Villagers of Ioannina City
- DAY: Warm Up Day
- STAGE: The Shrine Stage
- GENRE: experimental rock, folk, stoner rock
- COUNTRY: Greece
From the get-go the band had an exciting vision for themselves – they wanted to find the nexus between Tool, Black Sabbath and demotika, Greek folk music dominated by the clarinet, bagpipes, and the kaval. The sound that they reached through this pursuit was experimental, incredibly adventurous, and supremely cut stoner rock that orbits around other genres. A rare find of the highest quality. Â
History:
Villagers of Ioannina City were never a regular, rule-following band. From the very beginning, the group knew they would like to blend their various inspirations – inspirations so divergent that their sound immediately stuck out. Formed in 2007, the band released their first EP three years later. The record enjoyed general respect from the Greek rock/metal world.
Yet more was still to get done and in 2014, the band from Ioannina released their debut full-length album “Riza”. After the premiere of the record – a work even more complex and eclectic than their EP – the band quickly sped things up. Almost immediately they threw themselves into the fervour of touring, kicking it off in their native Greece and then going across Europe, gathering impressive crowds. Reviewers appreciated their craft and musical versatility that married the stoner drive with demotika and experimental rock.
In 2019, Villagers of Ioannina City released their most recent studio album, “Age of Aquarius”, and they’re still doing what they’re best at, which is connecting seemingly incongruent music worlds. The band’s latest release was the concert album “Through Space and Time (Alive in Athens)”.
Discography:
Studio albums:
riza, 2014
Age of Aquarius, 2019
EPs:
Promo, 2010
Zvara / Karakolia, 2014
Live Albums:
Through Space and Time (Alive in Athens 2020), 2021
