Athenians Of Toronto | Interview | Exciting Reissue of 1971 Private Press

The Athenians of Toronto were a Greek band from Toronto, Ontario who privately released ‘San Skotiniazi’ in 1971.

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The album features three originals as well as Chicago, Santana, The Doors, Lighthouse, and Creedence Clearwater Revival cover tunes. Based in Toronto, this band was formed by Greek immigrants to perform in parties and weddings. This album is considered one of the rarest private pressings from Canada. It was released on their own label (Athenian Company) in 1971 in about 1000 copies, which they shared hand in hand so they could book live shows.

Where and when did you grow up? Was music a big part of your family life? Did the local music scene influence you or inspire you to play music?

Costas Filippeos: I was born in Athens and came to Toronto Canada in 1957. I grew up in Toronto. Music was a big part of my family life, my parents owned one of the first Greek variety stores in Toronto and they sold records imported from Greece and New York. I grew up listening to Greek music and all types of music in my environment. The Canadian local scene back in the 60’s was one of my first influences, listening to The Beatles, Creedence Clearwater revival, The Beach Boys, The Doors, Led Zeppelin Steppenwolf et cetera. I think The Beatles and The Beach Boys were my top influences. Later on in the 70’s the group Chicago was one of my favourites and a big influence … And that’s when we came up with the concept of covering the majority of our album with Chicago tunes with Greek lyrics. At that time in the 60s and 70s when I was performing with my band, we backed up a lot of singers and performers that came from Greece, like Vassilis Tsitsanis, Giota Lydia, Michalis Violaris, Nikos Xanthopoulos, Spyros Zagoraios, Apostolos Nikolaidis and many more. As you can see I had influences and personal experience with music from two different worlds and cultures. When I’m asked who are your favourite artists, my reply is Barbra Streisand and Stelios Kazantzidis. Two worlds apart.

When did you begin playing music? What was your first instrument? Who were your major influences?

I started accordion lessons in 1960 and by 1964/1965 I was playing with local bands of all cultures at weddings, baptisms, dances et cetera. In 1960 I didn’t have many influences. I was only 10 years old, but by 1963/1964 I first heard the song ‘People’ by Barbra Streisand and I was hooked for life. When I formed my band and was working with these artists from Greece I discovered Stelios Kazantzidis and I was also hooked for life. My dad constantly played Kazantzidi and Aggelopoulos songs whenever we were in the car.

What bands were you a member of prior to the formation of Athenians Of Toronto?

No particular bands prior to Athenians Of Toronto, just wedding bands and different functions with different bands.

Can you elaborate the formation of Athenians Of Toronto?

​In the late 60s and early 70s I got to know a local Italian guitarist and Canadian bass player and I brought them into the Athenians and wrote out the Greek music and they learned it and were playing with our band at all the functions that we were doing. When we played at Greek and Italian weddings we also performed songs from Chicago, The Doors, Led Zeppelin and Beatles and a lot of our audience were surprised that we could play Greek authentic music quite well and also play rock and non Greek music as well. So I decided to rehearse for our album. We were deciding what songs we wanted to do and we were all in agreement to cover Chicago songs, a song from a local Canadian group called Lighthouse and a song from The Doors. I also wrote two original tunes with my guitarist for the album. The name Athenians of Toronto officially was launched with this album. Before that we were called Athinaiki Orchestra of Kostas Filippeos.

When and where did Athenians Of Toronto play their first gig? Do you remember the first song the band played? How was the band accepted by the audience?

There was no official first gig. We pressed 1000 vinyl at the time and whenever we performed at different functions we were selling the album, by going table to table. When we played concerts with the famous Greek singers we were trying to sell the album at the lobby of the cinemas and theatres. The younger crowd really loved our band and our album, we even signed autographs at a lot of our functions. The crowds at the cinemas where we performed mainly came for the famous Greek stars that we were backing up.

What sort of venues did Athenians Of Toronto play early on? Where were they located?

Most of the venues were cinemas and theatres with famous Greek singers and a lot of weddings, baptisms and local functions. We were all located in Toronto and our home base was Toronto.

How did you decide to use the name “Athenians Of Toronto”?

The name Athenians of Toronto was decided when we found out that Nana Mouskouri’s band was called The Athenians. So we needed to be clear to our audience not to confuse us with Mouskouri’s band so we added “Of Toronto” and the name Athenians of Toronto was born.

What influenced the band’s sound?

Again the non Greek portion of the band’s influence was the artists that I mentioned; The Beatles, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Beach Boys, The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Steppenwolf et cetera and in the 70s mostly by Chicago and Blood, Sweat & Tears. All members of the Athenians were really good musicians so it was natural to adapt to whatever style we loved to play.

The album was self-released. How many copies did you press and where?

We pressed 1000 vinyl copies in Toronto and later on in the 80s an American company pressed 8 track tapes and cassettes.

What’s the story behind your debut album? Where did you record it? What kind of equipment did you use and who was the producer? How many hours did you spend in the studio?

We recorded the album at the RCA studios in Toronto and the equipment used was one of the first 16 channel mixing consoles in Canada and it was all recorded on multichannel tape. Me and my brother Nick were the main producers and orchestrators of the album. It took us 6 hours to record the whole album because our budget did not allow for any more time. And it was mixed in two hours by a brilliant engineer and mixing person which unfortunately I only remember that his first name was George.

Please share your recollections of the sessions.

Not much recollection because it was done in 6 hours, it was a rush because we were running out of time and money. I remember I wanted to go back and do some more vocal overdubs but our budget had run out. Influences and inspiration were the Chicago songs mostly.

Would you share your insight on the albums’ tracks?

We just loved the Chicago vibe with horns. Our guitarist was a great player so we let him shine in songs like ’25 or 6 to 4′, ‘Make Me Smile’, ‘Proud Mary’ … My brother Nick was an amazing drummer so we tried to pick songs that would show his technique and one of our original songs ‘Agapoula Mou Xrisi’ is a jazz piece that shows the scope of his playing. He was proficient in Greek music, jazz and rock. I was more of a ballad guy so ‘San Skoteiniazei’ was my baby.

How pleased was the band with the sound of the album? What, if anything, would you like to have been different from the finished product?

The band was pleased with the overall sound, we just wished we had more funds to perfect a lot of areas.

What happened after the band stopped? Were you still in touch with other members? Is any member still involved with the music?

The band never really stopped, myself and my brother continued playing different functions and venues for many years but the original members of Athenians of Toronto went their separate ways.

Looking back, what was the highlight of your time in the band? Which songs are you most proud of? Where and when was your most memorable gig?

The general highlight is when we played we really felt the music we were creating and we are proud that after 50 years the album is being noticed much more than it was when we actually released it.

Is there any unreleased material by Athenians Of Toronto?

No, there is no unreleased material.

Veego Records reissued your album. Are you excited about it? I think they did a truly fantastic job!

I think that I am more excited now that Veego has re-released the album than when we released it back in the early 70s. They truly did a fantastic job and it brought back a lot of memories.

 

Thank you for taking your time. Last word is yours.

Thank you very much for the chance to talk about Athenians of Toronto and your interest, and super thank you to Veego Records for this amazing honour of re-releasing the album

Klemen Breznikar

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