Xylina Spathia
Xylina Spathia (, "The Wooden Swords") were a popular Greek band from Thessaloniki, distinguished by their special and personal sound, which was unprecedented for the Greek music of the era. Their music combines elements from pop, rock and electronic music, maintaining a Greek melodic "colour" at the same time. The personal and experimental lyrics of Pavlos Pavlidis are distinguished for their poetry and the pictures that they give. Generally the band's songs develop an emotional atmosphere, that is sometimes expressed with extroversion and bold rhythms and else with a calm innerness. From 1993 until their break-up, in 2003, the band released 5 albums (4 studio, 1 live) and 1 CD single. Although they had a big commercial success from early on, the group avoided media exposure and maintained their artistic autonomy, seeking to develop their sound from album to album and during their live performances, where they used to experiment and improvise with their songs. The original line-up of the group consisted of: Pavlos Pavlidis (vocals, guitar), Vasilis Gountaroulis (keyboards, samplers), Christos Tsaprazis (bass) and Panos Tolios (drums, percussion 1993–1997). Members of the band had also been: Stavros Rossopoulos (guitar 1993–1994), Takis Kanellos (drums 1997), Giannis Mitsis (drums 1998–2003), Kostas Pantelis (guitar 2000–2003) and Nikos Kyriakopoulos (percussion, backing vocals 2001–2003). Session musicians that appeared in the band's albums are: Dimos Gountaroulis (cello), Giorgos Tolios (percussion), Giorgos Papazoglou (percussion), Rita Hatzinikoli (percussion), Fotis Siotas (violin) and Aristeidis Hatzistavrou (classical guitar). Xylina Spathia are one of the best-selling Greek bands, along with Pyx Lax and Trypes. History In 1989, after his participation in the Greek rock band Mora sti Fotia (Greek: Μωρά στη Φωτιά, English: Babies on Fire), Pavlos Pavlidis travelled to France and stayed with Nikos Kantaris in Mériel, a commune near Paris. They created the Brancaleone studio and Pavlidis recorded the first demos of his songs. The first two albums of the band were dedicated to Nikos Kantaris. While in Paris, Pavlidis also met Giannis Mitsis, who became a band member in 1998. In 1992, Pavlidis returned to Thessaloniki and along with Vasilis Gountaroulis, Christos Tsaprazis, Panos Tolios and Stavros Rossopoulos started to work on the material that he had prepared during his stay in France. With this line-up they appeared live, for the first time, in Karditsa under the name "Brancaleone". They later changed their name to "Xylina Spathia" from the homonymous novel by Pantelis Kaliotsos. In 1993, the band's first album, "Xessaloniki" was released by Ano Kato Records. The album contained 12 songs which were recorded from September to October 1993 in Magnanimous studio, owned by Giorgos Pentzikis in Thessaloniki. Christos Harbilas was the sound engineer. Two of the songs ("To nero pou kylaei" and "Poulia 2") were recorded in Brancaleone studio in 1992. The album contained well-known songs such as "Adrenalini", "Treno fantasma", "Rodes", "Siopi" and the hit "O vasilias tis skonis", which became very popular and is considered as a classic Greek rock song. A review of the album by the mic.gr website in 2005 stated: