The Social End Products Interview with Sta Stea!

Tired of sampling your rock and roll only from the American school of musical psychedelia? Well, threat no more as we take a journey into the mind of Athens-based  quintet, The Social End Products. Drawing from the golden era of European psychedelia, the group captures all the pop rock spook-psych charm of the generation, but modernises it into a fresh, Greek package. - Interview conducted by Daniel Sharman.

Dan: Hi Sta, would you like to introduce yourself?

Sta: I'm the drummer and lead vocalist of the band. I also write the lyrics and some of the music.

Dan: Who else is in the band, and where is the band situated?

Sta: Manos plays guitar and performs vocals, Sara performs guitar/organ/vocals, Themos performs bass/vocals, and Myrto plays flute.

Dan: The band name 'Social End Products' is a very poignant name, where does it originate from?

Sta: We took our name from the title of the song of the same name by New Zealand's THE BLUESTARS. It represents us!

Dan: You guys have a sound reminiscent of the old, European psych groups of the sixties. What are some of your influences?

Sta: I would say we are more influenced from the American bands of the 60s and even more from the South American ones like Aguaturbia, Laghonia, etc. and also very much from sixties Greek bands like Peloma Bokiou, Nostradamos, etc. I feel those influences are more obvious to our new recordings.

Dan: On the band's facebook page, many interesting pieces of vintage gear can be seen. What guitars where you using on your latest sonic outing, Nutre Tu Cabeza?

Sta: Yes we love vintage instruments and when we find something interesting (and cheap) we buy it! Unfortunately, when we were recording our LP didn't have all that so we used a Fender Jaguar and a Fender Jazzmaster. But, on our new recordings we used our EKO guitar collection! 12-string Cobra, Auriga and Melody.

Dan: And how about amps, and effects?

Sta: We have a Fender Twin Reverb and an EKO Herald IV. We use a lot of effects, but think the most interesting is our sixties EKO Multitone.

From left to right: (top) Twin Reverb, EKO Cobra,
Fender Jaguar. (bottom) EKO Auriga. 

Dan: What about any other instruments, such as keyboards, drums, ect.?

Sta: We also use a 70s EKO Tiger Junior Organ.

Dan: Where did you record the latest album?

Sta: We do all our recording's at FEEDBACK SOUND STUDIO in Athens. It is the best for a vintage sound and our producer Harris Zourelidis is a true master of sound!!!

Dan: What have you learnt from Nutre Tu Cabeza's completion?

Sta: It's been very nice in the studio and tripping in the world of sound. Especially when you want to reproduce a sound of the past, you get to have a journey through time.

Dan: What's next for the Social end products?

Sta: We are recording new songs now. Two of them 'FEELS MUCH BETTER ON THE OTHER SIDE' and 'UTOPIA' will be on a 7". That will be out next month on Garden Of Dreams Records, the coolest label in Greece right now. The rest will be in a full LP, which is coming some time in spring. We also have some gigs this month with TOMORROWS TULIPS in Athens and with ALLAH-LAS in Thessaloniki.

Dan: Lastly, are there any shout-outs you would like to make?

Sta: We would like to thank everyone supporting us worldwide. 

Do You Even Psychedelic? would like to thank the band for taking the time to complete this interview.

Find the band's latest LP, and their past 7", here.

You can hear the single from the band's upcoming 7", Utopia, here.

Make sure to keep up to date with their Facebook page here.

Social End Products: Nutre Tu Cabeza Review

Hard-hitting spook-psych from the heart of Greece, Social End Products return with a strong début LP after their 2011 EP-release, Ego Trip. - Review written by Daniel Sharman.

Released in: 2 May 2013

Genre: Garage-Surf Psychedelia/Acid Punk

Record Label: Radar Eye Records

Medium: Digital download, Vinyl LP

Recorded at: Feedback Studios

Recently, I was fortunate to be sent vinyl copies of both of Social End Products' record releases, Nutre Tu Cabeza and Ego Trip. After giving Nutre Tu Cabeza several listens, I thought I would share my thought's on the record for the whole world to see, and to try and give this record the love it deserves!

The whole of Nutre Tu Cabeza has a consistently relaxed-but-taught vibe, striking the perfect balance between the sinister edge of classic, spooky psychedelia and upbeat, far-out funk trippery. Boasting a track listing of 14 songs, Nutre Tu Cabeza clocks in at around 30 minutes, each song being a short psychedelic burst of about 2:30 minutes.

The LP makes good use of its combination of a large number of tracks and short song durations, demonstrating the band's ability to express different musical nuances within their own developed sound. Throughout the record you can hear influences form genres such as garage, surf, psychedelic rock, acid punk, folk, country, and more. 

Sonically-speaking, Jangling Vox guitar rhythms and blown-out fuzz leads litter the landscape of each track, giving Social End Products a distinctly...European-psych sound. It is this mix of garage, low-fidelity instrumentation with a sheer love of, and conviction, in what they are preforming that gives European bands like the Social End Products an authenticity that I think can sometimes be lacking in contemporary American psychedelia. 

Each track deals most typically in acidic and sombre lyrical territories: deserts, strangeness, women, ect. Like most garage rock, this lack of lyrical innovation actually adds to the listening experience, as the experience in and of itself is made much easier to digest and get engaged with thanks to this aforementioned simplicity. This ease of engagement is also certainly aided by the groovy basslines which thump through the tracks, and the high-octane drum beats which pulse behind most of the tracks (providing the previously-mentioned half- upbeat skew of the record). 

Tracks like 'I'm Strange' and 'Slit Your Wrist' take the listener in one direction with slicing reverberated leads, but then change direction when the basslines and backing rhythm guitars elevate the tracks onto other levels of energy that can't help but make you tap your foot and shake your head in time to the groove and beat. Tracks like 'Wrong Side of the Track' change pace a little, but still remain with the ballpark of the rest of Social End Products work. 

Furthermore, throughout Nutre Tu Cabeza you can hear the influence of surf greats like Dick Dale, The Ventures, and Link Wray; garage legends like The Seeds, and (early) Jefferson Airplane; and many other classically far-out sources such as 1970's psych-prog rock, ect. That is to say, if you like any of the bands I just mentioned, this could be a damn solid record for you.

Critic's Comment: The main success of this album is its ability to lock into that metaphysical 'groove', which is so often associated with psychedelia, and stay with it for damn near 14 short-but-sweet tracks. If you find yourself at an ends this week, or weekend, whilst searching for a record to put on as you drink your coffee, I highly recommend Nutre Tu Cabeza to aid in your invigoration. Heck, if you can, buy the damn vinyl - it's just one of those listens that demands the physical medium.

Find the album here for download AND vinyl purchase here.

Make sure to like the band's Facebook page here, as I am led to believe they are soon to have new recordings being released...