Interview with The Workaholics

"There's a lot more to the Greek music scene than just bouzouki and syrtaki dance. Opa (not)!" - The Workaholics – by Mel in Toronto

"Reality can be stranger than fiction," Cookieman, bass player of The Workaholics says. With real life as the main source of inspiration and the promise of dealing with real problems, real people and real reactions, you are in for down to earth lyrics, deliciously wrapped in a sound somewhere between Third Eye Blind, Midnight Oil and Interpol. These five Greek rockers will have you say Opa (not!) in no time.

Equipped with good humour and a positive outlook on life, The Workaholics are comprised of The Prophet (lead vocals), Playboy Lex (keyboards, vocals), Surfin' Pan (guitar), Cookieman (bass, vocals), and Little Jon (drums). When the band formed in 2005, they first locked themselves up inside a studio trying to find their sound and after successfully uncovering it, they performed live for the first time in November 2005. Even though all of the band members had some formal training, a lot of their skills are self-taught: "You can't teach someone to rock," Playboy Lex says.

The Workaholics produce their songs in a team effort. Playboy Lex and Surfin' Pan are mainly responsible for the songs, while the orchestration is done collaboratively by the band. Playboy Lex writes the lyrics and Surfin' Pan says: "It seems once he opens his mouth, there is no stopping him."

The lyrics talk about individual stories which have a universal application. The song COLORS "is a tale of a son who grows up trying to fulfil his father's dreams and meet his expectations. Under the pressure to live up to someone else's standards, the young man finds that he estranged himself, hiding his true wishes and fears from his friends and peers," Playboy Lex says. SECOND WOMAN is about a woman who "always falls for married men. This means she has to live with lies, deceit and secrecy," Cookieman concludes that in this scenario the woman never has a chance of living "happily ever after". ASTROBOY is the story of Alan Shepard, America's first man in space, and his frustration coming back to earth not being able to go back up again.

Little Jon gives us an inside to the band's live performance: "A couple of weeks ago we performed at the European Music Day, an open air festival downtown Athens. Six o'clock in the evening and the entire city was suffering from its worst heat wave in decades. We were dying on stage but people came to see us instead of going to the beach, so we played like there was no tomorrow, just to show them our love and gratitude." The Prophet adds that it's all about direct contact and interaction with the audience "and the feeling you get when you discover that they really like your music, boy, this is something you can't forget as long as you live."

"In your own words" – ONE on ONE with Mel and The Workaholics

Mel: Which opportunities do you see with indieSolo?

Surfin' Pan: First of all, many kudos to Johnny Ioannou who envisioned the creation of this unique platform to promote indie artists and give them the exposure they truly deserve. Speaking about ourselves, we can't thank him enough for his support.

Cookieman: Through IndieSolo we hope to reach new audiences, introduce them to our music and tell the whole world that there's a lot more to the Greek music scene than just bouzouki and syrtaki dance. Opa (not)!

Mel: Could you please tell us about the indie music scene in Athens/Greece?

Cookieman: At the moment there are lots of Greek indie bands and solo artists that produce fresh, excellent music ideas and can easily play ball at the same court with the rest of the international players. Thanks to the Internet and projects like indieSolo, people can listen to them and be amazed by the numerous hidden gems they'll find.

The Prophet: In Athens, a city with 5,000,000 inhabitants, there's a relatively small indie audience that is willing to support but can't be everywhere at the same time. Unfortunately the mass audiences in Greece stick to mainstream, cheap quality local "pop" music. I'll describe it as a mixture of folk, Middle Eastern and disco trash. Go figure. It's a lose-lose situation, so once again, long live the net, our window to the world.

Mel: What does it mean to you to be an indie artist?

Playboy Lex: Freedom. Enough said. Creating the music you really like without having to obey to certain market rules is something that really can't be bought. Music doesn't pay our bills anyway, so why spoil all the fun?

Little Jon: We also self-promote the band, book our own gigs, no managers and stuff. Unless of course we land with a big fat contract, so we'll deny that we ever mentioned any of the previous!

Mel: Which artist would you like to record a song with and why?

Little Jon: It has to be John Digweed, the legendary DJ and producer. We told you that our influences are countless! We're not avid followers of dance music but we're definitely tuned into popular culture.

Playboy Lex: Having our music touched by the hands of a person who cemented his name in the pages of dance music history would be the greatest challenge; and an honour of course.

Mel: What would you like to achieve with your music?

Surfin' Pan: Well, you know what they say: it's all about the journey, not the destination. And we're currently on board.

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