Doomed Confessionary: Dimitris, Antonis, George & Stefanos (KIVA)
Photos by by Ioanna Kitrou
Submerging into the mind-expanding music rituals, KIVA, fills every void and silent room with a blend of post/sludge elements transfigure their tunes into eerie & unique music landscapes. Drawing from the ranks of Amniac, Spacement, Allochiria & Mind Ripple, the Athens, Greece based quartet formed in 2021 unswervingly expanding into a force to be reckoned with.
KIVA’s debut full-length album »An Elegy Of Scars And Past Reflections« was released on January 22nd, 2024.
Can you say a few words about your band?
The band was formed during the pandemic around 2021. After the end of Amniac, Antonis (guitar) and Dimitris (vocals) wanted to continue and expand their music journey so creating a new project was a natural progression. George (bass) and Stefanos (drums) jumped in and filled the missing pieces so, KIVA came into existence.
What was the biggest challenge for the band last year?
The biggest challenge was to be able to overcome all adversities, focus our minds and hearts and manage to transfer all our emotions and experiences into our tracks.
What can you be most proud of so far?
The thing we are most proud of so far is the release of our first full-length album. We put in a lot of effort for over two years and we are really stoked with the outcome and the feedback from every single person who listened to it.
What was your biggest regret?
No regrets, just making choices that at the time being seemed right.
What was the best concert/tour last year and why?
Well, we have to say that the most memorable show for us last year was supporting the mighty Celeste (FR) in our home town, Athens.
What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
We have to say, given the sheer amount of different music releases, the different combinations that artists come up with, meaning combining different genres and really working. For example Wayfarer in their latest release, »American Gothic«, or the mighty Sleep Token with »Take Me Back To Eden«. That is a really hard thing to accomplish, and adding personal identity and aesthetics is really remarkable.
What is currently in your heavy musical rotation?
That’s a really tough one, because all four of us have different influences. Antonis (guitar) is a more old school dude, with Sunn O))) always on his playlists, Dimitris (vocals) is a more into modern stuff at the moment, like Sleep Token and LLNN, George (bass) is into more post stuff, like Caspian and Stefanos (drums) is on a more cool journey right now, like Hiatus Kaiyote.
Can you say something more about the music scene in Athens / Greece?
Athens, also Greece in general, has an always-growing music scene, on all kinds of genres. More heavy stuff in the recent years, a thing that makes the local live shows combinations really interesting, but the best thing is that the bands and artists are becoming more determined to find their personal sound and identities. Every year it gets better in terms of new music and it is really fun, and difficult at the same time, to choose bands to play with.
Where can we see you live this year (concerts/tours)?
For the time being, we have our release show in Athens, Greece. On April 26th at An Club, along with Omega Monolith and Urstaat. You can check all the info HERE.
What are your plans for the future as a band?
We want to play more gigs, not only in Athens but in other cities as well in order to expand our audience and if possible to make a Balkan/EU tour as well. Also, we hope to be able to release our album in vinyl format as well, cause it seems there is great demand.
How can people best support your band?
Come to us shows (if you are in Greece), give a spin to our album on Spotify and take a look to our merch section on Bandcamp.
Do you have any message for your listeners?
Just want to give a huge shout-out to each and every one, for their uncanny support, we take nothing for granted and really appreciate all the feedback (positive or not). See you down the road.
Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well