Interview with FOXY, the voice of Greece's WILD KITTEN

1.   Please, tell ppl who doesn't know WILD KITTEN when was the band created and which was the line up. Are still there all the same members?

Wild Kitten were created in January 2008 out of love towards the hard rock – hair metal genre by the lead singer Eliz and the guitar player Nikki Love. The members have changed since the original line up only to come down to the best members so far!! : Roxx Ztarr – drums, John A. Lytras – guitar, Teo Anifas – bass.

2) WILD KITTEN is based in Larisa... What can you tell us about the Metal / Rock scene of your natal city?

The good thing is that new bands arise every day, despite the various difficulties…. That alone is very promising. Larisa has a long history in heavy metal bands but unfortunately it has a history of those bands not lasting very long! It’s not easy getting involved with rock and heavy metal music in Greece because the mainstream is completely different.

Even within the metal scene we’re one of a kind! We’re the only ones in Larissa right now and for the past 4 years that play this kind of music! The rest of the bands are more into stoner or death metal or grunge… It really doesn’t matter, as long as there are bands popping out in rock and heavy metal, that means that we’re still on a good road!
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3) And what can you say about that unusual fact of being a Glam Metal / Hard Rock band in Greece...? Your country is one of the Humanity's cultural cradles, but we supposed it must be more difficult than if you were based in Los Angeles, isn't it?

As was mentioned before, it’s not easy playing that kind of music in Greece! But we truly believe that if you’re good and passionate about what you’re doing, then no matter where you are, your work will be recognized. Surely if we lived in L.A. maybe the recognition would be easier and faster but we don’t live in L.A. unfortunately! We’re in Greece and that only means that we have to work harder and become better constantly! And there’s no harm in that!
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4) Do you consider that is it possible to turn green again all that magic of the 80's Glam / Hair Metal?

No other era, besides the 80s, had such a magical effect… Why not? It’s the kind of music that will never die and will always be remembered and played constantly by generations to come….I mean, really…Who remembers the 90s or the 00s?! The only thing you can do as a tribute to that wonderful era is to produce something that has a more modern sound, not recreate it, that’s impossible!

5) We could see some images of WILD KITTEN playing live. What can expect a fan in your live gigs?

Pure hard rock with a touch of sleaze - glam!! Reaping riffs but with the necessary amount of melodic tones! Full of energy and passion on stage! And finally they can expect to have one hell of a time!!

6) You're a beautiful woman, with a strong presence and powerful sex appeal. Is it possible to take apart those details from WILD KITTEN music? We mean: which is the importance of all your visual power in the band's offer?

Never been asked this question before! I will never pretend that my appearance didn’t have anything to do with how far we got as a band or how successful we’ve been so far! It is a key element as in every aspect of our lives, whether we like it or not! As far as the band is concerned, I make sure I use all my presence and sex appeal for the benefit of the band and not the other way around! Besides… good looks have always been important to our kind of music ever since the 80s! Visual power is equally important to the music you produce, especially in our days. To believe otherwise, is simply naïve.

7) What about the experiences of the band till now? Which would you say that was its better moment?

Among the live shows and the times when our first cd was finally ready as well as the first video. There are a lot of good moments to remember from the live shows and … awkward moments as well!! Reactions of people watching us on stage. You know, there are certain faces and people that you never forget!

The reactions when the first video came out! It was panic! Not only good criticism but also some heavy bad one too! But to cause so much reaction only meant that we did something awesome! Enjoyed every second of it, especially the bad ones!

 
8) Please, tell us about WILD KITTEN's CD and the video for the song "F.U.C.K.".

One release so far, our first self-titled album “Wild Kitten”.

The first album was a big unexpected hit! We sold out our every copy through Facebook and in our live shows. Then, through our supporter and promoter “BEROCK RADIO AND MINIZINE” came our record deal with Italian DEFOX RECORDS for the digital distribution of our first album for 10 years in all the worldwide digital megastores (available by the end of December, early January). It was a very nice surprise for us, all of this commotion right from the first album!

The video of “F.U.C.K” really caused some turbulence! It’s provocative, sexy and fast! It’s exactly what we were aiming for and “DADA – ART team” with director Grigoris Apostolopoulos made that happen! It was a great experience shooting that video and of course we won’t stop there!

9) Why did you include a cover of Sandra's "In The Heat of the Night" in your álbum? 

 

It was one of my favourite disco songs from the 80s. And we always wanted to do a disco cover from the 80s in more hard rock style! The result amazed everyone! That song simply came out perfect! And it got all the recognition it deserved, radios wanted it, it was played over and over again! A TV show got it for its ending titles! And it remained at number 5 on “100.5 ROCK” of Thessaloniki, one of the biggest rock radio stations of the country, for several weeks among worldwide famous names (I remember Bruce Springsteen being number 1!)

Because of that success, we decided to do yet another cover in the second album, just as famous! But I cannot reveal yet which song it will be! But rest assure it will be just as perfect as “In the Heat of the Night”, if not more!
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10) Greece is one of the European countries that more suffered the financial global problems. How did it reverberated in the Metal / Rock bands scene?

 

 

It used to be a lot better… Now, with all the political and economic turbulences we are facing the past few years, all that has affected music in Greece as well, not to mention the underground Rock and Metal. It’s very difficult to organize a tour or the basic live shows, even within Greece, much less produce an album… But difficulties, especially in heavy metal and hard rock scene, were always a big issue here in Greece, so we are used to it! If you love something very much you won’t let anything or anyone get in the way of that.

You see, the road to success has always been long and difficult. But if you’re passionate enough and you don’t give up in front of difficulties then we believe everything is possible. Success for us is to make sure people are having fun in our live shows with our songs as well as our covers. From that point of view, then we’re already successful!

11) Which are your personal dreams? Where would you like to reach with WILD KITTEN?

However far this magic bus takes us! We’ll give it everything we got before we give up. As I said to a friend of mine before, the only thing I don’t want is to look back when I’m older and have regrets about NOT giving my best shot with WILD KITTEN before we split.

12) Finally, tell us about the band's plans for 2013...

 

As a matter of fact we are producing our second album as we speak.

It’s going to be a lot more mature and a lot more… uplifting!! It will also have a cover, following the steps of the cover “In the Heat of the Night” by Sandra which we made in our first album, and which proved to be a great hit, not only abroad but here in Greece as well, becoming a huge radio hit! At the moment we cannot reveal what the cover will be for the second album but we can promise it’s going to be a huge surprise as well!

We should also mention that before the release of the second album, we will release a single called “Scream”, and it’s the only song influenced by the whole situation that’s been taking place here in Greece in the past few years. The single will also be included in the second full-length album.

And of course some new videos have to take place as well!!

 
Thank you very much for your hospitality!! ROCK ON!!!

Answered: Eliz Foxy Ford.
Interview by Javier S. Parente, for OXIDO.-