- Hi, Jeronimas! Congratulation for you with winning Lithuanian ticket for Eurovision song contest 2008. What are your feelings now?
- Hello! Thanks, I'm doing great, working hard almost every single day and I'm really looking forward going to Belgrade.

- How did you take decision to enter national Lithuanian preselection? Was it difficult for you to decide to enter as your style is not really style of Eurovision?
- Actually, the idea of participating in this contest was not mine! :) My colleague and friend Vytautas Dishkevicius (the song composer and the keyboard in our band) offered me to do so. He said, that he always wanted to write some rock-musical ballad for Eurovision contest and he wants to try this year. I knew the style of music Vytautas writes for is own musical projects, so I trusted him and agreed without doubts. When a half year passed and he told me, that he nearlly finished the song and it was the time I had to keep my promise and sing it. It was not easy entering national Lithuanian preselection for me, as I came to the pop music stage, where, no matter the fact I sang a rock song, I felt quite unconfortable and worried, how my bands fans and all the Lithuanian metal underground would react. Singing solo, without my team behind my back, was also something new and different, that I didn't actually enjoyed. Anyway, after winning in Lithuania I got nowhere to run and now, when some time has passed, I can say that participating in this contest already brought some benefit to me and my band.   

- What is your general aim for Eurovision Song Contest this year?
- I prefer to do everything step by step, this is why my first aim is to get to the finals.

- How can you describe your song in one phrase?
- It's a rock-musical ballad about two lonely souls in the night and the connection between them which is the only source of their strenght.

- The song is very different to what you're doing in your band, do they support you in Eurovision project?
- I feel the support from my band members and other Lithuanian metal bands, thats the most important for me. We had a long (for more than a year) pause in our bands' activity and now we're back together, with few changes in our team and a new band name "SOUL STEALER" . This spring we have signed a contract with the publishing company "Ledo Takas records" and in this April our self-titled debut album, recorded in 2006 December, shows up! I will surely give one to you, if we meet in Belgrade!

- You've taken a decision to sing in English at the contest, do you plan to record other language versions of the entry?
- Unfortunately or not, we don't have such plans:)

- Are you planning something special for Belgrade stage or will your presentation be pretty similar to Lithuanian final? Will you be alone on stage, or accompanied by band, backing singer/dancers?
- It will be pretty similar to Lithuanian final: where will be only two of us - me and the Moon. My team has some ideas from the technical side, bus the conception of the performance stays more or less the same.

- Do you have any plans to film music video for your song?
- This question is still on the consideration.

- What statement do you support: "There is need to bring more rock to Eurovision" or "Rock musicians should stay clear of the contest, perhaps organizing own rock contest"?
-  It would be awesome if we would have such rock contest! But still, while we don't have it, every artist paticipating in Eurovision contest sets his own song "format". If I think, that a heavy metal song is suitable for this contest, I go and sing it and no-one has a right to say that it doesn't suit. If my country chooses me or anyone else to represent it with a rock song, I am proud for Lithuanian people whos musical preception starts growing. 

- Do you agree with the statement: "Eurovision is not the fight between x, y, and z bands, but a battle between two sides: Underground quality music and the plastic mainstream stars"?
- I do agree. People are tired from all the synthetic, cheap shit and they try to turn all this contest into a joke.

- Do you plan to listen to other competing entries, or you have no interest in it?
- I've listened to only few other competitive entries and I have only two favourite performers at the moment: Finland and Azerbaijan! Both countries have elected guys who ROCKS! And I really hope we'll make some kind of a rock union in backstage out there in Belgrade, and later maybe make some heavy metal tours together. 

- Let's speak a bit about your career? What do you consider as your career highlight?
- I honestly hope that the highlight is in the near future. My dream is to do gigs with my band across all the world in different open airs and the future will show it's teeth.

- Can you name your music influences?
- Metallica, Bruce Dickinson, Aria, Judas Priest, Manowar, Kamelot, Rob Rock, Dio.

- Do you plan to continue working solo?
- I am a "band musician", I always wanted to be a band member and all my rock music filled heart  is with the band.  The energy on the stage that all the band gives to the audience is much more powerfull and stronger, comparing it with performing alone.

- What are your top 3 world albums of 2007 in any genre in your opinion?
- It's too difficult to name top 3, as there are too many interesting genres and albums each year:) 

- Do you think it is possible to create metal music and live on the income from it?
- I do. There are many world-wide known metal bands that live on the income from the gigs. The main goal is to become such band and it requires a hell a lot of a work and time.

- If you were invited by some rich producer to form own project and you were given unlimited money for expenses and full freedom of creativity. What will be the music you record, will it be same as Soul Stealer, or perhaps similar to your Eurovision entry? And whom of international musicians you could invite as guests to this project?
-  I would record similar music we're playing with the band - heavy/power metal. With unlimited amount of money I could choose almost any international musician and it would take a lot of time to make a list, so I would try to make it now :)  

- What do you think about present Lithuanian metal music scene? Are new metal bands appearing there?
- Unfortunately, our situation in Lithuanian metal music scene is quite poor. That is all because our youth doesn't get any support from the goverment and all the instruments and rehearsal places' rent are quite expensive - only working ones, or ones with rich parents can afford it. Infact, rock music is a real underground in Lithuania, as we have only few rock open airs here, and even less rock music radio programmes. However, the situation is getting better and some new metal bands do appear time after time. We have only 5-6 heavy metal bands, as death, black, folk metal, or grind is more popular here, so we are trying to hold the front organizing some metal festivals in biggest towns regularly. 

- Today some people say about crisis of most of the metal genres, that there is absolutely no new developments, tendencies? Do you think it is correct, and do you think there should new changes in the style to develop it?
- I couldn't say so, as there are few genres of metal wicth are developing quite rapidly, for example nu-metal or progressive metal. Anyways, everything goes in circles - passing and returning after some time, the same as in our clothing fashions same in music, but always a bit differently. It's not easy to invent a bicycle again, but every musician tries to create something unique successfully or not.

- And finally if you have some message to leave to our website visitors, you can do it now.
- I believe there are much more rock/metal fans in all wide world than we can imagine, so lets make the true music equal with the one, that is called "the format" today. One for all and all for one. Kazakhstan, stay heavy! \m/

- Thanks for the interview, good luck with preparations and see you in Belgrade!
- Thank You! It was my pleasure ;) 

 http://www.myspace.com/soulstealerband