Chris And Carla - Sweet Revenge

“Nights Between Stations” Live In Thessaloniki 1995. In early May, 1995, Carla and I found ourselves in Thessaloniki (Greece) practicing with a group of Greek musicians we had never met before, on a set of songs that they gad never played before. Our purpose was to prepare a one-night-only club performance at the venerated Mylos, am old mill converted into an arts center, which sits at the industrial edge of the city. The idea for the show had been sprung a few months earlier, when on a visit to Thessaloniki, as a part of the “Life Full of Holes” Tour, Carla and I had been forced to cancel an appearance at another – not-so-venerated – local club. That night had turned out to be a complete disaster – the dilapidated P.A. and the tragi-comic sound crew – combining to make a situation where it was impossible to play a show that would have been worth the price of the ticket. The sound was so bad, that when the promoter came onstage to announce to the waiting crowd, that the show would not be happening, her lone voice could only barely heard above the skrank and squeal of the sound system.

Upon leaving the club, we walked with our friends Emilios and Christos, to a small taverna in the old part part of the city. Quickly we began to dull the disappointment of the evening with a round of Greek liquor. A few rounds later, as we watched and listened to the trio of traditional musicians who hypnotically played on the taverna’s unadorned stage, one of us (I can’t remember whom) came up with an inspired plan: The next time that Carla and I were in Europe, we would return to Thessaloniki to play a show at the Mylos, backed up by a group of local musicians. This recording, ‘Nights Between Stations,’ is the result of that drunken idea.

I could rattle on about what a satisfying night the Mylos show turned out to be, and about how much we enjoyed playing with our co-conspirators – The Mylos All Stars – and how impressed we were with the twists and commitment that they gave to the songs. But I am hopeful that this recording conveys those thoughts more powerfully than I could. Carla and I do pass along a mighty thanks to everyone credited on the sleeve, and to all who showed up at the Mylos that evening (especially the veterans of the fiasco of a few months earlier). Some of the Nights Between Stations go by in a blur, but at least for the two of us, the night that is documented here, is one night that holds on strong.

Chris Eckman, Neuenkirchen 1995