Doomed Confessionary: Markos (Hostal Handshake)

Hostal Handshake is a stoner/desert rock band from Athens, Greece, active since 2001. Following early promos and their debut album »Hellish« (Secret Port Records, 2007), they returned with »Stone Oracle« – their long-awaited sophomore full-length, released in January 2026. After 18 years, the riffs are heavier, the fuzz deeper, and the desert winds louder.

»Stone Oracle« is a two-part odyssey blending feral stoner rock, heavy psych, and crushing doom. The album captures mechanical riffing, industrial tension, and ritualistic desert soundscapes. This release marks not just a comeback, but a rebirth: thicker fuzz, slower riffs, and a fire that still burns.

All credits for this awesome interview go to the main man behind the band and basic mastermind: Markos.

Can you please say a few words about your band?
Honestly, it’s a bit surreal to even talk about Hostal Handshake as an active thing again. We started all the way back in 2001 in Athens, just chasing that heavy, fuzzy, stoner rock sound. Back in the 00s, we were constantly on the move, playing a ton of gigs all over Athens and packing up in Evoia. It was just about the energy of the live underground scene back then.

We were putting out rough demos around 2001-2005, which eventually led to our debut album, »Hellish«, in 2007 on Secret Port Records. »Hellish« was exactly what the title implied: just raw, unpolished, straight-ahead desert rock energy from a band that lived on local stages.

But right after that era, life completely took over, and we ended up stepping away for 18 years. You think a gap that long kills a project completely, but the noise never really left our heads.

We came back because we had to. Hostal Handshake isn’t about fitting into a neat little box or playing safe, polished metal. Compared to »Hellish« and those early 00s gigs, which were very focused on that specific high-energy stoner groove, our mindset now is much darker, more aggressive, and carries a lot of personal baggage. We’re just putting out the exact kind of dense, unfiltered soundscapes we want to hear now.

What was the biggest challenge for the band?
The biggest challenge wasn’t technical. It wasn’t about shaking off the rust of an 18-year hiatus or finding our rhythm again in the studio. It was entirely emotional.

While we were trying to pull this band back from the dead, my father entered his final months. He was fighting cancer, and I was watching him slip away day by day. Trying to navigate that profound darkness while simultaneously writing and recording… it almost broke me. The challenge became about survival, honestly. I had to take that immense, suffocating pain, the literal atmosphere of those final days, and somehow imprint it directly into the sonic and lyrical fabric of »Stone Oracle«.

I had to find a way to sing the pain. To give the darkness a voice.

It was an exhausting, incredibly painful period to live through, but at the same time, the music became the only way to heal. Creating this massive 16-track record (plus two bonus tracks) was how I processed the grief. Writing those songs was the only thing pulling me forward, forcing us to rise up after nearly two decades of silence. We didn’t just make an album, we built a monument out of our darkest moments just to find a way back into the light.

What can you be most proud of so far?
Honestly, it’s the fact that the music is out there connecting with people after all this time. When you step away for 18 years, you wonder if anyone will still care, but looking at the reception across everything we’ve done fills me with a massive amount of pride.

Seeing »Hellish« physically distributed worldwide in major digital and physical storefronts through Secret Port Records was a huge milestone for us back then. But what blows my mind the most is the critical acclaim and community reception for »Stone Oracle«. We didn’t stop there, either. Just two months after dropping a massive 16-track album, we followed it up with the »Megiddo« EP, and seeing both releases make a real impact has been deeply rewarding.

The sales and support on Bandcamp, the streaming numbers, and seeing our music featured on major underground YouTube stoner/doom/psych channels… it’s surreal. I’m just incredibly grateful to the scene and to every single person who clicked play, shared a track, or bought a copy. Knowing that our noise is actually resonating globally makes every drop of sweat and every painful moment we poured into these releases completely worth it.

What was your biggest regret?
If I look back especially thinking about our history and the general trajectory of the band, my biggest regret is that we didn’t push to tour abroad when we had the momentum.

Back during the »Hellish« era in the late 00s, everything was aligned. The album was getting physical worldwide distribution via Secret Port Records, we were playing great local slots, and the energy was there. But we just didn’t take control of the situation the way we should have. We didn’t manage or prioritize taking that specific »Hellish« lineup across borders for a proper European tour.

Man, looking back it would have been a total banger. Packing up a van, hitting the European underground circuit, and bringing that specific raw, Athens stoner-desert energy to international stages… I really wish I had taken the reins more tightly back then to make it happen. It’s a missed chapter, but it also teaches you not to leave things to chance the second time around.

What was the best concert/tour so far and why?
Man, thinking back to the 00s, it’s all about those sweat-dripping, packed local rooms. The gigs at the Rodeo club in central Athens immediately come to mind, the energy in that place was always pure chaos. And, of course, almost all of our lives at An Club. Those stand out because we were usually sharing the stage with our old brothers-in-arms, Down And Out who people probably know better today as The Big Nose Attack. There was a real sense of community back then, we were all just kids making a massive racket together.

But if I had to pick one truly unique memory, it was a gig we did closer to our hometown. I pulled a double shift that night, combining Hostal Handshake with another project of mine that was a completely different, fast-paced punk rock style. We threw them both onto the same bill. Seeing the crowd just pack out the place and completely vibe with both worlds transitioning from raw punk rock energy into heavy, slow stoner grooves in the exact same night… that was special. You don’t get many nights like that.

What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
To be honest, the music scene is constantly throwing surprises at you, whether you’re looking at how things were back in the 2000s or how they are right now. The biggest surprise is just watching how far bands are willing to push the boundaries. You see groups out there constantly evolving/weaving in complex progressive elements, floating off into spacey, chaotic psychedelia, or sinking down into total drone and sludge territory. Seeing how people morph the heavy underground is always fascinating.

But personally? Even though I respect the progress and I like seeing where the evolution goes, my heart is completely locked into the old-school mentality. I’m a purist when it comes down to it. I dig the original, Sabbathic, fuzz-drenched doom stuff. For me, nothing beats pure, unapologetic riffage and I don’t feel the need to constantly mix a million different genres just for the sake of changing it up. So while the scene’s endless transformations always surprise me, at the end of the day, I’m always going to stand firmly with the old-school foundations.

What is currently in your heavy musical rotation?
Right now, I’ve been spinning the brand new Corrosion Of Conformity double album, »Good God / Baad Man«, a lot. Having them back with that massive, Southern-fried stoner weight is exactly what I needed.

Aside from that, I’ve got some Hermano in steady rotation, and lastly you can never go wrong with Truckfighters. When you just need pure, high-octane, fuzzy desert rock energy to get moving, their catalog is always a staple for me. It’s a mix of the old guard and the bands keeping the spirit alive today.

What was the best advice you’ve ever been given as a musician?
It sounds incredibly simple, almost cliché, but someone once told me: “Just keep writing music. Keep composing tracks… you never know.”

When you’re a young musician, you want guarantees. You want to know exactly where a project is going, or if the effort is going to pay off. But that advice taught me to just focus on the craft itself and leave expectations at the door. If I hadn’t kept that mindset in the back of my head, if I hadn’t kept messing around with riffs and saving ideas during our 18-year break, »Stone Oracle« and »Megiddo« wouldn’t even exist right now. You really don’t ever know when those ideas will save you, or when the time will be right for them to finally breathe. You just have to keep creating.

What are your guilty pleasures?
Oh, man… where do I even start? If you look at the music we make, you’d think my playlist is just pure darkness, but I have a massive soft spot for some completely different worlds.

Honestly, one of my biggest ones right now is the Backstreet Boys. Between tracking their new material like their latest track »Bottle Up« and watching videos of them singing their old hits on their current reunion run, I’m totally hooked. Seeing how they handle those classic harmonies nowadays is just great.

Beyond that, I listen to a ton of synthwave and synthpop. I absolutely love that retro-futuristic 80s electronic vibe. Lately, I’ve even been falling down a rabbit hole of these AI Iron Maiden covers that people have remixed into full synthwave and synthpop tracks. Purists might hate it, but whoever crafted those did an incredibly successful and impressive job. There’s something bizarrely perfect about hearing Bruce Dickinson’s lines floating over a glowing, neon synth track while I’m taking a break from heavy guitar fuzz lol.

Can you say something more about the current music scene in Greece?
Honestly, looking around our local scene right now, it’s impossible not to be impressed. The sheer amount of incredible musicians, bands, and composers coming out of Greece is crazy. But like I said before, the scene has evolved a lot, and the general direction has shifted.

To be completely real with you, I’m not always the biggest fan of where it’s going when stoner rock starts evolving strictly into progressive territory or pure drone sludge. Don’t get me wrong, we mix some progressive layers into our own music here and there, but at the end of the day, I want the Sabbathic stoner fuzz and doom to stay right on the surface. I don’t want us to just become a prog-stoner band. I respect the evolution of the music, of course, but I’m just old-school at heart. I like keeping that specific spirit alive, the stuff that makes you think of Orange Goblin, Nebula, Spiritual Beggars, Kyuss, Soundgarden, Fu Manchu, Cathedral, and Goatsnake.

But if you look at the health of the Greek scene itself? It’s thriving. The bands are incredible, the stages are plenty, fests are happening constantly, and the fans are deeply dedicated. People are still heavily buying physical music (even vinyl is selling at an impressive rate these days) and bands are putting out great merch with really killer graphics and logos.

The biggest thing, though, is how international it’s all become. You see so many Greek bands going abroad now, playing massive European festivals, or booking full tours across Europe, North America, and Latin America. Plus, there’s a whole wave of new ideas surrounding your ears where bands are bringing in traditional, folklore Greek musical instruments: things like the klarino (folk clarinet), the bagpipes, or the Cretan lyra, instruments that are completely unique to our part of the world. Seeing them mesh that heritage with heavy music and make our scene known globally? That is genuinely impressive.

Where can we see you live this year (concerts/tours)?
Well, that’s the catch. You won’t be seeing us on stage this year or any year, to be honest. Hostal Handshake is strictly a studio project now.

Don’t get me wrong, I definitely miss the stage, but due to demanding work schedules and major personal life changes, live shows just aren’t in the cards anymore. Honestly, I’m completely at peace with that. I hold onto the incredible memories we built between 2001 and 2009, which was when we played our last gig ever. It was a golden era of raw energy, booze, amazing crowds, close friends, and killer bands. Thank God we still have the photographs and footage from those nights and I’m full of those experiences… I’ve got enough epic tales to pass down to my grandkids one day lol.

It was a time when bands just felt more free. We were burning CD-Rs and trading them by hand. There were no internet streaming platforms dominating everything, we had MySpace instead of the faceless algorithms we deal with today. Nowadays, it feels like a real corporate struggle just to get views, where you have to navigate an ad-paying/like/stream, and follow digital world just to make a dent.

Of course, over all those years and across all the different bands I played in, there were bad times and hard seasons, too. But that’s the beauty of it when you look back from a distance, the static fades away and the only things that remain locked in your mind are those legendary, epic times we lived through back then. The stage door might be closed, but the music isn’t stopping.

What are your plans for the future as a band?
We’re actually fresh off our second release of the year. This past March, we dropped a new three-track EP called »Megiddo«. It’s heavily inspired by World War III themes and the Armageddon prophecies from the Apocalypse of John, which felt incredibly relevant given all the heavy geopolitical tension we’ve been witnessing in the Middle East lately. The EP runs for about 15 minutes and features a dark intro, a track with full vocals, and a massive oriental fuzz prog-stoner instrumental banger. It’s available right now on our Bandcamp page.

On top of that, we’ve just packaged a special bonus for the fans who buy the full version of »Stone Oracle« as a thank you for the global acclaim the album’s received since January. We put together two exclusive B-sides that serve as a gritty, high-gain tribute to S.E. Hinton’s story and Francis Ford Coppola’s cinematic masterpiece, »Rumble Fish«.

The first bonus track is »Rusty James«, which is a slow, tectonic sludge/doom journey down-tuned all the way to F for that crushing, Conan-style weight, it’s meant to sound like a life lived in a legend’s shadow. The second is »The Exiled Prince«, which flips the switch into a high-octane, whammy-fueled stoner fuzz anthem following the Motorcycle Boy’s search for color. We wanted to keep these exclusive as a gift to the people who support the full vision of the album.

As for what’s next? We’re going to hold off on recording new tracks for a little while to let these releases breathe. But looking down the line, you can absolutely expect some cool, new full-length material in the following years. I can’t give you an exact date or year just yet, but the “Hostal machine” is definitely hot, ready, and armed for more to come.

How can people best support your band?
In the modern underground scene, the best way to support any independent project is always to go directly to the source. For us, that means Bandcamp. Buying the music there is what keeps the gears turning, lets us invest back into the studio, and directly funds the physical creation of these records.

Beyond the financial support, just being active in our digital circles means everything in this algorithm heavy landscape. Come find us, subscribe, and stream our stuff on our official YouTube channel that’s where our visual side really lives.

You can also stay in the loop and connect with us directly by joining our Facebook group, checking out our tracks on SoundCloud, or jumping into the discussions on our dedicated Subreddit. Every single follow, share, and stream helps push our noise past the digital wall and into new ears, and we are incredibly grateful for every bit of it.

Do you have any message for your listeners?
My biggest message is simple: support the underground. Support independent artists as much as you possibly can to keep the flame alive. Even though we aren’t playing gigs anymore, go out there and support your local bands, your friends, and the acts you love. Buy the physical records, grab the digital releases, and wear the merch. We really need to protect and support human creativity across all forms of art right now, and contribute whatever we can to keep these subcultures thriving.

As for what’s next for Hostal Handshake, stay tuned. You can absolutely expect new releases down the line with fresh ideas, completely new lyrical themes, killer production, and above all else: KEEP IT HOSTAL!

I just want to say a massive thank you to everyone for all the valuable support. Thank you to all the media outlets, the underground zines, and the YouTube channels that uploaded our tracks and showed so much respect for our music. You guys are the ones keeping the spirit of stoner, doom, fuzz, psych, and heavy rock alive globally.

And finally, thank you so much Bojan, for this great interview. These were really dope, thoughtful questions, and I deeply appreciate your relentless, valuable support. Cheers man and God Bless you!

Links:
Facebook (Group) | Bandcamp | YouTube | SoundCloud

Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well