Dear Eddie hi. First of all, congratulations for your new work and thank you for speaking to our webzine.

Hey Giannis, thanks for the opportunity. We really appreciate the support. It's always nice to find people who really understand where we are coming from both musically and conceptually.

Would you like to tell us a few things about it in terms of recording and producing sessions?

We've reached a really great place in our musical career right now. We are able to write and record whenever and whatever we like. The basic songwriting and recording process was done in my studio. Over the years I've built up a great little studio where I do all my writing and recording. I personally do all the song arranging and basics song construction before I get the other band members involved. Once I have a basic song idea down I then begin work on the vocal melodies, harmonies and lyrics. When I'm happy with the arrangement, musical content, vocal melodies and harmonies and lyrics I then give it to the other guys in the band. They have total control over their input. They are such great musicians I would not dream of telling them what to play. They then take my musical ideas and personally record all their parts at their home studios. Once they have written all their parts they send me the recorded files and I import them into my computers. So basically we all write separately and then bring it all together at the end. This process may seem really disjointed and unconventional but it seems to work for us. It really comes down to the quality of musicians that I am fortunate enough to be working with. They just seem to know what the songs need and they deliver exactly what is required. I'm really happy to be involved with great musicians who understand what my music needs, it make my job a lot easier.

Are you satisfied with the final outcome? Would you revise anything in it?

I'm really happy with everything believe it or not. At the end of the recording process I'm generally pretty burnt out by the process, but this time I really enjoyed every aspect of the recording. Most of my work is done before the others get to hear the song, then I get to hear their ideas right at the end of the process which is really refreshing in a way. Both Evan and Conrad have a very distinctive style so it's always great to hear how the song changes with their input.

What are the main differences between the two parts of "Disrepair"? What forced you to make some drastic changes in the project's sound?

The main difference is the two musicians I currently working with. Conrad is back on guitar, he played on the first Mech Org album "Flat Earth Society" but couldn't play on the second album due to other musical commitments, but he's back now and I think he really makes a huge difference to our sound. He brings so much to the table in terms of melody and harmonies not to mention heaviness. I'm really glad he's back in the band and I'm looking forward to future releases to see how we evolve as a band. And of course there's Evan on bass also, he has given the music a real touch of class. His bass work in second to none and I personally love his work. Evan is a genius. I'm a bass player by trade but he's on another level. He makes his bass playing look easy, but of course it's not. I think you will continue to see our music evolve over the years so expect some more changes in the near future. We have a very hectic recording schedule planned so our musical journey will be evolution in fast forward.

Other than having these two guys on board I think the sound is still very much Mech Org, which is to say that it is very unique and unusual. And I think both parts have that going on, and future releases will hopefully continue this musical evolution.

Could you give us a few details about the process of "recruiting" Connie D. and Evan Harris? How did you decide to make these specific additions to the line up of the band?

Well, as I mentioned earlier Conrad played on the first Mech Org album. I had finished recording the new album on my own and I was nearly ready to master the recording. Conrad rang me out of the blue and asked what I was up to musically. The timing was perfect and he decided to have another shot at playing in Mech Org. I sent him the song, he loved it and instantly began working on it. Towards the end of the recording he suggested we ask Evan if he would be interested in playing on the album. Evan is an old friend of mine, I used to roadie for Evan when he played in Taramis many years ago. I was always in awe of Evan, he is such a fantastic bass player so I was all for having Evan play on the recording. So we spoke to Evan and he accepted the invitation. I really couldn't be happier right now.

"Disrepair Part 2" is consisted only of one track. Why did you decide to release only one track, even 17 minutes long, instead of considering including it in a full length album?

This was a conscious decision to try something new in terms of releasing albums. I guess it is more of and EP. Our new release philosophy will see us putting out longer epic style songs, probably around the 15 to 30 minute mark in length. Each new release will have its own album cover artwork and be released separately. We will continue to further the "Disrepair" series well into the future. We have quite a lot material already written and planned so things are really moving ahead positively. At the moment we are passionately independent so we can basically do whatever we like, I love this freedom, it's very liberating.

Let's go a bit back in history and tell us why did you set up Mechanical Organic? What is the vision that drives the project?

I've been involved in music for a really long time now and nothing has given me the musically freedom I now have in Mechanical Organic. I never really expected to be in control of something like this, it just seemed to happen. I kind of grew into the whole thing as I evolved musically and professionally. Mechanical Organic is really exciting for me because it allows me to express myself both musically and lyrically and that's very important to me. It's also very important for us to remain free from the politics of the music business. We take great pride in being independent and building our fan base personally. With each album our following grows and our message reaches more and more people which is fantastic. Right now the vision that drives us is the "Disrepair" series that we are currently involved in. This concept could go on indefinitely as far as I'm concerned so at the moment that is consuming all of our attention.

In the first days the group was a solitary trip. Now you have some colleagues by your side. But is it still a personal case?

Yes and no. I still write the basic song structure, vocal melodies and lyrics so in that way not a lot has changed. But when it comes time to write the guitar and bass lines I step aside completely. I guess different bands have different ways of working and our style really works well for us. For example, we have already begun work on 3 new tracks. The first is around 25 minutes long the second is 30 minutes and the third is around 12 at this stage. The first track is virtually complete, I've done all my parts, Evan has finished the bass work and Conrad is now recording the guitar parts. So we should begin mixing in a week or two. The second track is also being worked on, I've finished all of my parts and Evan is recording his bass lines. I'm currently working on the third song by myself, I'm writing and arranging and it should be ready to hand over to the others very soon. So as you can see things are happening all over the place. We have a lot going on at the one time. Each track will be release separately and I hope we can release two of these epic style tracks per year. Mechanical Organic just wouldn't sound the way it does right now without the efforts of Conrad and Evan so I'm very happy to have some company especially, players of this caliber.

It is most obvious that both parts treat some very intriguing, but some might say also ambiguous, issues. Can you tell us a few things about the conceptual line that connects these two parts?

The whole "Disrepair" series revolves around a common theme of shadow governments and The New World Order. Each new song/release focuses on a very distinctive aspect of the whole system which I think is breaking down and is in disrepair. Each song will contain spoken word dialogue as well as lyrics and vocals to support the conceptual theme. So the whole concept revolves around firstly finding conspiratorial podcasts that support the current theme. And secondly we need to get permission from the podcast publisher to use the spoken word material. Generally they have been very accommodating and allowed the use when we have asked them. So the main conceptual theme is conspiratorial, but we are very selective about the subject matter that we cover.

As far as I know you have already announced the lyrical theme for "Disrepair Part 3". Can you tell us a few things about it?

The basic conceptual theme for Disrepair Part Three examines the notion that the Aids virus was cooked in the lab and then releases into the public. We have also mapped out the conceptual themes for a sub series starting at Disrepair Part Four. This sub series will focus on Mind Control and Satanic Ritual Abuse. This will be the beginning of a very dark musical chapter in the band history. The theme is very disturbing and the spoken word dialogue is absolutely fascinating in a very distressed kind of way.

Some might say that these are conjectures and that there is a conspiratorial scent in every of these theories. Since, in some issues that you treat, there are no proofs, rather than some evidence, they can't be grounded and help people react. Do you think that is there a kind of reaction that each one of us should take?

There is no proof that God exists either and people still believe. A lot of people don't want to know about this type of thing, ignorance is bliss so to speak. I guess you have to look at the evidence closely and then make up your own mind. People also take the attitude of "I can't do anything about it so why should I care". I think if enough people open their eyes and begin to see what is really happening out there that things can change for the better. But people have to wake up, the world isn't always what it seems and things aren't always as rosy as we are led to believe. I'm not here to preach to you and I'm certainly not here to try and convert you. I simply have an unhealthy interested in this subject matter and I personally find it fascinating. It is astounding that more people aren't aware of some of the darker things that have happened in our past and some of the things that are happening in the world right now.

Let me put it this way, money is power and wherever there is money to be made there is corruption. If you have enough money and power you can control anything, in fact if you have enough money you can control everything. I guess that's what it all boils down to.

Is the phrase ‘I Choose Not to Believe", the only action one can take or just the beginning? Is this what you suggesting to do, to be more critical towards anything going on?

The message in that lyric is, don't believe everything you hear and read. Both sides of the argument have been corrupted and there is so much disinformation around that it is very hard to find good sources of news and information that can be trusted. The internet has a wealth of information but I try to be very skeptical about everything I hear and read. I also try to be as realistic as possible about the things I write about. I will never cover an alien conspiracy as song subject matter because I don't personally go in for stuff like that. So "I Choose Not to Believe" is just a warning not to trust, and a warning to be very vary about where you get your information from.

I can't resist going back even more in your history and ask you about a reference point of your career the superb "To Dimension Logic" with Vauxdvihl. What do you remember from these days?

We had some great times. The majority of the time was fantastic, but we were always an incomplete band. We never found a full time singer so we could never really forge ahead as we would have liked, which created tension within the band. I think we wrote some really good music together and I am very fortunate to have been involved in an album that is so widely respected. It's a pity we couldn't keep things together. I think at the time we had no idea that the album was so highly regarded. We put that album out when the internet was in its infancy so it was much harder to gauge public reactions. It wasn't until much later that we began to understand the impact we had made and by then it was too late. I still have a lot of respect for all the other guys in the band at the time, they were really great musicians and it was great experience from my point of view.
 

Had you ever imagined how big was the size of this album in some circles of the underground progressive metal? After all those years, how do you feel about it?

I still get e-mail about that album all these years later and I still get questions about whether there is a possibility that we would reform with that lineup and do another album. As I said I had no idea the album had done so well but I am so glad I had the opportunity to be a part of it. There were some really hard times but in amongst the conflict there was some really unique music being written. I still really like the album, it has dated a little over the years, but the mood and the vibe of the music is still great and the songs themselves have stood the test of time.

Do you believe that "Disrepair Part 2" has some trails from this period, is this just my imagination (and my unadmitted expectation for something more)?

Absolutely, everything I've ever been involved with musically has influence the way I write in Mechanical Organic. In fact everything I have ever heard and experience influences the musical content of Mech Org.

I know that "Disrepair Part 3" is already being recorded. When do you think it will be released and what format it will have?

To be honest we were hoping to get it out before the end of the year but I don't think that will happen. We may hold it back for an early 2010 release just to give ourselves a little bit more time with it. We've simply run out of time and we don't want to rush it. It is probably about 90% recorded at the moment but we still need to spend a lot of time mixing and mastering. The artwork for the album cover is complete and looks really good, I'm extremely happy with it. The album will be once again digitally releases through ITunes, Amazon MP3, Rhapsody, Napster, Puretracks and many more. And I'm currently looking in to releasing all our albums on CD. We would really like to keep the cost down for the fans of our music so we are trying to set up something a little different with regards to CD release. It will be all done independently so we'll see what happens in the future.

Dear Eddie, I am afraid that this is the end of our conversation. I would like once again to thank you and wish you all the best.

Thank you so much Giannis. Your support of our music is greatly appreciated. I look forward to sending you our next release. And guys, don't forget, if you are looking an eclectic synthesis of hybrid heavy melodic metal shrouded in a progressive conspiratorial veil look no further. Come visit our website at www.mechanicalorganic.com or our myspace page at www.myspace.com/mechanicalorganic. Thanks again Giannis, until next time...