All Hallows Eve

Laurie Cabot – Official Witch of Salem, Massachusetts

The moon on this All Hallows Eve will most certainly appear a different hue as I reflect on the sights and sounds I have tasted over the past month.

Normally, this would be the night little goblins and fairies appeared on my doorstep in the hopes of gathering forbidden treats which are limitless on Halloween.  Instead, I shall have 13 cats and kittens sitting on my stoop in the hopes of acquiring a bellyful of leftovers.

I will miss the festivities of living next door to Salem, Massachusetts … the chill of the autumn air … the leaves falling into massive heaps of gold, red, and orange … and the moon … I’ll miss the chill quivering up my spine as I search for the moon in the sky above.

A full moon on this evening has always brought a little more drama to the flavor of the festivity.  Quick flashes of childhood fears with false images of witches beckoning spirits while hovering over a boiling cauldron of magic.

For the first time ever I won’t be “next door to Salem, home of the witches”.  I’ll be sitting in the land of the gods, gazing at the sky which covers my heritage with the Parthenon only steps away.

Instead of witches and thoughts of the hysteria which swept through the town three hundred years ago, I’ll be wondering how many great-minded philosophers, poets, statesmen, scientists, and mathematicians wandered these exact streets thousands of years ago.

Salem, Massachusetts – Witch Trial

It has been an amazing journey for me, thus far.  I saw not one but TWO shooting stars.  I saw a bat commit suicide as it dove into the sea.  I experienced the “thrill” of a hospital after getting stung by a bee (more on this in my next posting cuz I do have an ax to grind). I’ve also had the opportunity to experience things never imagined.  Within a time span of five days I:

• attended the 10th International Panorama of Independent Filmmakers in Patras, where Vlad the Demon (directed by Michael Pougounas) won the top award in the short-film category.

Vlad the Demon (Directed by Mike Pougounas)

• sat in a recording studio watching the process involved in making a CD (a most amazing event for me — where I also managed to resist the temptation to touch the buttons on the console).
• witnessed the creativity of much-adored artists as they tweaked and fine-tuned songs during rehearsals for an upcoming gig.

And most amazing of all has been the opportunity to finally meet with people I’ve grown to love from afar.  Each soul a true reflection of what I imagined … warmth and smiles overpowering me.

I guess this a good place to end this posting, for if I keep thinking back upon the past month’s events I’ll never get back out into the real world and will continue writing till the end of time.  (I’m beginning to miss my computer and reflections just a tad bit too much right now.)

Sending my wishes for a spectacular weekend to all … and if you happen to be in the neighborhood of Piraeus, be sure to stop in for a sizzling pizza at my favorite restaurant of all:

Further information:

Vlad the Demon:
www.myspace.com/VladTheDemon

10th International Panorama of Independent Filmmakers in Patras:
http://www.independent.gr/english/tainiesShort-films.htm

Laurie Cabot – Official Site:
http://www.lauriecabot.com/About_Laurie.html

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The A.E.TA. Festival – AN Club November 1987

During the mid 80s a number of Athenian underground rock bands formed a sort-of syndicate named A.E.TA. (Independent Movement of Expression). 

Poster of the Festival

The “syndicate” was an idea of an older rocker, Iraklis Triantafyllides, who was once the leader of the Greek prog-rock band Iraklis & H Lernaia Hydra (Gr. Ηρακλής και η Λερναία Υδρα – released 2 albums) and also the owner of a club in Plaka, called Sofita.

A.E.TA.’s main cause was to organize festivals for these bands (which numbered about 25) and to have easier access to local live clubs.  The HQ of this “organisation” was in Asimaki Fotila Street, Nr 4 – Exarhia (downtown Athens), and, for a while, things worked out fine.

The peak of A.E.TA.’s activities was a 4-day festival in AN Club during November 1987.  Every Monday, three bands of the organisation were playing live, whereby the four Mondays of the month were thus covered.

On Monday, the 9th of November, the bill was as follows:

• Slow Motion – A medieval goth band with English and German lyrics.  They released a few albums and are still active nowdays.
• Σκιές (Engl. Shadows, Gr. Skies) – A dark wave band with Greek lyrics.
• Split Image – A band from the island of Corfu which focused on dark wave with English lyrics.  They are now once again active.

Skies and Slow Motion shared Teo Botinis on bass, who later joined the Flowers Of Romance.  Botinis is currently a member of the prog-rock band September.

On the 16th, Panx Romana, Σρίμανση (Engl. Srimansi) and 16 Days were on the bill.  You can read more about Panx Romana on “Baby Steps to A New Era, Vol. 1” (further down below).  Srimansi were formed by Panx Romana’s drummer, Dimitris Dimitrakas, to play covers of well known Greek rock bands. Dimitris Dimitrakas was also hosting a radio show called Rock’n’Roll Boithies (Engl. Rock’n’Roll Help) titled after a Panx Romana song.  He’s been active since the early 80s and has released lots of albums with several bands.

Unfortunately, the dark wave band 16 days never had the chance to record an album, although they were great.  Just by the name alone one can realise they sounded a lot like the Cure.  One of their members, though, Aris Zarakas, later joined the Greek New Wave/Punk band Magic De Spell.

On the 23rd, the new wave band of Scoria opened (they released three albums in total) and were followed by Film Noir on their last show with their singer, Mariela Loukaki.  Film Noir released two albums.

The last band on the bill were the gothic punks The Flowers Of Romance (released 

Pic of The Flowers Of Romance from that night

3 albums, 2 singles, 1 12″ EP, and many participations in compilations in Greece and abroad – article will come for them in the future).  The last song of the night was “Kashmir” sang by Film Noir’s singer Mariela who joined The Flowers Of Romance for that song.  Another thing I have to mention here is that Scoria’s drummer was Albert Levi, the Parthenogenesis’s original drummer.

On the fourth Monday of the festival, Adiafori (Engl. Careless, Gr. Αδιάφοροι) opened and was followed by the electropunk anarchoband of ANTI.  The Blue Jeans ended the show with their classic rock’n’roll style of the 50’s (they released one EP).

Although the festival was successful, A.E.TA. was a short-lived experiment.  The whole thing soon fell apart as each band was trying to act for their own benefit or just got too lazy to make things work.  This festival gave a great opportunity to the Greek audience to get the whole picture about the Greek underground but slowly it fell into oblivion along with some of the bands which took part in it.  All four nights the club was full and the audience enjoyed the shows, but … time did its work.

Thankfully, most of the remaining bands left their mark on the Greek map by releasing albums that would sell several thousand copies.

Most importantly of all, we have to point out the good intentions of Iraklis Triandafyllides who tried so hard to help the Greek underground rock scene by any means possible.

 

Playhouse Gotique Festival

The following received from the Darkedelic Sounds

Playhouse Gotique #4 bands/dj/movie/experiment

Darkened…Playhouse Gotique

split image

…στις 12/13 Δεκεμβρίου 2003, η Cyberdelia Records παρουσίασε για πρώτη φορά το φεστιβάλ Playhouse Gotique στο 8 Δυτικά με τις συμμετοχές ελληνικών συγκροτημάτων της εταιρίας – Past Perfect, Genetic Variation, Nexus -την πρώτη μέρα, και Forkys,Tilbury on Gloves, Dark Runner, Slow Motion τη δεύτερη μέρα.

Ancient tense…Playhouse Gotique N2

…στις 21/22 Σεπτεμβρίου 2007, η Darkedelic Sounds επιστρέφει με το δεύτερο μέρος του φεστιβάλ Playhouse Gotique, στον ΑΕΡΑ της Πετρούπολης – με συμμετοχές και πάλι από ελληνικά συγκροτήματα με αναφορές στον ατμοσφαιρικό, σκοτεινό και πειραματικό ήχο. Clouds by Night, Elysion, Drama Queen, Past Perfect, Urban Sadness Academy, New Zero God (ex-Flowers of Romance,ex-Nexus).

Past tense..Playhouse Gotique n3…

Στις 19/04/08, η Darkedelic Sounds και το Goth. gr συνδιοργάνωσαν το τρίτο φεστιβάλ Playhouse Gotique και το παρουσίασαν στο μέρος απ’ όπου ξεκίνησε, στο Ναό Τέχνης 8 Δυτικά(Λ.Αθηνων 387).

Οι συμμετέχοντες ήταν η ομάδα The Venus Shrine, με το project “Danse Macabre I”, που μας ταξίδεψε στην απαρχή της “σκοτεινής” μουσικής, με ταυτόχρονες βίντεο-προβολές και χορευτική κίνηση, οι newZEROgod, που παρουσίασαν τραγούδια από τον πρώτο επερχόμενο άλμπουμ τους, και οι Split Image, μία μπάντα που, μετά 20 χρόνια, ενεργοποιήθηκε ξανά, για να μας καθηλώσει με τις πολύ όμορφες New Wave μουσικές αναφορές της.

Present tense…Playhouse Gotique n4

28-29 Νοεμβρίου 2008

Midnight Toys,  Herouvim,  Christabel Etheriel, New Zero God, Absent Without Leave,  Split Image

new zero god

special Dj set /video projection: The Venus Shrine

προβολή της βραβευμένης στο 10ο διεθνές πανόραμα ανεξαρτήτων δημιουργών, ταινίας Vlad the demon του Μιχ.Πούγουνα.

Dark Rehearsal Experiments
μουσικοί από τα συγκροτήματα που έχουν εμφανιστεί στο Playhouse Gotique θα ανέβουν στο stage με πειραματική διάθεση για αυτοσχεδιασμό σε γνωστά κομμάτια της σκοτεινής σκηνής.

Be there !!!

το flyer του φεστιβάλ

 

From Ερεβος to Erevos

Nowdays, many years after their final break up, Erevos reached a cult status.
Little is known to their followers about their relationship to Giorgos Tsigkos with whom
they were playing with under the name Rekviem (I am almost sure about the name Rekviem).
One thing that I am sure of, is that Tsigkos left the band to found George Tsigkos kai oi
Mavri Kykli (gr. Γιώργος Τσίγκος και οι Μαύροι Κύκλοι) while the guitar player Michalis Galaios
and the singer/keyboard player Lambros Sfyris found new members and formed Erevos in 1989.
The sound of the band was a mixture of dark wave and psychedelic rock with very melancholic
lyrics written by Galaios giving many times the impression of a new style of rembetiko music.
(They even featured a song titled Rembetiko in this album)
Sfyris’s cheesie vocals followed by his gloomy keyboard lines were dressing the haunting
drum beat and M.Galaios’s brother, George, played the bass guitar.
After a string of gigs the band released their debut LP “Epomeni Mera” (engl. The Day After
 gr. Επόμενη Μέρα) during 1991.
Erevos continued with a line up change as Leonidas Togkas replaced the drummer Markos
Diamandopoulos.
In 1994 the band recorded 6 tracks for their next release, the mini LP “Aimos“,
released during 1995 and had their one and only video, directed by George Kagialedakis (member
of the band “Sonar Blips” and “Rag”).

Erevos – To spiti me ta Paraxena

In 1999, their last album was released, the CD “Anoites Ehthres” (engl. Foolish Hatred gr. Ανόητες Εχθρες)
After that, the band seized to exist.
Sfyris went on working as a sound engineer while M.Galaios joined the band Lost Bodies
as their bass player.
Lately, M. Galaios is working on his new project, “Mavres Komodies” on a more electronic mood.
There is one more CD released, which was remastered by Coti K. (ex Film Noir member) including the two first albums, “Epomeni Mera” and “Aimos” that were only on
vinyl format.

A few more Erevos tracks can be found on several compilations.

to listen more:
Erevos official site

Mavres Komodies

 

Dark wave made in South Of No North

When Charles Bukowski wrote South Of No North, he didn’t know that an Athenian dark wave band would use his title as their name in November of 1983.

 

They had their first gig at Grava’s High School in 1984 with the bands Metro Decay, Villa 21, Yell-O-Yell and Art Of Parties, all label-mates in Creep Records.  Mostly influenced by bands such as Japan, Bauhaus and Joy Division, they covered a dark music spectre which was made obvious by their only video shot in their rehearsing studio (check “Baby Steps To A New Era, Vol. II” featured further down).

 

Their gigs were very rare, considering the existing live clubs of those years, but this didn’t stop Creep Records

Lacrimae Christi

from signing them up to release the first Greek dark wave album in history.  “Lacrimae Christi”, their debut album, and was recorded during September 1984 and was released April 1985.  New wave and dark wave took over in the Greek underground.

 

 

 

 

It was easy to attend to some small gig and see the Headleaders in a bar called “Blue Note” (later called “Masswell”) near Kipseli Square, which was territorial South Of No North’s area.  This bar had one of the first VCRs in Athens, playing music vids of foreign new wave bands.  Punks like the band Ex-Humans were also hanging around.  Actually, Fivos, Ex-Human’s drummer, was also playing with South Of No North, as well.  The band used Edgar Alan Poe’s poem “Anabell Lee” for one of their songs in their second album, “Fell Frozen” (which was the last release of Creep Records).

 

During the following years there were a few changes in their line up as two keyboard players were added, which pushed their style away from the guitar-oriented sound.

 

South Of No North

In 1989 they opened for Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds at Rodon Club and released the album “South Of No North” reaching the peak of their career with their most successful song, “Sha La La”.  One year later they parted ways after a concert with Last Drive and Villa 21.  Their last album, “Rajah”, was released in 1992 featuring material taken from their past albums.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rumor has it that the band had a new album recorded, which was never released.  Later, some of them formed the band Rock Xerox.

 

In 2003 they had a reunion show for the Elfentanz Festival, in Gagarin 205 Club.

Check also: http://www.myspace.com/southofnonortheu 

 

Whispering in Past Perfect

The four piece band, Past Perfect were formed in Athens during December 2000 initialy by the singer B-Abyss

Past Perfect (promo pic 2002)

 (Babis Diakoumeas) and guitar player E-Raptor (Elias Raptis).
The band went through several line-up changes as the two members were trying to find the right musicians to work with.
They started playing cover versions of bands such as Joy Division, Dead Can Dance, The Sisters of Mercy,
Flowers Of Romance and Nick Cave.
Pretty soon it was obvious that they needed to play their own original material so after many gigs in Athens,
they recorded their first 12 tracks.

They released a 6 track demo CD recorded live in 2002 simply titled “Past Perfect” and participated to the “Rock News” CD compilation by the same year.
They reached a cult status thanks to their stage-sound that evolved into a unique dark epic atmosphere,
with loops and sound effects, backed by projections.
On April 2002, the band released their first studio album through Cyberdelia Records
giving us a fresh dark wave sound.
Their theatrical point of view gave a new breath to what we knew so far as greek Gothic Rock
as their debut album, “Whispers of Souls In Silence” was flirting with dark wave and psychedelic music
and the band was soon on the front covers of the Greek music magazines.
They succeeded the radio-hit “If” and gained very nice reviews from the foreign press too (you can read a review of the album in english, here.
“If” found a place in the hearts of the Greek audience and turned out to be the highlight of the band’s live performances.

In 2003, the greek music mag “Rock & Roll” included their song “Land of Trydoubt” (which was recorded live) to its monthly CD compilation.
Past Perfect finaly came closer to the legends of their youth by supporting the english goth band The Mission on April the 18th in Athens.
Right after the show, the band was reached in the backstage by an other legend, this time of the

Whispers of Souls In Silence

 60s, Sky Saxon
(of the american garage band The Seeds) who asked them to join him for some concerts.
While Past Perfect were still recording their second album, they played live on Syros Island during 2007 and by the same year
they performed live on Playhouse Gotique #2 in Athens.
Both B-Abyss and E-Raptor are also members of the band New Zero God while Past Perfect are still active and ready to release a new album.

You can find more here

Official web site here

You can buy their album here

 

Zeitgeist: Addendum

I know many people are interested in watching this one.

So, as Peter Joseph promised about a year ago, he returns with “Zeitgeist: Addendum”, a continuation of his documentary, “Zeitgeist the Movie” (2007).

This time, the film includes conspiracy theories regarding the Federal Reserve System in the United States, the CIA, corporate America and others, concluding with the advocating of the Venus Project,
created by social engineer Jacque Fresco.

The movie premiered at the 5th Annual Artivist Film Festival in Los Angeles, California on October 2, 2008, and was released online for free on October 4, 2008.

For those of you who want to watch it now, here is the link:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7065205277695921912

You can download both “Zeitgeist the Movie” and “Zeitgeist: Addendum” from here:
http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/

Actually, the “Zeitgeist: Addendum” DVD costs about $5 to buy…

Enjoy