A few days before Blaze Bayley's tour in our country, we found the opportunity to talk with the singer and guitarist of Absolva, Chris Appleton, the band that has been by Blaze's side for many years.
Please feel free to introduce yourself and the band Absolva.
Hello, thank you so much for having me. My name is “Christopher Appleton”. I am the lead guitarist and singer of British Heavy Metal band ‘ABSOLVA’.
The band along with myself is my brother ‘Luke Appleton” guitar & backing vocals, “Martin Mcnee” on drums and “Karl Schramm” on bass guitar.
We are Absolva and we are now celebrating our 10th Anniversary. With 6 studio albums and 2 live albums.
‘ABSOLVA' will be the special guests for ‘BLAZE BAYLEY’ on the upcoming ’Tour Of Greece’ in November 2022.
How's collaborating, both studio and touring with one of the three singers of Iron Maiden, the kind Blaze Bayley?
I have been working with Blaze for around 9 years as his guitar player and song-writing partner & also within the management team, I book the tour dates and shows.
I have known Blaze for a lot longer, I used to tour as Blaze’s support band for many years in my previous band ‘Fury UK’.
It has been a great journey with Blaze and we trust each other so much. We have a great working relationship & understanding.
Forthcoming tour in Greece is vast. What's your relationship with the Greek fans?
The Greek Fans are some of the best in the world. Their passion and enthusiasm for the music is amazing.
The first time I toured Greece many years ago was really cool, and opened my eyes to the great history and culture.
I have since returned to Greece many times over the years and it always excites me to come back.
This tour will be great for Absolva. We have many fans that have waited a long time to see us. It will be a great!
Last visit you did was in 2022, Chania Rock Festival in Crete. How did that go?
It was fantastic. We were already booked to play Crete with Blaze the Iron Maiden Anniversary setlist.
But then as we arrived we heard the news that ‘Phil Campbell’ of Motorhead was unable to play as his flights were cancelled from London to Chania.
The organizer’s asked ‘Absolva’ to perform the slot before Blaze, which we had been doing multiple times over the Summer season.
I get very excited by these ‘short notice’ concerts. We performed a great set and there are now many videos from the festival which is great to see.
How difficult is it to concentrate on playing two different concerts in one night?
It is fine. Absolva, I am the singer and guitarist. With Blaze I am the guitarist.
Singing is the biggest concentration for 2 concerts. So after the Absolva set I can relax and play guitar in the Blaze set.
And Blaze takes control of the singing duties.
10 years of existence, new release: Fire in the Sky. What's the feedback you're receiving?
The feedback from the fans is incredible. Our fans that have been with us for many years say it is our best album.
But the great thing is, we have new fans discovering us, and say “wow, this band is seriously good”. Which is a great compliment for us.
What's coming next for Absolva?
More Touring. We have 6 studio albums and 2 live albums from over 10 years of hard work.
But we want to discover new fans and play more countries and more live shows.
Even though we are one of the hardest working bands in Europe and completely independent.
We set up our own record label, release our own albums and work our own webshop.
We still feel that there are more people out there, and we want them to hear our music.
And we love playing our music.
Please add anything like to the Greek fans of Absolva and Blaze Bayley.
Thankyou so much for all your support for Absolva over the years.
And I am so very much looking forward to seeing you all out there on the tour of Greece this November.
Thankyou very much. And remember…….. ABSOLVA!!!
Cheers
Chris Appleton
Thank you for your time and support.
Learn more about the band here: https://www.absolva.com
Check out their videos on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Absolva
Listen to their music on spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1RFTDShkhxwkTiE5Mj...
and buy their releases on amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=absolva&i=digital-mus...
