Where did the name Orestea come from?
It came from me not being able to pronounce the name of the greek tragedy 'The Oresteia' properly haha!I used to belong to a small theater group and we did a production of The Oresteia. I had the programme at home and I happened to stumble across it whilst looking for a band name. I thought that the mispronounciation would make a good band name because the word doesn't have a meaning and therefore when you search for the band online, it is easy to find information.
What countries have you toured in so far and what markets are you looking to get into in the near future?
So far we have only toured in England and Wales - we only did our first proper tour earlier this year but we had the best time! We are doing our first Scottish show as part of our Summer tour and are hoping to get over to Europe at some point next year. It would be amazing to get over to Japan too because our fans over there are so supportive of the band!
There are so many other places we want to visit. We get asked about Australia and America all the time so who knows? Maybe!
There are so many other places we want to visit. We get asked about Australia and America all the time so who knows? Maybe!
You have a record deal in Japan. How did that come about?
A Japanese record label called Spinning Inc saw an advert for the band in Metal Hammer magazine and they checked us out online. It was quite surreal because they just emailled the band offering us the deal. We thought it was a scam at first because it seemed too good to be true - but we did some digging and I emailled a couple of people in other bands who were already signed to them, and they all said that the label was amazing and it was the best thing they had ever done.So we went for it. The amount of promotion they put into the album release over there was crazy compared to how bands get promoted here in the UK. Being sent photos of our album display alongside huge international bands like Linkin Park was definitely a huge buzz!
Who would you say were your biggest musical influences?
That's a tough one, because between us we have a pretty broad range of influences. My biggest personal influences are bands like Dream Theater, Coheed & Cambria, Emarosa and Alter Bridge.
I can't really answer for the boys but we really do listen to lots of different bands. In our tour van you can hear anything from Damien Rice & Lady Gaga to I The Breather and Caliban.
I can't really answer for the boys but we really do listen to lots of different bands. In our tour van you can hear anything from Damien Rice & Lady Gaga to I The Breather and Caliban.
What is the best and worst parts of taking your music on the road for tours?
We have only done one proper tour so far, and during that time we had three hospital trips, also - Luke got the keys locked in the back of the van when we were playing in Bristol and our insurance company had to come and remove the partition wall (whilst we were on stage in the venue!) in order for us to be able to get to the hotel! We had countless other issues, I honestly can't list them all - it would take ages. It was still amazing fun though. The touring bit isn't really stressful - its the tour planning that really gets you down.
The best bit is just getting to play music every single night. Meeting the fans and having time to have a chat with them after the shows is fantastic! We have a number of really supportive people who came to 5 or 6 shows on the April tour! It always blows me away how much our music can mean to people, it's a really great feeling!
The best bit is just getting to play music every single night. Meeting the fans and having time to have a chat with them after the shows is fantastic! We have a number of really supportive people who came to 5 or 6 shows on the April tour! It always blows me away how much our music can mean to people, it's a really great feeling!
What is the ultimate goal for Orestea, and what would your definition of success be?
Being able to live off music.
We all know that it is really tough to earn a living from music. At the moment we are all holding down jobs, and four of us are completing our Music Degrees - but true success for us would be to earn enough to live without having another job.
I don't think any of us have fairy tale ideas of "fame and fortune" because with the way that the industry is at the moment, that almost never happens - but being able to just keep on touring and not have to worry about taking holiday time from work would be amazing!
We all know that it is really tough to earn a living from music. At the moment we are all holding down jobs, and four of us are completing our Music Degrees - but true success for us would be to earn enough to live without having another job.
I don't think any of us have fairy tale ideas of "fame and fortune" because with the way that the industry is at the moment, that almost never happens - but being able to just keep on touring and not have to worry about taking holiday time from work would be amazing!
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