Innerwish – interview met Fragiskos ‘Franki’ Samoilis
Franki: “For us music isn’t business. We don’t live from music, we live for music.”
Sinds 1995 had de Griekse metal band Innerwish met vijf albums tussen 1998 en 2016 een stevige reputatie opgebouwd in heel Europa, maar daarna kwam er een kink in de kabel en moesten we tot nu wachten eer album nummer zes ‘Ash Of Eternal Flame’ het daglicht zag. Op een nieuw label, met verenigde krachten en fris van de lever zijn ze klaar voor een nieuwe start. We praatten met de bijzonder vriendelijke drummer Fragiskos ‘Franki’ Samoilis over het wel en wee van zijn passie die hij sinds 2010 volledig in Innerwish kan botvieren: muziek maken en alles wat daarbij komt kijken.
Vera Matthijssens Ι 21 november 2024
With the self-titled album; Innerwish released a very strong album, but after 2016 it suddenly went silent…
Yes, life goes on very fast for everyone. Actually we had the next album ready to be released in 2020. We had the drums, bass and guitars recorded before the first wave of covid-19. We started on vocals and then covid-19 and all hell broke loose, because for us, everything went down from that moment on. Obviously we could not tour and we could not find the need to play music. It was weird. Not so long ago our feelings changed and we thought: ‘Let us do it. We have to do it’, but we did not know what to expect to be honest, after so many years being away. Maybe it was for the best to delay, because we couldn’t have signed with RPM, our new label, four years ago.
How did you actually get in contact with them, with RPM?
Actually they were our first choice to be honest, because three years after ‘Innerwish’, Ulterium Records had to pause for a while, so we decided to search for a new home. So I sent a mail to Markus Wosgien and he was very enthusiastic about our new material. So, after that it was a bit easy, because Markus was very, very happy with our album. It is an honour for me to work with him. I have been listening to his bands ever since I was a teenager. We are happy that our first choice ended up being our last choice in the end. It is a big step up for us, from being with Ulterium. No bad feelings, because they are friends, but RPM is a bigger place. They have the channels to promote music in a better way.
One of my questions was: when did you write the album, but that’s already long ago I guess…
Yes, we started to compose songs right after the release of our previous album in 2016. We also had a few songs that were meant to be on our previous album, but did not make it in the end and we are still composing songs, always. It had nothing to do with the lack of songs or things like that. We have songs for two more albums. We are not completely happy with them for now, but when we are happy with them, we will release them.
That must be a feeling of relief, always ideas to work on…
For us music isn’t business. We don’t live from music, we live for music. It is our therapy so to speak. If we need a therapist, we gather and play music.
Then you must have missed the contact with the fans. Did you already play live again after the pandemic?
No, we will not play in a month from now, because I had an injury on my knee. It is going on for a year. So I have to play drums again before we book tours. We are arranging now from May and onwards, different shows in the Netherlands, Germany, middle Europe for sure, we are trying to play whenever we can to be honest, because we love playing. For us, going to countries and play our music, it is like an excursion. It is a very nice trip, it is not a job. It is fun. You travel, you meet people, nice people mostly, you play, you have some beers and have some fun, go home and you escape from the shit that is around us.
I think you are also the one who writes the lyrics, isn’t it?
Most of the lyrics, yes. If you give me specific songs, I will tell about them.
Let us start with ‘Sea Of Lies’, because that is a special one I think…
Yes, it is a special one, because it has Hansi Kürsch on vocals (laughs). It has a weird subject, this song, because many people – no, a few people luckily – misunderstood the concept of the song. Immigration is a big problem in Europe and for us, being in Greece, which is the passage through Europe, it is even a bigger problem, because we don’t like illegal immigration obviously, but we don’t have to blame the children. People are very cruel sometimes. They say: ‘oh take them in your home’, but okay, if you see a child drowning – we have seen children drowning on our shores – it is so sad. You must be an animal not being emotional from this. Children are the future, we are getting older. Most of them do not deserve things like that and people don’t understand that when children grow up in disintegration, they will become dangerous grownups. If you don’t treat them in the right way, they will become a criminal. So the lyrics are about that actually. Feelings of a child travelling into the unknown…
What about the title track, it is the longest one, one of the highlights in the middle of the album. Why is the album called ‘Ash Of Eternal Flame’ and can you go deeper into the lyrics specifically?
For us, it is our favourite song on the album. I don’t say it is the best – that is up to everybody to find out – but it is our favourite. ‘Ash Of Eternal Flame’ came from a great poet and he had written a poem about Greece. About Greece in the sense that it is about the glory of the past and how everything turned into ashes because of the modern day Greeks. It is actually a curse for every country in Europe with history. It can apply to Italy, it can apply to Norway, it can apply to everywhere. We don’t have respect for our ancestors. We loved the sound of those words too: ‘Ash Of Eternal Flame’ and we thought it was a bit generic for someone who doesn’t know the story behind the lyrics. We write about our country, but it isn’t meant in a bad way. I don’t think it is bad to write something about your country. Why not? Primordial writes about Ireland. If you don’t love your country in a healthy way, something is wrong.
I always want to know where a band is coming from. There are huge differences in culture in every country, also in Europe… that is exactly the charm of travelling…
Of course and that’s what makes Europe nice, because you travel around Europe and you see totally different cultures and civilizations. I don’t like everything is becoming the same.
What about ‘Hands Of Doom’?
It is actually a little bit mythology. It is about king Midas, the legend of king Midas, but also transposed into modern society, the fact of people that want to have everything when it comes to money and success and stuff like that, but in the end they are losing the true valuable stuff, which is their life, like Midas’s daughter, his only daughter and then they embrace vanity, in the search for success.
‘I Walk Alone’, is that about loneliness?
Our bass player Antonis Mazarakis, he wrote the song. In general we like to write about things that are not very happy, rather sad. ‘I Walk Alone’ is a little bit pissed-off song from him. You are surrounded by lots of false people on social media. Everyone loves you, but behind your back, they say totally different stuff. ‘I Walk Alone’ is actually saying: ‘I don’t need you at all. I am what I am. If you like it, fine. If you don’t like it, good night, have a nice day’.
Now we are going to focus on Hansi Kürsch and his contribution to the song ‘Sea Of Lies’…
I also write for a magazine, for 25 years, so I have met Hansi in the past. In the past I have been to Blind Guardian shows here in Athens and my best friend Sakis Fragis from Rock Hard Greece, he is a very good friend of Hansi. We have worked together a lot. I asked him to arrange something with Hansi. In the beginning he was laughing, but in the end I sent Hansi the song and asked him if he would like to sing the chorus. He sent me the whole song, so we did not have to do the parts with George, our singer, everything is sung by Hansi. For me, to be honest, it is a real dream coming true. I have been listening to Blind Guardian since I was fourteen years old. I have seen Blind Guardian sixteen times live. Last year when Blind Guardian played in Athens, it was four days in a row. We have a special bond with Blind Guardian here in Athens. And this time was the best for me, because Hansi had sung the song already, so we had something to talk about. If you have the chance to talk to him, he is a wonderful person. He is an anti star, he is not a rock star. He is a fantastic person. It is an honour for us that he lent his voice to one of our songs.
Your guitarist Thimius has also producer skills, isn’t it? The recording process was with him I guess and then you turned to Henrik Udd in Sweden again, isn’t it?
Yes, the recording process was with Thimius, but mostly with Fotis Benardo, he was the drummer of Septicflesh, now he plays with Nightrage and Nightfall. He is like a brother for us, he is not just a friend. With Fotis it was nice, he was the best man. We have a great relationship. So we recorded everything at Fotis’ studio Devasoundz and Thimius was there for supervising, they worked together and yes, we ended up mixing with Henrik Udd, the second album that Henrik is doing for us. The previous time he was working for Fredrik Nordström, now he is solo. We decided to go with him, because he is great guy and we love his sound. I think this sound suits us very well. The first mix he sent us is 85% the mix of the final product. He already knows us. He knows what we want and he was already making it from the first time. He is a very good producer, but he is a bit underrated to be honest.
Until now we have three video clips. Are there interesting stories to tell about these video creations?
We have two video clips and one lyric video actually. Special stories, except that it takes a long time sometimes… You have to play over and over again the same parts, but on the other hand, it may be boring in the sense of playing, but it is great in the sense that you are with your friends and making the trip is like an excursion for us sometimes. You have to be professional at that point and make it work.
The video clips have a heart, no AI involved I guess?
That will be the biggest problem in the coming years actually and in lots of subjects. I was watching a video on YouTube the other day, it was like a trailer for a movie. And it was total fake and you could not see that it was fake or real. That is the danger. It is great for translation, but the problem is: how will humanity deal with it? I am not very much optimistic about our future. It is a very weird world. Enjoy every day as if it is your last day, as they say.
Please tell me something about the artwork, because that was in the hands of a Greek person…
Yes. He is a Greek artist, Giannis Nakos, but he is making his way throughout Europe, because he has already worked with Kamelot, with Evergrey… He is a very good artist. He has a band also, a death metal band, called Mortal Torment and Giannis is a friend and it is fun, because his first ever cover; twenty years ago, he did, was a split with a band that we did, called ‘Reflection’ in 2001. I did not know up to now that it was his first cover by then, but when we talk now it feels like friends. He said: ‘my first cover ever was for you, now that I am well-known, I will do a great one.’ And I think he did a great job. I really like the artwork and I like it that we have it in two colours. That was his idea. He wanted to have one colour for the CD and one colour for the vinyl edition.
To occlude some plans to go on the road when you recovered…
We are working on it. Do you know Brainstorm festival? We will play there, wonderful persons over there. I like the atmosphere in the venue. We will try to play as much as we can. In Belgium, I wish we can, because I have never been in Belgium, even not as a tourist, so hopefully there will be a good next year to come and I will see everything in Belgium too.
Is there is something….
I wish to come to Belgium and other places where I haven’t been yet and play there some shows, but the most important for me is my music travels as far as I can get for as many people as I can reach and hopefully we can mean something for some people. I will be very glad if that happens. I also hope that we can finally live in peace and just enjoy our lives!
That is a nice positive vibe to round off our chat…
Yes, we must be positive to survive.
