23rd Underpass interview

23rd Underpass are a success story out of the blue. They made this amazing italo disco track "You'll Never Know" (which I believe was firstly introduced by yours trully, oh yes), they sent it to a label in Netherlands and it sold out immediately. Now, they are one of the hottest new italo/synth-pop bands around and they don't even have an LP out, or a single live performance! Hell yeah. I cannot stop being happy about these guys, their music is so worthy of success. Notice: their first show ever will be @ Plissken Festival this Saturday.

Your single sold out in Netherlands. How did that happen (how did you find the label, do you know if they did sth particular to promote the single, how many copies did it sell)?
Things are much easier abroad than in Greece. All it takes is to have a good material in your hands and something interesting to say with your music. We've just sent our demo to the label in the Netherlands, they listened to it, they loved it and they released it in a 12inch vinyl. Just simple as that! Regarding the promotion I would say that the most powerful tool was the web. Our label managed to sell 1000 copies during the first 2 weeks from the release and another 1000 copies later on just by distributing our single to web record stores and other websites. The single is already sold out and if you check some websites like discogs for example you will see that there are still people in want lists searching for a copy. And that makes us very happy.

Have there been requests for live shows, following the success of the single?

Yes we have some requests for live shows already, but we didn't have, till recently, enough tracks for a full live set.

Are you releasing the single in other countries?

It has been released through web record stores in many countries all over the world. The single did great especially in Spain, Italy, Germany and the Netherlands.

Will you release another single or will be see an album?

Right now we are working on some new stuff for the release of our first full album.

Are you preparing a release for Greece?

We are in the middle of discussions with 2 Greek labels that are interested in what we do. We'll see...

What are we to expect from your live show @ Plissken? Are you preparing any surprises (maybe some covers)?

First of all I would like to say that Plisskën festival believed in us a lot and we are very proud to participate in it. No we won't do any covers. We prefer to present our own music. You can expect a set, that varies from early italo sounds to synth pop. And what we expect is to see people having a great time and dance to our music. And if we make any mistake please forgive us, cause it's our first live show (We feel like a virgin!!! hahaha).