Now this is happening! If anybody told me in the mid 90’s that in my early 40’s (being dad of two kids!) I would interview my indie darlings Pillow, I would certainly laugh to death. Have to personally thank Male Me Happy for this great opportunity and Pillow of course ( especially George ‘Poirot’ Dimopoulos) for this interview. Now, let me listen to ‘Rebecca De Ruvo’ for the 100th since last week if you don’t mind…
I am really happy, if not daydreaming, setting up this interview for you. So, feel free to introduce Pillow to our readers!
We are a pop rock band, born in 1989 in Athens Greece when I (George Dimopoulos/vox,guitar,songs) decided I’d already attended enough Rodon Club gigs to help me build a confidence and form a musical group. Current line-up also includes Angelos Kikiras (about time!) on lead guitar, Panos Giannakakis on bass guitar and Kall Nitsos behind the drums.
What makes you return after almost 20 years?
An invitation from the Sparkle From The Past organisers is mainly responsible for Pillow‘s return. The fact that I hadn’t performed any of my own stuff live for ages (since The Liarbirds are history and Poirot is my solo home vehicle) also helped…
What can you recall of the days of those crazy indie club nights with Mad Club (in Syggrou Avenue), Avant-Garde, Decadence? ‘Indie’paros? Do you believe that this Athenian nightlife will, or should, ever return? Personally speaking, still missing those days, and not only because I was much younger….
I can recall the long long nights of pretty girls, great pop music, stupid fags and drinks and drugs. The sweet taste of youth. My better-late-than-never revolution in a way! I don’t really think it could ever return, nothing ever does. And I sure miss it too. But even if it did, you could easily count me out.
Dive into the past again, what would have happened if Pillow had won 1997’s Glasgow In The City Live Unsigned competition instead of Tam and the then unknown Idlewild? Any regrets?
I strongly believe a lot of things would have changed for the better if we’d brought the prize home. The situation was hardly in our hands though. Perhaps I do regret the fact we never returned the following month when Fire Records wanted to book us some UK gigs and then decide upon signing us or not. No money, no Anglia sadly. Plus I’d just signed a solo contract with Sony Music Greece, which certainly is a whole different story not belonging here, so it was a bit hard to just leave the country again.
Always wanted to ask this, about one of your indie hits, back in the day ‘Rebecca De Ruvo’ that my younger son loves dancing to, with the addictive “I wanna be Rebecca De Ruvo…” verse. Did you really want to be ‘Rebbeca De Ruvo’? Any chance for a Rebecca De Ruvo (version 2), at least for the young generations? Furthermore, still cannot, and don’t want to get over ‘You’re So Ugly When You Smile’ hymn…
Haha, thanks for all your kind words and the satisfying questions. Well, I used to like Radiohead once upon a time. There was this song I loved where Thom went “I wanna be wanna be wanna be Jim Morrison“. So I just wanted to want to be someone too in a song, not especially that MTV presenter. She just happened to strangely fit! If the younger generations ever show me they care, I do promise more versions.
Correct me if I am wrong. It must have been 1997 (or 1998) when you had a live gig at Mad Club Athens. I was one of the lucky ones having attended this one! What can you recall from that cool night?
Now this is a hard one to answer! Why don’t I remember anything with Pillow, Mad Club and those particular years together in the same sentence? Probably ‘coz it was 1997 after all, that drunk erotic year that changed my life in so many ways. Seriously, my only recollections of Pillow gigs at Mad Club come from the early 90s and I’m happy to mention mostly the event we shared with One Night Susan, a great pop outfit we still respect. The audience were wild beautiful darlings too…
Make Me Happy is organizing the perfect ‘A Sparkle From The Past’ Release party at Death Disco on November 10th, in which you will perform live along with other great Greek indie acts from the 90s era, (Next time Passions, The Jaywalkers, Starblind). What are you going to present to us that night? Any hints?
We are going to play eight songs. From early to mid to late Pillow. No ‘You’Re So Ugly When You Smile‘, no ‘Pure Pure Pure!‘. But I can safely say that the first song I ever sang live (An Club, Dec ’89) and the first song I ever sang abroad (Cathouse Glasgow, Sep ’97) will be there.
How do you feel being part of the excellent ‘A Sparkle From The Past’ compilation by Make Me Happy with many great indie acts from the 90s era?
Great, I guess! Still I have to actually get the compilation first, to be honest, and listen to it before I can make up my mind on the level of…greatness!
Have to close with this one.. Plans for the future, regarding Pillow? Any chance for a follow-up to ‘Pure!’ EP?
Pillow’s future depends on how happy we’ll all get back home after this 10th of November event. Can’t really say. Taking a rain check…
Last question… Feel free to add anything else you like…
Thank you again for the interview and for giving me the chance as well to send anyone interested in my music outside Pillow to the following page: https://poirot.bandcamp.com/. See, I’ve never ever stopped doing what I do best and I don’t intend to!
Christos Doukakis