Purple Overdose formed in the late 1980s with members already active a decade earlier. Release of several albums followed. Costas Constantinou is mostly influenced by 60s psychedelic rock. Purple Overdose have a brand new release of Gemineye – The Last Ever Recordings out now via Anazitisi Records.

“My first contact with the psychedelic music was the Jefferson Airplane’s ‘Surrealistic Pillow’.”

Purple Overdose formed in 1987.

Costas Constantinou: I began to play music in the late 70’s and I formed some bands in the high school, to mention one of them was the ‘Poison Pen’ and we’re made some gigs in 1979. At this time we were a cover band but we also have a track of mine which was instrumental then, and later I used the riff in the “Shady Reflections” and the “Magic Forest” song from our second record.

How did you get influenced by Psychedelic Rock?

Magic touched me first with the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, then I became a very hard ‘Who’ fan. My first contact with the psychedelic music was the Jefferson Airplane’s Surrealistic Pillow, Hendrix’s records, Iron Butterfly, The Doors, Country Joe & The Fish etc. But I really shook up with the 1st Electric Prunes, and the 1st 13th Floor Elevators albums. So these records really inspired me to start the experiment in psychedelic music in the early 80’s. I’ve written many songs in the time between 1982-1984 from which many at them later became songs for our 1st album Exit #4.

Can you elaborate the formation of Purple Overdose?

In the time between 1984-1986 I was working as a DJ in the ‘Mad Club’ which was a dancing club but also was LIVE club for many Athens bands. There I met the ‘No Man’s Land’ and I became friend of them. I’ve played guitar in many jams with them as a guest. I formed ‘Purple Overdose’ with the bass player and the drummer of ‘No Man’s Land’ Giorgos Papageorgiadis and George Nikas, and we began to make noise in 1987 as a trio. Meanwhile the psychedelic thing was trend.

Was there any scene at all in Greece when you started?

Yeah, there were bands for all kinds of Rock’n’Roll, Punk Rock, Hard Rock, New Wave etc. I think that in the 80’s it was a rock explosion in Greece as in every corner was a new band.

In 1988 you signed with Pegasus Records and started recording Exit #4.

As I mentioned before the first songs played were “Holes”, “Still Ill”, “Elevation”, “Are You There” and “When You Talk About Me”. We recorded them as a trio in 1987. Then they came “Yellow Mole”, “Rooby Go Round”, “Blue Torture”, and “Orange Journey” with Christopher as a new drummer and added keyboards. “Exit#4” composed as one song and later we made the intro, outro thing and we recorded them in the beginning of 1988. Pegasus was the only label who show some interest in us and released the stuff.

Indigo made you a cult band. Indigo followed and you become an iconic band for fans of Psychedelic Rock.

Thanks, that is very flattering to me. The truth is that we received great reviews but the sales were poor. The second album was very provoking to us, because we changed our style into more breezy lyrical progressive thing and some complex and jazzy moves, with the addition of flute in our sound with more British influences than our first album. Something we improved in our next albums.

There were quite a few bands influenced by Psych, including No Man’s Land and Jack of All Trades.

Some other very good bands, I liked were ‘The Sound Explosion’, whom their first single I produced. Also the ‘Cardinals’, ‘Voyage Limpid Sound’, ‘Willow The Wisp’, and the ‘Green Onions’ and the very new ‘Lemonade Influence’.

How about concerts?

No we didn’t play any concert out of Greece we didn’t make it although we wanted very much. But inside Greece we played as much as we could. In every place you can imagine.

Any favourite shows?

In 1989 Mykonoj Festival and the support to the ‘Sky Saxon’s Dragonslayers’. In 1999 the Rock Wave Festival, in 2000 Mylos Club Thessaloniki, and just before we break up the support to our legends ‘Electric Prunes’ in 2002.

How did you decide to use the name “Purple Overdose”?

Well it was something like a joke just because from a child yet my favorite colour was purple and in the teenage years one of my favourite band was Deep Purple. So you can figure out.

“Those were the days, man!!”

Were you inspired by psychoactive substances like LSD at the time of writing the album?

Still I’m in love with Mary Jane, and I did several times all the other psychedelics, and I dropped acid I don’t remember how many times. Thank you! Wow! Those were the days, man!!

In 1994 you released self titled album, and a year later Solemn Visions.

Well, it started on Indigo. It was the big turn in our sound as I told you before. We took a new organist and we arranged the flute as one of the lead instrument along with the guitar and keyboards. We stepped much further into the progressive music, with more complex arrangements, and lyrics. I think it was like a trilogy the Purple Overdose, Solemn Visions” and Reborn albums and I consider them as the best we ever offered.

In 1999 your last studio album Reborn was released. What are some of the strongest memories from recording it?

Well, in that period of time I had many problems with the members of the band. You know, like which way we’ll follow after that, about the sound production and many others. So in the Reborn album actually I worked alone with the presence of the other members of the band only in the sessions of each other. But I think that the Reborn helped a lot by the producer Jim Spliff who gave a great job in the sound. So I consider this as the best and the most mature of all our albums.

What happened next?

After Reborn, we’ve made many concerts to promote the album, and very successful I might say. But the problems inside the band became bigger and bigger We decided to release a live best of album. So we recorded about 5 hours of live material and released it as a double album and a CD version with other tracks each all in very limited numbers. Then our last organist left the band and we took a new organist but the glass it was broken. I wrote some new stuff and we made demo recordings live in the studio with six tracks. And then came the end of the trip. After that I think in 2004 I made contact with Nasoni Records in Germany and we released the double A Trip To Purpleland: The Early Years Live with live material to meet and play in some rehearsal jams together. So our last live performance was a reunion in an open theater in September 2005 in Tripoli.

What kind of equipment did you use?

I used vintage sound effects all analogy, Cry-baby wah, Vox fuzz box, Electro-harmonix fazers, Gibson Les-Paul guitar. Our bass player had a vintage fender. Pressicion bass, we used Hammond, Farfisa, Cory organs and Rogers drum set.

What currently occupies your live?

Sell and buy. Also I’m a devoted collector of Psychedelic original records, and I’m listening music many hours, every day.

Anazitisi Records are planning to release your last recording from 2005.

The new and ever-last album will be called Gemineye and is the demo recordings we recorded from 2002 till 2007 and never released till now. So the production quality will be poor. But after that I love this stuff, which is more improvised and instrumental than all the other works. So yes I am really excited about it.

Any future plans for the band?

No. We’re going different paths.

Purple Overdose members (organ and percussion), old manager and two Electric Prunes members (when they were in Greece on tour where Purple Overdose were the support group).

What’s on your turntable and what are you reading?

I love the Beat. Writers Jery Rubin, Carlos Castanenta (science fiction), Abbie Hoffman, Timothy Leary. And now I’m listening to Country Joe & The Fish, and the new bands Paperhead, Aron, Cosmic Trip Machine, Obscuria and Cherry Choke.