Report: Irene Ketikidi & Nux Monstro @ Six Dogs

On a fantastic night, Nux Monstro and Ειρήνη Κετικίδη – Irene Ketikidi shared the stage of Six Dogs (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter), this past Thursday, 19.01.23. Λαγωνικό Λαγωνικό found itself on Athens' music scene and caught this show!

Photo Credit: Skouras Photography

First time out, with a lot of new stuff!

Truth is, Thursday's night had plenty going for it that had me itching for this particular live. As for Ειρήνη, I hadn't managed to catch her in a more focused show before. I'd heard the guys at Sober Festival, but I still wanted a clearer picture in my mind of her music. On the other hand, Nux Monsto were a total black box, both for me and for a lot of the people there. The trio is in the phase of building material and finishing an album, which makes it pretty tough to find and listen to their music.

But after the radio interview on The Fuzzy Hound Show that Ειρήνη and Κωνσταντίνος had given the Thursday before the live (on 12.01.23), and having heard some pre-recorded Nux tracks, I was even more eager to hear them live.

Irene Ketikidi and ...Snake Eyes!

The music night opened with Irene Ketikidi and her band. The vibe was unbelievable, and so was the sound. What could we possibly say about the musical quality Ειρήνη produces?! Her tracks form a complete musical experience. Even though instrumental, they lack nothing in expressiveness, since Ειρήνη, with the notes she 'dresses' each piece in, takes care to 'narrate' with precision whatever musical story they're telling. 

Wanting to dig a bit deeper into the musical side, I'd like to point out a few little things that really caught my interest. First off, it's clear that the musical center of the tracks is Ειρήνη and her playing. She's the one narrating the story. She's the one unraveling the thread of the plot.

I'd like to dwell not only on that, but mainly on the other three members…

Starting with the drums, Γιώργος has quite the sense of rhythm. Extremely dynamic playing, it makes you feel every shift purely through the power he plays with at any given moment. Combined with Κώστας on bass, they build a killer foundation for every track to stand on. Κώστας himself also has a distinctive playing style that highlights every note in a really beautiful way! All this, together with Διονύσης, who builds the perfect musical setting for Ειρήνη's virtuosic playing to spread out over. 

Pretty tough to structure such technical music!

Overall, the guys have an incredible chemistry, and that gives their music a unified character. You're listening to a well-worked whole, which in my opinion could go toe-to-toe with any equivalent effort from abroad. Wrapping up, I should mention that the guys' setlist closed with my favourite, Snake Eyes, a track I love especially!

The band is made up of:

Guitar – Irene Ketikidi

Bass – Κωστής Βήχος

Drums – Γιώργος Πουλιάσης

Guitar – Διονύσης Μόρφης

Nux Monstro and the energy they let loose

With Nux Monstro  stepping onto the stage, it becomes immediately clear that they've got quite a few distinct elements going on. Their compositions are very targeted and free of excess. They're marked by strong rhythmic drive and a lot of atmosphere. The band moves between distorted and clean sound, and they're clearly fond of using elements that add depth and weight. Overall, this is an outfit whose sound carries a lot of grunge elements. That said, combined with the vocals, we could say there's also plenty of Indie and Brit Wave in there. On top of all that come some extra rhythmic touches, which give it a slightly progressive edge too. 

Nux are an outfit that's completely locked in with compositions that are genuinely interesting. They try to weave together elements from many genres, which in the end produce a result quite different from anything you've heard. We'll definitely be keeping them on our radar going forward, and it's worth waiting for their debut album to hear their work in full. 

The band is made up of:

Guitar, vocals – Στάθης Ντόφης

Drums – Κωνσταντίνος Σαλάπας

Bass – Κωστής Βήχος