Formed in 2011, in Thessaloniki, Greece, MOTHER TURTLE started as a jam band by musicians that were already very active, being involved individually in several other music projects and doing live gigs on a weekly basis. But during those jam sessions, some solid musical ideas were developed and after a lot of rehearsing they evolved into songs. Main influences include the greats of the genre such as progressive rock RUSH, CAMEL, GENESIS, FRANK ZAPPA, MARILLION and many others. The band consists of Kostis HASOPOULOS (bass, backing vocals), Kostas KONSTANTINIDIS (guitar, vocals), George MPALTAS (drums, percussion, backing vocals) and George THEODOROPOULOS (piano, organ, synths, programming). First live gig was under the name HOGWEED in April 2012. The name changed to MOTHER TURTLE a little bit later and since they played various gigs, sharing the stage with fellow bands such as POEM, LAZY AFTERSHOW, 3-FOLD PAIN and also Swedish vintage heavy rockers SIENA ROOT in Athens in April 2013. The first self-titled 7-track album was released on 4th of October 2013 and was recorded, mixed and mastered from February to July 2013 in Sin City Studios, Thessaloniki by sound engineer Kostas Kofinas. The whole album is available for online streaming and digital downloading in their page on Bandcamp. The band mixes successfully elements from symphonic, folk, neo- and heavy progressive with the latter potentially standing out a bit clearer in their influences; they still though remain a band difficult to categorise and come highly recommended.