CULTURE

Top indie scene acts play Athens shows this week

Archive and the Kaiser Chiefs, two indie-scene acts that have amassed a considerable following over recent years, will be performing shows in Athens over the next few days. Archive, currently nearing the end of an extensive European tour, will perform a free show this Thursday at 7 p.m. celebrating French retail outlet Fnac’s first year of operations in Greece, at its in-house venue, the Forum. Kaiser Chiefs, a more recent act that exploded onto the scene with its pogo-inducing sound and rhythms, have been booked for three shows in Greece, the first in Thessaloniki this Thursday at the Principal Club Theater, followed by two nights at the Gagarin club in Athens on Friday and Saturday. The shows will close the band’s current tour. The style of Archive’s work has varied considerably from album to album since the band’s arrival in the late 1990s, with various collaborators joining the act’s founders and core duo, Darius Keeler and Danny Griffiths, for the needs of each project. Archive’s albums to date have stretched from more modern-sounding trip-hop material to old-school progressive rock. After releasing several singles on their own label since meeting in 1990, Keeler and Griffiths signed with the Island label in 1994 before releasing their debut album «Londinium» three years later. The pair then briefly split and reformed for a second album in 1999 titled «Take My Head.» Archive released their latest album last month, «Lights,» a subtle mix of hypnotic, intense and sensual work that follows the album «Noise,» released two years ago. The far more recent Kaiser Chiefs have made a quick and enormous impact since surfacing in 2004 with the single «I Predict a Riot,» a track that resurrected the mod spirit of the Jam. That exhilarating song and the band’s frantic shows quickly gave the Kaiser Chiefs a place among the UK’s most promising newer arrivals. The Kaiser Chiefs, a quintet comprising singer Ricky Wilson, guitarist Andrew White, bassist Simon Rix, keyboardist Nick Baines, and drummer Nick Hodgson, have since enjoyed runaway commercial success with their debut album «Employment,» now touted as having sold some 5 million copies worldwide. Their debut album, which includes a string of hits, among them «I Predict a Riot,» «Every Day I Love You Less and Less,» «Oh My God,» and «Saturday Night.» These songs have been featured on radio and club playlists for well over a year now and the album remains one of the UK’s best-selling records two years after its release. Based in Leeds, the band took its name from former Leeds United soccer star and captain Lucas Radebe’s previous club in South Africa. The upcoming visit is the band’s first to Greece. The quintet is considered one of the contemporary scene’s fieriest performers on stage. The Kaiser Chiefs’ three Greek dates, their last of the current tour, come not long before the act’s forthcoming follow-up album, slated for a release early next year, perhaps in February. Besides presenting material off their big-selling debut album, the Kaiser Chiefs are also expected to play new songs from their imminent new album.

Subscribe to our Newsletters

Enter your information below to receive our weekly newsletters with the latest insights, opinion pieces and current events straight to your inbox.

By signing up you are agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.