WL//WH Premiere NEXUS feat. Mark Gemini Thwaite
NEXUS, photo by Panos Skordas-Takis (The Art Asylum)
The Covid pandemic is marking changes in the wider alternative music front worldwide – some bands halt, while other bands continue with the whole story through wild waters this time. Mike Pougounas is the frontman of the Athenian post-punk act New Zero God and he also was in the past the mastermind behind the groundbreaking Flowers Of Romance gothic rock band between 1981-1996. After Flowers disbanded he launched NEXUS in 1998 as an alternative broad towards experimenting with new sounds (electronic, industrial). NEXUS recorded four studio albums and one EP and in 2005 they went on hiatus and nearly a year later the three band members formed New Zero God.
After so many years in silence, the name of NEXUS is coming back in 2022 with a new album entitled “NINOUKI” including some nice surprises that I know about but I am not allowed to spoil it all and start whistling. When the world went under lockdown, Mike Pougounas started recording in his own studio, bringing back to life NEXUS as his side project.
The new song reveals some of his thoughts and his own mentality on most running things in the restricted world we are living in. Being one of my friends in the Athenian alternative art scene I can guarantee you that in the new album we’ll hear experimentations with styles and sounds that never slide away from his roots; he is a rock’n’roll character deeply. What I hear in “The Words That Got Away” is a post-punk reverie on his life in music with a strong commitment to the old post-punk structure. I love it because I see the Flowers’ dark soul in there, I see the iron of New Zero God too and I also hear what he was telling me on the phone about how the record will be and how will it sound, groooovy!!!
Here music and lyrics were written by Mike Pougounas who handled the vocals, bass, and keyboards. We also see the name of Louis Kontoulis on trumpet, the guitar player from our own legendary 80s punk band Stress (Athens), and we also see the name of Mark Gemini Thwaite on the guitar, the production and the mastering of the song. MGT is a renowned guitar player for names like Tricky, Peter Murphy, Gary Numan, Ville Vallo, and many others. A very skilled player with trademark sound and style who applied some extra matter to the song.
All things worked well and the result is a very modern post-punk blend with sonic ‘nightmares’ from the past by these three personalities who gave an amazing individual performance in the studio. The video of the single is directed by awarded photographer Panos Skordas (The Art Asylum) who knows Mike Pougounas has already published two books of rock and roll psychedelic road fiction incidents, and I like his idea of Mike on the typewriter as the central concept of the story.
Keep Up With NEXUS:
NEXUS, photo by Panos Skordas (The Art Asylum)
Written by Loud Cities’ Mike
