AFTERMATH
KYRIAKOS 'CHARLIE' TSIOLIS
Aftermath from Chicago, Illinois formed back in 1985. They soon recorded a couple of excellent demotapes and those demotapes awakened the attention from metal magazines like Kerrang, Metal Hammer and Metal Forces. They had some offers to sign up to smaller indie labels but the band declined. After some time Roadrunner came along and Aftermath recorded a demotape for them. But Roadrunner wanted something else and the deal fell through. During the late eighties Aftermath changed their aggressive style and started to write more progressive and technical material.
They finally found a good label in Big Chief Records but everything came crashing down again when the label went bankrupt. So Aftermath decided to release the album they recorded by themselves. But the years kept going and the album Eyes of Tomorrow wasn't released until 1994 when thrash metal more or less was dead and buried. The album got some attention but it didn't reach a mainstream audience. Soon thereafter famous rap mogul Dr. Dre wanted the rights to the name Aftermath. So Aftermath disbanded and the members went on and started Mother God Moviestar and the band went in another musical direction. Mother God Moviestar disbanded after a few years and the guys stopped rehearsing but In 2014 Aftermath made a surprising comeback and they are booked for a few big festivals next summer. I have interviewed Aftermath's vocalist Kyriakos 'Charlie' Tsiolis.
I don’t think there is small presentation of Aftermath. When we released our box set a few years ago, we titled it 25 Years of Chaos for a reason. From the outset back in 1985 when we started as four piece band intent on playing faster than anyone before us to today this has been on crazy ride. Back in the day I formed the band with Steve Sacco (guitar) and Ray Schmidt (drums). We added Adam on bass, he was a total hardcore punk dude and we were metalheads and rock fans that liked hardcore.
We decided we were going to mix the best elements of both genres and play it as fast as possible. We recorded two demos following that process and then we completely changed directions when we decided to replace Adam on bass with a more metal technical player. That decision led to us finding John Lovette, who auditioned to play bass in the band – even though he was really a guitar player. For months he played bass – faster than anyone we had ever seen play bass before, he played it like a guitar. Funny thing is that he played that way because he has never played bass before but wanted to be in the band so he auditioned as a bass player. We were looking to add a second guitarist around that time and he finally told us after we auditioned several guitarist that he was leaving the band because he no longer wanted to play bass. We wanted to kill him hear he was a great guitar player playing bass while we were looking for a guitarist.
You know when you are living through it at that time it’s cool, but you really don’t appreciate it until years later. You always read in article from musicians, actors, etc. I wish I enjoy the success and the moment more when it was happening. That feeling is true for me as well. The band received a ton of attention in the underground press. All the big magazines and zines that mattered in the thrash scene wrote great things about the band. We knew then it was an honor to be featured in the zines and have fans from all over the world write us, but we were caught up the stress of trying to get the right deal and get a record released that you don’t appreciate the acknowledgement as much as we do now looking on it all these years later.
We had received several offers from some indie labels at that time and when the Roadrunner offer came along and we recorded that demo we thought that we would actual get signed by them. Not really sure what happened exactly, but I think that the word from the US was that the president of the label was looking to head in a different direction.
The major label distribution and plan the label presented was what sold us. Unfortunately, during the recording of the record, the label went bankrupt, which left us without a label and the rest of the studio bill to pay. None of us had money at that time or good enough jobs to pay the bill quickly. It took us nearly 4 years to pay the studio and get the master tapes. We decided to release the record on our own label that I started with my brother. So we finally released the record with a limited pressing in 1994.
As I was saying releasing the record at that time was a problem and ultimately prevented it from reaching the audience it would have if interest in thrash metal remained as strong as it did between 1985 and 1990. It was getting harder and harder to get magazines to cover the genre. Many of the great zines were gone by that time. It definitely was dark period of thrash metal. No band was receiving the attention or success they did previously. Record sales were gone for most of the thrash bands. So yes, it made it way more difficult to promote the record. And there was no social media or internet at that time that provides bands today with a huge source of exposure.
Most bands, especially smaller bands never think of getting a trademark. Well we weren’t like most bands so we had gone out and received a federal and state trademark in the US in the category of music for the name Aftermath. We believed that doing so would protect us against anyone that tried to us the name in the music business and according to most lawyers and legal scholars it should have, but in our case it didn’t work out that way.
In 1996, I got a call from a huge entertainment attorney name Pete Paterno, he represented Metallica and a ton of other huge bands. He called me and asked if we would license or name to a small r&b label that was just forming. I thought that the call was strange – why would one of the biggest lawyers in the music business be personally calling me about a small new record label.
He offered us $5,000 to license the name. A license means that we would allow his client to use our trademark. I rejected the offer and turned the phone call over to my brother, who was in law school at the time. For months they kept calling and claiming that the label would not interfere with our name. We found out that the small label was in fact Dr. Dre’s new label. Small R&B label my ass, so we sued them in federal court and the judge ruled that they could use our trademark since they were a rap label and the audience weren’t the same. A year after that the label released Eminem and a ton of other huge records so much for the small label right?
With all the shit that went down with Big Chief and the huge delay in releasing the record, then the whole thing with Dre, we were getting tired. We were also going through a phase where we wanted to experiment with our music and writing. Well, I really wanted to try something different even more than the other guys in the band. So we started to experiment with a different sound and style. We were trying to blend metal and different genres, we incorporated techno and female vocals.
We recorded interludes and then remixed those and all this appeared on the record. It was not Aftermath at all, same members but a completely different sound and style, so we changed the name. Funny thing is we completed changed styles between the release of our 1987 Killing the Future demo and 1989’s Words that Echo Fear demo, but keeping the band name Aftermath felt natural and real. With the material we were writing in 1996, we didn’t feel it was Aftermath anymore. I finally started to listen to the Mother God Moviestar record recently, I am proud of what we did on the record. It is totally unique for the time, bands years later introduce those elements in their sounds and I think been there done that.
In the opening of the interview I mentioned the box set 25 Years of Chaos. This great dude Fillipo was working for Area Death Productions in China and reached out to me and wanted to do the box set. We had received other offers for a box set around that time. He was a fan of the band, which always makes it easier. So we spent hours going through the vaults looking for things to include in the set. We looked through hours of videos that include rehearsals and live performances.
The box set includes all the demos, the Eyes of Tomorrow record, tons of photos, videos and an interview from 2011 on the steps of Ray’s house. At the time of the interview we didn’t plan on getting back together, we were just doing the interview for the box set. That project got me into listening to all our material again and I was able to appreciate it like a fan and not a guy in the band. It takes years for people to be able to feel removed enough from the process and listen like a fan would. I loved our early demos, that style we stopped playing in 1987 really hit me. I loved listening to Killing the Future and I couldn’t believe how amazing the production was considering it was a demo recorded in 1987.
I started to get that feeling that getting the old band back together would be cool. I had not felt that way in years. Hell most of us had not talked to one another for over a decade. Then F.O.A.D (Italy) approached us about releasing our demos on vinyl, which made the thought of a reunion a bit stronger. You know having labels want to release your music decades after they were recorded makes you appreciate the music even more and the urges to jam together even stronger.
Bernard Doe and Metal Forces were huge for us. We loved that magazine and like every other band in the underground from all corners of the world would send their demos to MF for a review or the hopes that they would review it. We were no different. We sent Bernard a copy of Killing the Future for a review and to my surprise, he called and asked if we would be interested in having two of the songs appear on their first and it turned out only compilation. We were one of only five bands from around the world selected, it really spread the word for us. It was a major highlight for us.
* (Webmaster's comments: I originally asked if a reunion would be possible, little did I know that Aftermath recently made a comeback, So I changed the question and asked the band to talk more about the reunion and their plans for the future)
You guys reunited a few months ago, what's your plans for the future? Are there any plans of recording a new album?
Jim, you had done your homework for this interview and I was going to give you an A until I read this question. In all seriousness, the band reunited with the entire original lineup in 2014. I wasn’t sure it would happen since like I said some of us had not talked in years, but we received the offer to play the Headbangers Open Air Festival in Germany and Ragnarokkr Metal Apocalypse festival in Chicago. Both Festivals are in 2015.
When I called the guys they all said yes immediately. We always wanted to play Europe and having an offer to play a killer festival in Germany was an offer none of us could refuse. Plus, we all were getting the itch to jam together again. We all agreed to get together and rehearse and if it didn’t feel right or the music wasn’t as good as it was, then we wouldn’t be doing this. But, it felt great from the first rehearsal, it felt natural and it killed. What is cool that Adam is back in the band. So you have the original lineup from 1985 along with John who joined the band in 1987. We can’t wait to play live.
You know I have been asked that questions a ton over the years and I always enjoy answering it because I believe the Chicago metal scene back then was the best in the world. I’m not just sayin that because we were part of it lol. I mean it, we had a ton of great and truly original bands back then. You just named a bunch and left out a ton more. None of the bands you mentioned sound anything alike.
They were all heavy, but none of the bands ripped the other band off. You know how you can hear bands from San Francisco and know they were from SF of Florida bands all shared a certain part of their music – that wasn’t true in Chicago. What band sounded like Trouble? We played with Trouble several time and Cyclone Temple, Wrath as well. We played a with Terminal Death, Devastation (a few times). Those shows were amazing, the scene was new and the vibe blew people away.
Overall, it depends on the period we are talking about. Early on bands like Slayer, DRI, Cro-Mags, Suicidal Tendencies, etc. played a part in our sound. Later on as we became more progressive and technical, John brought a Sabbath element and we drew influences from bands like VoiVod, Kreator and even Pink Floyd. What I am trying to say that while we never sounded like any of those bands, we did incorporate something from multiple bands and genres into our overall sound.
Today we are currently all freezing our asses off because it if -2 degrees F outside. We begin rehearsal again on January 18th and are getting ready to play the fests later this year.
While touring a Mother God Moviestar we opened for the Genitorturers. During our Chicago show my brother and I were going to kick the shit out of our tour manager backstage. I guess that scared the Genitorturers. Its funny their whole gimmick is about torture and pain and we frightened. That would be the funniest.
Thanks for the interview and for taking the time to read this. If you like us already thanks for the support. If you never heard of us hits up on Facebook. Please pick up the re-issue of Eyes of Tomorrow on Shadow Kingdom coming soon.
By/Ruthless
(06-01-2015)
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