Socrates Drank The Conium

Socrates Drank the Conium is a Greek progressive/blues rock band that was active in the early 1970s. Their sound was reminiscent of other such bands of the approximate period like the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Led Zeppelin, Cream, Jeff Beck and some of the more progressive, experimental works of Black Sabbath. Their categorization as "progressive" can be attributed mainly to their abundant use of less-than-conventional time signatures. The Group would go through many lineup changes throughout the years, but the two core members have remained: guitarist Yannis Spathas and bassist/singer Antonis Tourkoyorgis

History

Socrates (as the somewhat ponderous name is often abbreviated) began its career in the clubs of Athens. Most prominent of these was the popular Kyttaro. They were present at a number of other locations in and around Victoria Square in Athens. Apart from playing many original songs at gigs, Socrates often covered Jimi Hendrix songs, none of which were featured on any studio releases. However, a thirteen-minute cover of (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones found its way onto their 1972 album Taste of Conium. The guitarist, Yannis Spathas, favored a mid-1960's sunburst Fender Stratocaster, a Candy Apple Red Roland GR-505 guitar synthesizer and a black Gibson Les Paul Custom as his instruments, Antonis Tourkoyorgis played a mid-1970's natural ash-bodied Fender Jazz Bass and sang, while several drummers were used throughout the live shows and recording sessions. As a whole, the three-piece outfit resembled that of Cream: counterparts Spathas and Clapton, singer/bassists Tourkoyorgis and Bruce and drummers Boukouvalas and Baker. In 1974, Socrates went through a change in stylistic direction with "Phos" which was produced by Vangelis and featured his contribution on many tracks. Phos was mostly reworkings of older songs by Socrates. During 2006 Socrates reunited in an extended form (featuring keyboards and a second singer) to do several shows around Athens.

Members (founding and other)

• Antonis Tourkoyorgis - Bass guitar, vocals
• Yannis Spathas - Lead guitar, Guitar synth
• George Trantalidis - Drums
• Elias Boukouvalas - Drums
• Gus Doukakis - Guitar (1973)
• Makis Gioulis - Drums
• Asteris Papastamatakis - Keyboards
• Markella Panagiotou - vocals

Discography

• (Appears on) Live at Kyttaro^[2] - 1971
• Socrates Drank the Conium - 1972
• Taste of Conium - 1972
• On The Wings - 1973
• Phos - 1974
• Waiting for Something - 1980
• Breaking Through - 1981
• Plaza - 1983
• The Original Singles - Compilation released 2005

Sources

• http://www.athensguide.com/socrates/
• http://rateyourmusic.com/artist/socrates_drank_the_conium
• http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll
• http://www.aquariusrecords.org/cat/rockpopprogrock7.html

References

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ [2]