Sarissa is one of the best heavy metal groups that Greece has ever spawned. In their achievements, they have an official demo and a completed work that was released in 1994. After a lot of dissapointments and frustrations, Sarissa disbanded, in order to be reformed a few months ago and shake our brains, like back then when they released their self-titled CD "Sarissa". After some contact we had with the 2 leaders of the group, Dimitris Selalmatzides (bass) and Fotis Kanistras (drums) we discussed for the band and their plans, as much as for Alexander The Great and the 6 meters long lances/javelins (sarissa's) that his army brandished.

First of all I would like you to enlighten us as far as the band’s history is concerned, from the day of Sarissa’s creation until today…

The group began in 1985, from Dimitris Selalmazides and Sakis (lyssa) Kazakis. George was the vocalist, second guitar was Orestis Ntozis and Alexis, as a drummer, who didn’t remain in the band for more than a few weeks (the group recorded its first demo) since a few drummers were changed until the group selected Fotis Kanistras.

Early 1986, we were playing here and there in several festivals and we recorded our second demo which we sent in several press media, and gathered very good reviews from abroad, from magazines like ROCK HARD, SHOCK POWER (and several others). This event gave us courage and power to continue with much more stubbornness.

Late 1986, Orestis Ntozis leaves Sarissa and is being replaced by Christos Malmatzides from Germany. That was the time when we entered the studio and recorded our official demo 1987.

Few months later we decide to leave in Germany, beginning 1987, we were somewhere in Disseldorf, since we were talking for 5 months with NOISE Records and a few more other smaller labels, with a result, to end substantially nowhere.

Disappointed and exhausted from the big expenses, we decide to return back to Greece since the most of us had to fulfil their military obligations. So, the group fell in inactivity for a long time and there were many new classifications in the group’s member structure. Christos Malmatzides and George Chatzisimeonides leave the band, (the vocalist of disaster is the main responsible one who transformed Sarissa 1000 years back and, even today, none of us talks to him). Still, we don’t quit [we: I (Fotis), Dimitris (Jimmy) and Sakis (lyssa*)] and we search, and, at last, after 3 years (since even speechless Joe has participated in the band as a vocalist *2) WE FINALLY FIND SOTOS!!!

With Sotos (nuka) the group finds its old glamour, we write new tracks and render one of the best concerts we have ever done in Ellispontos (which does not exist anymore).

Early 1992, we accept a very strong shock. Sakis (lyssa) leaves the band for musical and family reasons and, this lead us to think our disbanding for the first time.

Even after all these, we thought to grant Sarissa another chance by taking 2 new guitarists. Drosos Drivas and Stelios Petronellas with whom we enter the studio and write our first official album with our own expenses and with the support of our friend and very good sound engineer, George Manios (he released our album with CACTUS Records). Around that era, Metal Hammer organized a party in Club Rex and we were invited and played live with the new group and songs. It was a very good appearance.

Unfortunately, 1994 I didn’t hold so much injustice and, tired from the whole story, having personal professional problems, I was forced to leave Sarissa for good (Fotis).

Jimmy, tried to continue with the band due to stubbornness, but very fast he understood that this is it (since he was the only member left from the first line-up).

From 1995 to 1998 the three of us didn’t do anything important. I was working to centres with Greek music, Jimmy, here and there and, Sakis left to England for studies.

Jimmy established his store 1 year and a half before, entitled “Sarissa”. Slowly, the rest of us started to visit him over there until we decided to reform the group, touched from the reunion of Black Sabbath. The only thing we didn’t manage was for Sotos to be with us, who is occupied with album productions. We hired Vassilis Paralis in the vocal section for beginning, a friend of us, for help, and we played with FATES WARNING in Ydrogeios club and, in EMPIRE club’s “birthday”.

At this time, we are in consultation with the vocalist of VALLEY’S EVE, Dimitris, for a new course.

Two and a half months ago, you played with Fates Warning. How long ago was the last time you played live?
Since 1994.

The people’s attendance, was it satisfying after such a long time?

It was Ydrogeios’ most full of people live appearance until today.

Let’s change subject now. In 1994 you released your first self-titled CD, which was self-liquidating. Was there any support back then? Did enough people hear your work, or did they ignore you?

I can’t say there was much of support. The people embraced the group of course, but no label wanted to release it, it was just the album, nor did they invite us too much to play live. The work was listened in a few radio stations and we had a lot of good reviews and sold 2000 copies until today.

Are there any copies of your CD “Sarissa” left at the moment? And, if someone wishes to buy it, how is that possible from abroad or also from here?

Not too many copies are left, but if there is request for it we shall reprint it immediately. But whoever wants to obtain it, he can contact Jimmy (Dimitris Selalmazides Sarissa rec. Papafi 132 Thessaloniki – tel/fax: (00) 30-(0)31-945 545) or, he could send me an e-mail at canister@expressnet.gr

Many are those who loved you from the first hearing of “Macedonian Army”. Do you aim to rerecord this song? Or, if not, do you have any new song like this one?

The truth is that we are also occupied with this. Maybe it is not right to repeat ourselves continuously, but still, we may also rerecord it for a special edition (best of). For sure, some kind of a new song will replace “Macedonian Army”. In other words, let’s have the audience to decide…

Listening to your CD I noticed a totally different sound in your music, where other times, the non-fingerboard bass dominates, other times the vocals, other times the clever guitar riffs and all these, invade the listener’s mind with a totally prototypical trickery where the epic feeling dominates. Where did you pump influences from and how did this epic feeling come up?

It’s difficult to say that it is a specific fact, that we sound this way. Maybe it’s because we are a group who thinks seriously the fact that we always wanted to distinguish, always the criteria in our hearings was to find the special.

The subject is of course occupied with Alexander The Great and the ancient Greek spirit. What motivated you to write music about this subject and not for something else?

We wanted to get away from the stereotypes, like “babe I want you too much/love/kisses/drugs” since we are bored of all these, they don’t mean anything to us anymore. What else could we talk about since we’re called SARISSA. Believe me there is nothing so attractive and charming than talking about your ancestors when they have left such a big history behind them…

If we take a look to the Greek of today, we shall see that he is in dreadful opposition with the healthy and victorious ancient spirit that once reigned in Greece and had reached levels that nowadays would be considered an elusive dream. What is this that you don’t like in today’s Greeks and, if you can, combine the Greek of 2000 with the Greek of that era…

There must always be comparisons with today and the other civilizations – the Greek can do things today that no other civilization can – look, there are lots that I do not like and lots that I do – first of all, it is important that the Greek did not vanish like other civilizations and, if he is drifted today from a bad way of American life, we don’t know if that’s the same thing that is going to happen after 2000 years where you are not going to meet Americans everywhere, but GREEKS.

A strange question now: Alexander the Great, besides the fact that he fought the Persians to take revenge of his desecrated sacred, begun a campaign for the conquest of strange lands and kingdoms where many lives where lost. What is your opinion as far as this subject is concerned? Has it influenced you at all?
I don’t agree with you, and that because nowhere, even if you search the histories of other civilizations, you will find nothing mean about Alexander. On the contrary, they worshipped him. You never worship someone who destroys you, or even hate him. Everyone worshipped Alexander, even his enemies. As far as the fact that he continued his campaign is concerned, he did it in order to expand the Hellenic civilization and he succeeded this very well (see it also as a strategy – when you don’t expand, you’re getting shrink.

Let’s change subject now: From what I know, you’re currently writing new songs. Do you have any plans for any new CD and if yes, which ones are they?

We have gathered enough new songs, that is, totally new ones. If one thinks that we were reformed four and a half months ago, we almost have new songs for a new album. Always, at the end, we choose the best ones or the most satisfying ones for us (if we kept every song, today, we would have released 15 albums, but with craps inside).

There are also many unreleased tracks from the old member structure, but I don’t think we’re going to use them (maybe we do some kind of a packet together with unreleased recordings and second performances, demos – we have an incredibly huge archive – why not, a collectors’ CD for fanatic fans).

We want our next release to be the best we have ever done until today, from every point of view. Our wish is to release it with a foreign label in year 2000.

We are in negotiations with a big label and if everything turns good, we will finally break out! We will be releasing one album every year!

Do you have any other future plans?

To program a big pan Hellenic tour in the future, so that we will play even in the last village where there is even one fan of Sarissa. We will leave nothing! All of us have agreed that the era of introversion has ended PERMANENTLY.

Your first CD “Sarissa”, have you sent it to any label or perhaps not? And, what is your opinion for the confrontation of the labels when new groups hit their door for some kind of a contract?

As I wrote you before, things have been drawn in a way. Only thing we can do is to agree in the papers (our criteria are not who is going to give us more money, but how far they can release our albums worldwide – we want someone who can release it in Russia, Japan, Poland, Africa and to be able to find Sarissa’s CD – who gives a shit if they release it just in Germany and England…).

All these years we succeeded to work proudly from other occupations, non musical ones and I don’t think now that we starve for more MONEY, we want the RIGHT work to take place at last and not to be proud that we released an album abroad and only…

Of course, these first years, the foreign labels would find this totally unrealistic and visionary, not to mention the Greek ones…

Many times they asked us to change lyrics, music, look, even our names (for example, imagine how insulting it was for me, when I am the one who writes the lyrics, to tell me that what I’m writing is for bird brained people and that I must write EROTIC ONES)

The labels just do business and don’t give a damn for people who do something different. NO, we didn’t give a shit and we paid the price very highly because we always wanted to do things just the way we wanted. That’s why we kept fighting and losing time with producers, managers and the last moments we were spoiling everything (now things are different. Back then it was different ERAS)

I wish that no group of today had the same experiences we had, because, at the end, we will find ourselves in the madhouse. Not only they close the door in front of your face, but also with their way they force you to get disgusted even with your own music.

In your new work, is the subject going to remain the same or similar?

Maybe we’re going to be a little bit more atmospheric with heavy outbursts in the riffs; the lyrics are going to be more of today… it’s going to be an endless comparison of yesterday with today. We will continue talking about Alexander but not monotonously – musically and lyrically all will discover a new fresh. We don’t intend to release something full of the same and the same things…

You belong to the very few heavy metal groups of Greece who play pure metal. What is your opinion about the Greek scene of metal?

Thank you for saying that we are a pure metal group. The same thing is what they tell us abroad. Not that we snob the evolution of metal in several genres but we just follow our own way like we always did, we’re not interested in fashions. Generally we are too stubborn to change now. We are very happy now that at the moment there are lots of new groups in Greece and that this music didn’t die and is never going to die – there will always be some people who will stroke the wrong way towards the rubrically. All those who belong to the “ensured” borders of life, fight metal because they shiver, because of the risks that this music has taken and they can’t stand it believe me…

I hope that many bands from Greece are soon going to be known. They are worthy it anyway - I have seen a lot of crap the last few years abroad!!!

Besides Sarissa, did you have any other group or project?

No more, we are all dedicated exclusively to this group…

In the CD you are mainly 2 persons. You, Fotis (drums) and Dimitris (Bass), while in the demo you released back in 1987, there are five of you. And, if I am not wrong, Dimitris, wasn’t he playing guitar normally? How did come up this way?

As I explained to you before, with the time’s flight, slowly, each one of us left the band for several reasons and, as a result, only 2 members remained. Myself and Jimmy.

When we were making the CD none of the new members had contributed to the album’s material (exception for a few parts, SOTOS) so, we considered as right not to count them as normal members. If they remained in the band and helped us in the future’s next release, we would consider them as normal members. Causation was also the reason that Jimmy played most of the guitars in the CD, even the solos. I did the orchestration in the organs in the melodic lines of the vocals, I also did the effects and the production, since I paid the studio where we recorded.

So, you understand that it was a CD that was made from 2 persons wholly.

In the beginning, Jimmy was about to play bass again but we had a second thought and we turned out to a session bassist. JIMMY WAS ALWAYS A GUITARIST, HE JUST PLAYED BASS BECAUSE WE COULD NEVER FIND A GOOD BASSIST FORMERLY (The good ones were so few and always in other groups).

I was also a cause (I was a very difficult drummer for the other bassists in former times. I didn’t like this one I didn’t like that one).

If you lived in Ancient Greece, would you like to be Macedinians who holded their 6 meters long “Sarissa” lances, or to be anyone else?

We would most likely prefer to be with horses next to Alexander.

What is your opinion about the following groups?

Virgin Steele:  -------- All those grouse are the missing link who connects yesterday’s heavy metal with today.

Manilla Road:

Cirith Ungol:

Heavy Load:

Brocas Helm:

Slough Feg:

Warlord:

Lordian Guard:

Sarissa!!!:--------------I believe we will be the link of the chain for tomorrow

What can the Greek fans (and not only) expect from Sarissa from now on?
BIG THINGS. On the course of all these years we understood in deed that we play HEAVY METAL not because we can’t do anything else, but because we damn like it!!!

Anything for the end?

We thank all those who believed in us all these years and didn’t forget us, by giving us courage through the letters they were sending to us from every place of the world.

We thank METAL INVADER, METAL HAMMER who did not abandon to try for us and generally for the whole stage of Greek Metal. We thank the radio stations who continue playing METAL with stubbornness in contradiction with today’s so empty era.

And of course, ALTARS OF METAL for granting us your step from the website, for this communication with your readers.

SARISSA ARE BACK -TURN THE POWER UP !!!

Interview by Babis “The Metal Warrior” Antaloudakis