PSYCHO SYMPHONY
(Psychedelic Progressive Metal Band from Transylvania)
The History of the Band (long version)
We formed the band at the beginning of 1992,
in the town of Carei (Romania). At that time we were in trio, when
Attila Mogyorós guitar joined the brothers Gindele,
Róbert bass, Gábor drums. We gave
the name Psycho Symphony after combining two other
name possibilities: Psychical Depression and Black
Symphony. The style that we aborded was the technical thrash
metal and because none of us dared to be a vocalist we were playing
only instrumental pieces. It's also true that on our first two concerts
Róbert had tried himself as a vocalist, but right after
that we decided to look for a real singer.
We knew from the beginning that we would have much
more possibilities with two guitars, so we looked for another guitarist
and that's how in the same 1992 year, Újfalusi
Vasile "Kefe"-guitar became member of the band for
a few months. He had played only on our third concert (in Culture House,
Carei) but just in one song, before he left the band.
At that time we were playing some Exploited covers and there was a good
friend of ours on vocal from Carei: Musta Peta. He
helped us two times, first in 1992 in the Culture House
Carei and for the second time in March, 1993 in Nord
Club, Satu Mare.
In the early summer of 1993 we had the chance to play
on a preselection concert of SamRock (a talent competition). On that
concert we had two other featurings: Tóth Gábor a friend
of ours, from Deity band on guitar and "Sany"
(unknown the real name) on vocal.
In the late summer of 1993 Szakács Zoltán
vocal from the town of Salonta, joined the band, but unfortunately he
had some family problems and he left the band in the same year, after
having three concerts with us: 1st in Culture House in the town of Pincota;
2nd in Cinema Hall Carei; 3rd in Culture House Salonta.
In the autumn of the year 1993 Emil
Gherasim on guitar became the member of the band, after his
earlier band Chaos from Satu Mare city had disbanded.
It's interesting that there was a concert (in Culture House, Salonta)
which was the last for Szakács Zoltán and at the same
time the first for Emil Gherasim in the band.
At the beginning, Emil Gherasim as playing only the
guitar, but after a short time he decided to try himself as a vocalist,
and we have to say it was a good idea and also a good decision too.
Ever since the band has the same members:
Attila Mogyorós guitar, Emil Gherasim guitar
& vocal, Róbert Gindele bass, Gábor Gindele
drums.
In January, 1994 we decided to record
our first demo in this components, and for that we went to the Haron
New Sound (HNS) studio from Satu Mare city (Ro). In the same year, in
April, we had the chance to play, for the first time, on a grand talent
competition in Hungary (Rock-Crystal Prize), and not
everyone knows that we made a compromise to play on that competition:
we made a version with Hungarian lyrics as it was forbidden to play
in other languages than Hungarian, for the song "Over the
Walls" and "Shadowed With Life".
It was a really great experience for us to have the chance to play twice
on that competition: first we played in thrash-metal category than the
jury said what we are playing is far-far away from thrash metal, so
they gave us a chance to play the next day in the category called 'other'.
The feedbacks were very positive, and from 120 bands we finished the
7th according to the points we got in the first stage of competition,
but unfortunately only the first three places went into the next stage.
We decided not to miss any kind of concerts that came ahead of us, and
that's how we played almost on every talent competition. We never dreamed
of winning even in one of those talent competitions, we were only playing
to get more experience, to be on stage, and test our songs and the impact
on the audience.
Even in such circumstances between 1994 and 1997,
we won one grand prize, 4 first prizes,
2 prizes for the best drummer and one prize for the
best guitarist.
Probably because we were playing so many times in the country, in 1994
the band gained the 5th place for the best
"Romanian newcomer group" category, according to
the publics vote of the Heavy Metal Magazine (Ro),
a yearly voting process.
Between 1993 and 1994
there was a period when Gábor on drums and Emil
only on guitar, were playing simultaneously in another band called Delirium
from Satu Mare city. They were guests, but they had to put their mind
and ideas in some songs. Gábor and Emil
had some concerts with Delirium, as it follows: in
December 1993 "In Memoriam '89"-Carei; in April 1994 at the
Top't Buzau-city (a talent competition); a concert in Union Hall Salonta;
After that, Emil stopped the collaboration with Delirium
because the former guitarist came back to the band. Gábor stayed
to help them for one more concert but that was the last time: in September
1994 at "SamRock" (a talent competition) in Satu Mare city.
Once in 1994, for the first time Attila
had an experience to play in another band, when he was asked by Deity
band to help them in a concert (in Carei) to play in a cover from Megadeth.
Another curiosity, it has just happened once in the
bands history till now, that somebody had to be replaced in a concert,
and that happened right after we won the grand prize
in Câmpulung Muscel at "Posada Rock" Festival
in 1995. Gábor had to go home because
of some problems at his place of work, but we had the obligations to
play at the "Awards Galas" because we were
the grand prize winners. So, we decided to play some covers, and Gábor's
place was taken by a drummer from Black Hole band from
Gheorgheni city, called Ferencz Péter "Jocó"
who nicely offered himself to help us in this crisis. We had just one
day to show him the pieces, and to have some practice, but at the end,
due to his professionalism, he did a good job.
In January 1996 we released our second demo entitled
"The Killing Look" and the recordings were
made in the same HNS studio from Satu Mare city. A lot of new songs
appeared on this demo among some older ones to which we have made some
minor changes.
We had some attempts to have somebody on the vocal,
and that's how somewhere around the summer of 1996
we asked a friend from Baia Mare city, called Crăciun Dan "Rini"
(ex Halley, Ipse, now the member of
Dirty Shirt) to have a rehearsal with him to see how
our songs would sound with another kind of voice. We had some rehearsals
toghether at our rehearsal room, it was a good experience for all of
us, but at the end we quit the idea.
As the tasks around the band were getting bigger and
bigger we decided to ask a man who has experience in this area. At that
time we heard a lot about Péter Papp (alias Peter
Moynahan, at present member of Black Beers Irish Band),
and after meeting him, and him seeing us in a concert organized by himself,
we asked him to help us with the matters of the band. After a short
thinking period, he offered us to get in contract with his production
management, called Transylvanian Music Productions
(TMP). Thats how between 1996 and
1998 we had a really good period in the band's life
(for example in 1996 we were in a top 6 of the most
playing bands in Romania, and in the same year we had our first concert
tour called "Christmass Rock Tour" with bands
from Hungary and Romania) and a very good collaboration with Péter
Papp, thanx again. In 1998 we stopped the
collaboration as he had to join the army.
Thanks to that collaboration we had mentioned above,
in May 1997 we recorded our first proper album (only
on MC) entitled "Silent Fall",
and it was issued (Audio Pro Rec./TMP-Romania). This
album contained two new songs beside those from the demos. The recordings
were made at "Audio Pro Studios" Oradea (Ro).
The album "Silent Fall" got very good critics
in the press, for example the Hungarian Metal Hammer No.97
(1997/10) and No.137 (2001/9) accorded 9. points in a scale of 10.
But the situation what were preceeded that recordings was a little bit
more complicated, because with the first prize what
we won at "Top't" - Buzău in 1996
talent competition, we won the chance to record a split album (with
the 2nd placed band called Screaming Heads band from
Reşiţa city) at the biggest (at that time they were the only) record
label from Romania called "Electrecord" from
Bucharest. Later they changed their mind and we got the chance to record
a full album, the 2nd and 3rd places the chance to record a split album.
After a negociation that took almost a year with the guy from Electrecord,
we decided not to accept their offer, because it contained a lot of
things that were absolutely unacceptable for us. It appears that it
was a good decision because for example the 3rd placed band (called
Interitus from Constanţa city), they had to change
the band name to be able to leave the record label after they have signed.
They still couldn't have that split album recorded...
After all that mess, Péter Papp heard about a new record
label called "Audio Pro Rec." from Oradea
city, and they offered us very good conditions in contract, and that's
how we decide to sign with them.
With this album on our side we sent a registration
form to Pepsi Sziget Festival in 1997
and that's how it happened that we played for the first time on this
grandiose festival, on "Banan Stage". We
have to say that this festival takes a special place in our hearts,
not to mention those requests, and interviews that we had after the
concert.
In 1998 we concentrated more on making
new songs, and not to make too much live appearances, and even so, we
got to an other Hungarian talent competition called "Denever
Studio Fest" were we met a lot of really great bands from
Hungary.
We had an other desire, besides that earlier attempt
to try another vocal, and that was how our songs sound with a keyboard
in them, and due to this wish, we asked in 1998 another
friend of ours called Bolemann Csongor, then the member
of Deity, to help us. We had some rehearsals with him, but at the end
we quit this idea, too.
Since 1999 Gábor
has been playing in Voices Of Silence from Cluj-Napoca
city, and from 2000 in another band called Knock
Out from the same Cluj-Napoca city.
As the interest for the metal scene in Romania around
2001-2002 got smaller and smaller, we decided to look
for possibilities to play in Hungary as an alternative.
At that time we had almost finished the new songs, and we were anxious
to try them in live. In that period we had three important concerts
in Hungary: one at another 5th edition of "Denever Studio"
Festival (2001) in Szolnok city where we get
a special prize for the 5th place; the other was a very special concert
for us because finally we achieved to play on the most important festival
of the progressive bands called "Progressive Metal Festival"
(2001) in Pecs city. There were a lot of people who
were involved in progressive music business, and the feedbacks were
so positive that right after that appearance we get the opportunity
to make an interview in the Hungarian Metal Hammer,
and we were invited to play on the first edition of "Progressive
Music Meeting" (2002) planned next year
in Miskolc city.
Because we had some new songs, in 2002
we decided to make a promo-demo "Schizoid",
to send it (only) to record labels. The recordings were made in our
rehearsal room in 2001-2002, and considering the circumstances
what we had to make the recordings, the sound was pretty good.It surprised
us that it got very good critics from the press (Hungarian Metal
Hammer, Metal Hammer - Greece, Shapeless Zine - Italia, Ragazzi - Germany,
Rockinform - Hungary, Heavy Metal Magazine - Romania, hmm.ro, Maximum
Rock Magazine - Romania etc.), from all around where we sent
it, and because of these a lot of people showed interrest in having
it. That's why we have been selling it very well since then.
This new demo (Schizoid) was sent
again to "Sziget Festival 2003" from Budapest
and we found out with surprise that we were accepted to play for the
second time on that great festival and this time on one of the biggest
stages called "Hammer World Stage" in opening
of some really great names like for example Annihilator.
If we are not mistaken till 2003, we were the only
Romanian band, who had played twice on that festival.
Beginning with the year 2004, the
metal scene was in spot light again, and increasing was the interest
for our band too, that's how in that year we had a lot of concerts on
different festivals all around the country, and even out of the country,
in Hungary.
In 2004 we celebrate with a concert
our 10th anniversary with such components at the "Decade
of Metal"festival in Bucharest, with Taine
band (they were the organizers) who nicely invited us because they were
celebrating their 10th years of existence. Of course
originally the concert was programmed in autumn of 2003,
but it had to be delayed because of some renovations made at the concert
hall.
