Five Questions With… Nomos 751

Image: Toprak Basgit via Facebook

Nomos 751 is a new lo-fi synth-punk duo out of Greece. Don’t get turned off by that string of labels, though — this one’s as PAF as they come. The brainchild of one George Fotoupolos, N751 has a sound that’s undeniably catchy and also a little unhinged. In the very best way, of course. The outfit has a new LP out on the excellent Slovenly Records, and while it’s pretty far afield of the label’s usual garage punk offerings, it captures that same energy so well that it’s a match made in heaven. Thanks to George for sending in these responses — besides making me bust a gut while reading them, they also fit perfectly with what I imagine when I turn this album up to 11.

Band: Nomos 751
Country of Origin: Greece

Five Questions

1. What is your desert island disc (the one album you couldn’t live without?)    

Always Was, Is, And Always Shall Be by GG Allin & The Jabbers, even if only for “Love Affair” which is the best “love” song ever written (plus, the LP version has those perfect, heavenly, female backing vocals which are absent from the single version). This, or The 13th Floor Elevators’ first LP.

2. How did the band members meet?    

No matter how I try, I cannot remember the exact moment. Anyway, we both knew each other’s bands before meeting, and Billy helped with releasing Komodina3 LP on Slovenly (which was a band I played in 2005). So, when K3 reformed for one gig at Slovenly’s We’re Loud Athens fest, we asked Billy to play bass, since nobody seemed to know the whereabouts of the original bass player. Some months later when I started recording what would become the Nomos 751 LP, I asked Billy to join, and so he did.

3. What is the underground music scene like in your home country? 

I’m not the suitable person to reply, since I am not in Greece half of the time, plus I don’t really follow the scene a lot. What I see though is that stoner seems to go slowly out of fashion, and many bands play garage-related stuff (in the broad sense of the term). There is also a thriving crust-punk scene, but they are somehow isolated from the rest.

Anyway, the borders between underground and mainstream are blurred, since there is crossover (on the side of the audience), both worlds use the same communication channels (same magazines and social media) and there is also a share of “underground” bands that seem to try hard to get into the mainstream.

4. What are some of your biggest influences outside of music? 

Some writers (PK Dick, Norman Spinrad, JG Ballard), movie makers (Chris Marker, JL Godard), Modernism and Brutalism, and technology, since by opening new avenues it gives the opportunity to think in new terms and make things that would be impossible to conceive without it.

5. Tell us about your favorite show you ever played.

We only played one show so far as N751, so I’ll pick a gig with another band. It was a gig with Homoplastik – where I played bass –  in Treviso, Italy, in 2002. The crowd was young and the place owner was a patronising, asshole, middle-aged anarchist with a Jesus-style beard and attitude. During the gig, he cut off the power because the kids were dancing (“dancing is forbidden” – something totally unheard of in Europe) so the kids got annoyed and started smashing the place – with us giving them a hand.

We managed to finish the gig after 2 more power cuts (which made matters even worse), and had to make an action movie escape with our car, when the guy asked us to pay for the damage done. Of course, he never got any money from us (but we got paid before the gig).