Finding Stylianos Tsiritas

It was propably about five or six years ago when I was paying a visit to a friend of mine.
While we were having a coffee he took a look at his watch and said “damn, I am so late.
“I am going to a gig tonight”.
I asked him, what is all about.
He told me its about ”a  Japanese band called Soto.”
I said I never heared of them and he replied that it is a noise/experimental Japanese band that
is always performing live wearing ceremonial masks.
“The rumor has it”  he said,  ”they are members of the national Olympic team of Japan or Japanese embassadors…”

The news were all around Athens.
“Soto will play live at the Small Music Theater club…”
People were sending this message to each other by sms.

That night, the club was full of people.
Soto CDrs were sold at the entrance like hot chocolate coockies.
The band went on stage (always wearing their ceremonial masks) and performed their best noise stuff…
The audience went crazy.
They found it superb.

When the played their last tune of the playlist, they surprised everyone by taking off their masks.
That wasn’t any japanese band.
That was Stylianos Tsiritas and his band, Kopsokefali (engl. Cut heads ελλ. κοψωκέφαλοι).

Well, the prankster, Tsiritas, is a well known musician of the Greek underground.
He stated that he did it to show to the audience that “they attend to any foreign band without having a clue
about the band but they would never attend to a Greek band’s gig”.
I found it amazingly clever.
It was true and it was funny…

Stylianos Tsiritas

Tsiritas released a solo CD album titled “Ktiriologia” that would easily fit within your record collection next to a Nurse With Wound or some Residents’s album.
His band, Kopsokefali, supported (a real Japanese band this time…) Acid Mothers Temple in Athens.
Kopsokefali released a DIY CD full of noise/experimental avant garde rock’n'roll.
Members of this band were also members of the bands Postblue and Bayouda.

Tsiritas was also responsible for the compilation Civil Cinder Regalia – the AKOI series
where he participated with an other project of his, Trypanosoma.

Trypanosoma

Trypanosoma was actualy a duet, Stylianos Tsiritas and former member of Kopsokefali, Makis Papasimakopoulos. They were formed in 2004 and were influenced by Alan Vega.
By the same year, they supported Lydia Lunch in Athens.

Here is a video taken from a Party at the small music theatre- last season jam .2/07/08. The following musicians are performing: Anastasis Grivas (Owner of the club), Nikos Veliotis, Coti K, Thanos (Lost Bodies),
Celina Lage, Ilan Manouach, Meca-Orga, Stelios Tziritas and Joe Turnabene.