Raining Pleasure: ‘Do they really want something to happen?’
Greece’s leading pop music group Raining Pleasure is probably Patras’s most popular export. Or its greatest source of pride, at least for the younger generation of Patras. A source of pride? Vassilikos, the band’s singer, is not so sure. «If we were, wouldn’t we have signed a contract long ago with the organization [Cultural Capital of Europe Patras 2006]? They’ve said something about a concert, but nothing is certain. And let me tell you, I don’t know if we have the energy…» He knows he sounds disappointed and he doesn’t like it. «In Patras,» explained Vassilikos, «there are the people on one hand, and on the other there are some people at the reins of the organization that we don’t know; it’s as if they’re hidden. «I have a feeling that the whole event has almost been hushed up. There is still hope, though, that a fresh wind will blow. «That’s what I’m waiting for – for some places to become available; I mean a buildup of momentum that will give the city some rhythm. Besides, there are interesting small events that are not getting support. Patras itself is a bit sluggish: Just when everyone hopes something will happen, in fact there’s opposition. «At Christmas I came back after three months with real pleasure and in the first two or three days everything seemed so slow and lackluster, as if nothing is happening. And I wonder if anybody really wants anything to happen in Patras.»
