Birthmark (band)

Birthmark
Origin	Athens, Greece
Genres	Alternative rock Progressive rock Hard rock
Years active	2001 — present
Labels	V2 Records(2006-2010), currently unsigned
Website	http://www.birthmarkmusic.com
Members
Adamantine Arvanitis Argyris Tsoukalas Elias Goulas Kostis Pirenis Jacob Siaparinas
Past members
Alexandros Trampas Mampre Kasardjian Panagiotis Delinikolas

Birthmark are a rock band from Athens, initially formed in 2001 under the name Cuore Nero.

History

Formation and first years (2001-2004)

Birthmark was formed in 2001 in Nea Erythraia, Athens. The three founding members (Argyris Tsoukalas, Elias Goulas and Adamantine Arvanitis) had met in 1999 in a local school's graduation concert. They played together for a while, until Argyris Tsoukalas left for Italy for study-related reasons. When he returned, two years later, they came together again, started rehearsing and looking for a bass player. One of the possible solutions was Kostis Pirenis, a guitar player who could also play the bass but when they met to rehearse, the three members realized that Kostis Pirenis was a very skilled guitar player, so he developed into the band's lead guitarist. After a year in which the band played with many bass players, upon the recommendation of his guitar teacher, Argyris Tsoukalas brought Alexandros Trampas to the band - Alexandros soon became the bass player for the band. They then adopted the name "Cuore Nero"(which means "black heart" in Italian). The band recorded some demos and began live performances in Athens, where there was a small but active indie scene in the early 2000s.

As the band's live bookings increased, some producers began to show interest in them and the band had a proposal to record an album in the "Sierra" recording studios, one of Athens' best equipped recording studios at the time. The band, feeling unready for something like that, rejected that offer and continued performing live in the underground rock music scene and advancing their music. Later, in early 2004, Alexandros Trampas left the band due to musical differences - the band ceased their live activity for almost a year. The gap created then was not filled until late 2004, when Mampre Kasardjian became the band's bassist.

Shortly after, the band changed their name to "Anima", stating that '"cuore nero" was too hard for most people to remember'. Seeking for a more personal sound, they added to their lineup Panagiotis Delinikolas, a violin player. They produced a demo CD, which featured six songs, one of which was featured in Spinalonga records' first IN THE JUNKYARD compilation that featured Greek indie bands. Most importantly, two of the demo tracks, "My Ecstasy" and "So Confused" were sent to the pop-rock contest festival of the "Philippos Nakas Conservatory", an Athens-based music school. The band qualified in the finals of the contest, where they performed live, winning the competition in the Christmas season of 2004. The prize was a recording contract with V2 Records, with which the band finally signed a one-album recording contract and an appearance on the local music magazine "Rock & Roll". Shortly after, the band discovered that the name "Anima" was already taken by another band and so they changed it to "Birthmark". Birthmark started rehearsing in an isolated cottage, located in Oropos, a small provincial city near Athens, where they also recorded their debut album. Birthmark at that time had a very active live presence giving many concerts, including support acts to Diorama, Nina Nastasia and Holly Golightly.

Product of Black Days (2005–2006)

Several months after winning the pop-rock contest, Birthmark started recording and producing their debut album themselves in their rehearsal-recording studio. The recording sessions began in the spring of 2005. Having perfected the songs live, by October Birthmark had recorded all the ten songs of the album including "My Ecstasy", "Lonely Ride", "Lust in Love", "Sacred", "All the Lovers", "Angels", "BlackHearted", "So Confused", "Product of Black Days" and "Safe from Harm" (a "Massive Attack" cover). The recording sessions were relaxed, with the band playing at all hours of the day and listening to their favorite bands for inspiration. The album by the middle of 2006 was mixed and mastered. Product of Black Days' album artwork was designed by visual artist Demitri Delinikolas, while the album's cover consists in a slightly processed photo of Greek photographer Takis Tloupas taken in the mid-1940s.

Birthmark released their album in the spring of 2007. Mostly composed of melodic rock songs, their record also found them presenting diverse influences experimenting with guitar sounds and the use of violin and vocals. The album "Product of Black Days" finally featured nine songs, since the Massive Attack cover was not included.

(2007-2010)

During the promotion of their first album and while preparing new material, Birthmark toured and performed live either on their own or supporting artists such as Iron Butterfly and Ypogeia Revmata (Υπόγεια Ρεύματα). They built a new studio, located in Nea Erithraia , in the northern suburbs of Athens, in which a new era begun for the band. In 2008, Mampre Kasardjian , Birthmark's bassist decided to pursue further musical jazz-oriented studies in New York, where he got accepted at the N.Y. Collective School of Music for a 6 semester diploma, so the band recruited a new bassist called Jacob Siaparinas (former Katrin the Thrill), who had an altogether different style, distinctively changing it's sound. Panagiotis Delinikolas, the band's violin player also left the band due to musical differences and started his own projects. Birthmark, a 5 membered band now started to rediscover their sound experimenting and trying out all sorts of new material. Self expression became the first and foremost goal for the band. In October 2009 Birthmark performed live on Mad TV for the "Mad Day Live" show and continued touring and performing around Greece.

Present (2011)

Birthmark's second album with the probable title "Boogeyman", is almost complete containing the cover of "Safe From Harm", which was excluded from the first album and the songs "ignorance" and "bad fairy" featuring performances by Panagiotis Delinikolas and Mampre Kasardjian respectively. At the same time time the band is exploring new ways of releasing and promoting their new album, since the greek department of V2 Records went out of business in 2010.

Influences

Among Birthmark members' earliest influences were artists such as Radiohead, Pink Floyd, The Cure, Queen and others. However, by the mid-2000s, around the release of Product of Black Days, Birthmark began showing an interest in electronic music, such as that of trip-hop acts Massive Attack, Portishead and alternative-metal music, such as that of Tool, which they claimed as major influences on the sound of Product of Black Days. While working on new material, the band have continued to mention alternative rock, progressive rock, electronic, and hip hop musicians as favourites—particularly Radiohead, Tori Amos, Kate Bush, Muse, Camel, DJ Shadow.

Musical style

Birthmark' s musical evolution is based on the band members' varied influences. The sound of the band started (2001-2003) from a point where hard guitar parts and powerful lead guitar melodies were being combined with "fragile", high-pitched vocals. Later (2004-2008), with the addition of the violin, the band's sound became more melodic, romantic and at the same time shadowy, dominated by Adamantine Arvanitis' expressive vocals. The "Product of Black Days" album, which was the outcome of this period was characterized by these elements and a degree of musical and emotional complexity. After 2008, the vast changes in the band's line-up brought a new era for it's musical style. Birthmark's compositions became simpler with the band giving priority to certain elements of the songs, trying to make them straighter and more conveying of their feeling and meaning. Songwriting in Birthmark is a collaborative process, as all members have an essential songwriting role. All the band's music is officially credited to Birthmark and the lyrics mostly to Argyris Tsoukalas and Adamantine Arvanitis.

Members

Current

• Adamantine Arvanitis - (vocals), (2001–Present)
• Argyris Tsoukalas - (guitars), (2001-preseent)
• Elias Goulas - (drums-percussion), (2001–Present)
• Kostis Pirenis - (guitars), (2002–Present)
• Jacob Siaparinas - (bass), (2008–Present)

Past members

• Alexandros Trampas - (bass), (2002–2004)
• Mampre Kasardjian - (bass), (2004–2008)
• Panagiotis Delinikolas - (violin), (2004–2009)

External links

• www.birthmarkmusic.com Birthmark band's official web-site
• www.avopolis.gr
• www.freemusic.gr General info and background
• www.spinalonga.net