Georgos "Geo" Pardalos self-bio:

I was born in Bergen, Norway in January of 1992. I'm half greek half norwegian.

I became interested in music and started developing a passion for it very early,

I'd say it was around the age of two. I loved drums and rhythm;

When I was young I would sometimes play on buckets and pans with wooden spoons or such while watching tv. In 1st grade of elementary: the school that I went to didn't have a music class so I didn't get to practice or develop myself musically in school, but I did listen to music a lot of the time on my walkman, and later on, the disc-man.  My family moved a lot so I had to change schools a couple of times, but it wasn't until 2001 when I started going to a school with a proper music class in which I was very committed and excited. It was the same year  that I met and became friends with Eirik Odden who later became my best friend and a fellow musician. In the early 2000's I started listening to various hiphop and rock artists who inspired me to write music of my own.

I was a self-taught drummer and singer since I never got in to any music schools. I even tried getting in to some public ones when I was about thirteen, but the waiting line was too long at the time, so I decided to observe the greats and otherwise teach myself the best I could.        

After being in various projects in elementary,  me and some friends eventually formed a more serious band. It was a Pop-Punk band called BlueGem (formed in 2006). Although my greatest passion was the drums, I didn't have a drum kit of my own until 2006 so before that, we would rent rehearsal rooms that were equipped with more or less a complete backline. After a couple of weeks of practice we had our first gig and made live shows a regular part of the schedule shortly after. In 2008 I got an acoustic guitar and started writing more actively. I always felt like I didn't need anyone's help when it came to writing, so I'd stay away from cover songs and external songwriters. At our first gig we were actually the only band out of 3 or 4 bands that were performing original material. In junior high, we had a proper music class where I learned many useful things and got top grades every year. My teacher would let me come to school early and practice before class. I kept playing pretty much every day and started practicing more regularly with time. Over the years I went on a couple of tours with BlueGem which had become a very active and hard working band; We played as often as possible, booked most of our own shows, released a couple of singles, EP's and music videos and got some radio time along the way. During high school we working on our first serious release in 2010. During that year we had a lot going with the band so I would often leave class for sound checks, shows and photoshoots. We would do as much as we could the DIY-way; meaning designing and printing our own merchandise, online ads, posters and flyers, printing our own CD's, selling them at gigs and in local stores. (In 2015 the band agreed on a hiatus, but to make a comeback in the future). In 2010 I got into producing and session drumming so I started working with various artists and eventually formed some side-projects; some of them I recorded with, others I only played live with. After months of session drumming and side-projects I started getting booked for other kinds of gigs such as musicals, step-in shows & studio sessions. I formed my own record label: Punch-In-The-Face Records and started doing studio collabs more regularly. The reason why I wanted to work with many different artists was that not only would it benefit me as a drummer, to get to play a wide variety of genres, but also because I wanted to help promote local up-and-coming artists with potential that needed to be heard. Occasionally I went to jam sessions to expand my musicality even more. I got to play with all kinds of musicians & genres: Pop, HipHop, RNB, Metal, Electronica, Jazz, blues, funk, latin and of course rock. I got in to a routine of minimum of 1 hour practice every single day, whether it's in the rehearsal room alone, focusing on technique, at a gig, at home on the practice kit or on the go with a practice pad. In 2016 I had the following new years resolution: To get over 700 hours of practice, and that's something I intend to do. I'm currently with various projects. (BlueGem not being one of them at the time since the band is on hiatus). I'm also excited to announce that I've started a solo project that's more a pop and jazz kind of vibe and that will make it's debut in 2016. I guess this whole story can be summed up into a couple of sentences;

 

I love music. It's my greatest passion, and drums are my outlet. My ultimate wish is that I get play and entertain others for as long as I live.