin writes those. He draws inspiration from everything, like Star Wars, Star Trek, HG Wells and all kinds of other sources."
AS: The responses from the press/fans on you records and live performances. How did they react?
CC: "We have gotten mixed emotions from zines and webzines. Both good, bad and medieocre reviews but all publicity is good publicity. Most people who I've talked to that have downloaded our songs from the net have liked it. The bands we have played live with have all said that they liked it."
AS: Why are there only eight songs on the record? Who writes the lyrics and music? Do you have any special message in the lyrics?
CC: "Eight songs for a cd where four of the songs are over six minutes each is not that little. The total length is around 42 minutes so it's not that short. All the lyrics are written by Martin and about 85-90 % of the music is written by me, the rest is written by Mathias. You can actually read the lyrics on our webpage but to answer the question, Slave One is inspired by Star wars and is about Boba Fett and his occupation. Man on the roof is based on the old swedish movie, 'Mannen p� taket'."
AS: Are you satisfied with "Time Traveller"?
CC: "Well, as always it could be better. We recorded the album in three days and mixed in one, so if we had a little bit more time, of course it would have sounded better. The performance of each member was great and our "producer"/engineer was easy to work with."
AS: Do you like playing live? Have you had a good reception?
CC: "I enjoy playing live. It's the greatest thing in terms of playing in a band. We have got some great response but since we only have played very few gigs, I can't really comment that much on the subject. But of what I have seen it's been good response. The people we have played for have enjoyed the music."
AS: Do you have any backup from the record companies? Is there any company interested?
CC: "No, it's not that easy to get a record deal as many other bands might know. We just have to wait and see what the future holds. We have sent out a few cd's to some companies and are awaiting positive responses from them."
AS: The members in the band, do they take part in other projects/bands? If so which projects or bands?
CC: "Well, me and Mathias have Sauron which is a black/death metal band that we record with every once in a while. Then we have Kiev Kings that is a band that we just fuck around with. It's more humor based and just done for fun. Juan play drums in a death/grind metal band called Plague Divine and that's about it."
AS: Do you have anything to say to the fans out there? The word is yours.
CC: "Be sure to check out our webpage http://welcome.to/ruins_of_time and download some songs. Other than that, I just wanna say; stay metal!