interview with Devil's Train
What does the name "Devil's Train" stand for? / What made you call the band "Devil's Train"? The initial idea about the name had to do with the Devil (hehehehe) yes we know it sounds very common, but we all have a little Devil inside, so it feels familiar to all it's about rock'n'roll, about having a good time without trying too hard in life people need to blow off some steam, have a party, and Devil's Train is the perfect music for having a good time. If you have noticed, we people always look for complex answers to simple questions, and the answer we 're looking for is right in front of us there are so many good and easy names for a band and the concept of this band is One Train Twelve Wagons we drive, you are the passengers one-way ticket, straight to Hell.
How was the band formed? / What made you form the band? / What year was the band started? Quoted singer R.D. Liapakis: “For almost ten years now, I've been thinking of making a band, moving in the style of Heavy Rock, influenced by blues I 've just been so busy with Mystic Prophecy and working as a producer, that's why I didn't do it so far but the most important thing needed was to find musicians who have the same vision with for this kind of music.I have music roots from the 70's, I grew up with bands like The Who, Free, Led Zeppelin, Bad Company, and Whitesnake, and later on with bands like Badlands, Blue Murder ... what I always wanted was to combine stuff from the 70's, 80's and 90's into one sound ... so I was in contact with many people, some of them very good and well known musicians, but I couldn't really find guys with the same vision as me ... in 2009 I discussed this musical vision I had, with a friend of mine from Greece, and he asked me if I had ever listened to Laki Ragazas before his name didn't ring any bells, but I decided to speak with him so I could see if he has the vibe I 'm looking for all these years Laki sent me some material of his own music, and I immediately realized that he had all this "dirty rock'n'roll" approach and style of playing I was looking for ... as he told me, he had pretty much the same concept in his mind of the music to be made. So we started exchanging ideas for composing songs he came over to Germany and in 10 days' time we finished the 11 songs you now hear in the band’s 1st album we have an amazing chemistry working together, and, above all we have the same musical roots By the beginning of 2010, I was on tour with Mystic Prophecy, warming up for Stratovarius, where Jörg and I met, I popped the idea to him as well and he liked it a lot, he then suggested Jari to be the bass player.”
Can you briefly introduce your band and who you are? / Where are all bandmembers from? / Who does what in the band?R.D. Liapakis on the vocals, from Greece but living in Germany, Laki Ragazas on guitar, all the way from Greece, German ex-Stratovarius Jörg Michael on drums and Finnish Jari Kainulainen on bass (ex-Stratovarius also)
What was the ambitions of the band when you started? Although is seemed like something on the side in the beginning, everybody very soon realized Devil’s Train was a real band … The energy coming out of the songs was so convincing … All of us are so eager and anxious to see where this band will take us …
Where was your first gig? / Where was the latest gig? 1st gig was in Summer Breeze Festival 2012, August 15th, and last so far was on Metal Cruise 2013, May 9th and 11th please stay tuned, more shows are being booked as we speak.
Who writes your songs?/ who writes the music who writes lyrics?As I already said, Lia and I had pretty much the same concept in our minds of the music to be made. We write all the music together, and Lia writes the lyrics, and sometimes maybe together.
Have you made any albums?/If yes what are they? Yes, we write our own material, we just played 70’s classic “American Woman” as a cover in our 1st album, which was released in February 2012.
Do you have any clips on YouTube? Yes, you can check the Official Video Clips of “American Woman” and “Sweet Devil’s Kiss”, under “EarMusicOfficial”.
What got you started in music? / At what age did you start playing? We all started as teenagers, Rock’n’Roll came like a virus in our hearts, to stay for good if you listen to the lyrics of “Fire And Water”, you ‘ll get the idea a young boy who fell in love with this kind of music, watching the concerts of our heroes, the legends of Classic Rock, like Led Zeppelin, Bad Company, Deep Purple playing air guitar in front of the mirror soon we wanted it to be real.
What places will you be playing in the immediate future? / What are the plans for the rest of the year?Right now we are preparing our second album, and we are booking concerts for 2014, all announcements will be made in good time through our social media, please stay tuned!!
What songs are in your live set? / Is it always the same? We play the stuff from our debut album, plus one more cover, and although we have a standard setlist, it changes from time to time.
What has been the best/most promising gig so far? / How big crowds do you usually play for? / What is best/worst with playing the clubs? / Have you had any bigger tours from start till now? We played for around 2.000 people in Summer Breeze, but what we really fancy is the smaller clubs we simply love being and playing so close to our fans, who we love and owe everything to them. One of the best shows we played this year was in Esslingen, in Germany, on March 2nd 2013, in a sold out venue of 200 people.The atmosphere in the club was amazing and since Devil’s Train is still a new band, we haven’t gone on a tour just yet.We are currently preparing our 2nd album, and everything looks very promising for the new year.
How do you get psyched up for a gig? We are always psyched up for a gig!!! Hahaha it’s in our DNA, we are always ready for it, and it has to do with how much we love living for the music …
Is it easier to get your inspiration from older bands or from bands more modern?/What are your sources of inspiration? As we mentioned before, we have influences from the 70's, from bands like Led Zeppelin, Bad Company, and Whitesnake, and later on with bands like Badlands, Blue Murder, and later on AlterBridge hat we always wanted was to combine stuff from the 70's, 80's and 90's into one sound...
How do you feel about the downloading of music instead of buying albums? Downloading music is fine, it just was the next step to what was best at the time, but buying the physical product, CD, Vinyl, from a band always has a more romantic touch, even in the days of Digital Download.
What would be your dreams for the band? What else could we ask for, than to have the chance to play together for many years, in front of audiences all over the world it’s not about the money, it’s about getting your music through to the crowd. So far things are going very well, we are preparing a new album for 2014, and things look as promising as they can be.
Besides your own music, what genres and bands do you listen to? We actually listen to everything there is, all kinds of music, from Blues and Soul, to Funk and Dance, Classical, from Rock to Metal and Heavier stuff, bands and artists like J.S.Bach, B.B King, Jimi Hendrix, Free, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Jimi Hendrix, Black Sabbath, Exodus, Testament, the list is really so big and wide.
Have you been part of any other bands? Lia and Laki play also in Mystic Prophecy, Jari plays with Masterplan, whereasJörg, after Stratovarius is working on his own concert booking agency.
How important are your fans?/What's the most memorable thing a fan has done for you? The band’s fans is the reason Devil’s Train exists.They are the best in the world, we owe everything to them, without them we would be a big zero. We love them and we cannot wait to see them when we play on stage. You know, the band’s still fresh, with a debut album released in all, but we have a fan that made a tattoo of the band’s logo on his chest !!! We are in absolute awe !!!
How often do you rehearse? / Where do you rehearse? It’s not easy for us to rehearse, since we live in different countries, we have to coordinate our efforts and moves, so we get the most out of it, with the least possible travelling and ticket costs … When we rehearse, we do it in Germany, preferably in Dortmund, inJörg’s rehearsal place.
Name 2 of your own songs you like at the moment? We cannot distinguish any of our songs, they like our babies, we love them all equally, but if we had to choose, maybe it would be “Sweet Devil’s Kiss” for being such a great Heavy Rock song, with intensity, rhythm, melodies and “To The Ground”, for being such a bad-ass song.
Do you have any webpages?
Any pearls of wisdom for all other bands out there?/What advice would you like to give other bands?/What are the biggest obstacles for a band? Staying together and united as a band is one of the most challenging things. If going through the rough cannot bend you, if money problems cannot manage to put you down, if you stay strong to your vision, and if you work real hard on practicing and becoming the best you can, then we think you are on the right track.The best thing is to go after your dreams. if your heart tells you to go out there and play music, then do it. it’s gonna be real hard, but if you love it it‘ll be great.
Describe your show, visually and musically. / How would you describe your sound in one sentence?Rock’n’Roll party … on stage and off … 1000% Energy … All Day and All Night … Vintage Heavy … Ballsy Grooves … Downright Nasty … Hips Moving (yeap, we have some really sexy dancer girls with us on stage …)
How do you view the music industry of today? / What drives a band that isn't all that famous and renowned to try to make a living on their music and to keep playing?If you have an idea of how the music business actually works, you would agree that right now things are very difficult for all bands, all styles of music, regardless of the success achieved, bands all over the world depend – sometimes entirely – on the merchandise sales during their concerts, let me just tell you this, we created Devil’s Train because we love music and we do everything with our heart and soul, and we don’t really care about the money, we will be doing everything to keep ourselves and our fans satisfied.
Tell us about upcoming gigs and why we should be at them? We already have booked shows for 2014, and we will announce in good time, stay with us through our social media and you ‘ll soon know all about them !!! I think I ‘ve described well enough why someone should be in one of our shows !! Rock’n’Roll Party says it all.
Whats your Pre-show ritual? Get all psyched up that’s the easy part hahaha, warming up, a couple of beers, big smile on our faces, beautiful chicks in front of the stage aahh life is good.
