[Interview] Down with the Barber Shop

Welcome to Downtuned

Tell us a few words about the group, when and where did you get started?

How did you meet?

Jim is the owner of a bar Kostas and Yiannis used to hang out.One night Jim asked Kostas to jam together along with the former bass player, Sofoklis. The result was promising and they formed the band in early 2014. The very first and greatest supporter of the band was George, owner of a vintage, music influenced barber shop, actually being a great place to hang out, discuss about and listen to good music. Naturally, he was assigned to come up with a name for the band. And the name of the band… The Barber Shop. After the first live at POM Fest, Yiannis heard the band and digged into the vintage psych sound. When he heard the band needed a new bassist he accepted half serious half joking (since he himself was a guitarist and had never played bass) and that was that. After one rehearsal he was declared a member of The Barber Shop and the current lineup was set.

Which are your musical influences?

Jimi Hendrix, Radio Moscow, LynyrdSkynyrd, Allman Brothers Band, Gov't Mule, Earthless, Black Sabbath, Samsara Blues Experiment, Grand Funk, Blue Cheer and everything that sounds creepy, freaky and bluesy from the 60’s to nowadays!

You are an instrumental band. Do you believe that without lyrics you can pass your ideas sufficiently?

We think that everything that was to be said it was said and in many cases it didn’t kept it’s meaning in time and now is the time for action and not for words. So we keep the meaning in the music and everybody talks through his instrument.

Is the communication with the crowd something that you care about, in all levels, or do you do music for yourselves?

We care about the crowd when we fantasize the perfect gig, but when we are on stage it is just us and the brain matter.

Do you feel like you’re a part of a particular “scene” in which you would like to join and contribute or you are indifferent about it?

We do feel that we would like to be part of (though we would not dare to imply we are already there) the revival of the 60s-70s psych rock scene, currently mostly based in the US but also with great bands from Europe.

How do you imagine that the band will be in ten years from now?

We can see the band in 24 hours from now so we can have our next rehearsal…

Which famous artist you would like to do a guest to a record of yours and why?

Parker Griggs, guitarist of Radio Moscow. He is the center of the scene's galaxy right now, the coolest guy and most talented artist alive, that we have met and seen live, one of the reasons this band exists in the first place...

What plans do you have for the near future?

We are about to record our very first LP, something really exciting and also challenging with the economics fucked up in our country. A parallel action with the recording is as many gigs as we can in all over Greece.

We wish you good luck to whatever you’re doing, the epilogue is yours.

Peace, Love and Rock & Roll…

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by Kavaldi