We had the good fortune of connecting with Kostas Siozos and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kostas, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
If you don’t like to risk, you better stay home. That’s all. Do you wanna be success-full? Then you better risk. In my life, I risk all the time. I am where I am, because of that. When I was 23 years old, I took the risk to open a bar in my hometown in Greece with literally zero money. Bank loans & checks. Ten years later, I sold everything to move to Los Angeles. Do you know what I was hearing? Where are you going, your business is great, why you risk everything for a dream? Because life is simple. I know what I want and I’m not afraid to follow my dreams. That keeps me alive.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?

I am a professional musician and specifically a bass player. Since I came to LA, I’ve been playing with some local rock bands. My main two were Electric Revival & Lit Soul. Right now I am focusing on my own band, called “Black Kaiser”, which is a hybrid of Black Sabbath & Tool. Hopefully in the next couple of month my first EP will be released and maybe an album by the end of the year. Follow “Black Kaiser” on social media & be the first to learn about everything new. Some other stuff I do are: session recordings, bass lessons & I am trying to be more active into the music production. Finally during quarantine I started my own T-Shirt brand, called Suicide Nation & you can find them on Etsy.com .
I would also like to add a few words about my journey so far, because we live in strange times & they might help some of the readers. Since the first time I picked up the bass, I knew that this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I was self taught and ten years later I decided to go to a music school. That was a game changer, because my teacher was great and I’ve never found someone else with the same music knowledge. By that time I was touring in Greece with my rock band “Heritage” and it wasn’t easy at all. There were times I was thinking to quit music, when I had to manage the bar, being on the road, recording albums & plus my personal life. But thanks god I didn’t. Everyone thought I was only partying, but after all these years (closed in my room practicing) I ended up having two music degrees with scholarships & one on sound engineering. So, my journey so far taught me to be patient, sometimes you need to practice a little bit more and never give up. You are where you are, because that’s where you suppose to be. I don’t know if you believe in the universe or god, but you have to trust them. Then follow your heart & you will be a winner.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
The place I most love in LA, is Venice beach. I don’t know if that is because of the movies but I like the vibe there. So we would start with a coffee, walk at the beach next to the skate park & Venice canals. Then lunch at Mercedes and finally go back to Hollywood & the Sunset strip. We would go to some live shows at the Whisky A Go Go, Roxy or Viper room and then pizza at Lemmy’s (Motorhead) favorite bar, Rainbow Bar & Grill. Other places would be the old Pasadena, Malibu beach, Santa Monica’s pier, some rooftop bars & the last Bookstore in DowntownLA, the Catalina Jazz bar in Hollywood, the Griffin Observatory & hike to Hollywood sign, the Grove, Hollywood’s walk of fame & Universal studios.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
First of all, I don’t know what I would have done without my family. My parents & my sisters are the best. They support me & they are there for me all the time. Then I would like to thanks my music teacher in Greece, Vangelis Boulouhtsis. He taught me everything I know about music. My good friend, Angelos Floros. He gave me my first Metallica record, which changed my life for ever. My friend Dimitris Balafas, because he helped me a lot of times when I needed it. Chris Chiras, because he introduced me to different kinds of music. Robin Sharma’s “The Monk” series books, Ronda Byrne’s “The Secret” books & Charles Bukowski’s books. Every time I read them, they make me a better person.

Website: www.kostassiozos.com & www.blackkaiserband.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kostas_siozos/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kostas-siozos-680a3315b/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kostasiozos

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kostasiozos

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/KostasSiozos

Other: My linktree https://linktr.ee/kostassiozos My T-Shirt Etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/SuicideNationDesigns?ref=profile_header

Image Credits
Mathias Fau, Jack Lue, Costas Petalas, Andreas Nikolakakis, Chris Kissadjekian

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