written by Marko Jakob | 21 June 2022 |
Pix666: Hello Niki and thanks for your time. How are you doing these days?
Niki: Hi! I’m doing very well, actually, because my band has just released a new album and my fellow band mates and I have got big plans.
Pix666: Please introduce your band to the readers in a few short sentences. What kind of music do you make?
Niki: Eufobia is a Bulgarian metal band. So far we have released three full-length albums, one demo album and an EP. We play Death Metal officially, but I don’t think that Eufobia has ever been a typical Death Metal band, because we are not afraid to experiment and this makes the music that we play sound a bit unusual. To understand what I’m trying to say, one must hear our songs with one’s own ears. Our band often shares the stage with world-famous bands and is one of the few Bulgarian bands that tour regularly across Europe.
Pix666: Recently your new album ‚Madness’ was released. How have the reactions been so far?
Niki: Most of the comments have been very positive so far, but it’s not a surprise, because before the release of the album we had played these songs in front of the audience many times and we already knew that the people who came to our concerts liked them very much. Everyone says that this is the best album of Eufobia and I agree.
Pix666: What is the main difference to your previous albums – what steps of development or experiments did you make?
Niki: Our first full-length album “Cup of Mud” was my favorite album of Eufobia until now, but I have to admit that I don’t like our second self-titled album very much because it’s too experimental and because we made a lot of compromises while we recorded it. Because of that the end result wasn’t exactly what we wanted it to be.
For this reason, after we released the album, we decided that we would not accept any compromises in the future. We created the songs for the album “Madness” because we wanted to get back to our roots, but on the other hand we had enough experience back then to make the new songs sound much better than our first songs and that’s exactly the reason why this album sounds so good. Our music had been changing in the past because we were trying to find our own distinctive style, but while we were composing these songs we realized that we had finally found what we had been looking for.
Pix666: Is Eufobia played on the radio in Bulgaria, or how big is the acceptance for metal in your country?
Niki: Yes, of course. Our songs have been played by radio stations not only in Bulgaria, but also all over the world. This week only we talked about the new album on the radio three times. Whether the Bulgarian people accept the metalheads is a complicated question. On one hand there are many metal concerts, many great bands and a real army of loyal metal fans in Bulgaria, but on the other hand metal music is complicated and that’s why some people just can’t understand it. Unfortunately, most of my compatriots are no exception and that’s why the musicians who play metal music in my country don’t get enough respect, even though they deserve recognition.
Pix666: Your video clips have a lot of views on YouTube. Do you look at these statistics and do you know from which parts of the world your listeners and fans come?
Niki: Many people like our videos because they are interesting and look cool. I admit that I rarely analyze the statistics, but I’m pretty sure that most of the people who watch our videos come either from Romania or from Bulgaria, because that’s where most of the people who know and like our band live. Unfortunately, we are still not quite famous in Germany and Austria.
Pix666: How do you create your songs and what are your lyrics about?
Niki: The music comes straight from our hearts. It sounds like a cliché, but that’s the truth. Most of the music was written either by me or by the other guitar player, although the other band members have also given some ideas. I wrote all the lyrics for this album. I usually write lyrics about the things I’m really interested in. Although my main source of inspiration is the life itself, the lyrics of this album were inspired by George Orwell’s novels – ‚Animal Farm‘ and ‚1984‘. I think that the world we live in today is very similar to the dystopia which the writer have described in his books. Wouldn’t you agree?
Pix666: Did the Corona Pandemic influence your way of working and were you allowed to play concerts during the pandemic?
Niki: That goes without saying. We recorded the album “Madness” during the Covid-19 pandemic and it was very difficult for us. Some band members got sick. Luckily they are alright now. We were allowed to play live only in the summer and it was almost impossible to travel abroad. In the last two years we have performed live only in our hometown. We really miss the tours and the friends who come to our concerts. I hope that we’ll soon be able to hit the road again.
Pix666: Do you have any special rituals or habits before you go on stage?
Niki: We don’t have any special rituals before the concerts. We wanted to sacrifice virgins to the devil, but unfortunately it’s almost impossible to find virgins these days.
Pix666: You’ve been on the road with Eufobia for more than ten years now – what have been the most memorable experiences with the band so far?
Niki: In 2018 Eufobia won the Wacken Metal Battle contest and that’s how we got the opportunity to perform on the stage of the Wacken Open Air. This experience changed our lives. Although we had a lot of experience and had gone on many tours, it was only during the festival that we finally understood how the members of a real band should behave and we decided to start doing everything in a professional manner because we finally realized, that the people who supported our band deserved the best and it was our duty to offer it to them. One can say that the album “Madness” was born on the stage of that festival.
Pix666: What do you do when you’re not into music – do you have an interesting job or extraordinary hobbies?
Niki: I am very satisfied with my job. I’m a dentist, but I admit that music is my true vocation. I practiced pentathlon when I was a teenager. Nowadays I practice sport shooting and play airsoft almost every weekend, when I don’t have any concerts with the band.
Pix666: Do you have any other news about Eufobia, that you would like to share with the fans?
Niki: We are people who always look to the future and we’ve got many plans. In summer we’ll give some concerts in Sofia. Next week we’re performing live under the sky in the biggest park of our city. In autumn we’re going on tour in our motherland to promote the new album. We have already planned our next tour in the Balkans, but I don’t want to talk about it, because unfortunately it’s possible to stay at home instead, because nowadays nothing is certain, but despite all the difficulties, we will survive and triumph. I’m absolutely sure about it.
Pix666: Thank you very much for the interesting answers – good luck with the new album and stay healthy!
https://www.facebook.com/Eufobia/
photos © by Victoria Vucheva, Mariyan Tomov & Eufobia
