„Mohammad“: „Music has a bright future ahead, it will always exist, surprise us, elevate us, bore us to death“ (video)

Please check these links:

http://mohammad.gr/

http://mohammad.gr/media.html

http://vimeo.com/mohammadsound

https://www.facebook.com/pages/mohammad/255794167261?fref=ts (from 2010)

Mohammad is the project of Coti K, ILIOS and Nikos Veliotis, working on the principles of inter-modulation using contra-bass (Coti K.), oscillators (ILIOS) and cello (Nikos Veliotis).

Discography:

„Roto Vildblomma“ [CD - Antifrost] 2010 (recorded in 2009)

„Spiríti“ [3LP Box /CD - Antifrost] 2011

„Som Sakrifis“ [LP Digital – PAN] 2013

„Zo Rèl Do“ [LP/CD – Antifrost] 2014

Forthcoming release: Lamnè Gastama (October 14th, LP, CD, Antifrost).

Press release:

Mohammad presents Lamnè Gastama Release date: CD / LP October 14th, 2014

After 2013's highly acclaimed 'Som Sakrifis' on PAN Mohammad released Zo Rèl Do (Lp/Cd) in spring 2014, the first volume of a new trilogy that explores the sounds of the geographical area between 34°­ - 42°­ & 19°‑ - 29°‑. Mohammad proudly present the second installment entitled Lamnè Gastama. In this second volume Mohammad descend further down into the bowels of darkness unleashing sonic monoliths and Promethean melodies and rhythms. Lamnè Gastama, a veritable tour de force including Hapsía the first ever vocal track by the trio so far featuring Sakis Tolis of Rotting Christ fame. Segondè Saleco, the third volume and final catharsis is expected in spring 2015. Chamber doom, Sonic rape, Religious, Extremely Dark, Harrowing, Monolithic, Born in Heaven, Electrocution, The opposite of a nightmare: Words used to describe Mohammad's music. Mohammad produce their sound through custom made instruments and software, bringing together low frequencies, inter-modulations, dark textures, and distant folk nuances.

Interview (2014 09 15, by Mindaugas Peleckis):

Could You please tell more about Your project, how it began? What albums, collaborations are/were the most interesting to You? What albums do You personally consider the best?

As Mohammad we play together since 2009, but we are old friends since the nineties and have collaborated in various combinations in the past, like Texturizer and KKDK. Mohammad was a common need to play together to play live but also to embark on a new adventure and explore sonic routes previously unknown to us. The fact that there are three different inputs in the project made it perfectly unpredictable.

We love all our albums, each one for different reasons. Collaborations is one of them for instance. We only had two collaborations so far and they were both truly great experiences. An amateur choir on „Som Sakrifis“ and after that a totally different vocal collaboration on our new album (soon to be released) with Sakis Tolis (of Rotting Christ).

What does band's name mean? Why „Mohammad“?

Mohammad is probably the commonest name on the planet. No hidden story or message if that’s your concern.

Could You please tell about Your main influences. What music, books, films, other things impress You?

Difficult to answer. Mohammad is a melting pot of three quite different personalities with way too many influences. Our common ground is that we are mainly concerned with sound and its emotional impact. This can be traced back to all our influences that ranges from the mainstream to the extreme. You should join a ride in the car, while Mohammad is driving on tour, to get a better idea.

What is God/Gods to You? What is Your religion, philosophy, worldview.

Again as we are three different persons in Mohammad it is quite difficult to give a solid answer. Perhaps we are agnostics, we neither believe nor do we disbelieve in God but we cannot say that with certainty. However, it is certain that our philosophy as Mohammad is our music. There are definitely things in nature that cannot bee seen or felt and they do exist but still our philosophy as Mohammad is our music. If you asked each one of us separately, we are sure you would get different answers.

How do You exactly call Your style?

We do not really call our style something. We actually avoid that. We perceive language and sound as two contradicting notions in the sense that sound itself can be a whole different language that no one understands. Names are just there to describe music, which of course is indescribable. Our music has been given many names like monolithic, religious or chamber doom. Sometimes we use those names for communication purposes.

 What could You say about stoner, neofolk, dark ambient projects (now we have pretty much of them)? Which ones are the best, in Your opinion? You were one of the first (or the first?) dark ambient creators, could You remember the day when and how it all started? Why stoner?

It is really impossible to come to a such a conclusion. Although we understand the words and could visualise a certain sound we are not sure what stoner, neofolk or dark ambient really mean in terms of audio outcome. We do try to have our ears open to all stimuli in a very chaotic way and in that process labelling eludes us. About our music, we worked hard trying to find our sound, a possible sonic identity. We were rehearsing for about a year before we started recording anything. A special moment of clairvoyance was when we worked on the Vildblomma track (from Roto Vildblomma). That was the moment where abstraction’s awe started to melt with emotion -through-structure. Things have definitely involved since then.

Is our civilisation still going down and down? Do You believe in any possible end of it? What could that be?

Civilisation, if observed from a distance, has always moved backwards and forwards, this is definitely a period that is moving backwards, but things will get better, and worse again. There is an expiration date on our solar system itself,  the end could be a meteorite crash. Or perhaps we are already past the end living in a post civilisation state.

When I first heard Your music, it impressed me so much I can’t still forget the impression. What are the main concepts of Your band? Do You plan other projects?

Good to know that there is an impact. As we mentioned before, the sound and its emotional impact is one of our main concepts.  Inter-modulation would be another. Another aspect would be the ‘live’ feel of our sound. Our recordings are mostly live takes with minimal overdubs if needed. We need to maintain the same sonic mass in both recordings and live situation because it makes things more flexible thus more unpredictable.  In more practical terms we are all very taken with Mohammad, either planning new releases, concerts, or designing our instruments. There is always new projects in mind for Mohammad, this is something of a mental fuel for us. For the moment our new trilogy takes all of our available time.

Do You plan to come to Lithuania someday?

We would love to come to Lithuania specially since we have not played there before. We hope this will happen in the future!

One of Your compositions is Neporiniai Kakaowa. It sounds like Lithuanian, especially the first word. 

You got that! But.. this is as far you can get we are afraid..as there is a system based on different languages for all the titles of our works one has to decode.. Sorry it sounds cryptic, but we cannot reveal more on this. 

Thank You for Your answers! Last question for now – Your future plans and what do You think about music’s future?

Music has a bright future ahead, it will always exist, surprise us, elevate us, bore us to death. Unless the aforementioned meteorite will change things. As far as we are concerned, we are about to release the second part of our trilogy that explores the sounds of the geographical area between 34°Ν - 42°Ν & 19°Ε - 29°Ε called Lamnè Gastama (preceded earlier this year by Zo Rèl Do). The third part of the triptych, Segondè Saleco will be released in spring of 2015.

All the best from Athens.