Two shows were taking place in Athens on this warm, early summer Saturday night. One was a grindcore show at the basement of Kallidromiou social center and the other one was an outdoor rock n roll show in a public square. I choose to go to the latest since I didn’t want to put myself in the hot basement on this weather and also because I needed some old fashion punk rock fun. When I arrived at the main square of Halandri, Teenheat had already started. A few hundreds of people had arrived but they were mostly talking and hanging out, not paying much attention to the band. Teenheat are well known for their Ramones like rock n roll which in my opinion they play really good but unfortunately the crowd didn’t seem too enthusiastic about it. Teenheat was the only Athenian band on the list and the next two bands to follow are from Thessalonica and I’d never seen them live before. So the following band to play was Χατ Τρικ [Hat Trick] and as they started it was made clear that it was going to be a hell of a night. Get-off-your-ass-and-start-dancing punk n roll and immediately the area in front of the band was set on fire. Kids were dancing and singing along, beers were flying around and kick ass tunes filled the air. The band has lots of energy and it’s passed on to the crowd. After an amazing set it was time for the last band Oldschool Rednex to start since there wasn’t much time left. They play the same kind of catchy punk rock as Hat Trick, with also catchy lyrics in greek (again just like Hat Trick) and very fun songs. The crowd didn’t go as crazy as before but still there was much dancing and crowd surfing. The gig ended just a little after midnight, since it was taking place in a public space and there is a midnight curfew for such events. Here are some last points: The gig took place in front of a branch of the national bank of greece and it was the background, behind the band. Since it was in the main square and around there are many bars and cafes, many people just stood and stare for a while but unfortunately they left quickly, let’s hope that next time they’ll stay more. Unfortunately the small “distro” didn’t carry the Hat Trick’s cd but I’ll have to get it on the first chance. The show was diy, without an entrance fee and to pay for the equipment and the bands’ transport costs, beers were sold by the organizers (as always) but unfortunately, there were still people going and buy their beers from the nearby shops (again as always). Let’s hope that someday soon this will stop. Overall, it was a night of great fun.
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Posts Tagged ‘Athens’
Teenheat, Χατ Τρικ [Hat Trick], Oldschool Rednex – 24/05/2008 – Halandri square, Athens
Hjerte Stop, Social Despair – 15/02/07 – Underground at Kalidromiou Street 94, Athens
Although I don’t really like Hjerte Stop and had never listened to Social Despair before, I headed to the underground social center that this gig was taking place. The gig was supposed to start at 9 which of course didn’t because the venue was empty so I had a lot of time to hang. After an hour or so people have started to gather but the place was not packed and the atmosphere was very pleasant. At around 10.15 the “locals” Social Despair hit the “stage”. The played a good set of short and fast songs of the thrash/crossover style that they do. Apart from their songs they did some covers of classics like SOD, Dead Kennedys, GBH and Motorhead if I remember correctly. Afterwards Hjerte Stop got on “stage” and even before they warm up the people, they started making sex jokes about the greeks and anal sex and were prompting people to have anal sex in order to get free t-shirts from them. Well I’m sorry but I was not very amused by this kind of jokes and when I go to a punk/diy gig, I expect the band to have something more to say than doing dirty jokes. Unfortunately for yet another time the fact that even if you’re a hardcore punk, living on welfare and staying in a squat does not mean you are politically or socially active was confirmed. I’m not here to judge those who act like this but in my world and in my opinion, punk is not (just) getting wasted to have a good time. Anyhow, as I said I didn’t really like the band from what I’ve heard from their studio work but their set was ok and although I was a bit pissed, I wasn’t bored. Fast punk rock with touches of hardcore is what they do.
Χάσμα [Hasma], Βαλπουργία Νύχτα [Walpurgis Night, Valpourgia Nihta], Kill the Cat, Avgrund Livet – 17/03/07 – Villa Amalias, Athens
This gig was part of the celebrations for the 17th birthday of the Athenian squat. I arrived pretty early so I had enough time to hang out before the gig started and to look through the squat’s distro and bookshop. A lot of people have gathered due to the occasion but it took a lot of time for the gig to start. After a couple hours of waiting, Βαλπουργία Νύχτα [Valpourgia Nihta] got on stage. It was the first time I saw them live after the addition of violin and I must say that their sound was excellent and they gave a very good show. Next band on stage was the unnamed one [the now finally have a name: Avgrund Livet]. I was waiting for a long time to see them live since I’ve heard very good things about them it was verified. They play a mix of From Ashes Rise, Kylesa and the like hardcore and they really blew me away. I can’t wait for a release. Next to play were Χάσμα [Hasma], the highlight of the evening for many, since it is considered as the most popular DIY band in Greece at the moment. Their show was amazing as always. They majority of the people was dancing and singing and almost everybody knew the lyrics word by word. The atmosphere was very beautiful and the band was active and cheerful. During the set of Hasma, the gig space was packed, since I everybody who was hanging outside came in. The last band to play were Kill the Cat, the only ska band of the bill to play. Most of the people who came in for Hasma went outside again so they had to start their set with only a smaller number of people. But after a few songs people started to getting back in and soon the place was full again. Kill the Cat were very cheerful and delightful. They played the songs from their new ep played games with the audience and everybody had a great time and a lot of dancing. After the show, various members from the bands and also people from the crowd got on stage and jammed live. They played covers of favorite greek punk songs and although they fucked up in most of them it was much fun for everybody. I left around 3.15 because I was exhausted but as I later found out, they continued to play until 4 in the morning. It was a great night, not only due to the bands that played but also because of the great atmosphere and people’s participation.
Ωχρά Σπειροχαίτη [Ohra Speiroheti], Μαύρακόρντα [Mavrakornta], Incognita Sperans – 23/03/07 – Thisio Square, Athens
This gig was organized in solidarity to and for the financial aid of the arrested for the clashes that took place at student’s march in March 8th on Athens. Unfortunately I arrived late at the place so I completely missed Incognita Sperans and half of the Μαύρακόρντα [Mavrakornta]’s set. It’s hard to describe the music style that they play. It’s a mix of rock, punk, traditional greek music and more with social and political lyrics. The sound of Ωχρά Σπειροχαίτη [Ohra Speiroheti] is very similar and both bands gave nice sets. I am not going to focus on the music side of the event because I think that the cause was more important. It was co-organized by a big number of collectives in order to get as much people as possible. It took place in an open space, in the centre of the city in a place and time that there were many passers by which were informed about the event’s cause and flyers were handed out and there were boxes for the financial contribution of the arrested ones. The attendance was pretty good, a lot of people showed up. During the gig there were many references from the bands about issues like the arrests, police brutality and the army and the crowd shouted slogans against the state, the army and in solidarity to the many people that are kept in prisons, hostages from the state. The event finished at midnight that there was a lot of people stayed and hang out for many more hours.
Wasted UTD, The Shocking Pills – 29/03/07 – After Dark Bar, Athens
Although I prefer to go to shows that take place in social spaces, open spaces and squats, an old friend of mine played his first gig so I went to see his band. After a couple of hours of waiting for the soundchecks and the for the place to get full, The Shocking Pills started the show. They played a small set, since they are a new band, only 4 songs that they have and 4 covers including Too Drunk to Fuck by the Dead Kennedys. Old school punk with ska influences is what they do and their sound was pretty good although they have a new lineup they did pretty well. Wasted UTD got on stage after a while. Wasted UTD have been playing together for 10 years, so they were more “professional”. They play a mix of Oi and ska, not exactly my style but I still enjoyed their set. Lots of skinheads and mods have arrived to watch them play and everyone seemed to have a good time.
2006 Retrospect of the Greek punk/hardcore scene
The past year was fairly good, regarding the punk/hardcore scene in Greece. This is a small retrospect of 2006.Gig-wise I must say that it was a great year. More than 120 punk/underground/diy gigs took place, the mass majority of which in Athens, Salonica, Kavala and fewer in Patras. These are the cities with the most active gig promotion collectives. Great part of the gigs in Athens are due to the new formed KS94 team that sets up gigs in the Underground at Kalidromiou Street 94 infoshop. Many gigs took also place Villa Amalias squat which has been organizing and hosting shows since 1990. In Salonica, Steki at Viologiko and Street Attack hosted most of the gigs, in the small city of Kavala, Accion Mutante was very active and hosted most of the foreign bands that visited Greece and finally in Patras, Porto Patrasso was responsible for most of the shows in the city. Apart from the collectives mentioned above that organize their gigs in squats and social centers, there were other promoters that organized gigs in free spaces or small clubs.
Some of the foreign bands that played this year in Greece were: Fractura, Ghost Mice, Leadershit, I Object, The Now-Denial, Jmenfous, SickTerror, Ballast, Ictus and many more.
The Punk zine history in Greece
Greece does not have a long history on zines, let alone zines on punk music. Although you can find thousands of political and anarchist pamphlets and newspapers, some of them published for more than a decade or two, only a few zines managed to publish more than 3 or 4 issues through their lifetime.During the 80’s when the punk movement first appeared in Greece many fanzines were released. They were mostly created by young punks who needed to express themselves and their severalty over other music fans. Here are some of best known zines of the 80’s:
“Στις σκιές του B-23″ [In the shadows of B-23], first issue was released in 1988 after the merge of the two zines “Σκιές” [Shadows] (a new-wave zine, first issue in 1985) and “B-23″ (a punk/hardcore zine, first issue in 1986). 18 issues were released and also 3 7″ and 2 LP’s which accompanied some of the issues. “Bρωμιά” [Dirtiness] from the small city of Ptolemaida was also a long lived zine, although not an exclusively-punk zine, it had many articles and interviews on bands of that time. The first issue was released in 1985. Likewise, although not an exclusively-punk zine, “Rolling Under” from Thessalonica was another long- lived zine. Other zines of this era are “Πανικός” [Panic], “Decapitated”, first issue in 1988 and it was mostly about hardcore, thrash, noise and experimental music, “Κίτρινος Τύπος” [Yellow Press] which was created by the band Panx Romana and was included on their second LP (released in 1989). A new issue was published along with every release of the band. Also “Παπάρι” [Dick] with at least 8 issues which was later renamed to “Discordia” and finally “Stress” from Livadia with a single issue in 1989.