In Public is the 3rd and latest album by the Greek band, Minerva Superduty. Hailing from Kalamata in Greece, the band plays a solid yet complex blend of screamo and post-hardcore respecting its roots and creating a sonic web that is both aggressive and serene. With a unique style in controlled chaos, the band emphasizes its hardcore base and manages to stay faithful to it, while being creative and exploratory.
Songs like Rigid Mass are a strong lyrical statement against fascism and other prejudices that mine and contaminate modern day society. The songs are short in duration but packed with intensity that flows through every riff, chord progression and drum pattern. A band that plays without constraints, but freely and enjoying every second of it while being socially conscientious.
A solid LP that will please fans of chaotic hardcore that manages to shock and obliterate barriers and will definitely free your mind while your body will certainly crave for a mosh pit.
Minerva Superduty was formed in 2011. How did you come together and what other bands did you play in?
We all knew each other over the years and some local bands we participated in but it wasn’t until the summer-fall of 2011 that we got together. We wanted to escape the daily grind trying to express ourselves whilst experimenting and expanding our capabilities musically, and we haven’t stopped since.
Do you all come from the same musical background and shared influences or are there any differences that still manage to coexist in harmony.
Let’s say that rock n roll is our common ground. We all like punk & metal stuff but each one of us has his own preferences. Our influences vary from pop and electronica to grind core and black metal.
For sure, we all like bands that come from the Greek underground scene such as Rita Mosss, One Leg Mary and Ruined Families.
Generally we listen to whatever triggers our senses and emotions. For this album, we listened to early 80s post punk like Joy Division, Wipers and The Sound as well as extreme hc bands like the Nails and Dead in the Dirt.
The artwork is impressive, what was the concept or ideas you wanted to convey through it?
The artwork was made by our good friend Paschalis Zervas who also happens to be one of our favourite artists. His work with Ulver is phenomenal. For In Public, we wanted something different that is not referring directly to the raging element of the album but at the same time is intense and self-awakening. Early 4AD album covers, art of the interwar era and the work of Paschalis were the main inspiring elements for conceiving the artwork.
As a result of this process, we ended up with this engraving of a hand holding a needle. We do not want to give a precise meaning to this work of art as there can be different interpretations from person to person. For us, it was important to have a human element in the album’s cover. The hand represents a form of power; it could be you, me, us or whoever you can imagine that needs to use a mean (the needle in this case) in order to take action. By listening to the record and following the lyrics you can figure out how these are connected with the overall artwork.
Your 3rd album, In Public, is coming out this month. What are the most cherished moments or episodes that you recall from the recording sessions?
Third time’s a charm, or maybe not. Our most time and soul consuming effort so far. Things can go wrong even when you don’t expect them to. You can only accept this and move forward. In the end it all came brilliantly to be a perfect outcome in the magic hands of Kostas Ragiadakos. Putting that extra mic inside the huge ceramic pot in the drum rec sure did the trick. Kudos to Argy & Haris of the mighty Broken Fingers for capturing the spirit of the album in their vocal work.
Your sound is progressive, complex and matures in a mix of brutality and serenity like a perfect vessel for catharsis. How is your composition process usually like? Do you tend to improvise?
The creation of a song begins with a riff or a drum loop. After that, we start building layers until we feel that the song is complete. We don’t apply specific rules when we make a song; the song tends to leads us itself and we push it as far as we feel it can go. Sometimes it becomes chaotic but we see this as a beautiful challenge.
In the beginning of the band, our music was mostly the result of improvisation. For this album, since we don’t live all in Kalamata anymore, many guitar parts were already composed before we started rehearsing. So, it took sometime to organize ourselves and start playing all together to finalize the songs.
Your lyrics tend to be poetic and a bit cryptic however there seems to be a political message towards social injustice, specially in the theme Rigid Mass. What issues bother you the most in our society?
Rising indifference for one another and things that affect us all, such as the demeaning of values like compassion, tolerance and solidarity, vast absence of free thinking, growing state oppression and rise of nationalism should be at least concerning to any thinking individual out there. Rigid Mass is an anti-fascist song about nurturing the snake for too long by looking away from the problem rather than addressing it.
Are you all originated from Kalamata or did you move there? And how is the life there?
¾ of us were born here, one of us lived here for many years. Now 2 of us live in Athens and Brussels respectively. Life in Kalamata isn’t exciting, it’s a rather quiet small town but at least the surroundings & nature are quite nice & rewarding.
What have you been up to in these troubled times with the pandemic?
Coping with the situation while trying our best to stay strong. More time to work on new music and hopefully perform live again, in a brighter future…
Text & Interview: Cláudia Zafre
Band: Minerva Superduty