After coming back from Germany, I left with Alexandria on our first tour, as I had promised the rest of the guys. However I didn't want to miss school and we had to tour all around Norway, so we booked ours shows on Fridays and weekends and the whole tour lasted three months. Vivian and Bryan came straight away from Britain and we booked hotels to every city of Norway, reaching even Fredrikstad. It was a good chance for them to travel throughout Norway. Booking hotels was a very easy task, as I'd been used to it, because I would travel with my parents every Christmas all around Europe.
The tour began and we had our own caravan once again, however, because the majority of us were girls, we weren't going as wild as we did with the other guys in Germany. Of course, we had a lot of good time and fun, but things went smoothier. However concerning our live performance, I can't tell that it was the best thing for me. Until we went onstage, I was pacing up and down at the dressing room, having smoked about ten packets. I was completely nervous and I had very weird feelings, because I was going to be at the front, as I was going to sing live. On the other hand our debut album had this doom metal sound and it had something that we could never again find. We had written songs, which lasted about fifteen minutes and while playing those live, you could feel that you are on a completely different universe. It was a sense of having gotten stoned, even though we never did a drug use. I can't explain it precisely, but during long solos that Vivian used to play, I was totally calm and I would keep my eyes closed and, no, I wasn't dreaming of circles spinning around, but I was dreaming of flying or floating in the cosmic infinity. But when the track was loud and rhythmic, then I was headbanging like there's no tomorrow. And when the years went by and we weren't playing such heavy music anymore, I would feel a great nostalgia about those live moments. Furthermore, our band has a trademark and this is incredible: Vivian's guitars. Truly, when she plays a guitar solo, it sounds like an animal screaming and I'm not joking at all. This is usually happening, whenever she keeps a high note for a long time. That sounded splendid combined with uilleann pipes, a few years later. We have asked many professional guitarists and nobody can understand how the hell she's able to make her guitar sound like that. But she claims that this a technique in progressive rock music, as it was also done by Genesis and Gilmour. However I believe that Vivian's playing had something different on it. And finally, I would carry onstage about fifteen synthesizers and, of course, my beloved Hammond Organ.
As I mentioned before, our tour lasted three months and we were performing only on Fridays and weekends. The rest of the time I was studying and discovering new bands. However I was constantly listening to a single album and this was I Robot by Alan Parsons. For some reason, I'd fell in love with it. I would probably listen to it three or four times in a day. I was astonished by the music, of course, but also by the album's topic. Someone might consider it to be something not so special, because of its strong influences by electronic music. However exactly this thing was my paradise and would make me lose myself into it. Furthermore, its topic was interesting enough. It was related to the fact that technology is spreading with such a speed, that in the end it had destructive consequences. As an example, it brought robots, that would finally kill their own creators. It was something like a combination of Blade Runner and the British horror series Black Mirror, but I Robot was released decades before both of those did. And it is true that this specific topic had never really occured to me nor had I ever thought about it. I was a typical social media user and I was also in a way brainwashed by wanting to become famous through the number of my likes in Facebook. Of course, having searched a bit more about this topic, I started watching Black Mirror series, as I mentioned above. However, I found some more 'secrets' about the net. For example, I read about the dark web and the deep web, the dark side of the internet (and indeed Deep Web is the darkest side of the internet), where not all of us can have an access to. Here is where you can find things ranging from Kalashnikov guns and fake IDs to children pornography and human beings being sold and other stuff, which are not necessary to be mentioned here. In the beginning I had a small shock, but after long discussions with Vivian, she was telling me laughing: "Facebook is a necessary evil".
"So you can't even get rid of it", I replied.
"It's too addictive".
Of course the only kind of social media that I would use was solely Facebook and if there's something that I really used to hate, this is Instangram.
Influenced by all this, I'd started writing songs for our next album. Concerning our topic, I didn't want to be exclusively about technology's negative consequences. Anyway, this was a story perfectly told by I Robot, Blade Runner as well as Black Mirror. But I hadn't though of all this that well yet, because we were still on tour. I would only chivvy Vivian and Bryan about Alan Parsons and how awesome he was and what an incredible musician he was and his lyrics were so sexy and I was in general hooked on Alan Parsons. I remember that after a show in Bergen, we'd all gone out to drink some fine wines and I kept on talking about Alan Parsons. In the end, Vivian was obviously in a huff and she said:
"Well, I'm under the impression that the songs for the next album are going to be higly inspired by Alan Parsons!".
I giggled and said: "Oh, what are you talking about? I'm not any of those crazy fans who faint straight after seeing live musicians and want to copy their music at all costs".
"I'm not telling you, you're copying him, darling. I'm only under the impression....that I know the sound of the next album".
"I said, no!", I exclaimed.
"We can bet on it, youngster".
"Yep!", I said. "If my songs have the slightest similarity in your ears with Alan Parsons, I'll video myself playing the accordion and singing USSR anthem and then I'll post in on Facebook"
"Done!"
Indeed, I was feeling inside that I would surely miss the bet, as I was so hooked on Alan Parsons, that my mind was working this way only. And I didn't dare tell Vivian anything of that, because I was afraid that she'd think that I was too narrow-minded.
The tour finished before Easter time. Then, we travelled to Ireland because it was the second time that the Celtic festival would take place and this time also Johanna sang and Monica played violin. After that, we agreed with the band to go and write songs. For some reason, though, I had a strong desire to go and write songs in my island, in Cefalonia, instead of Norway. So I asked my father to hand me over the keys for the summer cottage and the six of us left for the island. Nobody had ever been there, but anybody didn't either ask me why I wanted that specific place. They knew very well that quite often I had my own reasons about every decision I'd take and they would respect it if I just didn't want to talk about it all. However this time nothing was happening. I just knew that inspiration would come easier in my island.
I previously mentioned the fact that our first album was written almost solely by me. I can't say that the same thing happened with this album too. Because this was the first time in the band's history that we wrote words and music all together. Lulu wasn't involved much with music, but more with the rhythm. Dina was writing beautiful songs on the other hand and this was splendid, because our sound was diverse. The whole atmosphere was easy-going, because there was a feeling of togetherness, a cooperation. However, Lydia refused to write, because she was saying she was the singer, so I decided not to mention anything about it. But for me, it had always been difficult to write anything while having others above my head. I needed peace and my own personal space. And this how it would happen. I would write the root of the song and then I would give it to the rest of the guys and we would complete it all together. But if Dina, for example, was writing something, she would do it before and we would work together. Now concerning the lyrics, it was impossible de facto that we would write them all together, as each one of us had a topic in their mind.
As I referred the topic, the second album would follow in a way the same pattern that Endless Quest did. However our debut album was merely related to searching and life. This album wasn't going to be that philosophical, but more of a practical nature. We would wake up very early in the morning: 8 o'clock at least. Vivian is a morning person and the same goes with me, so the rest of the guys were compatible to that or they would wake up because of the noise that we did. We were making coffee and before we would start working, we would discuss about several topics related to the world and anything happening around us. This gave us food for thought and in a way influenced the lyrics that we would write.
Also we were living on a decade, where popular science books and political/social philosophy books were sold everywhere and in outrageously low prices. I used to go and buy such books very often, because they would put into thoughts about the reality. Thus, the lyrics of our songs were related to the dangers existing in the world: on the one hand dangers caused by the internet and the misuse of technology and on the other hand dangers caused by the lack of critical thinking and by the acceptance of 'facts', only based on faith and emotions. Furthermore, we were talking about how people can get rid of superstition through education, the real essence of science, but reality itself too. Some songs were obviously ironical, because I was personally inspired by specific incidents in Greece, for example some nationalist demonstrations and complainments about the disestablishment of morning praying in schools. Of course, these were very delicate issues, and even though Norway was a rather secular country, in such a religious country, like Ireland (were until recently abortion was an illegal matter), I really doubted whether such an album would be acceptable. However we had always been supporters of truth and reality and this is how we wanted to start our career -- showing that we weren't fake nor hypocrites and that we weren't doing anything just for money.
One morning, while we were still on the island, I went out for a walk. Then, my mum called me on my phone, saying "Congratulations!"
"About what?", I asked fully ignorant.
"For...for your album. It's Number 10 on the charts".
Then, I instantly thought WHAT? but I didn't have time to think too much about it, because I had instantly a call by Josh from Australia, who wanted to congratulate us too. The truth was that this morning I actually intended to go at the neighbour's house to buy two eggs to have for breakfast. However, instead of that, I ended up walking for about three hours, having reached the next village on foot, with my hands behind my head thinking: Oh dear, what have I done? What have I done? After coming back home, the others were asking: "Ingrid, you just went out to buy some eggs. Where have you been for three hours?"
"Endless Quest is on the charts", I exclaimed in a complaining and a desperate tone.
"Yeah", Dina said smiling widely. "Isn't this awesome?"
I was only looking at her for a while, but then I shrugged my shoulders, pretending I didn't care. Of course, I was happy that our efforts had been fruitful. What is more, I couldn't view this as a competition, but I was thinking that there were also other people out there, who could understand how we felt and would also agree with our opinions. However, only by thinking that we were going to be at the front, not only would scare me to hell, but I would get in a sweat and have a rapid heartbeat. I wanted to have my own life and all those wild interests and not be forced to compromise, as I was going to have another life. The rest of the band were in seventh heaven and had dreams about their future, as if they were going to be Hollywood stars. I was rather sceptical with that. Of course, I was overexcited with how things ended up. Who could have expected that an album written by a bunch of fifteen-year old kids would have reached number 10 in the charts? But I didn't want to get ahead of myself, because I'm a really modest person. And, of course, I didn't want to end up like all these rock stars. I wanted to have my own life and privacy. I didn't care at all about having money and fans and instead had no personal life. Far from that, I had a little bit of pride, when Josh told me he had become our biggest fan ever.
A few days after Easter, I returned to Norway along with Lulu, Dina and Lydia. Then, I started studying again for school, because the following year I had to sit for the University exams. However, one evening, I had a phone call by my bestie, Ivanna, who was then 23, and told me ethusiastically:
"Ingrid, guess what! I'm getting married!"
"What? Are you joking?"
"Not at all! I'm marrying to an Irish guy, Doug, who's playing the guitar in a progressive rock band, Lunar Mission".
"But this is splendid!"
"I know", she said and her enthusiasm was obvious. "Well, could you sing at my wedding?"
In the beginning, I thought a little bit about it, but in the end, I just said: "Of course!"
The rest of this story is a complete joke. Because I told Vivian about Ivanna's news.
"Doug from Lunar Mission?", she exclaimed.
"Do you know him?", I asked.
"We've played music together in the past. He was that guy, that you saw playing with me the first time that we met, in 2006".
"Is that the guy that Ivanna is marrying to?", I screamed.
"This is what I'm trying to tell you. He's a friend of Bryan's too".
Well, life is a local affair after all. A few days later, I travelled to Karasjok in the wedding and I sang for Ivanna playing the piano as well and also Bryan came along with, who was playing the guitar. Ivanna was one of the most beautiful brides I'd ever seen. And Doug had very long hair, which had nothing to do with some metalheads who had slick hair with split ends. Doug looked like a 1970s rock musician.
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