Strikelight

Strikelight History Begins At The End Of 1999 Where 16 Year-Old Then Thodoris Vogiatzis Bass Proposes To The 15 Year-Old Childhood Friend Nick Mavrelis The Forming Of A Band Affected By The N.W.O.B.H.M. Movement And 80’s Metal In General. After A Two Month Period The Following Year-As 2000 Was Entering-They Started Looking For Members. In The Period Of The First Rehearsals Vogiatzis Had Met Vasilis Xirokostas The Current Drummer Where He Had Gone To Work In His Business As A Distributor. Xirokostas Was Going To The Rehearsals And Assisted The Unexperienced Mavrelis. In The Course Of Events Mavrelis Was Proved Inefficient For The Band So Xirokostas Replaced Him In The Mid-2000. Originally They Were Jamming With Several Guys From The Neighbourhood Such As Panayiotis Nikolopoulos Guitar Andrew Andikakis Dimitris Lapas Alex Kampanis And Others. Nikolopoulos Had The Talent But He Wasn’t Into For Something Serious. The Band Then Found George Katsaros For A Replacement Who Was An Old Schoolmate Of Vogiatzis And A Childhood Friend Of Mavrelis. This Cool Guy Had The Energy For Something Good And He Kept Showing His Love For The Music Of Strikelight. Around March 2000 Hristos Makridis Came To Take Over The Vocals. He Was A Natural Talent But Due To Serious Personal Problems He Was Forced To Leave The Band. Panayiotis Anagnostopoulos Was His Replacement. A Second Guitarist Joined The Band A Talented Schoolmate Of Vogiatzis Dimitris Arvanitis. The Band Was Starting Finding Its Identity But Anagnostopoulos’ Vocals Were Proved Also Inefficient So Demon’s Whip Vocalist Dionisis Sarakinis Replaced Him. So The Line-Up At The Time Was Dionisis Sarakinis Vocals Thodoris Vogiatzis Bass George Katsaros Guitar Dimitris Arvanitis Guitar And Vasilis Xirokostas Drums . The Band Performed Its First Live In Kallithea At Cyprus Square For The Organization Against Drugs Called “Theseus”. New Changes In The Line-Up Were Followed Katsaros Left The Band And Was Replaced By Nick Papakostas Ex Silent Fall Stormblast Conviction Lost Prophecy And Overcast . After A Short While Arvanitis Left Too For Unknown Reasons And George Hararis Ex Angel Drop Dia Pyros Kai Sidirou Joined The Band. Makridis Appeared Out Of Nowhere And Took Over The Vocals Again But He Couldn’t Lift The Weight Of His Personal Problems And Left For Good. George “Inner Voice” Stavropoulos Ex Requiem Disintegration Angel Drop Dia Pyros Kai Sidirou Took His Place. The Bad Luck Continued To Strike When Papakostas After Personal Differences With Vogiatzis Left Too And Was Replaced By Nick Dienis. The Band Started To Perform Live Appearances More Often Since The Line-Up Was Finalized And The Correspondence From The Hellenic Metal Audience Was More Than Positive. A Live That Played A Major Part In The Group’s Future Course Took Place In Kallithea At Davaki Square During A Two-Day Festival Called “A Heavy Metal Invasion” O­n The 6th July 2002. The Headliners Were Marauder Flames And Dark Nova. For The First Time Strikelight Was Playing With Already Known Bands In Hellenic Heavy Metal And Was A Very Positive Step For The Recognition Of The Band Since The Festival Was Attended O­n Both Days With Over 800 People! The Same Line-Up Continued To Perform In Several Athenian Clubs Gaining Several Publicity In The Metal Scene. At “Onoma Tou Rodou” “Name Of The Rose” Club Crossroads Fests I And II Were Organized Under The Sponsorship Of A Well-Known Cafe After An Idea That Vogiatzis Had Who Was Very Successful And Lifted The Band’s Prestige Even Higher. After A While Dienis Left The Band Due To Different Musical Directions And An Old Familiar Joins Again Papakostas Which He And Vogiatzis Had Solve Their Differences. With This Line-Up We Arrived At Christmas Of 2003 Where The Band Recorded Its First Demo CD “Born By Fire” Which Was Released In Early 2004. From Here O­n There Is The Support Of Two Guys That Changed The Course Of Strikelight. The Band Gave Its Demo To Greg “Heavy Load” Varsamis And To Dimitris Vagiannis Of The Continuously Rising Record Company Eat Metal Records Who Gave Their Trust And Support And Also This Part Of The Fanatic Metalheads Who Accepted Positively The Thirst Of Strikelight For Pure And True Heavy Metal! As A Conclusion To All That More Lives Were Performed With Even More Well-Known Hellenic Bands Such As The Veterans Vice Human The Epic Reflection Bloodstained Dream Weaver The Also Epic Crush And The All-Time-Classic Raging Storm. The Highest Point Of All These Performances Was Supporting The Legendary Cloven Hoof And Italy’s New Epic Force Holy Martyr O­n Their Visit To Hellas O­n April 2004. All These Events Led To The Recording Of Their Debut Self-Titled LP/CD In Late July/August 2004. The Journey Had Begun… In Conclusion O­ne Thing Remains The Love For N.W.O.B.H.M. And 80’s Heavy Metal! read less