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Embrace the Noiz. Join the Ritual. Νoiz Ritual are a 4+1 piece band from Athens, Greece brought together by the shared longing for the 90s grunge music scene and the alternative rock and nu-metal of the 2000s. Νoiz Ritual guitarist Nick fills in the blanks:
What are the origins of Noiz Ritual, how long have you been playing together?
Nick: We started out in 2022, but the full ensemble with the latest addition of our 2nd bass player Yul Sada has existed since 2023. It all started out as a pretty innocent jam, but it escalated pretty quickly, it all happened very effortlessly, one minute we were in the studio jamming, and the next moment we were already doing our first live shows!
What should people expect when they check the band out? How would you describe Noiz Ritual?
Nick: They should expect some solid grooves, nice hooks, lots of energy, and then they should expect some things that are unexpected! I won’t deny, we are rooted deep into the 90s and 00s alternative metal and post-grunge scene, but nothing is stopping us from throwing in prog elements, funky vibes, or shred solos, and more.
How did you feel performing your first gig as a band, and how was it?!
Nick: It was very natural, the transition from our first jams to the stage happened very fast, without any anxiety. We were all very in tune with each other musically, so we mostly spent our time trying to figure out how to take the show to the next level. We found some pistols that shoot bubbles and some thug life glasses, and it was quite a fun show. We even got a mini moshpit on our last song, that’s how great it went!
What are you working on at the minute that people can check out?
Nick: We just got a video clip out on YouTube for our first single Abuse Me, and the rest of the EP will follow on the 14th of May. It will be released along with the lyric video for the song Feeling Death Inside, made by Andy Pilkington / Very Metal Art, who has done videos for Judas Priest, Opeth, and Motorhead among others. It is a fantastic video, a bit darker than Abuse Me, but it suits the mood of the song perfectly.
In terms of a similar audience, which band out there at the minute do you feel you would be best suited to open for?
Nick: I think we would be a good fit to open for Breaking Benjamin, Three Days Grace, Incubus, Deftones, Seether, this list could go on forever!
Excluding yourself, which new band would you like to see break out and become a success?
Nick: I like a Greek band called the Vulkan Itch, they play a sort of thinking man’s Foo Fighters, they got all the post-grunge energy but throw in some technical stuff! I’d like to see them evolve and break out of the local scene.
What frustrates you about the music business?
Nick: The most frustrating thing is that it’s not really a business anymore. It’s a free-for-all, an endless spam of songs with questionable quality both in production and songwriting. Most music is simplistic and is produced hastily just to get it out there, it could even be written by AI bots and no one seems to care. This does not favor artists, they are dying more and more each day, it mostly serves hobbyists. There are exceptions of course, there is some good music out there, but it’s hard to find it among all the junk, in general things are going really bad.
What are your first musical memories? And what was the lightbulb moment that made you go “I want to do that”?
Nick: I started out by playing the flute at an early age! And guess what? I didn’t like it, haha. It was my “I don’t want to do that” moment, and I quit. Then fast forward a couple of years, I was at summer camp, and a guy there was listening to an Iron Maiden tape. And I was like “What is that? I want to have it in my life”, I got my parents to enroll me into guitar lessons and never looked back!
What was the last gig that you attended as a fan?
Nick: I went to see Emperor, to get a taste of some historic Black Metal! It was very awe-inspiring, that’s the beauty about music, it could be a different genre, something you don’t listen to all that much, but still it can get to you if it is well crafted and performed!
What current social issue are you particularly passionate about?
Nick: Inequality. Gender inequality, wealth inequality, race inequality, seems like modern society is full of chasms, some steps are made to bridge the gaps, but there’s still a long way to go, and everybody needs to realize and help. Music can unify people, it can bring people together, and that’s what I like about it.
The album that you have in your album collection/Spotify playlist that would surprise most people?
Nick: Believe it or not, I don’t like Spotify and I don’t use it. I know, it has helped a lot of small bands to get their music heard, but no thanks, it rips artists off, they get no real compensation, and no, it does not really help them get more publicity because there are millions of artists in it and it’s really like a needle in a haystack. Now that I’m done with my rant, an album that I’ve listened to a lot – not on Spotify – is Lady Gaga’s Fame. It’s an extremely well-made pop album, hard to resist.
Everybody is a fan of something, who or what are you a fan of?
Nick: I’m a fan of Synthwave music, especially The Midnight. I like the retro vibes, the cyberpunk look, and the feeling that you are in the long-gone 80s but in the future at the same time. I like science fiction a lot, video games movies, TV series, books, and Synthwave feels like the perfect soundtrack for that!
What new music have you been enjoying so far this year?
Nick: I have been listening to a lot of Don Brocco, I discovered them recently and love their stuff! Also love Rabea Masad, he’s a phenomenal guitarist and composer. These days I’m listening to some Greek guitarists a lot, George Karayiannis, Giannis Papadopoulos and his band Royal Time Machine, Jim Politis, Irene Ketikidi, Chris Zantiotis, they are world-class and deserve more recognition.
What does 2024 hold for you?
Nick: Definitely promoting of our new EP, on the internet and of course with live shows. We want to push it as far as it goes and then start working on the follow-up album. A lot of rough compositions are already there, but we want to devote all the energy to the EP, it deserves it, before moving on to the next one!
How active are you on social media and where can people connect with you?
Nick: We are pretty active on Facebook and Instagram, posting news and updates frequently. Twitter and TikTok I don’t really get, so we kept our distance and do not use them at the moment. But you can find us on Facebook and Instagram, and of course, on YouTube, drop by, give us a like or a sub or a comment, whatever you want, we appreciate it! And of course, if you want to support us, buy our stuff on Bandcamp! Check out these links below.
https://www.facebook.com/noizritual
https://www.instagram.com/noizritual
https://noizritual.bandcamp.com
📸: C.Alossi photography
