Greek music has always had more depth than the chintzy glitz of the ‘Athens by Night’ bouzouki clubs and its blend of Eastern sounds adapted to Western music forms. Rock music, which for decades had been largely limited to foreign acts, has slowly moved from the shadows of the underground into the limelight to join a pulsating alternative music scene spanning head-bangers to hip hop. Kostas Platis sketches the backdrop to the contemporary music scene and highlights bands to keep an eye on as alternative music in Greece comes into its own.

What’s in a name can be quite a lot, as the term “alternative music” itself has quite different connotations when speaking of the Greek music scene than it does in the rest of Europe or the West. So any review of the Greek “alternative” scene over the last two decades should probably start by defining exactly what “alternative” means for a country whose music could be said to be inherently outside the mainstream of Western music.
“Alternative” rock is a 1990s genre forged from the combined post-punk and post-1980s independent music scenes–and while its name might suggest bands outside the mainstream, a number of “alternative” bands rank among the music industry’s biggest successes. When Greeks use the word “alternative” to describe music, what they mean is any genre other than laika–a genre that is often translated as “folk” or “popular” music but is in actual fact a hybrid of musical instruments like the bouzouki and the “eastern” mode of singing juxtaposed with a Western tempo and orchestration. It’s this blend that creates the laika of the Greek charts. So here’s the paradox: for the Greek music scene, “alternative” music is the music that most closely approximates contemporary Western musical rules.

Back to the future
Greece entered the musically seminal 1980s in the throes of political and social change set in motion by the restoration of democracy in 1974 after seven years of dictatorship. The junta had stifled Greek music’s progression, banning “bad” foreign influences like rock and roll that ran counter to its aim to create a “Greece of the Christian Greeks”. The politics of the early years of the metapolitefsi, as the post-junta period is known, trained the spotlight on politically-flavored songs and banned Greek genres, like rebetiko. Rock and pop were mainly imports. Absent of private radio or television, Greece in the 1980s lacked a celebrity machine to promote artists or create stars through airplay or other exposure. Foreign, that is American or British, music prevailed; any band that sang in Greek was thus, by definition, “alternative”.
The advent of private broadcasting, television and radio, in the 1990s changed the entertainment industry, especially music. Private radio, whose seeds had been sown by the pirate stations in the early and mid-1980s, came into being in 1987 when the Athens municipal station 98.4FM went on the air. Private television followed two years later. It’s a milestone for the music industry, as can be seen in their influence on the Greek music industry in defining “mainstream” music. Exposure gives rise to a “star system” built around the Greek nightclub scene, radio, television, and lifestyle magazines that helps this hybrid–“Eastern” music shaped according to “Western” types. The genre dominates; although radio is open to different things, alternative or independent music struggles to reach audiences, and is essentially equated with “underground” music. And although there’s an audience for music with non-Greek lyrics, hardly any English-language songs are produced during this period.
With the 1990s came changes in the international music scene. Metal faded, leaving grunge in its wake. Bubblegum pop morphed into a new phase that saw the emergence of boy-bands and girl-bands. Greek alternative bands were pushed into the underground circuit, performing in the enormous shadow of the peculiar Greek mainstream. Raining Pleasure (out of Patras), Closer, Bokomolech, and Bella Union wrote songs with lyrics in English; Ziggy Was, out of Thessaloniki, made inroads in quasi-punk, while Active Member defined the Greek hip hop scene. Together these bands fed the musical hunger of Greek rock fans whose senses were being assaulted by bouzouki in Euro-house remixes.
In the latter part of the decade, the Greek alternative scene coalesced in the music of two Thessaloniki bands which both wrote their songs in Greek–Trypes, which had been formed in the early 1980s by Yorgos Karras and Yannis Aggelakas, and Xylina Spathia, which had been formed in the early 1990s. Their timing struck a chord in Greek fans as both bands met enormous success as their albums went platinum. Their songs became emblematic of a generation and both bands spurred a new trend in Greek rock. Meantime, Greek hip hop laid strong foundations–indeed, strong enough to chart the steadiest course in the alternative music scene and even spawn offshoots of mainstream music rather than vice versa.

Up from underground
With the new millennium came change and the Greek “mainstream” music began to wane–although not as fast as it had waxed, as the established star system rooted in the lifestyle media continued to build up and tear down the “celebrity of the day”. On the international music scene the trend towards hip hop and dance music didn’t help bring to the fore the Greek alternative scene, which remained more rock-oriented. Meantime, the break up of both Trypes and Xylina Spathia and repeated attempts to mimic their music and allure kept the entire underground scene chained to a 1990s sound. Radio stations also seemed less inclined to give alternative bands airplay; one reason was that several radio stations had been bought by media groups which issued their own playlists, killing any diversity on the air. Nonetheless, former members of Xylina Spathia and Trypes like Yannis Aggelakas have successful careers as solo artists. Television also unwittingly boosted the careers of alternative bands like Raining Pleasure as one of their songs was used by mobile phone operator Cosmote in one of its commercials. Their success paved the way for other groups like Film, Matisse, Expert Medicine, Modrec, and Fadeout to release albums; many of the bands go back on the Trypes/Xylina Spathia tradition and sing in English.

The Myspace era
The real breakthrough for alternative music came in the middle of the new decade, around 2005-2006, when the social entertainment network Myspace.com launched. Suddenly, music fans around the world had direct access to counterculture in the U.S. and the U.K. Greek bands saw they were not alone. But technology was another boon, albeit inadvertent, for musicians who could now find hacked software for writing or recording music on a personal computer. The capability to produce music outside a studio–where costs remained prohibitive for most small or aspiring bands–allowed them to produce more music but also to distribute it to a wider audience. Rather, Myspace.com provided an audience. Just as Greek music fans and musicians searched the network for new music, so did others in a broad, mutual quest of discover. Bands could now hear and be heard–something denied to them by radio. Seeing other groups, Greek alternative bands for the first time felt they had a mass presence; indeed, for some bands it was too much to handle. And even though within a few years, Facebook edged out Myspace.com as a social networking site, it still remains a prime source for seeking out new bands.
Another important change ushered in by technology was internet radio. Its advent and growth lessened bands’ dependence on customary commercial radio for airplay. One development prompted another, and more concert venues opened, within and outside large urban centers like Athens and Thessaloniki. The “infrastructure” as it were for the alternative scene to develop was now in place as bands now had outlets for their music, both recorded and live. Greece’s alternative bands could now rise up and meet the mainstream.
Since 2010, this is what has been happening. Greek rock or alternative bands now match, and in some cases, surpass, the success of foreign bands. Bouzouki has grown tired. The change is palpable. Whereas in the past, the best Greek bands could hope for was an audience of some 100-150 people–and the best of them could only aspire to playing support for some touring foreign band–now fill entire venues. The alternative scene has diversified from just rock to ska, reggae, and other genres. Artists like Panos Mouzourakis, Leonidas Balafas, Locomondo, and Monica are helping chart new territory on the Greek music scene, leading the trend away from glitzy nightclubs to pure live stages.

Looking abroad
The common thread that joins all Greeks in the music industry is the desire to break out of the Greek market and succeed abroad. In the 1990s, Greek alternative bands tried to do this by focusing on cities with substantial Greek student communities like London. Earlier efforts in the 1980s to get some Greek artists to play on MTV, fizzled. Some bands like Socrates Drank the Conium, anchored by Yannis Spathas and Antonis Tourkogiorgis through its several line-up changes since its founding in the late 1960s, in the early 1980s and Lefki Symfonia in Berlin in the early 1990s, had limited success outside Greece. But these were isolated instances, not a trend.
This, too, has changed. The last five years has seen more activity with Greek bands abroad than had been seen in the last twenty-five years. The London music scene dominates–but audiences are no longer limited to mostly Greek students. In the last eighteen months, Film played at some ten English venues–and have also had the same number of gigs in four other European countries. Matisse had a ten-gig tour of the U.K., while Modrec, Callas, Expert Medicine, Berlin Brides, Cyanna, and Raining Pleasure have played a number of foreign venues in several European countries, both winter and summer. Some of these appearances have been through organizations like the non-profit European Music Day, while others have been booked through agents or organizations active in the alternative music scene or as artist exchanges. Bands like Film financed their own foreign tours, using their earnings from Greek concerts to pay to cover the costs of gigs in England, Spain, and Switzerland. The gambit paid off with sold-out shows in Zurich and London.
“Exo”, or abroad, is still the success many Greek artists, including alternative bands, secretly dream of–something that is no longer out of reach. Until a few years ago, many were satisfied at having played a venue or two abroad “just to be able to tell their grandkids”, though this has changed now. Technology has broadened the horizons of the alternative music landscape and bands themselves are more demanding. Indeed, rather than playing it safe by staying at home and trying to get a handful of foreign bookings, some bands like Barb Wire Dolls, Tas’s punk act, have moved to cities like Los Angeles to compete head-on with local bands there. And there are also a handful of examples of Greek artists who moved abroad and formed bands there, among them Yannis Philippakis who formed the Oxford-based Foals in 2004; Marios Athanasiou who, in 2005, found himself a member of Captain in London where he had gone to study; and Thodoris (Ted) Sourvinos who formed Jackie Breaks in London in 2006.

Fast Forward
If Greece’s alternative scene was jump-started by technology and other developments a decade ago, today it is positively revving. The momentum now comes from the opening of more and more venues across Greece, despite–or, in part, because of–adverse conditions in the broader economy. Owners of bouzouki-nightclubs are slowly turning their attention towards a different audience, while new entrants into the business feel more secure about investing in alternative bands. This is especially true in rural towns. In the last year, new live venues have opened in Ioannina, Veria, Serres, Larissa, Volos, Trikala, and elsewhere. Their stages have featured alternative artists like Mouzourakis, Balafas, Locomondo, Pavlos Pavlidis, K. Bhta, Yannis Aggelakas, Gad, Mikro, Cyanna, Rosebleed, and Sleepin Pillow, while older bands like Last Drive now find it easier to organize ten-or twenty-gig tours around Greece in the winter, when until a few years ago, there were no more than a half dozen non-open air venues for Greek alternative bands. Technology has also provided more ways to promote such tours among audiences, from internet radio to play alternative bands’ music to blogs, websites, forums, and social networking website groups to publish tour schedules and other news.
But the main driving force behind all this remains the audience. Concerts are full–and quite often sold-out–because the audience for alternative music has grown. Monika, Cabaret Balkan, Burger Project, to name a few, may have different sounds but they do have one thing in common: they’re all part of the alternative music scene that has begun to blossom in Greece.

10 Bands to Watch

Film
Indie rock
Kostas and Dimitris Borsis may have been the driving force behind Film, but it’s Eleni Tzavara–or Etten–who gave the band its voice. Film has released three albums in eleven years. In 2006-2007 they went on a five-country (United Kingdom, Netherlands, Spain, Slovenia) twenty-five city tour–with more than half the venues in the U.K. The band slipped off the music radar briefly, returning in 2010 with a new female vocalist and a three-country (Denmark, German, Iceland) tour.

Imam Baildi
Electro World
Formed six years ago by brothers Orestis and Lysandros Falireas, Imam Baildi fuses Greek sounds of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s with contemporary loops and remixes. For Western ears, it’s a more palatable form of Eastern-influenced music. The band has appeared at several venues abroad, including several in France; Imam Baildi is the only Greek band to ever perform at Denmark’s Roskilde Festival–one of Europe’s leading music festivals.

Barb Wire Dolls
Punk
Tas, a Los Angeles-based Greek, put the band together while surfing on Crete–where he also met, fell in love with, and married his wife. The band had a few dates in Athens, went on a television talent search show and had a blow-up with the presenter, and are now back in Los Angeles with a weekly residency–just like Tas’s old band.

Modrec
Alternative/indie rock
With two albums out–Art Naïve in 2008 and Mascaraddiction in 2010–Modrec are well on their way to establishing a following. They’re largely based in the United Kingdom–something evident from a recent Athens concert at Stavros tou Notou with the choir of St. Catherine’s British School as special guests.

Locomondo
Reggae/ska world
Already enormously popular in Greece, thanks to their familiar sound, Locomondo hopes to expand its presence abroad with their reggae/ska adaptations of traditional Greek folk, or dimotika. The band has already established a fan base in Germany and is getting ready to ‘invade’ the U.K. this year.

The Callas
Alternative
Brothers Lakis and Aris Ionas have shaped a band that borders on the cult, with band members pulling visual stunts like wearing Superman costumes on stage and giving truly “alternative” performances–with music to match. The Callas play quite a few U.K. gigs (by Greek standards) where there is a niche for them to fit.

Berlin Brides
Electro
Though relatively new, this all-girl band already has an album out and is growing its fan base. Berlin Brides–vocalist Natasha Giannaraki and synth player Marilena Orfanou–have played a number of British gigs and last year appeared at the Toronto Indie Week Festival.

Cyanna
Indie rock
Although the band has been around for about a decade and released three albums, it only became widely known in Greece when mobile phone service operator Vodafone used one of their songs in its commercial. The band has played at summer music festivals in Switzerland and Germany as the winner of Coca-Cola’s Soundwave contest.

Kristi Stassinopoulou
Electro-world
Kristi Stassinopoulou is a unique example as she has performed at scores of festivals and venues in Europe, North America, and even Brazil. Her albums have been released in several countries under various labels, yet they rarely get play in Greece–and even then long after they’ve been getting play abroad.

Palyrria
Electro-world
Palyrria is an excellent example of how to “package” a “local product” for an international market. The band remixes traditional Greek music for a broader audience that currently extends beyond Europe to Japan, where Palyrria has performed at the invitation of the Greek embassy. The band also has dates in Austria and Germany.