The Callas is the tip of an artistic factory initiated by the brothers Lakis & Aris Ionas (MA Chelsea College of Art).
They recently finished their new album, “Am I Vertical?”, produced by Jim Sclavunos (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Grinderman, Sonic Youth, Lydia Lunch, The Cramps). The album will be released in November 2013 by Inner Ear.
Over the last few years The Callas have played at: Family Business (NYC), Palais de Tokyo (Paris), The Great Escape Festival (Brighton, UK), Indietracks Festival (Derbyshire, UK), Artrocker Magazine (London), Old Blue Last (London), The Windmill (London), The Fly (London), Club Fandango at The Monarch (London), Barfly (London), Alma Enterprises gallery (London), Favela Chic (London, UK), Sala Apolo (Barcelona), Espacio Menos Uno (Madrid), Taktfrei fest (Berlin), De Roode Bioscoop (Amsterdam), Fieldgate Gallery (London).
They have performed live in churches, flats, boats, galleries, mountains, toilets, museums and with bands such as Grinderman, Paws, Au Revoir Simone, You Say Party! We Say Die!, The Wedding Present, Television Personalities, Stereo Total, She Keeps Bees and The Victorian English Gentlemens Club.
The Callas’ music project members are: Aris Ionas (guitar & vocals), Lakis Ionas, (bass & vocals), Chrysanthi Tsoukala (guitar & vocals) and Marilena Petridou (drums).
Lakis & Aris Ionas have exhibited their artworks at Palais de Tokyo (Paris), Family Business gallery (NYC), DESTE Foundation for contemporary art (Athens), Faggionato Fine Art (London), Athens Biennale (Athens), AMP gallery (Athens), Yinka Shonibare Space (London), The Breeder gallery (Athens), ATOPOS cvc (Athens) etc.
In 2013 they finished their first feature film LUSTLANDS (HAOS film).
Reviews:
of “Objekt“LP (2011) – UK release (distribution by Cargo):
ARTROCKER – 5/5, “a blindingly good record”
UNCUT – “there s no arguing with their ear for a punk pop hook”
BBC 6 – Steve Lamacq – “ferocious”
WIRE – “best sleeves received”
of “Am I Vertical?” (2013)
BROOKLYN VEGAN – “rock ‘n’ roll thick and heavy with a strong motorik backbone”
of their live performances:
“An amazing performance by The Callas that was a cross between punk rock and Andy Warhol’s Factory scene” Yinka Shonibare – THE INDEPENDENT
“If ever the word Cult described a band then it’s The Callas” Daniel Treacy (Television Personalities)“I first met The Callas at an Artrocker event in London at which they were performing as a minimalist three-piece consisting of the brothers Aris and Lakis Ionas and Annita Polychroni. Accompanied by a moody light show, their music was a blend of fuzzed-out improv and perky punk-pop songs with a melancholic edge. Throughout the performance they kept switching instruments, and the music just became darker and stranger. Their lyrical imagery was poignant and vulgar, banal and surreal, trite and mysterious, somehow all at the same time — while being sung by a man with one of the most peculiar accents I’ve heard! They invited me to collaborate with themas their producer; and as bait to lure me back to their hometown of Athens, Greece, they promised of lots of delicious Greek home-cooking — which was mind-blowingly good, by the way! Despite the baking-hot summer weather in Athens, the energy level surrounding this project was very high. In fact, working with them on their album was a genuine pleasure. We had only two weeks in which to record and mix the entire album, so we hit the ground running and just slammed through the tracks. Nikos Angloupas our engineer was a marvel — very intuitive and musical in his own right; and The Callasettes, The Callas’ back-up singers, were the very embodiment of girl-gang anarchy, lively and lovely.
The Callas are accomplished artists and filmmakers as well as musicians, so it was important to keep the artistic side of the band in the foreground, but have it counter-balanced with spirited, spunky, raw performances. I think that we accomplished that: it’s just real cool fun in the end.” —
Jim Sclavunos, London 2013
https://soundcloud.com/innerearrecords/the-callas-anger
