Outloud was formed in 2008 featuring Firewind members Bob Katsionis (Keyboards, Guitar) and Mark Cross (Drums). However the band’s history dates back to 2004 in Athens, Greece when young Tony Kash started taking guitar lessons from Bob Katsionis (Firewind, ex-Nightfall). Tony soon appeared to be a kid born to rock and was constantly coming up with some great riffs that led Bob to record those to demos, which turned out to be really good material with catchy tunes.
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A strong melodic voice was soon needed! Bob remembered someone he once met in New York during one of FIREWIND's US tours who seemed to be the right guy. Chandler Mogel (Talon) was contacted and immediately flown in from New York to record at Bob's studio in Greece and in 3 days time the three of them recorded a bunch of songs that even surprised themselves! It seemed that everything was going too well, until one morning a power drop erased all files on Bob’s computer and everything needed to be re-done from scratch! This seemed like a divine sign pointing them to another direction: Cut the crap with the so called "internet project" mentality and get back to basics! Form a REAL ROCK BAND!
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Since Outloud’s Music carries the 80’s “good time philosophy”, their songs are sometimes poppy but also technical, good musicians were needed! Jason Mercury, Tony's best friend was given the position of the bass player, whilst Bob called his band mate veteran skin-beater Mark Cross with who he had been playing with in Firewind for the past 4 years. Mark Cross (Firewind, ex-Helloween, Metalium, Kingdom Come a.o.), was enthused by listening to the material and perfectly fit in the puzzle and also joined the band. Gods seemed to be pleased after all.