Paid meet-and-greets have quietly become standard equipment on the modern touring circuit. ROTTING CHRIST vocalist and guitarist Sakis Tolis wants no part of it.
Speaking to Metalgigs.us, the Greek extreme metal veteran was asked where he stands on artists charging fans for enhanced access. His answer left little room for interpretation.
"I'm generally against paid meet-and-greets," he said. "If I've ever made the mistake of taking money for one, I certainly wasn't aware of it, because it would have been the promoter who arranged it without me knowing."
His reasoning is less about economics than about which side of the barrier he still imagines himself standing on. "I'm a fan at heart," Tolis explained. "I like to believe I'm still a romantic in that sense. I try to hold on to something from our era, which has changed so quickly and so dramatically, and hopefully pass at least a few of those values on to the younger generation."
Then came a rare piece of honesty about his own weak spots. "So no, I would never do a paid meet-and-greet. And I probably wouldn't pay for one either. Although I'm not completely sure about that, because there are certain bands I love so much that I might actually do it myself."
"In the end," he added, "I believe that both music and life in general are about what you give and what you receive in return. The way you see life philosophically ultimately determines the way you act."
The practice remains genuinely divisive. Some artists treat VIP packages as a necessary survival mechanism in an era of collapsing recorded-music income. Others reject them as a filter that sorts fans by wallet, or as outright exploitation — bands know perfectly well that young admirers will find the money somehow, frequently their parents' money.
ROTTING CHRIST have earned the right to be picky. Sakis and his brother Themis started the band in Athens in 1987, and in nearly four decades since have released 14 studio albums and played more than 1,300 concerts. The project has moved from grindcore chaos through the founding of the Hellenic black metal sound and into refined gothic territory without ever fully surrendering the blasphemy.
Last December they issued the Blu-ray edition of "35 Years Of Evil Existence - Live In Lycabettus", documenting their first performance at the historic Lycabettus Hill Theater in Athens, where 7,000 people watched a sold-out two-hour set spanning the entire discography.
Source: blabbermouth.net