“What does the (Grande) Fox say?” Well, quite a bit actually…
Simple thing first – where are you from guys?
Hello guys! Ιt’s a pleasure to talk with you and we would like to thank you about that. We are Grande Fox and we are from Thessaloniki, Greece.
How did you meet?
The band was created in 2013 by our frontman Nick and our lead guitarist Lefteris. These two guys met in a bar in Thessaloniki where Lefteris was working as a Dj. So they decided to join their passion for music. As regards to the other members, in January 2019, the band was searching for new members to frame the positions of a bass player and a drummer. We met Dimitris (bass) through an internet ad, who suggested to us his friend Dimitris (drums) for the drummer position.
How long have you been playing as a band?
The band is active and has existed for six years. Throughout the years many members’ changes have taken place, due to the inconsistency of the characters. However we are still here stronger, we made a new beginning with our new members and we are working hard with new spirit and goals the last fourteen months.
Before you get sick of being asked…Where does the band name come from?
The first band name was ‘’Fox Terrier’’. When we started to create our own music and material after a couple of months, we decided to change it for two reasons. First of all, it brings to your mind the well-known dog breed. Apart from that, we wanted something more unique to represent us. ‘’Grande Fox’’ consists of two keywords. The word “grande” defines our big dreams, spirit and vision. The second word has to do with our special admiration to this animal. Fox is a very clever animal which survives and overcomes any difficulty on his path outside of this world.
What are your influences?
Influence refers to experiences and feelings. So, according to this, whatever we do, whatever we see or listen to, which gives us special emotions and the need to write and play music feature our influences. Even if that means something different from metal or heavy rock music. It might be a song that impressed us and kept some elements to experiment, putting our own ideas and musical knowledge. Everyone do this. Every new idea stems from an influence came from our mind sometimes unconsciously. From the other side, it might come from our individual experiences in our lives outside of the music world. People every day are tested by easy or difficult situations in which we can be the main characters or the one who watching. We are also greatly affected by all these facts.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
When someone listen to our music for the first time, it’s true that it’s difficult to describe what you hear. Various elements in a music that drives you to different places and brings to your mind a lot of pictures and facts from the harsh reality. The special feature which complete the puzzle to this magic atmosphere is the ‘’Space Psychedelic’’ elements. We found together the common line in this part, after a long time and much effort and we can say that it’s a little bit complicated but if you love what you do, it is possible. Every note, every rhythm added to our songs and every word has some reason and wants to pass an emotion and a message. These are some of the most important things that make us unique.
Do you have any particular lyrical themes?
Lyrics are a part that our frontman Nikos deals exclusively with. He is very talented and he easily processes in his mind many situations that he experiences or observes, transfering all his worries and feelings on paper. We don’t have any particular lyrical themes, it depends on what happens around the world generally, like the economic crisis, or in people lives or even in his life individually. A good example for that, is our single called ‘’Documento’’, in which we express our concern about the harsh reality and everything happening around us today. If you closely take a look at our songs’ lyrics, you will understand that behind them a sensitive concern or story is hidden beneath.
What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?
If we should describe our live shows with two words, these would be energy and rage. Our shows are like a storm coming. We are so thirsty for stages, that every time we go up on them, people are extremely excited because they don’t expect to see so much energy and passion. So, we try to give our best to the audience who come to see us and support us. Regarding the second question, we have played plenty of live shows in Thessaloniki and in other cities in Greece from the day we started. In the beginning on small stages and as we evolved and gained experiences we moving forward for bigger stages. The most remarkable shows so far, are in Trikala in 2015 when we open the show for the band ‘Emerald Sun’. Also we play at the Rock Festival Limassol in Cyprus in 2016 along with the band Nightstalker and finally, we play for first time abroad in Berlin before approximately 6 months, in Blackland which is one the most historical rock metal bar of the city.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
Well, we don’t really have done anything so wild so far, but something that we remember and made us a terrible impression is a Guns n’ Roses live with 100,000 people down the stage, when suddenly a terrible fight started between the band and the audience and all the place turned into an arena of war. It was devastating and we think this is something the band and every fan will still remember for a long time.
What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?
Well, Nick is using mostly Shure microphones and a boss pedal effect for some specific effects that he uses only at gigs. Lefteris has a custom guitar and he use his own pedal rack with lots of special effects that you hear in our recordings in order to make psychedelic atmospheres and loops and stuff like that. Dimitris has an Ibanez custom five string bass that we used for recordings too and also for gigs and he use pedals like big muff on his sound to be that heavy as you can hear. Finally, the drummer most of the times play in gigs with the backline kits offered but he use his own Meinl cymbals and a Tama S.L.P 14×6 G-Maple snare. For our practice and rehearsals he use a Sonor drum kit.
What, if anything, are you plugging/promoting at the moment?
There is always something from our large music and visual material to promote. At this moment we are still promoting our most fresh video clip from the single ‘’Documento’’ which you can find it on our facebook page and on youtube. Additionally, we also give a space to our EP album trilogy called Kulning in our promotion plan, which was released in 2018. There are many interviews or critiques for both from noticeable websites. The next step is to promote our lives shows when we will have more news and announcements.
What are your plans for 2020?
As we previously said, on the next months we will have more news about our next live shows. We expect and we want to organize a mini tour in Greece. Alongside with that, we want to play abroad as well, so we are looking for some opportunities like the one in Romania. We had a live there supporting the Greek band Villagers of Loannina City next month but unfortunately it was postponed due to the whole difficult and strange situation around the whole world with COVID-19. Another thing we would like to mention about our plans is our new LP Album. Following our general plan we will start preparing because until the end of year we will release our new LP album Empty nest. We are very happy about that, good things coming together with this album. An official video clip, maybe a lyrics video and much more stuff. So, stay tuned..
If you were second on a three-band-bill, which band would you love to be supporting and which band would you choose to open for you? A chance to plug someone you’ve toured with, or a mate’s band we’ve not heard of before?
That’s a good question. We’ve never been asked such a question before. Our dream is to play live supporting the famous band Godsmack. We would surely choose them as a headliner. Regarding the other two participations, we would be very happy if the Greek rock band Narcosis would open for us the show or if we would open it for them.
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