Photos by Ashley Fay

Peter Chains is kind enough to let us in for an email chat. He leads the four piece band called Giora .It’s a combination of different elements. Say if you are into Metallica, Alice and Chains, Acoustic or Goth Metal then you will like the band. Their stage persona might me dark and mysterious as reflected through the songs but they’re also about having as good laugh, drinking and having a good time.   If you haven’t heard what they sound like check their music site , hear the songs and make friends with them.

What’s the decision behind renaming your band to Giora?

Several reasons: Mike, drummer, left the band due to not being able to commit to its future, and the fact the previous name didn’t suit the sound we are going for. So myself and Eoin felt a name change was only right for the progress of the band. So Gíora was chosen, which is Irish for winter, but with a slight different spelling as to symbolize the difference from us now and before.

How did you guys get together?

Myself and Mike(former drummer) were always in bands together throughout both of our careers. He was in a band with Eoin called Square1 and they had just kicked out their singer and the other guitarist left. Then I joined and it became twilight of harmony (later gíora) lol.

You guys are from Limerick. Tell us more about your town .
Well it’s a riverside city, though a small city in comparison lol. But I’m from a small town called Shannon and Dave the drummer is from another city on the west side called Galway.

How do you guys compose your music? I notice a lot of influences as well as diversity of style in each song. What’s the creative process?

There isn’t really. A lot of the early stuff is written by Eoin and lyrics by myself. The first recording where I sang on I hadn’t even jammed with the band yet lol. The newer stuff you will notice a big difference as to where my writing style comes up and mixes with that of Eoin’s. One of us comes up with a riff and the two of us will make that into a song.

How do you label your music?
Haha we joke about this all the time. Maybe you can answer that for us haha. We go for a dark doomish sound but still keeping the acoustic folky feel of our Irish roots. But we feel we ain’t bound to a genre so we can speed it up for newer songs such as Fragments of a Shattered Mind.. Which is against all the genre guesses we thought we were
I notice bands today cater to shock antics just to draw followers. What’s your stand on this?
Each to their own. We just go up on stage, play our music and talk and joke with the crowd. Bands that have gimmicks(sp) most likely don’t have much to offer on the music side and feel they need to do something crazy or stupid to entertain. But saying that Alice Cooper does nuts stage shows and he is great musically as well.

There are currently four songs on your myspace page that the general public can listen to. What are the thoughts behind these songs.

Well there are currently two up now haha. We are currently recording new stuff that we hope to have done in the next month. The old songs we rushed really rushed so I was never happy with what I did on it.  The songs are to be rerecorded, all except Fallen Angels, which has been turned into and instrumental by Eoin. So different name also which has yet to be decided. But Craven  and Dreamcatcher are getting fixed up and lyrics re-written as to bring them alive and give them true meanings. They were written so fast before that to me they never felt alive, so that’s what I’m doing now with the lyrics and music.

Any videos of the live performances we can expect from You Tube?

One day we will hopefully. I’ve one of myself but known with the band. So we hope to address this in the future.

I notice that the band photos are excellent! Tell us about Ashley Fay, the artist behind making the band look good?

Well Ashley Fay is my wife lol only the best for myself 😛

It’s very handy because she enjoys the music so she’s at the gigs anyways, and we love having our picture taken when playing so its a win win.

But she isn’t normally a band photographer. Her work ranges from the abstract to the obscure; I highly recommend checking it all out for yerselves 🙂

What’s coming up for the band. News? Gigs?

Well as I’ve said we are currently recording. Finally going to have songs like “Walking Away, Social Suicide, Judge” on the site.

We’ve also landed a big gig in the capital city Dublin so we hope this will open a lot more doors for us.

Tell us about the kind of audience that show up during your gigs.

Well at the moment it’s been mainly the same people or friends and a few that are just out for a night of metal lol. Hopefully they get into what we are trying to do.

What’s the state of Irish music these days in your opinion?

Always the music scene in Ireland is alive; it’s just a matter of what’s happening. The acoustic sign is always strong, but atm metal and hard rock is making a massive comeback in the underground. So maybe good timing is on our side: P

After every performance what do you guys do to relax?

Get drunk as being Irish we love to drink.

Do you go to church?

Catholism is the main religion in Ireland, but honestly it’s not as strong as it once was. Most (like myself) are atheist, or agnostic. Though I love the stories used in religion and even use them in songs, there isn’t a shred of me that believes in a magick man in the clouds. People need to soon realize you can’t use religion as a way to pass the blame on their lives and finally just take life for themselves. And move on. Religion is slowly down our progress as a race. And that’s our take on it.

Thoughts to your listeners and future fans?

Enjoy Gíora and give us all your feedback. And we hope to meet ye in the future in a venue near you.

always yours

Peter Chains