A few days ago we were at the presentation of Little Black Something’s debut album, entitled “A Love Letter to Mistaken”. So this meeting became the reason why we wanted to know more about these talented musicians and so we entered to their world. Alex, Tasos, David, Fotis, Stavros and George are a group that made their dream come true. Guided by their feelings and using their talent, they created songs, of which you will definitely add some to your playlists.
So what’s the story behind the band’s name? How was their first album created? The presentation of the disc piqued the interest of all of us and Fotis, Stavros and Tasos shared with us their deep feelings about it. Alex, also, told us about the touching reaction of one of their first fans and friends.
So, with a record that we could describe as an “emotional waterfall”, Little Black Something will perform their first live for 2024 and we will have the opportunity to enter their musical world through an interview they gave to SounDarts.gr and you can read it here.
How would you introduce this band to the audience?
Alex: It’s a group of people that met randomly, thanks to good or bad circumstances. That ended up being way tighter than expected for such a short period of time because it all started in 2019. We’re just a couple of guys that dig each other’s music and got together and played music.If you go on YouTube and you check out “reckless game” and “out of my life”, from our first gig, you can tell that this is like a ten year band. This is what I’m most proud of and crazy about, that the chemistry is insane! After all we just want to play music and make people dance or cry with what we make.
Each of you has your own musical background. How did you end up together?
Alex: Actually, Stavros, Fotis, George andme, are friends from way back. Then I wrote some music which I shared with Fotisat first and he played the guitar on some songs. Then I did the same with George, our keyboard player, who was in Utrecht, the Netherlands back then and he played too. Until then there was no band. He just liked the songs, and then he said, “hey, let’s do something together”. Then Fotis said, “hey, I know Stavros. Remember Stavros?”,I was like, “yeah, sure!, we should ask him to join us”. But we also needed a drummer and a bass player. For some reason, this was the hardest part for us because nobody was available or really dedicated to it. I started scrolling on Instagram, looking for drummers and musicians in that style. Then I came across David, and I saw his playing. I was like, “oh, my God, he’s perfect!”.I also noticed that he’s from Frankfurt, which is the city that I was born in and I was like, “okay, that’s karma!”.So I texted him and he actually got back to me after two weeks. I randomly showed him some songs from our stuff, and he was in straight away. Finally, we found Tasos on Instagram as welland he was also in. Everybody was practicing the songs. David just flew in from Germany and we met around the 16th of November for the first time. We played our first show, on November28th. And it looks like this is like a ten year band. And it was just chemistry straight away.
What does “Little Black Something” mean? What is the story behind the name of the band?
Alex: To be honest with you, I saw a post writing something about a “little black dress”. I liked the sound of it and it kind of grew to me as a name. I like the “little black” part. It was a bit kinky, but too kinky for a band’s name. So I thought, why not change the word“dress” into “something” so everybody can think of his own thing? It’s a “little black something”, which doesn’t mean anything, but it could mean a lot for any different person, if you know how I mean it. So a “little black something” for me could be something like a bad memory or a good memory and for anyone else something completely different. You can’t really define it. This is why our logo is not definable as well. Because it’s just a “little black something”. It’s something different for everyone.
Tasos: No hidden meaning there. It’s open to interpretation. It’s something else for everybody.
Fotis: It connects with the album. So, yeah, everyone can translate this into whatever he wants.
Recently we attended and enjoyed the presentation of your first album, entitled “A Love Letter To Mistaken” at Manos Backline Studios. Do you want to talk to us about your feelings for this night?
Fotis: At least for me, after such a long period of time it was wonderful. Since2019, when we did our first live, a weird period started that we had to go through the pandemic. Things didn’t go as planned and many things changed. We were just trying to keep the energy high and keep witting music. Therefore, for me at least, this night felt really good. To be honest, I had this“finally we did this” feeling. I mean, we have an album and it’s there. You can listen to it. That cameafter a lot of struggles from our side, trying to figure out what’s the best for the album, the best recordings, the best ideas to try making the songs even better than they were back in 2019. It felt quite relieving as well! I was thinking “Finally it’s out! Wedidit”!
Stavros: It’s finally out! We may have dressed up, done our hair, but the most important thing is that the album is released. To be honest, even if it was just us and the photographer, still the most important thing would be that the album is released. All the rest are just “appetizers” to whet your appetite before the “main course”. I had the album in my hands and I was thinking “I’m in here too!”. When I was just a kid I used to sit back and look at Metallica’s album, “Master of Puppets”, the photos from their live shows and Iwould always think “I want that to happen to me!”. So, I got my hands on a CD, with the music I like, I opened it, flipped through it, and I’m in it! The best part is that I’m not alone in it, the team we like is also in there!
Sometimes I see this gang as a family with no ego. Every one of us is over 30. This means that we have done a circle in our lives doing bullshit and being egoistic. This ego has to do a lot with music. We would play music for our soul and that’s how our ego gets out sometimes. That night, I was so happy because I was watching the six of us being one punch, with no ego. Nobody’s first, nobody’s second. Everybody’s equal. Alex is singing, he’s thefront man, but we have managed to establish equalitybetween us. This is beautiful. This is a team that everybody has a certain or a specific job to do. We’re all doing our jobs with a big smile and at the end each and every one of us can express equally his opinion about what is suitable for the team.
Tasos: More or less, it’s the same for all of us. I’m somewhere between whatStavros and Fotis are. There is some personal stuff that came out that night and then the whole thing for us. For me, the main thing was that after a lot of years of hard work and a lot of thought about all this process, we actually managed to get our music out there. We could actually see how people would respond to it. It’s only been once for us to see how people would respond to our music, to see what we are going to face later while on stage, for example. This time was a little different. We just provided the record for everyone to listen and that vibe was a bit different. But like I told you, for me, the main thing is that it’s out there finally. It’s been a long time coming and it’s out there. And we actually got to share it with some people.
Indeed it was a very special and moving night! We could all feel your excitement and listen to an album that was more than intriguing. Did you notice the people’s reaction to it?
Alex: I remember how all six of us stood in the corner, and while listening to the album together with the audience, we remembered things that happened in the studio, we laughed at things we saw in the videos, we got emotional, we hugged, we danced, we shouted… However, that night something else happened. There were people nearby, many of whom we had never seen before in our lives. Business people such as journalists or just music lovers who came to meet and support this venture. On the other side, I saw friends and relatives! Then I realized that everyone had the same smile, both those we knew and those we didn’t know. That was an awesome feeling! I saw people in tears, some were laughing, some were swaying to the beat and I thought “wow! We did something right here!” So it was not only our personal pleasure to finally release a record that we had worked so hard on, but to see this response in the audience was also really moving!
There was a girl, who was by our sidefrom our very first rehearsals, watching the process of the album’s creation! After the audition, she came and hugged me and she was in tears! I asked her “what happened to you?” and she replied “I was there from the beginning and now I see it being born and coming to life”. As you can understand, that got me crying as well! In short, this evening gave a sense of accomplishment, especially when we saw people from companies and media like you and others people we know who were there purely for artistic reasons!
Listening to the record, we found that it is an “emotional waterfall”. What was your motivation for externalizing these strong emotions through your songs?
Alex: Over the years I had written the music to many of the songs, but it was just guitar riffs and stuff, most of them without lyrics. There was a period that I went through shit –there isn’t a nicer way to say this-, and then I wrote “closure”, which is the last song, because I was drowningliterally. When I heard that song, it got so much pain out of me and so much of my bad stuff just got flushed away. I was like, “wait, that’s the way to get out of it”. So I continued writing and telling the story. I ended up using songs from back then and I put them in an order. So if you take that album, the first song is the start of a story and the last song is the end of the story. It’s clear that the album is a whole story and so the songs have to be in that order. Bytelling this story, not just telling it to my friends, but through music, this was my healing process. Finally when I had the result, I felt real closure.
Stavros: Of course it is Alex’s inner world but the good thing with music is that everybody can relate to it. I cannot relate 100% to the songs because they’re not inspired by experiences of my life, but I can spot the things that could make me say, “OK, yes, I can understand this. I had another experience like this”. For example, my favorite song lyrically from the album is “Bleed”, the second in order. It’s revolutionary all the way. It’s a song that urges the listeners to get out of their comfort zones and search for their inner selves. Maybe somebody wouldinterpret these lyrics in relation with his beloved one, but if we want to expand this and to see this through a wider picture, it’s like talking to everybody, urging them to get out of their comfort zone. “Do it for your kids, not your pimps”. In a way, I find things that they are responding also to my soul.
On March the third, you’re going to do the first live presentation of the album. What are your feelings about this forthcoming show?
Tasos: First of all, we are going to play a show after five years. If you really think about it, this is actually the second time we present the record. Let’s say we already have some experience on it. Throughout these five years, we had the time to “polish” the songs. I believe that even if we didn’t have the chance to play together so much during that time, because we couldn’t meet in the studiothat much, everybody could rehearse at home or his own workspace. Even like this, I believe that the chemistry that Alex was talking about will be in the forefront once again. We’re going to have a very intense show emotionally and as far as energy and performance goes. Personally, I’m looking forward to this show for a lot of time. I believe it’s exactly the same for all of us since we worked so much on this album and we had to wait for so long. I believe it’s a win-win situation. It’s going to be awesome!
Stavros: When I started realizing that we are going to do a concert, it was like a huge energy coming over me. In this energy, there is also fear. We are going to have a concert in a venue. It’s not like the usualGreek way of entertainment that you go, you play and everybody’s sitting in their chairs, drinking their whiskey and talking. People are going to come to see a concert. I hope that people,who are going to attend the show, will know some lyrics,like the chorus of “Reckless Game”, because it’s a crowdy chorus. When I rehearse the songs at my place, the only thing that I am thinking is the momentthat the drums of “Prisoner” will be heard and I dream of people jumping at it. We all thought of that, believe me. If this happens, I believe I will have to turn my back to the audience and maybe I will cry. I still have this feeling and I think that during the whole gig I am going to be totally emotional but I’ll try to hide it.
So which song would be the favorite for each one of you from this album?
David: Well, I think “Out Of My Life” is still one of my favorites, if not my favorite off of the album, just because of its energy and its tempo. I just think it kicks ass, especially live. I think it’s going to be awesome.
Tasos: I’m an “Out Of My Life” groupie myself, but I also like to play “All I Wanted”. I like this song very much as well.
Fotis: I think “Out Of My Life”, “Bleed” and “Joanna”.I really like the way the intro, the piano and the voice blends in “Joanna”. Apart from my guitar solo -obviously since I’m a guitar player- I just love the beginning of that song. The first time I heard it, it felt very simple and it has a lot of meanings into it. Sometimes I’m a progressive, almost funk guitar player, to be honest and I like complicated stuff. That doesn’t mean that I don’t like the really simple things which sometimes really stand out.
What’s your motto in life?
Interview: Theodore Kolliopoulos
