WANTED: Greek metal (80s/90s) of all varieties

[Spinal]

Greetings,

I collect Greek metal of all styles and formats. vinyl, tapes, cds, shirts, zines, etc. (black, death, heavy, power, doom, etc.) from the 1980s and 1990s. First and foremost out of passion, but also for the sake of writing a book covering the old Hellenic scene.

So, if you have anything you want to sell/trade or just want to share some thoughts, feel free to get in contact with me via this post or a PM.

Regards from Sweden!
Johan

[DaN]

Short phone comment:
Country-specific books/encyclopedias reign. Awesome to hear a new one is in the making! Looking forward to follow this...

(Eru f ö möjligen 08:a?)

[Zombie Dance]

The guy from Hierophant's descent is also cooking one about the Greek extreme Metal scene, he can probably hints you toward good sources

[doomedplanet]

This is a great idea, there is a lot to write about. Have you taken a first stab at a discography? When it comes to demo tapes I think this is where there will be the deepest delving. Looking forward to hearing more as it unfolds.

[Spinal]

Short phone comment:
Country-specific books/encyclopedias reign. Awesome to hear a new one is in the making! Looking forward to follow this...

(Eru f ö möjligen 08:a?)

Being myself a big fan of region-specific encyclopedias, I felt I wanted to take a stab at it msyelf. Credit needs to be given to Janne Stark here - his gargantuan book on Swedish metal was surely the igniting spark!

Tyvärr ingen nollåtta utan en gô gubbe från Göteborg.

[Spinal]

The guy from Hierophant's descent is also cooking one about the Greek extreme Metal scene, he can probably hints you toward good sources

Yes! Very much looking forward to reading that one. In order to not come off as a copy-cat, I am trying to approach the subject from a different and more wide angle (including everything from AOR to black metal to crust punk).

[Spinal]

This is a great idea, there is a lot to write about. Have you taken a first stab at a discography? When it comes to demo tapes I think this is where there will be the deepest delving. Looking forward to hearing more as it unfolds.

I'm currently in the process of building a "complete" discography of official releases (including demos). You're absolutely right, hunting demo-recordings is number one priority here. There's tons of magnificient bands from Greece who never got to record a proper LP or even 7", which leaves us with a situation where many of the best works are to be found on decades old cassettes.

So, if there's anyone out there who's sitting on a collection of Hellenic metal demos, please get in touch!

[Prowler]

If you accept a good advice, drop the idea with the book and turn it into a website or something. Something that you could update anytime you want. Once a book is printed you can bet your ass you'll come across "some great unknown band" that you you'll bit your ass for you couldn't include in the book. And most likely those "critical voices" will come loud "You did not include the Sapphire Sceptre demo that ONLY I do own!" etc ... they are just waiting for that. lol
Dunno if you are "independent" when it comes to money, but printing lets say 300 books (if you want a reasonable price then 300 is minimum) cost a bit and the greek Metal scene wasn't that interesting that you would sell 300 books right in a week f.e.
You'll get rid off maybe 50-100 quickly and then sales will probably stagnate. I am working on a book about german 80's AOR/Hard Rock/Metal scene (Bands from Samplers incl./Demos/Singles/Albums, Bands without releases etc) since quite some years and I still come across unknown records, demos at this late time that nobody knew about earlier. So I dropped the book idea quickly and tend more to do a detailed website where I could add every new discovery right the next day instead of reprinting the book a second, 3rd or 6th time. ^^

[Spinal]

If you accept a good advice, drop the idea with the book and turn it into a website or something. Something that you could update anytime you want. Once a book is printed you can bet your ass you'll come across "some great unknown band" that you you'll bit your ass for you couldn't include in the book. And most likely those "critical voices" will come loud "You did not include the Sapphire Sceptre demo that ONLY I do own!" etc ... they are just waiting for that. lol
Dunno if you are "independent" when it comes to money, but printing lets say 300 books (if you want a reasonable price then 300 is minimum) cost a bit and the greek Metal scene wasn't that interesting that you would sell 300 books right in a week f.e.
You'll get rid off maybe 50-100 quickly and then sales will probably stagnate. I am working on a book about german 80's AOR/Hard Rock/Metal scene (Bands from Samplers incl./Demos/Singles/Albums, Bands without releases etc) since quite some years and I still come across unknown records, demos at this late time that nobody knew about earlier. So I dropped the book idea quickly and tend more to do a detailed website where I could add every new discovery right the next day instead of reprinting the book a second, 3rd or 6th time. ^^

Hey Prowler, that is a very good advice - thanks (although I object to the notion that the Greek scene wasn't that interesting, hehe). I have considered the idea of doing a website earlier on and have not ruled it out. One idea would be start building a combined database/website, which can (maybe, only maybe) be converted into book-form later on. Another idea is to do it in zine-format, which is probably the most entertaining thing to do.

A book about 80s german HR/HM/AOR sounds like a great idea. It would be nice to discuss further "issues" that occur when doing projects like this.

[Prowler]

Ok, I didn't want to lower your passion for greek Metal, just to correct myself, there won't be so much people who like the old greek scene than f.e. US stuff. Btw. I have shitloads of greek vinyls too (I love all the old Molon Lave Death/Black Metal vinyl crap) so don' worry ... just Dark Nova's is one of the worst albums ever released and it's greek.

[DaN]

I have considered the idea of doing a website earlier on and have not ruled it out. One idea would be start building a combined database/website, which can (maybe, only maybe) be converted into book-form later on.

Would you be the least bit interrested in free webhosting, free designing/development/database support?

[Spinal]

I have considered the idea of doing a website earlier on and have not ruled it out. One idea would be start building a combined database/website, which can (maybe, only maybe) be converted into book-form later on.

Would you be the least bit interrested in free webhosting, free designing/development/database support?

My websiting skillz are limited to doing "charming", mid-to-late-90s metal reviews-pages, so the answer is, err... YES!

I'll keep you updated via PM when I have enough material to begin putting it up to the public eye. I have built a pretty big (if somewhat primitive and awkwardly navigatable) database of bands/releases/compilations/videos, etc. and the next logical step will be to begin writing short biographies and musical comments. I will also conduct a number of interviews, both for publication and background/insider-info. It will most surely take a long time to complete, so it actually makes alot of sense to publish it succesively on a website which could be bridged into a book later on.

This is exactly the kind of help I need, so thanks a million!

[GulliverFoyle]

Get all the copies of Power Metal fanzine (in circulation since 1990) and you'll get the who's who of Greek metal (minus the extreme metal bands).

[Spinal]

Get all the copies of Power Metal fanzine (in circulation since 1990) and you'll get the who's who of Greek metal (minus the extreme metal bands).

Indeed, I am searching land and country for fanzines and this is one of the most important ones. So, if anyone either wants to sell their old copies or help out with xeroxing it would be great.

[DaN]

Get all the copies of Power Metal fanzine (in circulation since 1990) and you'll get the who's who of Greek metal (minus the extreme metal bands).

Hmmm... got copies of these to share for the archive?