The story of The Forminx

The story of The Forminx

The Forminx was a Greek rock band from the early 1960s, the first band of Vangelis Papathanassiou, that became hugely popular in Athens and Thessaloniki, and quickly conquered the nation with their English repertoire, ranging from covers of popular American and English hits, and later also playing their own compositions on stages all over Greece. They are mostly known for their hit single 'Jeronimo Yanka', which sold an unprecedented number of copies in 1965, and due to its popularity even started a new genre of 'Yanka' songs. The group disbanded in 1966.

The story of The Forminx begins in 1959, when the teenaged Vangelis Papathanassiou, still a student at Leonteios school, and Vassilis Bakopoulos (a student in chemical engineering) meet in the hall of the Hellenic American Union on Herod Atticus street in Athens. They both love the jazz music that is played there from promotional records and tapes (which at that time was rare to find in Athens) on saturday-nights. They leave together, and while walking the long way back home to Patission street, they discuss jazz music and the idea to start a band. With no money or instruments, they accept an invitation from the Christian Youth Union (HEN) to use their instruments and event hall on Akadimias street, in exchange for them to play at dance parties they organize from time to time.

A year later the group consists of Vangelis on organ, Vassilis on guitar, Sotiris Arnis on vibraphone / bass, Kostas Skokos on drums and Tassos Papastamatis providing lead vocals. Over time the line-up of the band varies during perfomances, with e.g. Thymios Petrou on guitar and singing Italian lyrics, Titos Kalliris replacing Vassilis Bakopoulos on guitar while he fulfills his army service, and Eugnomonas on percussion. Vangelis’ older brother Niko is helping the group with their instruments and performances.

At first the band adopts the name “Formix”, after the ancient Greek string-instrument, but later they transform the name to the more international “The Forminx”. Initially they perform as a ‘dance-band’ or ‘dance-orchestra’ at dance parties, receptions and clubs such as the private night club "Golden Key" at the university of Athens, "Acropole Palace" on Patission street and “Argo” in Vouliagmeni, where they play the popular foreign dance hits from that time (and some jazz early in the morning when the party gets late). With their mostly English repertoire “The Forminx” quickly become very popular among a young audience in and around Athens. Their act is sometimes compared to English bands like “The Shadows”, or is referred to as “The Greek Beatles”, which was quite a novelty compared to the folk music of the 1950s traditional Greece.

With a growing popularity the band was invited to play at all the parties in 'high-society' Kolonaki, with unprecedented fees for that time. With the proceeds they were able to buy their own instruments, and the first in Greece to use Fender guitars and amplifiers, vibraphone, and a Hammond B3 organ for Vangelis.

The success of the band did not go unnoticed by film producers either, and in 1962 The Forminx were asked to perform in the Greek film “O Thodoros Kai To Dikano” (Theodor And The Gun). The video of the band playing on a dance party in the film is likely the earliest surviving video of the group of youngsters (Vangelis can still be spotted before he grew his beard...). A year later the band would even provide the musical score for another Greek film, “O Adelfos Mou... O Trohonomos” (My Brother The Traffic Policeman).

1964 would turn out an important year for The Forminx. In April 1964, they made their first appearance in Thessaloniki at the Theater of the Society of Macedonian Studies, where the public adored them! It was reported that the audience danced for two hours non-stop, and in the end it took the intervention of the police to stop the concert… The group would often return to Thessaloniki, where they played evenings at the “Remvi” club during the summer. As Vangelis developed a phobia for flying, the band bought a tour bus to travel to their performance venues.

Besides The Forminx, Vangelis also played vibraphone in the jazz orchestra of George Theodosiadis. The group had a regular show of 30 minutes on the KRSEDE (Central Radio Station of The Armed Forces of Greece) every Sunday-evening at 22:30 hrs. One day in 1964, the orchestra was invited to play at the ERA studio on public radio in celebration of the anniversary of the “Mesimvrini” newspaper. Also present was Nikos Mastorakis, a journalist and radio producer and a good friend of Theodosiadis, who introduced Vangelis to Mastorakis. Later that year the two would meet again, after a performance at “Argo” in Vouliagmeni, and together with Vangelis’ brother Niko they discuss the possibility to promote the band on radio shows and in magazines, which would even further thrust their popularity! It is Mastorakis who takes “The Forminx” to the “Music Box” record company, which takes on the band to record their first 7” single 'Ah, Say Yeah!' b/w 'Elephant Twist' (1964 Decca) in their loft studio. The songs are written by Vangelis with lyrics by Nikos Mastorakis, who from then on would write most of the lyrics for the band. The B-side is an improvisational recording with Mastorakis telling elephant-jokes, which illustrates how humour and joking was common amongst the band members.

Their biggest success would come with the release of their second 7” single 'Jeronimo Yanka' b/w “Dream in My Heart” (1965 Decca) in January 1965, which was so popular that it sold close to 100.000 records which was unprecedented in Greece! As a result it reached the no.1 position in the charts. The song triggered a string of ‘Yanka’-songs by other Greek artists such as “The Juniors”, “The Stormies” and “The Charms” to name but a few, and even was issued in Australia, the UK and the USA. After this release, band member Thymios Petrou left to join “The Stormies”, another popular band at the time.

The story goes that 'Jeronimo Yanka' is based on a traditional Finnish song that a group of tourists sang while The Forminx were playing at the “Remvi” club in Thessaloniki at the end of 1964. Vangelis then adapted this melody in a new arrangement to create the song “Jeronimo Yanka”.

It did not take long for the band to create another ‘Yanka’ to follow-up on the hype that “Jeronimo Yanka” had started: 'Jenka Beat' b/w 'A Hard Night’s Day' (Decca 1965). After that more songs followed steadily with the next 7” single releases:

'Somebody Sent Me Love' b/w 'Say You Love Me!' (1965 Decca)
'School Is Over' b/w 'Greek Holidays' (1965 Decca)
'Il Peperone' b/w 'A Precious White Rose' (1965 Decca)
'Our Last September' b/w 'And Maybe More' (1965 Decca)
'Mandjourana's Shake' / 'Hello My Love, Salonika' (1965 Pan-Vox)
'Love Without Love' / 'Until The End' (1966 Pan-Vox)

The success of the group quickly rose to national fame, which awarded them the title “The most popular Greek band of 1965” as elected by the readers of the “Monternoi Rythmoi” pop magazine. At the peak of their success The Forminx played their largest concert at the “Palais De Sport” (Alexandrio Melathros) in Thessaloniki on the 12th of September 1965, with an audience of 8000 people! Apparently the concert was filmed by an (East-)German television crew, but it is not known if it was ever broadcast, a recording never surfaced.

The concert was also the start of principal shooting of a film featuring the band titled “Peripeteies Me Tous Forminx” (“Adventures with The Forminx”, or sometimes referred to as “The Forminx Story” or “Troubles”). The film intended to help the band with an international career and perhaps get them to tour in America (which never happened).

Initially directed by Theo Angelopoulos (his first film), the fictional story by Nikos Tsiforos is about the band traveling on a train and trying to find the wife of one of the members, who has been kidnapped by a mysterious man. After a week of filming, Angelopoulos was replaced by Kostas Lychnaras due to differences with producer Fafoutis. Although some people claim that the film was never finished, apparently Lychnaras did complete the film, and it would even have been broadcast on Greek television (ERT) around 1985. After that, the film was never seen again and it is rumoured the reels may have been lost…

A number of songs were specially recorded for the movie, and although the film itself remains a mystery, the songs have been leaked on the internet and confirm these titles: 'Gipity-Ripity', 'Gud-Bay', 'I Found You Again', 'Lonely Dove', 'Party No.3', 'Tail', 'Train' and 'Troubles' and 'Until The End (instrumental)'.

The largest concert that The Forminx played in Athens was on the 14th of November 1965 at the Centricon theatre in Kolokotroni square. The concert was filmed by Giorgos Lazaridis, and a 10-minute edit of this film was for some time shown as a promotional short in cinemas, in advance of a feature-film. At the concert Lucas Sideras replaced Kostas Skokos on drums, who had been conscripted by the Greek army.

In the spring of 1966, after the release of their final single 'Love Without Love' / 'Until The End' (1966 Pan-Vox) the band members decided to go separate ways and dissolve the band. Vassilis Bakopoulos who had just finished his study in chemical engineering and army duties accepted his first job with Kavala Fertilizers. Vangelis was tired of touring and performing on stage all the time, he preferred ‘just to play music’.

Tassos Papastamatis, sometimes referred to as the 'Greek Sinatra' continued his career as a singer in France, singing popular pop songs in hotels, casinos and cruises by the name “Tasso”. By this name and with Vangelis’ help he also published a 7” single in France in 1969. After returning to Greece in the early 1970s, Tassos could be seen singing in Greek television shows. With his career in decline, Tassos isolated himself and refused help from his Forminx-friends. He died alone on the 20th of July 2010 in his apartment, only to be found some two weeks after.

After finishing his army duty, Kostas Skokos moved on to work for radio and television as an actor and voice actor in TV series and commercials. He passed away from cancer on the 24th of November 2013.

Sotiris Arnis worked in public service, but he never gave up on music and and participated as a musician in the albums of various artists, among others Zoe Kouroukli, Giovanna and Marina Arrive. He drowned swimming in the sea in July 2015, possibly from a heart attack.

Niko Papathanassiou, Vangelis older brother became a successful music producer in Milan, Italy, working for RCA and Polydor. He produced for a number of popular Italian bands, such as “Chrisma”, whom he sometimes brought to Vangelis’ Nemo studio in London to record. He died on the 1st of August 2014 from a stroke in the hospital of Volos, Greece.

After The Forminx, Nikos Mastorakis created and managed several music groups in Greece during the 1960s. After working as a newspaper-reporter, journalist and radio producer he continued as a host of several popular television shows. In 1975 he moved to the UK as a film producer and director, producing 17 movies. In 1989 he returned to Greece to start TV networks Antenna TV (ANT1) and Star Channel, as well as host the late night talk show “Arga”.

Feeling liberated from touring and performing with The Forminx, Vangelis continued to work in the studio and contribute with his Hammond organ to the songs of other Greek artists (some of which Vangelis composed). Playing with him were Demis Roussos on bass, Lucas Sideras on drums, and Argyris Koulouris on guitar, the group sometimes being referred to as “The Papathanassiou Set” or “Vangelis Papathanassiou and his orchestra”. Together they play for a couple of months the Galaxy rooftop bar of the Hilton hotel, accompanying singers such as Violet Mai, Tassos Papastamatis and Vilma Ladopoulou (Vangelis’ girlfriend at the time).

Some time after the military coup of April 1967 the group decided it was time to leave Greece and try their luck in London, as they considered England a much better place to become successful. Unfortunately Argyris Koulouris is getting cold feet and makes a fateful decision to stay behind and fulfil his army service. At the end of March 1968 Demis and Lucas take the train to London, but without work permits the customs refuse them entry in the UK. When Vangelis a few days later also arrives in Paris with Vilma, the group ultimately gets stuck because of continued transportation strikes in France. What happened next is... the story of Aphrodite’s Child.

The Forminx, often regarded as one of the most influential and pioneering beat / pop bands in Greece, played a pivotal role in shaping the country’s early rock and roll scene in the 1960s. The band helped introduce Western pop and rock music to a young Greek audience that was, at the time, mostly familiar with traditional Greek music and popular folk songs.

Though The Forminx were only active for a few years, their influence on the Greek music scene cannot be overstated. They were the first Greek rock band to achieve widespread success, and by their example many Greek bands followed in their footsteps which would become the groundwork for the Greek rock movement of the late 1960s and 1970s.

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