Today we’d like to introduce you to George Miadis.
Hi George, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
I was born in Boston MA but grew up in Athens, Greece. Since I was a kid my love for music led me to learn musical instruments like guitar, piano, oud, and cumbus.
I was 12 when I enrolled the National Conservatorium in Athens for Classical Guitar and Music Theory.
When I reached 16 my guitar teacher asked me to join into his Latin-style musical essemble as a rhythm guitar player and that gave me the opportunity to tour Greece opening up for some of my favorite Greek rock bands.
That’s where I met my electric guitar teacher and Mentor, Yannis Spathas, former member of the 70’s band Socrates.
At the age of 18, I moved to Belgium where I took classical guitar and jazz drums classes for 4 years at the Royal Conservatorium of Gent. During that time, I performed in Belgium, Holland, Germany, and south France clubs, bars, and music festivals.
Coming back to Greece I started performing in Athens nightclubs, playing guitar and singing. I worked with established Greek composers and earned a lot of National TV exposure.
As a side project, I had the rock band “Fair Madchen” writing and performing original English songs.
That’s when the need to control and evolve my sound came into the scene.
My chance to learn more things in sound engineering came when I enrolled as a student in Mediatech Institute (Soundlab) which is located in Dallas TX. My move to the US in 2006 opened up some good opportunities for my profession and my career in music.
I got to work with Tim Kimsey, a Grammy-awarded sound engineer, as his assistant in many studio sessions (Soundlab, Dallas)
At the same time while still a student I started performing at local music venues and bars as a solo acoustic act expanding my network and getting my name out in the Metroplex.
The Byrds tribute band “Back Pages” approached me in 2007. I worked with them until 2009.
Early 2010 opened up new doors for developing new sound and a different way of songwriting. Along with former bandmates, I formed the new band Sonar Lights (http://www.sonarlights.com) and by fall of 2010, we released our self-produced and recorded EP.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Ha! Are you familiar with the AC/DC song “It’s a Long Way to the Top if you wanna Rock ‘n Roll”?? Story of my life!
Never a dull moment when it comes to an artist’s life. Ups and downs. Feeling super confident and then worthless.
Months with full schedule and months that the phone is not ringing…
So far, I have worked mostly in bands. That means you deal with other individuals and whatever comes with it.
Most of the times it’s working quite well but sometimes… Man… It’s traumatizing.
You gotta deal with egos, insecurities, sickness, mental health issues, alcoholism, substance abuse all year long just to make a rehearsal, studio session or a tour happen. And I don’t exclude myself from some of these aspects.
We all have struggles. But I believe that if you want to have a professional approach you need to keep all these outside the studio as much as possible. Your bandmates are NOT your therapist/psychologist/doctor. They are going through their own problems and they won’t be able to help.
Another major struggle that is quite frequent when you write and produce original music is the financial difficulties that everyone goes through in order to create an album, promote it, etc…
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
With my rock band Sonar Lights, I was privileged to tour all across North America and China (in 2013 and 2014), and earn numerous sponsorships by the industry’s top music equipment manufacturers like PRS Guitars, Bogner Amplification, Sterling by Musicman Basses, George L’s, MONO, Trailer Trash Pedalboards, Pigtronix Effect Pedals, Baroni Lab, Clayton guitar picks, Dunlop electronics and Westone in-ear monitors. Lately, Sonar Lights is going through some personnel changes so we are focusing in studio work instead of live performances and touring.
Currently, I am focusing on my recent project Sons of Faust.
Sons of Faust consists of me, George Miadis (writer, performer, producer), and Panagiotis Chatzistefanou (creative director based in Berlin, Germany).
So far, the duo has released two LPs, both on Psychonaut Elite Records: “Τhe Melancholic Sublime” (2020, digital & ltd edition vinyl) and “A Memorable Prophecy” (2021, digital & ltd edition vinyl). At this moment we are in the studio working on the third LP “Vital Delusions” which is expected to be released late 2022.
Sons of Faust make music inspired by obscure soundtracks, ambient dreamscapes, library oddities, experimental rock, and synth-pop; their sound is uchronic, not so much timeless as existing in an idealized time, a recurring moment which commemorates the betrayal between memory and history
Sons of Faust bring a baroque sensibility to the aesthetics of our metaverse era, offering emotional generosity as an audible present.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
What I like best about Fort Worth is that it is still pretty laid back and not as congested as other major cities. The least I like is rush hour and construction traffic.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.facebook.com/SonsOfFaust
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sonsoffaust/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/george.miadis/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiIMJ3WMuKQOGNSEBpaXEKA
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5padag2O39YLUQqawF5039?si=sT-B6TX3RoyX-XrduCNFqw
Image Credits
Ryan Hopkinson
John Hunter
