Thanasis hi and congratulations for "Star Tales". From what you have published in your website and the national music press I can see that Star Tales' welcomed with warmth. Are you satisfied with the feedback or you expected something better?

Hello Giannis and thank you for your great comments and review! Yes I am very satisfied by the feedback we are receiving for "Star Tales". People who already knew us from the demo CD, are really excited by the new sound of the songs as well as the new songs that are added in "Star Tales". More and more people discover the Dol Ammad "music-spaceship" everyday and I am really happy to meet and talk with music-lovers around the world. Of course there are also many who face "Star Tales" with wariness but this is easily justified by the truly unique nature of the Dol Ammad sound.

What exactly is Dol Ammad and why have you named your band likewise?

The semantic meaning of Dol Ammad is "Castle of Columns" if we combine a Tolkien and a Palestinian word. I noticed the name in the "Descent 3" video game and was instantly haunted by it! I don't really know why I named the band like this, I suppose I like strange words and names that don't directly mean something! I think there is some hidden power in these two words that subconsciously led me to believe that "this is the one"!

"Star Tales" is characterized as "electronica art metal". Aren't you afraid that this may make some people hesitant towards the band? I am not pretty sure if the Greek metal audience is mature enough to accept this kind of labels and music.

I am not afraid, I am SURE many people will detest the label "electronica" in a metal environment! Especially those who think that the evolution of heavy metal stopped in the 80's! I think that the metal world hides both the best and the worst music audience in it. I mean there are people who won't listen anything that doesn't come from their personal list of a maximum number of 10 bands, but at the same time there are amazing music lovers who are dying for new stuff and experimentations, eager for countless aural explorations. I have met people who haven't heard a single note from a heavy metal band or people who are fans of bands like Vomitory and they all fancy the music of Dol Ammad. Good music can be found in any field and in the end music is one. Getting back to the "electronica art metal", it was my intention to provoke with this label and at the same time give a spark of what someone should expect from a 16-membered project with countless keyboards and a classical choir together with the typical heavy metal rhythm section. You can now also see this "label" permanently fixed beside our logo.

How difficult was to coordinate so many people, to orchestrate such complex music and to produce something so ambitious like "Star Tales"?

It was very difficult and tiring but at the same time very challenging and refreshing. I thing the recordings of the choir were somehow hard but if there is good will and all the people involved are well-intentioned, then the result can only be positive. I believe a lot in the energy emitted and received between humans and the Dol Ammad team is full of positive energy!

The most incomprehensible of all is the mixture of these three distinct musical genres. Don't you have ever feared that this unification might not lead to a successful result?

Maybe the hardest part in the creation of "Star Tales" was this mixture of the 3 worlds. That's something that will always evolve and progress through my music and finding the "focal point" where these worlds become one will be my personal quest for the holy grail! It is very easy to make a "salad" if you throw anything you find in front of you inside a plate, but getting it to taste good is the hard part! I think with "Star Tales" we delivered a very interesting first look into this mixture between the worlds of electronica, metal and classical. The future will be even more exciting!

Although Dol Ammad is your personal vehicle of expression, it doesn't have any excessive, superfluous or virtuoso elements. Would you like to comment on that?

There is no music hidden inside "show-off" solos and meaningless up and down movements of a music scale if that is what you mean. I am not interested in this kind of music which is more suited to conservative music schools trying years after years to understand and reproduce the way genius minds of classical composers of the past worked. I am not classically trained; music comes out of me naturally and effortlessly. Has maybe the immaturity you mentioned later of part of the metal audience irreversibly linked heavy metal with superfluous, meaningless solos?

Have you ever thought of taking an ordinary singer to perform at least a part of the lyrics?

Yes, there have been such thoughts but only in the form of a guest appearance in a song.

According to my opinion it has a lot of elements from Therion and Ayreon, but I am sure that there are a lot more in "Star Tales". Would you like to tell us a few things about what's influencing you?

I can be influenced by countless of good music from countless of music genres. I enjoy music from so many bands that it would be impossible to mention them all here. However I could probably mention that I greatly respect the following bands/musicians: Jean Michel Jarre, Vangelis, Mike Oldfield, Orbital, Air, Arjen Lucassen, Devin Townsend, Symphony X, Rammstein, Rage, Amorphis, Nile, Bal Sagoth and many many more…

I guess that this is a very usual question, but we would like to know how did you achieved to participate in your album a musician like Alex Holzwarth.

Through the help of a common acquaintance, I sent the music to Alex and he agreed to participate in the Dol Ammad project. It is a great honor to have worked with him as well as with the great team of the Gate studio in Wolfsburg, Germany.

Aren't you afraid that a lot of people will pay attention to Dol Ammad because of the participation of Alex, instead of the music that contains?

Having a big name in your album is surely going to stir some attention but the final impact will only be made from your music. There are countless projects with big names whose music is dull and uninteresting. I am sure the music will always do the talking for Dol Ammad.

In "Star Tales" -apart from Alex Holzwarth- you are framed by other very skillful musicians. Would you like to present them to us and to tell us about the criteria of their selection?

Of course! The "Star Tales" crew is consisted of the following individuals : Jimmy Wicked : Guitars, Nick Terry : Bass Guitar and Vicky Alexaki, Maria Panagiotidou, Maria Stolaki, Kortessa Tsifodimou, Zoe Tsokanou, Alexandra Voulgari, Alexandros Barmpas, Kyriakos Chouvardas, Panos Iampoultakis, Petros Moraitis, Themis Mpasdekis, Yiannis Tsalouhidis : Choir. There were no special criteria apart from their will to help and participate in the project, their expertise in their field and the friendship we shared between us!

Since I do not have any lyrics available, would you like to tell us a few things about the lyrical content of "Star Tales"?

The lyrics are about fantasy-space stories created through personal thoughts that may have an allegoric meaning for me but an abstract meaning for anyone else. Anyway lyrics are secondary in Dol Ammad. I rarely read and enjoy lyrics in general. I prefer music to be the "storyteller"!

Are you satisfied with Black Lotus Records? Did you have any other offers, perhaps from foreign labels?

We had 7 offers, 5 from foreign labels. The offer from Black Lotus was the most logical both financially and regarding their promotional plan. Up to now we are satisfied with our label.

Do you believe that -at least for modern bands- Internet is a prerequisite for communication and publicity? Do you think that your website has contributed to the recognizability of Dol Ammad?

Yes I think that the internet plays a big role and will play an even bigger one in the future of the music industry. However I truly believe that nothing beats the "word of mouth" even though this has also been "digitized" through the internet the last years!

I guess that it's very difficult to perform "Star Tales" on stage. Have you thought under which conditions this may come into reality or you prefer to keep Dol Ammad as a studio band?

It is indeed very difficult but not improbable. We want to make a special show based heavily on visuals and choreography/acting instead of a typical metal show. This requires HUGE amounts of money and time-planning and it is something that will probably take shape after the release of the second Dol Ammad album. It is very risky to take the Dol Ammad sound live. I recently got hold of a live performance of a great symphonic band with lots of sounds in their studio album. The live adaptation of the CD was a nightmare! It was a disaster in my opinion and such bands should re-think the way they present and reproduce their music on stage.

Thessaloniki was always very active in metal music. Do you have any parallel projects in which you participate and perhaps satisfy other musical needs?

Yes, I am planning on forming 2 more projects to be released in the future. I cannot reveal more now since they are not fully formed musically, but I can say that in a way they will be very close and very far away at the same time from Dol Ammad!

What plans do you make for the future?

We are currently under heavy work preparing the second Dol Ammad album which will be this time inspired by the sea! I am also working on these projects I mentioned above and a video clip for Dol Ammad. Oh and also trying to tidy up my life…Lots of plans…so little time…

Thanasis I would like to thank you for sharing your time with us. I wish you all the best with Dol Ammad and we are already anxious for your next step.

Thank you so much for your interest and support! We really appreciate your anxiety and you can rest assured that you will be rewarded! Thanks to all the "Dol Ammad-ians" for their support!