Formed in 2006, New Zero God was founded in Athens, Greece, mainly by members of the established goth/post-punk band, The Flowers Of Romance. They have released the albums “Fun Is A Four Letter Word” (2010), “MMXIII” (2013), and “Short Tales & Tall Shadows (2016). New Zero God has also released the mini-albums “Club Bizarre” (2012) and “Zona Pericolosa” (2015), which was recorded live in Italy, as well as the 7″ single “Destination Unknown/Forever Today” (2013). In between they released two charity singles, “Second Chance” (2011, for the exclusive benefit of H.A.W.C., USA) and “The Night Calls Your Name” (2013, for the exclusive benefit of S.O.P.H.I.E., The Sophie Lancaster Foundation, UK).
Line Ups:
New Zero God – Lineup – Short Tales & Tall Shadows:
Mike Pougounas – Vocals and Keyboards
Harris Stavrakas – Bass Guitars
Akis Nikolaidis – Guitars
Babis Efthimiou – Drums and Programming
New Zero God – Lineup – LIVE Events:
Mike Pougounas – Vocals and Keyboards
Harris Stavrakas – Bass Guitars
Akis Nikolaidis – Guitars
John Psimopoulos – Drums
01. How did your band get together?
In 2006 we went out for a few drinks and we came up with the idea of putting together a band. We were all playing with other bands in the past, The Flowers Of Romance and Nexus. So this is how it started.
02. Where did your name come from?
Becoming a person with zero personality is the modern role model. Zero is the new god. This is where the name comes from.
03. Who were your major influences and inspirations?
I have to admit that punk rock influenced our way of thinking. Although I can’t say that New Zero God sound anything like it, bands such as The Clash, The Damned or Lords of The New Church gave us a start. Then came Southern Death Cult, the Sisters of Mercy, Siouxsie & the Banshees and many others… We are inspired by books, movies and problems we all face every day in our lives.
04. What drove you to make music together?
The band went through a lot of line up changes. I am the singer, Mike Pougounas, and I am the only member from the original line up. Bass player Harri Stavrakas joined the band in 2010. Guitar player Akis Nikolaidis joined in 2014 and drummer Babis Efthimiou joined September 2015. I, Stavrakas, and Efthimiou were playing with The Flowers Of Romance in the past so our friendship was the best ingredient for our latest album “Short Tales & Tall Shadows”.
05. What can someone who has never seen you live before expect from your live shows?
Energy, power, and atmosphere. The dark taste of rock’n’roll.
06. Who writes your songs? What types of themes and subjects do you deal with?
Most of the time, all of the members participate. I am writing all the lyrics and give a general direction when it comes to the song structures. Our new album is dealing with a world of light and shadows. It opens with a track about E.A. Poe’s short story “King Pest The First” and continues with songs about romantic dreamscapes, outcast characters, hallucinations, or even the view from a paranoid world. I consider our new album, “Short Tales & Tall Shadows”, to be more of a book than just an album. Our previous two were dealing mostly with political issues or everyday problems.
07. How has your music evolved since you first began playing together?
New Zero God released “Fun Is A Four Letter Word” in 2010 with one foot on Post Punk and the other on Gothic Rock. That album wasn’t meant to be released. Then, a record label listened to it through our studio engineer and offered us a deal. Mostly thanks to our track “Kiss The Witch”, the album made it to the charts of an English Goth magazine for two months and then an offer by an English record label for a new album followed. This time it wasn’t a release of the mentality “let’s record our tracks just for the sake of it”… This time, things got serious. So, on “MMXIII” our sound became more Gothic Rock and less Post Punk. We appeared on an English movie and when we played in Italy, we found that the opening band had taken their name from one of our songs, “Dead Inside”. On “Short Tales & Tall Shadows” we decided to expand our sound adding more psychedelic elements to it. Someone told me “it sounds like Gothic psychedelia” and I knew exactly what he meant. For example on the track “Bastards” we used a mellotron while on the rest of the album we play a lot with reverbs or used 70’s techniques with flanger effects, etc. It is an album with 600 hours of studio work and I want to believe that our sound evolved towards many different but interesting directions…
08. What has been your biggest challenge as a band? How were you able to overcome this?
Our biggest challenge is making music under certain financial problems. It is the same for everyone these days. But we need music ‘cause it keeps us sane in this crazy world. We communicate with other people from all around the world but most of all we express ourselves. People need to get together and do nice things. Instead, the modern way of life is full of hate. We want to do music and we manage to do so… little by little but with love and feelings for it.
09. Does the band play covers? If so, do you argue over the choice of songs? Who usually gets his own way?
We are playing originals. We only play a couple of covers during our gigs depending on the mood. Might be “I Fought the Law” or the Sound’s “Winning”… We don’t argue about it. It’s something we do to have more fun and add something extra.
10. What do you love and hate outside of music?
I love honesty and open minded people. I despise fake people, haters, politicians, racists and fanatics of all kinds.
11. Who would you most like to record with?
We did it in the past. When we were with the Flowers Of Romance, our producer was Wayne Hussey of the Mission UK (former Sisters of Mercy and Dead or Alive). I haven’t given it any thought for New Zero God recording with someone else to be honest. A couple of years ago we made a digital charity single titled “Second Chance” under the moniker “New Zero God and Friends” and invited musicians from the UK, USA, South Africa, Spain and Germany. It’s been a while since we did that. Maybe I’d like to record with Justin Sullivan of New Model Army now. I am not sure, I haven’t given it a thought, there are so many good musicians out there.
12. What should we be expecting from the band in the near future?
We just released the album and we are planning to release a 7” split single later this year with the Scottish band Savage Cut. We already started planning for European gigs.
Thank you so much for this interview. Best wishes to you and your readers.
Web Links:
www.newzerogod.com
www.newzerogod.bandcamp.com
www.facebook.com/NewZeroGod
www.facebook.com/NewZeroGodPages
Tour dates 2016:
April 23 Thessaloniki, Greece – Silver Dollar
May 27 Athens, Greece – Death Disco
Link to buy the current single:
www.newzerogod.bandcamp.com/album/short-tales-tall-shadows
