The Callas is the tip of an artistic loose collective producing music, films, artworks, magazines, events, art shows initiated by the brothers Lakis & Aris Ionas.
The band The Callas consists of Aris (guitar, vocals) and Lakis (bass, vocals) Ionas, Chrysanthi Tsoukala (drums, vocals) and Chris Bekiris (guitar). On some gigs Marilena adds her percussion an on some other performances The Callasettes are doing their performing stuff.
They released their new album “Trouble and Desire” (Dirty Water Records – Inner Ear) in collaboration with Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth).
Their two previous albums “Half Kiss Half Pain” and “Am I Vertical?” were produced by Jim Sclavunos (Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds).
Recent music press:
“Rock ‘n’ Roll thick and heavy with a strong motorik backbone” – BROOKLYN VEGAN
“Disaster! Disaster! Disaster! It happens! So goes The Callas’ riotous chant over the dirgy, life-affirming garage rock stomp that is “Disaster.” – NOISEY
“Oddly Thrilling!” – MOJO (****)
5/5 – Album of the week – ARTROCKER
“It’s Sunday I’m Bleeding” – song of the day / KEXP Radio
“An amazing performance by The Callas that was a cross between punk rock
and Andy Warhol’s Factory scene” – THE INDEPENDENT
“As multi-media artists and filmmakers, they approach music making from a very different perspective than the average musician and come up with some quite unexpected results. The sonic palette of the new album is diverse and exploratory, with songs that range in style from dreamy subversive pop to brutal post-punk skronk to deconstructed rebetiko.”
Jim Sclavunos.
“It’s a real cool record. There is this special kind of chemistry in the band”
Thurston Moore
Their first feature film “LUSTLANDS” (HAOS film) was premiered at the 7th Athens Avant-Garde Film Festival and their second one “The Great Eastern” at Documenta 14.
The last few years they have played all over Europe including: Liverpool Psyche Festival (Liverpool UK), The Great Escape Festival (Brighton, UK), Indigenes Festival (France), Reeperbahn Festival (Hamburg, DE), Indietracks Festival (Derbyshire, UK), Artrocker Magazine (London,UK).
They have performed live in churches, flats, boats, mountains, toilets and with bands/artists such as Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Ty Segall, Grinderman, Au Revoir Simone, You Say Party! We Say Die!, The Wedding Present and Television Personalities.
They have exhibited their artworks internationally including Documenta 14 (Athens – Kassel), Palais de Tokyo (Paris), Family Business gallery (NYC), Anna Kustera projects (New York), Dakis Joannou DESTE foundation (Athens), Faggionato Fine Art (London), Athens Biennial (Athens), Andreas Melas gallery (Athens), Yinka Shonibare Space (London), The Breeder gallery (Athens), ATOPOS cvc (Athens) etc.
The last 10 years Lakis & Aris Ionas are publishing significant magazines for the Athenian underground music/art/film scene such as Velvet magazine and Lust magazine.
Their studio is one of the most active cultural spaces in Athens. Going by the name Velvet Room they are organizing art shows combined with music gigs and DJ sets involving some of the best new bands and artists in Athens.
03/05/2019
