IE: What's up guys, I'm guessing there are gonna be a lot of people reading this who may have never heard of My Turn or any other hardcore bands from Greece for that matter. You guys started in 2010. Give us a short rundown on what My Turn is all about both musically and your message.

Apostolis: Hey, thanks for your interest in My Turn. We started out in the summer of 2010 and since then we have released a demo, 2 7"s (one was a split with The Bridge from Serbia) and a full length album. Our 2nd full length is already done and it's gonna be released sooner or later, too. In February 2014 we called it quits for a couple of months, but we came back stronger in the summer of the same year. To be honest, changing members was always a pain in the ass for My Turn but we have managed to overcome this one way or another. Concerning our live history, we have toured a lot the last few years, playing shows almost everywhere in Europe. To quote our Facebook page; “Travelling around to play a show in the middle of nowhere with a shitty sound and a dubious feedback, reuniting with your old friends for a couple of hours, chilling out, meeting new people, spreading out ideas and music, eating junk and crashing at someone’s floor (that you may not know at all) at 4 o’clock in the morning, dirty and tired to death, waking up 6 hours later to start another trip to nowhere, shitfaced but positive… That’s fucking hardcore / punk. That's MY TURN.” Musically, we are influenced by everything when it comes to hardcore /punk and some metal music, while we always try to spread out a positive message and we strongly support that cliché’ “hardcore is not just music” but also raising awareness and caring for each other. 

CLICK ON THE PHOTO BELOW TO LISTEN TO AN EXCLUSIVE NEW TRACK "SHIELD"

IE: Do you guys get around in your own van or do you rent or borrow one? Who is usually the main guy doing the driving?

Apostolis: Nope, unfortunately we don't own a van, we always rent either from different companies based in Europe; usually we work with 1-2 decent ones. We have also toured using just a car without a backline, you can imagine how hard it is… Sometimes we tour with other bands so we rent a van together, so it's most of the times a 9-seater with enough space for a backline and personal stuff. Only 2 of us drive; me (Apostolis) and our drummer Jim. In the beginning we were used to splitting the drives, but during the last tours Jim did almost 2/3 of the driving. I am used to driving because I also work sometimes as a driver for touring bands, but while on tour with my own band I prefer not to… Chillin' in the back seats with a book, some good music and mobile games is much better, if you ask me, haha! When we tour with another band, it is easier because more people drive or we even have a driver.

IE: Who is the DJ when you guys are driving and what kind of stuff can we hear playing in the My Turn mobile?

Apostolis: We all have our share when it comes to choosing music that will accompany our drive. The driver always has the advantage of choosing music first, it's like an unwritten law. The music style depends on our mood and the time of the day. There's a variety of choices from punk/hardcore to metal and from classic rock to ska/reggae and even classical music. Sometimes we even tune in to local radio stations and listen to weird to us languages.

IE: You are working on a brand new self-titled LP that was recorded in Greece but is being mastered in NY. Can you give us some details about it and when will it be out?

Apostolis: Yeah, our new self-titled record is completed. We still don't have a release date, since we are in search of a nice label to put it out, but you can exclusively listen to a brand new song via In Effect while reading this interview!

(CLICK on the album's artwork to the right to listen to an exclusive NEW track "Shield")

The recording and the mixing process took place in Larissa, Greece, at Fabric Studios from mid-June to mid-July, while the mastering was done by Alan Douches in West West Side Music in NY. We got the final results 10 days ago, while the artwork is also ready and was done by our good friend and  tattoo artist Colo Lopez (based in Spain) and edited by our bass player Bill. There are also some guest vocals by our friends Dave from Wolf Down and Alex from Last Hope. The record contains 10 songs, the usual My Turn style, but a little bit harder I have to say… It's influenced by the music we love to listen to and by our everyday lives. The hardcore parts are maybe more than the punk ones, and there's also a lot of 2-step/danceable moments, too. I don't like describing our music, be patient and you'll see!

IE: Every band has their musical influences that kind of shape the band’s sound and style. With you guys I feel that the Gorilla Biscuits were and still are a major influence. What bands do you feel motivated or influenced ALL of you to form this band and play together?

Apostolis: I think that the early years of this band were stigmatized in a good way by bands like Gorilla Biscuits, Youth Of Today, Good Clean Fun, Judge, Slapshot and the like. There were also a lot of early NYHC and So-Cal punk rock parts in our music. All in all these were the styles that the old line up mostly liked. While the years were passing by, our music evolved, while we still maintained this old school positive stuff we started with. We all listen to various styles, from punk rock to 80’s hardcore and from crust to super duper metalcore, but I think that the common ground is hardcore from the 80’s to 10’s, since we all love bands like early Agnostic Front and Madball or Backtrack and Turnstile or Cro-Mags and Judge. I also listen to a lot of straight edge and youth crew hardcore bands and I love the new style that Violent Reaction, The Rival Mob and the like are into nowadays. 

IE: Was it hard finding out about punk and hardcore growing up where you did? How did you find it personally and please tell us about your activity within the Greek hardcore and punk scene outside of this band. 

Apostolis: Of course it was hard, since all of us grew up away from the capital city of Athens, where it's always easier to find anything you want. But after digging deeper, we discovered hardcore and punk. I started listening to Greek punk/hardcore and then metal but in one point of my life, around 17-18, I found out about bands like Madball, Agnostic Front, Strife, Earth Crisis, Pro-Pain, Biohazard, Black Flag etc. and from then the journey into hardcore/punk has no ending! I am active in the scene since the early 00’s, booking shows and tours, publishing fanzines, running a label and a distro (World's Appreciated Kitsch Records and Uprising Hardcore Distro), writing in blogs and websites, DJ-ing and doing everything I can in order to be content by giving back something to this thing I love. The other members of My Turn are also active in other bands, while our bassist runs a label and a distro (check it out, it's called Noise Effect), as well.

IE: My Turn is a straight edge band but you don't push it too hard on people. Are people generally open minded towards the straight edge lifestyle  in Greece? Do they get it or is it more mis-understood?

Apostolis: Nope, we are not a straight edge band anymore. Actually we never were. At one point in 2012 all the My Turn members were straight edge so we were a bit more outspoken about it, we even did a straight edge t-shirt and we have a straight edge related song (“Orange Juice & Punk Rock”). We have also played twice in Edge Days in Berlin, Germany and one time in Novi Sad, Serbia, but none of those times were we a full straight edge band. In the current lineup, I'm the only one that is straight edge. We were always supportive and close to the straight edge lifestyle and that's why many times people believed that we are a straight edge band. All in all, we are pro-choice and we respect each person's way of life, even though not all of us share the same ideals. Straight edge in Greece almost doesn't exist, there are a few people that are edge, but I don't think they are more than 20-30 all over Greece.

IE: Your country has been in the news lately due to a lot of economic problems that affect a lot of people. How have these economic problems effected your personal daily life and is it something that keeps you awake at night?

Apostolis: It's true. Our country suffers from this so called crisis for at least 5 years now. Things are getting worse every year and there's a huge financial problem in almost every working class or middle class family. Rich people are getting richer, so, this crisis is not a problem for them, but an opportunity to expand their income and exploit more and more the working people. That's capitalism, after all, isn't it? The unemployment rates are way too high, with almost 1 and a half million people without a job and a lot of young people working shitty jobs, part-time or 5-month contracts. This situation definitely affects us, since none of the My Turn members work a decent everyday job nowadays. We do work from time to time, either at cafe/bars or working as stage hands at shows or DJ-ing etc. Our guitarist is a sound engineer at local shows, too. We have learned to live with this, even though anxiety is killing us and we are trying hopelessly to find a solution. The band is a big outlet for us and we feel blessed to be able to travel and tour abroad all the time without losing money. But when we get back home we have to live with the unemployment or make plans to leave abroad. Nevertheless, we stay as positive as we can, after all, we are all healthy and we can still have fun and do a lot of things that people in worse situations can't even imagine of doing. Take a look at the third world countries. Check out what's happening in Syria with the war and the millions of refugees that are dying while they try to find a better future. We are still lucky despite of the crisis and all this shit. After all, things are not as bad as the corporate media want to broadcast to the world.

IE: If you had a good friend come to visit your hometown for the first time what kind of things would you show them or do when they got there?

Apostolis: My hometown is Volos, located in the middle of Greece. Me and Stelios (our guitarist live here), while Jim lives in Larissa, a nearby city, and Bill in Thessaloniki, the 2nd biggest city in Greece. Volos is a beautiful small city of 150,000 people and it's by the sea and near a mountain, so you can imagine that the landscape is fabulous. If a friend comes here, I will drive him to the beautiful beaches (in the summer) and the mountain of Pelion (in the winter). There is a lot of places that we can visit, have great food and enjoy a coffee or drink. There is also a lot of things going on when it comes to shows/parties and political related actions. We also have a group of friends called Volos Hardcore Shows, doing shows and parties, so if you come here, you should visit one of our events. Sometimes, living in a small city like Volos is kinda boring, but if you find good things to occupy your time, then everything is easier. Be our guest!

IE: Ok, Apostolis, that's about all I have. In Effect will continue to support My Turn and we wish you the best of luck with the new album. Is there anything else you wanted to add?

Apostolis: Thanks so much for the support, we definitely appreciate it and it's an honor for us to be featured in such a legendary zine. Keep on with the good work! Stay positive and fight the good fight because times are crucial!

NEW TRACK! "Shield" Click below! 

https://myturn.bandcamp.com/album/s-t-lp

https://www.facebook.com/MyTurnHC/timeline