Sunday 30 April 2017

An Interview With GREEN YETI

Green Yeti are a Doom/Stoner Metal band from Greece who have in a short space of time have released two great albums so far. 2016's – The Yeti Has Landed and 2017's – Desert Show.

Both great albums showing that Green Yeti have something about them if you're a fan of good old fashioned Doom/Stoner Metal. It's perhaps with Desert Show that the band have refined their sound and create a more exciting album than their debut album. No easy task as The Yeti Has Landed received acclaim from both fans and critics alike within the Doom/Stoner Metal community.

Newly signed to Cursed Tongue Records who will be releasing Desert Show on vinyl later this year.

Here's an interview that I did with the band recently where we discuss their formation, music and album artwork amongst other things....

Hi guys. How are things with you today.

-Hey there Outlaws, we are pretty good! Thanks for your invitation.

Can you give a brief history of how the band came about and where it is today.

-It all started in late 2013. Michael made a phone call to Dani and asked him to try and maybe join to his band “Stonenrow”. Well, this didn’t work out but something else was born out of it and that was the “Green Yeti” baby! “Treliaris” that originally joined in the drums was later replaced by Fotis and finally Giannis took the drums spot, a couple of months before “Desert Show” was recorded.

Photo by Giannis Santorinaios

How would you describe your overall sound.

-It’s big, it’s heavy, it’s psychedelic, it’s so many things...it’s Green Yeti!

We are here to talk about your new album. What can people expect from the album.

-Our new album is out there as we talk…The concept is what the title suggests. The Yeti has landed on a generator show in the desert and wreaks some havoc! You can expect stoner grooves, some trippy atmosphere with a doom outfit here and there…and some Spanish vocals for a change.

What influenced you all when recording the album.

-As you may imagine, Live recordings need 100% focus in order to succeed, especially on longer songs that reach the 20 minute mark…What really drives us when we are recording, is the hunger for a great final result! That alone is enough to make us perform the best even in tough situations like this.

Desert Show has a more psychedelic and spaced out feel compared to your debut album. Was that the plan to release something slightly different to The Yeti Has Landed.

-No, initially there was not a plan. However when we heard the first riffs forming, we told ourselves “Hey, it’s time the Yeti travels in the desert…That’s what this album will be about”…and so it is done!

Looking back on The Yeti Has Landed, would you record any differently or would you leave as is.

-On “The Yeti Has Landed” we made a critical decision, to record, mix and master all DIY. It was uncharted waters for us as we are not ”pros”, but at the time we felt the need to really push it a step further and try something we had never done before. To answer your question…hmm sure, every time you look back, you know you could do something different …but no, that’s not really our philosophy. We started from zero, we learned many things that we used on our next album and we feel blessed with the outcome of “The Yeti Has Landed”.


Did it surprise you the amount of positive reviews the album received from the Doom/Stoner Metal community. It's a favourite of ours here at Outlaws Of The Sun.

-Looking back, we like to believe that we were mature enough when making that album. There was a tremendous effort for more than two years before having this final result! We felt our music will find its “spot” in the Doom/Stoner community!

No big surprises there, but we truly appreciated the amount of positive reviews. What was invaluable to us, was that we really got empowered from this all positive vibes and the big hugs we got from all you people!

I don't know if this is being officially announced yet but Niels over at Cursed Tongue Records has told he they will be releasing Desert Show on vinyl. Congrats as the guys over at Cursed Tongue Records are awesome folks. Did you have any other offers to release your albums on vinyl.

-Spoilers in an interview are always cool…aren’t they? Niels is a very nice guy with a DIY approach to run things. Yes, we had some other proposals but when Niels approached us, we knew almost immediately that he was the right man to work with…a passionate dude like us!

How excited for you to have your album released on vinyl.

-We are very excited! It is something we really wanted to do. Lots of people were asking for a vinyl release, so it was a no-brainer.

What is the song-writing dynamic in the band. Is it a group participation or down to one individual.

- It is a group based effort 90% of the time. We are jamming and jamming ‘till we find something that clicks to us. Then we blend riffs with other riffs and we have this final result that we love! It would take two weeks to make a new song or even a couple of years…no rushing there. Just wait…and work the song until it feels right. Mike however, is the one who writes the lyrics.

What influences you when writing music.

-It could be everything… I don't really know what to tell you! I guess, what influences us the most when we play, is the freedom of the jam and the mojo of that exact moment!

Are you all involved with different musical projects or is Green Yeti your main band.

- We may do some parallel stuff but at the moment Green Yeti takes most of our energy and it is our main focus.

What is your musical setup when performing or recording live. Is it an advanced setup or a basis setup.

-Regarding the recordings we have some pretty basic setup but it is enough most of the time if you know how to work with it. You don’t always need fancy and expensive stuff to do good recordings.

Performing live is another matter and it depends on the venue and what we can bring with us…We have pretty good gear and we are a bit “demanding” on stage. The people down there deserve the best and that’s our philosophy when doing live shows. Even if some promoters don’t like that…but that's another story …


It's cool in keeping with modern Stoner Rock tradition that you've got David Paul Seymour to design the superb artwork for Desert Show. How did that come about and how much input did you have to the final design of the album cover.

-We really liked David’s work and we were considering him for our first album, but eventually we worked together in the “Desert Show”. Saying “we worked” cause we always want to have our merit in anything regarding the Yeti and we want to roll as a team…We explained to him what we wanted, the concept if you like, and David although not used to work this way, at the end he responded well and the result like you say is awesome! Yes, we are happy we teamed up!

Do you perform many local gigs or do you have to travel further afield. As Greece seems to be providing great bands at the moment.

-The Greek scene is at it’s peak, regarding the heavy rock music. There are many good bands and nowadays people are supporting these bands. It was not always like that…

So, we have many opportunities here in our country but at the same time we want to travel abroad to spread the Yeti charm! It’s not an easy task for Greek bands to tour abroad. Our spot in the map is not helping. However, we grabbed a chance…and in a few days, the Yeti will travel on a mini tour local AND abroad.


Before you go, do you have anything to say to your fans.

-We love you! Know that with YOUR support, the Green Yeti grows bigger and bigger and that will make it unstoppable!

Words by Steve Howe and Green Yeti

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