We recently connected with Kostas Siozos and have shared our conversation below.
Kostas, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
Since day one when I picked up the bass and started jamming with other people. That was summer 2002 back in Arta, Greece. I remember I asked my parents to buy me a bass guitar and soon after that, I was already in a band. The moment we played our very first show, I was that’s it. There’s no turning back, I’m gonna be a musician.
Kostas, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I started playing bass at the age of 16. I was self taught and ten years after I went to a music school. The reason was to master the instrument. There’s nothing wrong of being self taught. A lot of my music idols, are self taught. In my case I wanted to learn how to practice and what to practice, focused. Plus I wanted to know what I’m playing and that helped a lot when I compose music. After that in 2019 I got a scholarship from California College of Music in Pasadena, CA and I moved to Los Angeles. The last four years here I do some session work both live and studio, a started teaching and I’m focusing on my band “Black Kaiser”. I also have a home studio called “The Sound of Doom”, which at the moment I’m only working on my personal stuff, but soon enough I will start helping other musicians to bring their music into life.
I’m really proud of everything I’ve done so far. I sold all of my belongings back in Greece and I moved to LA with 2 basses, a pedalboard, one suitcase, my dreams and goals. I can say, it wasn’t easy. But now that I see the whole picture, I feel awarded. All the patience I’ve done it was for my own good.
Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
I wish I would know more about the music business. For some reason most of the musicians believe that they will be discovered from a major record label and then that’s it. They will be millionaires, release platinum album (or millions streams on Spotify nowadays), do world tours, be famous and all of that in one night. I don’t understand why we are doing that to ourselves, when you can find all the information online. I guess we just heard stories from the past and we believe that’s it, but it’s not. We might be a lite bit lazy as human beings, I don’t know. Anyways I don’t say I wasted my years waiting the big thing come to me, because I was releasing music and keep trying. But I wish to knew more about marketing and management. I mean it’s never to late and I’m glad I started learning a lot of stuff about the music business lately through some online courses and reading books. The information is out there, and we have to see our music/band, as a business. Think what you’ll do if you had a bar? You’ll do and learn everything that you can to have more customers and be successful. Then why you’re doing the opposite with your music brand?
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect of being an artist, is when people love your art. In may case singing my songs, posting them on their social media and saying that my art touched them or help them with any struggle they had. That’s a feeling that I can not describe. It’s so amazing and it makes me so happy, that I forget any problems or struggles I have.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.kostassiozos.com, www.blackkaiserband.com, www.soundofdoom.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kostas_siozos , https://www.instagram.com/blackkaiserband
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kostasiozos , https://www.facebook.com/BlackKaiserBand , https://www.facebook.com/TheSoundOfDoom
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kostas-siozos-680a3315b
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/kostasiozos
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@KostasSiozos , https://www.youtube.com/@BlackKaiserBand
Image Credits
Mathias Fau