Metal Express Radio had a great opportunity to catch up with Innerwish guitarist Thimios Krikos. Here is what he had to say about their great new release No Turning Back.
MER: First, congratulations on your extraordinary new album No Turning Back. For those Metal fans out there who have never heard of Innerwish, how would you describe your music?
Thimios Krikos: First of all, thanks a lot for your kind words my friend. We play Heavy Metal based in melodies, hard riffing, and catchy chorus’.
MER: What are some of your major influences that inspire you to create this great music?
Thimios Krikos: The main composers of our band are the guitar duo of InnerWish, me and Manolis Tsigos. We’ve grown up listening to different kinds of music, from Hard Rock of the 70’s, and Heavy Metal of the 80’s and 90’s. Generally we listen to any good music if it has something to say in our ‘hearts’. All these things have, of course, influenced our songwriting and in a way they filtered and came out as the InnerWish sound.
MER: All the tracks on No Turning Back are very strong. Which ones stand out as your favorites and which ones do you enjoy playing live?
Thimios Krikos: The first gigs for our new album are planned for the middle of September, so I do not have a clear idea which songs will work better during a live show. But during the rehearsals, I could say that all of us enjoy ‘Sirens’ and ‘Kingdom of the Prime’ very much.
MER: Most of the lyrics on No Turning Back have darker undertones. There are songs about war, destruction, or self despair. How hard is it to come up with lyrics that match the great riffs and melodies? Is it a collaborative effort or does one person write the lyrics?
Thimios Krikos: Manolis and I are the main composers, but believe me, this is a team effort. Everyone in this band affects the final arrangement of our songs. The same with the lyrics. Most of the time the composer has an idea of the main theme of the song, which has to do with daily things we are all facing. We pay attention to what we ‘say’, so most of the time it takes us a long time to finalize the lyrics.
MER: Talk a little bit about the acoustic track, “Live For My Own”?
Thimios Krikos: This is a song where the main idea was from Manolis. I remember that when he came to show me his idea, I knew from the beginning that it was a very good song. We had several ideas of how the final arrangement of this song could be, but when Babis Alexandropoulos sang this for our pre-production, we just understood that it is a song which he deserves to ‘take in on his shoulders’, if you understand me. So, we’ve decided to make it as simple as it can be. Just a piano and Babis’ voice. Sometimes they say ‘less is more’, and that is what we’ve tried to do on this song. I believe that the final result is extraordinary. Babis is a charismatic singer and in this song he did an excellent job. In my opinion, his performance in this song is outstanding.
MER: There are not many Metal bands out there with six members. Do you think the dual guitar plus keyboards sound is unique to Innerwish’s style?
Thimios Krikos: I do not think it is unique, because we are not the first and for sure not the last, but it frees us up to do many things in our songs.
MER: How long have the current six members been playing together? How much of your success do you attribute to the chemistry among the band members?
Thimios Krikos: The line-up of this band has been stable for more than 8 years. The only change has been when George Georgiou joined the band as a stable keyboard player three years ago. For us, it is a very important thing because things are now easier for us. I’m the oldest band member of InnerWish, and believe in the past we’ve faced many line-up changes, which have caused many problems. InnerWish is more than our band, my friend, it is our home and our shelter. The stability of the band made the last eight years creative for our hearts and minds. I think that the result of this situation is ‘written’ in our new album.
MER: According to your Website, pre-production of No Turning Back began back in 2007. Can you describe the amount of preparation and labor that has gone into making this album?
Thimios Krikos: We really worked very hard on this album. This is probably the album that took us the most time to prepare. We wanted to do our best on this album because we knew that the songs we had in our hands were very strong.
That is why we spent so much time on the pre-production in order for everything to be clear and not ‘lose’ a song during the recordings. It’s very easy to happen, and if you are not 100% prepared, you can easily destroy a good song.
MER: How do you think this album compares to some of your previous work?
Thimios Krikos: In my opinion, the big difference is the production, which is much better than the previous. It has all the elements that we need in order to show the potential of InnerWish. The final audio is very clear, but extra heavy at the same time.
MER: How is the album doing since its release in May? Do you keep an eye on the charts?
Thimios Krikos: It’s very soon to say how things are going. We’ll have to wait until the end of the year and see what we’ll achieve. But, the most important thing for us is that our fans really enjoy it. The feedback we have from the contact with our fans, and the reviews we are receiving, is that something special is going on with this album. We do believe so also …
Thimios, thanks very much for taking the time to answer these questions for us and your fans. MER wishes you the best of luck regarding the continued success of No Turning Back and all your future endeavors!
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