THE BEAST

ILLUSORY come from Athens, Greece.

The band was originally founded in 1992 by two friends who used to jam on top of their building. Armed with enthusiasm, desire and most of all, love for music, they decided to pursue what every teenager at the time was dreaming of, so they formed a band to play their beloved Heavy Metal sounds.

First name that popped in was “Blessed Death”, which was dropped a bit later. “Ivory Tower”… that was more like it. Maybe way more like it!

They started recruiting members and then the band began rehearsing. “Shelter” was found in various rehearsal studios in the area.

The band’s hometown, Moschato Greece, is utterly well-known for its fine wine; although it was produced ages ago, yet the vines are still haunting the name of the city. Thus, like good wine, “Ivory Tower” was maturing nicely, obtaining a better taste by the day, the month, the year.

Numerous line-up changes happened through the years. The band was rehearsing, composing and playing at various Rock clubs and bars in the Athenian area, mostly covers and a couple of their own songs.
Things were getting tougher and tougher as those who had belief in the band had to leave to serve their country (obligatory in Greece) and hiatus become a fact. However, since “What does not kill me makes me stronger”, when those people came back, it was back to the table with the band.

Constant rehearsing, composing and live gigs again. Excitement, tension, a lot of sweat in the middle and the first song bouquet is ready to be served.

The band handled the whole issue as a collective, creating the artwork, arranging the sleeve, printing and packaging the promo-album.
It was the year 2006 and “The Ivory Tower” saga was about to begin!
They started selling their newborn at gigs, via mail and thru their website to those who had listened and wanted to listen some more.
Soon the band became an underground attraction and a fan-base shadow had appeared in the background.

Line-up was an issue until then but luckily, with the addition of a few people totally believing in the band, the “Ivories” (members beloved nickname) became stronger and dared challenge their own fate.

Come June 2008, the sextet is opening for legendary Blue Oyster Cult, at a fantastic open air venue in Athens. Gig was an absolute bliss, headliners did actually pay attention to the Greek youngsters and history began writing itself in a whole new chapter.

A few months later the band finally found a place of their own…Their own studio, the “iCave”, their lil’ creation and implementation place/refuge. The idea was to have a place to go to, be free of schedules and other peeps interfering and things not relative to them.

The basic concept was to recreate a truly phenomenal story. The aim was to re-record their promo-album, to turn it into a fresh sounding, ultra-complete professional feature.

They began recording, adding new ideas, painting a totally different landscape. Then, when the songs were recorded the best possible way and their concept was ready for some serious mixing and mastering, the boys decided to send it to one of the most experienced teams in doing so. The valuable package was shipped to Germany, Mystic Studios and R.D. Liapakis and Christian Schmid.

These two gents forged the songs and boosted them up, creating an album sound that was ready for the big markets, attracting the labels and mostly the fans.

The only problem was the name of the band. Some years ago the “Ivories” discovered there was a German band called “Ivory Tower”, thus it was going to be extra hard to continue with their name, should they wanted to pursue a professional edge to their musical way. Painful fact: The Ivories had come up with the name years before the Germans did. They were using it since 1992, however, nobody advised them to trademark it plus they couldn’t possibly imagine that some other band would think alike… Even though pioneers in thinking they had to leave their precious band-name behind, because of a twist of fate…

Brainstorming led to the name “Illusory”, which sounded the best solution at the time and still does. The band decided to name their debut “The Ivory Tower”, a completely logical outcome, totally consequential to their lives and work so far.
“The Ivory Tower” was released in May 2013 via The Leaders Records in Europe and the rest of the world. The Japanese edition hit the Land of the Rising Sun in August 2013 (special artwork featuring the OBI). First edition of the album was sold out and the news brought tons of enthusiasm to the band members as well as the fans. The band has played quite a few shows throughout Greece and the sophomore album, entitled “Polysyllabic” is wrapped up and ready to go. Recorded at their own studio – the iCave by Dee “K.man” Theodorou. Produced by Yiannis Petroyiannis & Dee “K.man” Theodorou, mixed and mastered at the Matrix Studios Athens by Yiannis Petroyiannis. “Polysyllabic” is the sonic vehicle which will carry the ILLUSORY sound further and prepare the way for a breakthrough release.

However, in order to achieve such, one needs the helping hands of a strong label. After a couple of weeks searching and looking around, ILLUSORY attracted 7US Media Group, who got to listen to the “Polysyllabic” bouquet and became interested in signing the Greek band. A few days (hmm… refers to a certain song title) of “negotiations” followed and the Ivories are now signed to the famous German label. Once the contracts have been inked by both sides, the promotion season has officially started. “Polysyllabic” is scheduled to hit the markets the fall of 2016 via 7Hard.

Dee Theodorou: Vocals
George Papantonis: Guitars
Gregory Bakos: Guitars
George Konstantakelos: Keyboards & Guitars
Niki Danos: Bass
Costas Koulis: Drums

Discography:
Polysyllabic – 2016
The Ivory Tower – 2013

Listen to the full interview here

Check out the band here