Q: Hey, can you tell us a bit about where you come from, and what made you want to start a career in music?
A: I grew up in a small town in Greece for the most part, but my background is quite mixed. We would travel a lot with my family, staying in different parts of the world for small periods of time due to my father’s job. As a child I would sing a lot and memorize whole songs in one listen and that’s what drove my mother to sign me up for music and piano lessons. After my first piano lesson as a kid I made the decision to pursue music, and I never changed my mind since. Music for me is like a vital necessity, I would always have the “itch” if I never pursued it, and I would probably be quite miserable.
I started pursuing a career as a pianist at first, but I always felt that my creative side was not fully expressed. I was performing the works of other composers, which is a great way to build a foundation, but my identity was not entirely represented. I decided to pursue a career as an artist after I did a radio show on my college’s local station. A guy reached out to me wanting to start a project together asking if I could sing and write which I had never done before. This project never happened but I was left with the urge to do this anyway so I bought a small synthesizer and started learning about production so I could write down all of my ideas.
Q: Did you have any formal training, or are you self-taught?
A: A little bit of both I’d say, I have studied European Classical Music in various national and international music schools, and I also studied piano performance in college, so in that sense I have had a formal education in music, however, when it comes to production and songwriting, that’s something I learned and did on my own. I started exploring different parts of myself through electronic music because I needed a change from the competitive reality of a classical pianist.
Q: Who were your first and strongest musical influences, and why the name ‘Maze Cricket’?
A: One of the first albums I listened to as a child, and had a significant emotional and musical impact on me was “Absolution” by Muse. I am also very influenced by Beethoven and Chopin when it comes to how I arrange my instrumentals and melodies, they are two composers I have studied the most as a pianist. Synthpop and Electropop from the 80s are also a huge influence for me, I simply love the era.
The name “Maze” comes from my fascination with the concept of Mazes and Labyrinths, sometimes I feel like we could be easily living inside a Maze-like simulation or Matrix! “Cricket” comes from Buddy Holly’s band, The Crickets – he was a pioneer in so many ways.
Q: You have just released your new single, ‘Blue Orange’. Is there a story behind it?
A: “Blue Orange” is part of a larger story that takes place in my upcoming album “Kink”. As a song it describes a comatose-like state after experiencing loss and two abusive relationships. These circumstances allowed me to have my own awakening in a sense, I became extremely self-aware and started experiencing the world differently. I felt alone for a long time, silenced, and unable to trust, so this song voices the attempt to detach from the pain and see the world through different lenses.
Q: Can we expect a new EP or even an album from you in the near future?
A: Yes! My first full-length album “Kink” is on the way, and I have already put out an EP teasing some tracks. I’m currently working on a French synth pop/dance pop album as well, it’s a project I’m really excited about!
Q: What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?
A: I would say that my music is catchy and repetitive, yet sometimes unpredictable. Although my songs are always different, there is a distinct sound in all of them, a sound that’s spacey and retro but also futuristic. Only time will tell if this hybrid genre will stick with the people, but I have discovered that most people resonate with the concepts of my songs, they always find a piece of themselves somewhere in there.
Q: Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfillment as the amount of work you are putting into it, or are you expecting something more?
A: My music is already achieving something for me that no one else could, it’s teaching me how to love myself, and it has become my best friend in a way. In that sense I get fulfillment each and every day, especially when I’m starting to work on a new song. It’s the best feeling in the world and I feel honored and privileged to be able to experience this process.
I wouldn’t say that I expect more from my music, but I always expect more from myself. There’s always more things to learn, harder work to do, and the reality of a musician feels like a “wheel of fortune” in a way. You can have the best strategy, or all of the resources you need, and still no one can guarantee you a specific result, but that’s what’s so magical about it. This means that if you want to succeed, you can never stop, it’s like an unspoken binding contract, and it’s the closest feeling to immortality while we’re alive for me.
Q: Could you describe your creative processes? How do you usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song?
A: The process of bringing a song to life is really intoxicating. I always feel like someone’s whispering words and melodies to me and there’s this need to document everything right away. Sometimes it gets frustrating, because it never stops and I will get ideas from literally everything around me! When I have my synth and laptop with me I start by layering a “pulse” to the song with chords and kicks to get a sense of rhythm. Afterwards I start doing the whole production, deciding the style of the beat that I’m writing, and also the highs and the lows of the track. Sometimes the lyrics come simultaneously, other times I add them after I’m finished with the instrumental, and I always adjust my lyrics to serve the melodic elements of a song, because there’s so much musicality in words and pronunciation.
Q: What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life or music career so far?
A: I would say that losing my father at a young age has been one of the most difficult things I’ve had to deal with. Around that time I had just started out as a young pianist, so it required an enormous amount of effort from me in order to keep it together in an academic, and rough environment filled with competitive musicians and ruthless professors.
Q: On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your life or music career so far?A: I have had achievements in my career as a pianist, they had been fulfilling at the time, but the moment I felt the most proud was when I wrote my first song, it unlocked everything in me. Suddenly awards, shows, and gigs were not important because I just became part of something bigger! I proved to myself that I could create, and that I could give birth to another world.
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