Greeks have Metal music in our blood and we show it wherever we are. An extremely talented artist, musician and graphic designer, is Gogo Melone who among other things is the soul of the Greek-Finnish band AEONIAN SORROW. On the occasion of International Women’s Day we had the opportunity to talk to her about her activities, her band, music and many other topics.
-Good evening and welcome to The Gallery. I’m really happy and honored as I was thinking about this interview for a long time now.
G.M.: I’m also happy. Thank you very much for the invitation.
-You are very active so let’s start with your work in graphics. How did it all start? Was it something you knew from the beginning that you wanted to do professionally or did it start as a hobby and then evolved?
G.M.: Initially, all the work with graphics started because of my involvement with music. That is, I started singing in various groups when I was younger and along the way I started watching the album covers, the booklets, all the artwork and I really liked the whole concept in general, so I started as a hobbyist and along the way it became a profession. The first years, I just tried to become known and find my first clients. Gradually I started working more and more and now my job is flourishing. I am happy about this because I work with very nice bands, I have the opportunity to collaborate with people who, let’s say, I admire as musicians, but also others that I did not know, I met a lot of people through this job and I am very happy.
-I saw in your web site (www.gogomelone.com) that you have collaborated with WOLFHEART, INSOMNIUM ,XANDRIA, KAMELOT…very important bands.
G.M.: Yes, there are a lot of bands that we have worked with. The big bands were a shock. It was a shock when they communicated with me in order to discuss about a collaboration. Fortunately, with many of them we work together every year, in everything that has to do with merchandise for their tours and various other products or with CDs. The whole process is amazing.
-So, apart from the artwork of a CD, you deal the whole promotional package?
G.M.: Yes, mainly I am asked to create merchandise, that is, t-shirts, jackets, things that the bands will use during their tours. I have also made backdrops for scenes. For example, with XANDRIA we had made the whole backdrop on stage for one of their tours and I had made all the backdrops, all the banners. We mainly work based on what the bands ask for.
-As I was looking at your portfolio, I distinguished some of the artwork that I liked the most. I think one of my favorites was the album cover for AFTER TIME’s latest album, “Son Of Fenrir” because it has a very nice dynamic and I think it perfectly represents the legend of Fenrir. Do you have an artowrk that you like best for any reason?
G.M.: I would say that one of the last ones that I really liked was the artwork for the last album of AS THE SUN FALLS, called “Kaamos”. It was a very funny story how it was created. At first, the guys told me that they wanted to make an artwork. I made some plans for them. But they were not very representative of what they wanted. And being angry about the fact that we couldn’t find the perfect fit, I started making a plan, which I didn’t know how it would go. I just had an idea in my mind with the colors, because I wanted the concept to be specific to the colors, a specific palette. And I made the whole plan in three hours, out of anger. And I said, ok, this is my last idea, I don’t have anything else to give here. I hope they like it. And in the end, it was the plan that prevailed. It seems that sometimes anger helps you being creative.
-Feelings come out everywhere, both in design and in music. I think it helps in some cases. In general, bands give you a concept, and then you make it real? How does all this work? Or do you listen to an album and you come up with a concept on your own?
G.M.: Many times, they give me a basic idea. But sometimes they give me the freedom to create based on my own thoughts. That is, we create a nice combination of ideas. Then, I present my work to the band, we see together with them what they like, what they don’t like, if something needs to be corrected etc. In general, I try to give the space to the artists to express themselves, because I am also a musician, and I understand that when you want to create an album, you also want everything to be perfect.
-Do you use any artificial intelligence?
G.M.: No, not at all. I am completely against AI because I believe that it destroys the creativity of the composer, and for some reason we try to take the human factor out of all this. I don’t like the whole process at all. Sometimes the clients may come with ideas from AI, that is, to present them and say that they would like something like this if it is possible to be created. I try to please them as much as I can, but I don’t like the whole story with AI at all. I personally use the Adobe programs, Photoshop, Illustrator, I mainly work with them, and fortunately we continue to have a job.
-How do you see the future? Not only in terms of design and artwork, but also in terms of music composition. For example, we read that in some years from now, If not already, we may not need musician in order to create music but we will only use some software. Do you believe this is something that will happen anytime soon?
G.M.: The truth is that no one knows. We only see the fast pace that this whole story develops. I don’t know. It’s a bit scary to be honest. The fact that you can enter some data and suddenly a whole song comes out that you will use later and you will say, here is my idea, take it. I don’t like it, to be honest. I like the whole process, to go to the studio, to meet the people who play in the same band, to write music together. I like this whole process. So I want to believe that people won’t support AI so much. Not only in the design, but also in the music. I don’t think they will support such efforts.
-The truth is that we, metalheads, are still a bit more traditional when it comes to music. We want to buy the CD, we want to go to live shows very often, but this is also an issue. How will this be done with AI? Who will be responsible for a show?
G.M.: Imagine that an entire album which will be promoted by a record company. It will be entirely made by AI. Thousands of people will go to see this live in a place where there will be no musicians at all.
-Yes, holograms.
G.M.: Yes, holograms. It’s a good idea. I’m not saying it’s not impressive, but I think we will lose all the emotion and feeling that is created by seeing musicians giving their all on stage.
-I total agree. Let’s talk about music then. In which bands are you active right now?
G.M.: At the moment, I’m active with AEONIAN SORROW and with ELYSIA which is an Atmospheric Black Metal project that me and my husband created. But it’s mainly a studio project. We will see what will happen in the future though. But these two are the main bands.
-I would like you to give me a mini bio of AEONIAN SORROW. How it started, who you are now etc.
G.M.: AEONIAN SORROW started in September 2015, when I was still living in Greece. Initially it started as my own solo project since at that time I wasn’t very active musically, so I wanted to try my composing skills and generally express myself musically. But along the way it became a full band. At that time, I was composing songs for the first album we were recording at that time, “Into The Eternity A Moment We Are” and I got in touch with our producer Saku Moilanen, who is a well-known producer here in Finland and has worked with many bands like WOLFHEART, BEFORE THE DAWN etc. So, he wanted to help me with the recordings and with the production of the album, which I worked on with a lot of energy and passion. During the recording sessions, more members were added to the band in order to complete the recordings. With some of them we have been together since the beginning, with some others we have parted ways. But the final line-up today is Taneli Jamsa on guitars and composition, Jukka Jauhiainen on second guitar, Achilleas Papagrigoriou on drums, Joel Notkonen on vocals and me on vocals and composition.
-What are your musical influences, both as a band and as a person? I imagine that those two coincides since AEONEAN SORROW is actually your band.
G.M.: I would say that we are somewhere in between bands like MY DYING BRIDE, DRACONIAN, SWALLOW THE SUN a lot of doom-gothic sound. This is our main approach.
-So far you have released two full-length albums, “In Eternity A Moment We Are” in 2018 and your previous one, “Katara” in 2023. Are you the only one who is involved in the composition and lyrics?
G.M.: Yes, most of the compositions, so far, are mine. And my guitarist, Taneli Jamsa, helps me a lot, because I don’t have guitar skills, so he helps me a lot to complete the whole album and our songs. But mostly, yes, they are my compositions. Of course, for the last EP we are preparing now, which is to be released on March 31st and is called “From the Shadows”, we all worked on it together, and I am very happy, because we came up with very nice ideas, and I can’t wait for people to listen to it, because it’s a very nice work.
-Are there any differences between the two albums regarding the music or the lyrics? As the main composer I believe you are the most suitable person to talk about that.
G.M.: Look, the first album we released had a Funeral Doom sound, much slower compositions, much more atmospheric music in general. I think that in the second album, in “Katara”, we started to enrich the sound a bit more, and there were more diversified songs, some are slower, some are a bit faster, as fast as Doom Metal music can go. So, there are differences, but I like everything that happens, because I don’t want to stay in the same things, I think that people get tired when they hear the same thing. And now, with the new EP we prepared, the difference is even more intense, that’s why I really want people to hear it, because we enrich the sound with more elements. But I don’t want to say anything about that, I want you to hear it first.
-Great, we will definitely do that. About “Katara” how did the title come about?
G.M.: The title came from my background, I’m from Ioannina, and I always wanted to write something based on my roots, but I didn’t know how to put all that in the music I write, because it’s not easy to combine Greek elements with that sound. So I tried as much as I could to make it sound good, to be pleasant, not to confuse the people who follow us. And the idea came from the trips I made to go home, to see my family, and I used to pass by Katara, the old Katara road we had, before Egnatia, the new national road, and all that intense, doom, atmospheric vibe that came out of the mountains, the fog and all that stuff. Moreover, some areas in Katara are very similar to the forests we have in Finlnad, I thought it would be a very nice combination, this Greek-Finnish combination, and that’s how the idea came to life. Besides that, it was an album dedicated to my grandfather and grandmother, whom we had lost, and it was a very beautiful effort to combine these two elements, my roots and a bit of Finnish.
-I believe the album cover is also amazing and very to the point. It must have been one of the easiest covers you have made.
G.M.: Indeed, although initially, the idea was different to be honest. It was much more simplified but then I thought that it’s not very representative with the whole concept of the album, so it changed immediately and it was an album covert that came out in two hours.
-How did you end up in Finland? You are from Ioannina, as you said so how did you landed on Finland.
G.M.: Initially, I moved to Switzerland because my husband is from there, he is half Swiss, half Finnish and he lived in Switzerland. So, I first moved there for about a year, and then we decided to make a change and come to Finland, since at that time our musical activities were mainly with Finns, so we took the risk to come here to see what we could create and to do more. We haven’t regretted it, we’ve been here for two and a half years, we will officially close this summer three years here, but in the short period we’ve been here we’ve done a lot of things. We’ve created our own music festival, we’ve met countless people, we’ve done new collaborations, and in the end, it was the right choice. And from now on we will probably stay here permanently.
-Since you mentioned it, tell me about this festival.
G.M.: The festival is called “Bloodfest Finland”, it’s based in Helsinki, it’s an indoor festival at the moment, it started last year and this year it will be the second part, and we’ve decided to do it once a year, at the same time, around mid-May or beginning of June. It’s about extreme metal music, and we have many bands from Finland that play here. We like to give the opportunity to bands that can’t play often, because there are many festivals here that are very big and it’s very difficult to get in. We try to give the opportunity to bands to appear, to play, to be heard, and of course there are big bands that are the main headliners. For example, last year the main headliner was KAUNIS KUOLEMATON. The 2025 line up will be released soon and we will have some important bands as well.
-Do you plan to invite bands from abroad? From Greece, let’s say?
G.M.: Yes, initially we had the idea to invite some bands from Greece but for now we are struggling with the expenses, because the festival is very new. But in the future if everything goes well and the numbers go up, of course we will invite bands from other countries and Greece, because the Finnish audience is tired of seeing only their artists, they like to see other bands from other countries, so it will be e a very good opportunity.
-In my mind, Metal music is something like Finland’s traditional music. Is it true? How do the Finnish people see Metal music? Are there any differences between Greece and Finland? And I am not talking about metalheads but the society in general.
G.M.: I think that metal music in Finland is really like their traditional music, that is, everywhere you look you will find a metalhead who plays in five different bands. Finnish people have music in their lives from a very young age since the take music lessons in school and end up playing five or six different instruments. The main differences that I have noticed so far in relation to metal music in Greece is that because winter here is very heavy and there is a lot of darkness at night their music is very atmospheric, very melodic and I would describe it as painful in some way. But it sounds so pleasant where all this pain comes and connects beautifully with their melodies. Of course, this does not mean that Greek musicians do not write very nice music. Of course, they do.
-Yes, we also have a very good metal scene with bands that are famous all around the world. But is there a difference in the difficulty level that someone has to deal with in order to start his or her own band? In terms of resources, acquaintances etc.
G.M.: I would say that most people who deal with metal music here in Finland do not deal so much with the purpose of their music career or in general to become famous. Most people do it purely to have a hobby. You will find many people who really play in 5-6 bands and do live shows with the 5-6 bands. Many of them have their own studios where they pay a monthly fee for rehearsals. But not only for rehearsals. They go there and have a drink or have a conversation. But in general, there are some state or private funded programs here that help the new bands, especially those who want to see it more seriously and do tours, record albums, etc. But it takes a lot of effort because they don’t give money to all bands. You have to show your work first, create a name and then if you continue to have some results, they give you some money in order to create an album. Not for merchandise or anything like that.
-Since, we are having this conversation because of International Women’s Day, I would like to get to that topic as well. Did you ever face any problems all those years that a man wouldn’t?
G.M.: No, I consider myself very lucky in this regard. I have heard very bad stories from other girls who are singers, or pianists, or in general, who are in the music industry. Fortunately, I was very lucky in all this. I never felt that I was not respected because of my gender, or that doors were not opened easily because of my gender. I don’t know if it has to do with my character, or my talent, or whatever this is called, but I didn’t get any strange vibe. I have collaborated with very nice people, we have worked on their ideas, on my ideas, everything was very calm, as it should have been.
-Do you think that things are better now? We see many women being members of bands, and not only singers, but also musicians. Do you think that we overcame this issue?
G.M.: I would say no. There are still strange situations, I still think that women are subjected to this sexism, which is really band, but I think that the only way to overcome this is by showing who you are, showing your job, keeping your character. You don’t have to care about what everyone says about you, and in general, you don’t have to let all this affect you. You don’t even have to respond in a strange way or even defend yourself. You should focus on your job, focus on who you are, and what you want to show. People will always talk about you, there will always be someone to criticize you.
-How did you decide to deal with this type of metal, with Doom Metal?
G.M.: I was a big fan at that time, and I still am, I used to listen to a lot of Doom Metal music like MY DYING BRIDE, ANATHEMA, SWALLOW THE SUN, DRACONIAN. I was a big fan of this type of music, and that was the reason why I decided to get involved. Initially, I wanted to write something atmospheric, and I ended up with this type of music, and I think it was the right choice, because it suits me.
-Last question… what are your plans for AEONEAN SORROW? We have already mentioned your new EP and your festival. What else can we expect from you?
G.M.: We are preparing a second tour with MARIANAS REST. We did a first tour last November and because it went very well now we are preparing a second leg which I have heard will take place in November 2025. We do not know the dates and places yet though. Apart from that, our booking agent, Darkmoon Events is working hard to arrange other live shows as well either in festival or individual live performances. We do not have anything specific yet but when something comes up we will let everybody know though our social media.
-Why have you not visited Greece yet?
G.M.: We really want to come, but I think that we are a bit expensive. Generally, Finland is a pretty expensive destination and it is very difficult for a Greek agent to pay for our air tickets. I believe that is the main reason because we had many times discussions about coming to Greece but they never ended up well. And I know that there are many people who like our music and would love to see us live. I really hope this will happen soon!
-I think we covered everything! Thank you again for your time! It was a great honor!
G.M.: Thank you too for this opportunity and I really hope to see you soon in Greece or elsewhere!
Interview: Kostas Boudoukos
English Translation: Kostas Boudoukos
Cover Artwork:
Design & Editing: Kostas Boudoukos
Date: February 20th, 2025
External Link: AEONIAN SORROW – Official Page
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