When you guys first formed? How you all met?
It all began in 2013 in Thessaloniki in Greece between two friends, our guitarist Lefteris Zaoskoufis and our vocalist Nick Berzamanis. They were two friends who were crazy about Rock and got the same willpower to involve with music. So, they start to experiment with music and somewhere in 2013 they founded “Grande Fox”. In the next years Nick and Lefteris collaborated with other musicians and one of them introduced Dimitris, who became the third permanent member of the group. Then George followed, joining the band a couple of years ago.
Who are the Bands members now?
The founding members' Nick Berzamanis (frontman-vocals) and Lefteris Zaoskoufis (guitars and audiovisuals). Dimitris Loukas (drums) and George Chaikas (Bass).
What was the defining moment that got the band noticed?
We believe that this was the release of our first album “Space Nest” in 2016. From this moment our band started taking first steps in the music industry and slowly gaining recognition.
How many albums Grande Fox released all this time?
We released our first LP album “Space Nest” in 2016, our second release was the EP album “Kulning” in 2018. In 2019 our single “Documento” came out and in February 2021 we released our new LP album “Empty Nest”. So, 4 indie releases so far!
Tell us more details for your latest album
We released our new LP Album entitled ‘’Empty Nest’’ on February,2021. It is an Album consisting of 11 tracks which were recorded at Blueberry Productions.co in Thessaloniki, pre-produced by Kostas Kofinas and then mixed & mastered by Marcos Rodriguez. Lyrics are exclusive written by Nick Berzamanis, music by Grande Fox and cinematography, photography, post production & artwork are made by Zao (Zaoskoufis L.). ‘’Empty Nest’’ is an album with a different direction from the previous ones, it marks a new era for us. The atmosphere in this album is more electrified and aggressive and that’s because ‘’Empty Nest’’ is based on the rage we feel about social -and personal -situations we are going through. Nick came up with these lyrics which express some concerns that the four of us have in common. We are worried about what the fuck is going on; system getting crueler, society seems hypnotized and in addition we encounter shitty behaviors of people around us, even of people who cooperate with our band. So, ‘’Empty Nest’’ is screaming “NO MORE!” while sending awakening messages to our society. The fact that we released the album during covid 19 quarantine is also a relative message.
Did you receive the feedback you expected?
Everything went much better than we expected. Since the beginning we have seen an amazing reaction especially from people attending our concerts. And we continue to get very positive feedback throughout many airplays on radio shows all over the world and many very good reviews from various magazines and websites too. Especially after the recent release of our new album, fans’ thoughts were very honorable about it.
Do you make money from downloads? Is this an easy way to sell your music?
Well, yes, we sell via Bandcamp some downloads, CDs, t-shirts and merch generally worldwide. It may seem an easier way to sell but as an indie band we are, we put a lot of effort and money on what we do. Band’s income is way lower than expenses and there is a lot of competition in music market, so things are not so easy. It seems like making a lot of sales is not easy at all. There are still so many things that we have to overcome to get more recognition and -why not- more sales, but we’re built tough- we will try more!
Do you feel Social Network helps Music Industry to make money?
Yes, absolutely. Nowadays Social Network is a key factor for Music Industry, it is a tool we use as a band for socializing and it helps in showing our work. And we believe that Social networks will play an even bigger role in the future.
What about covid and pandemic, what do you think changed the Music Industry?
Of course Covid19 has affected Music Industry since it hindered physical meetings. For example it changes the way we rehearse, the way we communicate as a band and we believe Covid actually changed things in all sectors of Music Industry, too. There are things that happened during covid19 like the global closing of the stages, the trend in working from home, in playing music from home or in having a live concert online…Last years we also experience an increasingly turning to e commerce-people now shops way more via the internet. In many cases people stay home instead of being in a live concert, or a rock bar, or wherever music entertainment takes place so “music consumption” is lower… these are some of the pandemic aftermaths that clearly affect Music Industry.
Are you planning this year for Live shows?
Yes we’re going to do our first live show on January 28 in the “Eightball” club in Thessaloniki and we hope that the situation with pandemic will get better and we will hit as many stages as we can. Especially now that we released our new album, playing live is our priority and there’s no doubt we will take any opportunity to do it.
What are your next moves?
We are now working on our next audiovisuals, we want to cover the bigger part of the “Empty Nest” album, if not all of it. Early in 2022 we also have our resettlement and the making of our new base in Cyprus. We are planning our live shows for 2022 and we‘re also planning our first European tour, which probably going to happen in early 2023!
Is there anything you like to share with us before we end our interview?
We like to share our wishes for health and for a covid free new year.
We also want to thank all of you for your support and remind you that you can find anything about us using the following links: