Doomed Confessionary: People Of The Black Circle
People Of The Black Circle is a cosmic doom band from Athens, Greece. People Of The Black Circle was founded in the first months of 2021 in Athens. Their music aspires to combine the heaviness of doom guitar sound with melodic vocal lines, while at the same time incorporating an eerie horror synth atmosphere.
The band started up as a tribute to all the artists that inspired them: musicians, painters, writers and poets who somehow managed to capture all the dark reflections bleeding through the cracks of reality and transform them into timeless art.
People Of The Black Circle’s new EP »All The Colors Of The Dark« was just released on November 10th, 2024.
Can you say a few words about your band?
We are People Of The Black Circle and we play doom metal with a synth twist. Our lyrics are heavily influenced by cosmic horror literature and writers such as Howard Phillips Lovecraft and Robert Erwin Howard. We are two brothers and a sister (literally), we started playing together in January of 2020 and have been going on ever since.
What was the biggest challenge for the band?
We guess the greatest challenge for our band is the same with any other band, that is coming up with an original concept and sound. Sometimes, it is harder than it sounds. We mean to say that, at least for us, concept is really important. It is the general direction, the canvas on which our imagination unfolds, where creative ideas start to take their shape and place. On the other hand, someone has to be careful not to repeat themselves and always try to shift directions and evolve artistically.
What can you be most proud of so far?
People Of The Black Circle is a love letter to the writers that inspired us and with whose works we grew up to become who we are. So, we are very proud of putting music to their words. We often wonder whether they would be satisfied with the result. We suppose if someone learns about Clark Ashton Smith from one of our songs and picks up one of his books, we would be even prouder.
What was your biggest regret?
There was a long time in our lives that due to other obligations and difficulties, we had pretty much stopped playing music. Huge mistake. As the late Bill Rieflin (Ministry, King Crimson) said, music can restore grace even for a moment in a person’s life, and that makes all the difference in the world. When we started playing music again, we discovered how miserable we really were during our hiatus. So, the lesson to be learned here is that one should never stop doing what he really loves, whatever the cost.
What was the best concert/tour so far and why?
One of the best times we played live was last summer, in a forest located in Lemnos, an island of the Aegean Sea. We decorated the place with witch totems, invited some friends and had a mystifying and intoxicating experience for the chosen few.
What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
We were surprised that people liked our debut, given that it’s kind of weird. Jokes aside, when you put out something new, you are always in doubt whether people are going to like it or not. So, it’s always a pleasant surprise when someone else find themselves interested in what you do. We are very grateful for that and very happy that we also had the chance to make many new friends through music.
What is currently in your heavy musical rotation?
»A Sorcerer’s Pledge« by Candlemass. You know, Candlemass played here in Athens a couple of weeks ago and we had the chance to see them live again after a lot of years. What a huge band! Doomy, slow riffs and excellent lyrics. They are unsurpassed at what they do.
What was the best advice you’ve ever been given as a musician?
Once, a friend told us “Even if one and only person enjoys the music you make, it was still worth the effort”. We think it was one of the wisest and most humbling things anyone ever told us. Success and fulfillment aren’t always counted in numbers.
What are your guilty pleasures?
Horror movies, but we are not feeling that guilty about it.
Can you say something more about current music scene in Athens / Greece?
Well, Greece has had its fair share of stoner rock and doom metal bands. Some of them, such as Planet Of Zeus and 1000mods, seem to be making a name for themselves and we are proud of them. We are also proud of our friends BUS The Unknown Secretary, Acid Mammoth, Seer Of The Void and Mr. Booze, that have recently put out some killer music.
Where can we see you live this year (concerts/tours)?
First of all, we plan on playing live here in Athens in the following months. We hope our day jobs and everyday obligations will allow us to visit some other places too, we definitely intend to play live as much as we can.
What are your plans for the future as a band?
For the time being, our priority is to support our new EP, »All The Colors Of The Dark«. We plan on playing live as much as we can, going anywhere we can. After that, we would like to work on a new release, probably on acoustic material. But that remains to be seen, given that we still have lots of unreleased and unrecorded songs.
Do you have any special plans for New Year’s Eve?
As said before, the band members are literally a family. So, we plan on spending the holidays together, having a Super Doomy, witchy New Year’s Eve.
How can people best support your band?
There is no better support for any artist than word of mouth. If you manage to find something you like in our music, please share it with someone else and spread the word. The Black Circle will be ever grateful to you, as we are also thankful to Doomed Nation for this interview.
Do you have any message for your listeners?
As a closure, we would like to add that creating and enjoying the darker aspects of artistic expression is not meant to glorify negative things in life, but to make us appreciate where we are, what we have and makes us happy, fragile as it may be. We are here for a short time, so surround yourself with good friends and interesting art and try to make the best out of it.
Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well