Pyx Lax is a Greek rock band. They originally formed in 1989 and released their first recording in 1990. The group achieved high critical acclaim and commercial success within the Greek music industry throughout their fifteen-year-old active career, which culminated when the band dissolved in 2004.
They are considered to be the most commercially successful group in the history of Greek discography. The name “Pyx Lax” (Greek: Πυξ Λαξ) derives from ancient Greek, meaning “Punching and Kicking” and was inspired by the title of a theatrical play, which was taking place in Athens at the period in which the band was formed, in 1989. Initially the members of the band were Filippos Plieatsikas, Babis Stokas, Sakis Stamoulis, and Panayiotis Spyropoulos. Their professional recording career began with a demo cassette that they delivered to Minos EMI in Athens. Marketing Director of Minos EMI at the time, Manos Xydous, liked their recordings so much that he later joined the band. Another member of staff, Dimitris Fergadis, the head of Sales, proposed their name Pyx Lax. Informally Manos Xydous was a member of the band from early in its recording career. He contributed songs to all of their albums, including the first, and he is pictured on the cover of the second album along with Babis Stokas and Filippos Pliatsikas. At some point he gave up his job at EMI Greece and formally became a member of Pyx Lax.
It was the group’s third album, 1993′s O Hlios tou Heimona me Melanholei (The Winter Sun Makes Me Melancholic) that firmly established their reputation in Greece. It included their first big hit, Asti Na Leei, a song written by Manos Xydous and was performed on the album by the popular singer Vasilis Karras. In 1996, the band’s first platinum album came with O Baboulas Tragoudaei Monos tis Nyhtes (The Boogeyman Sings Alone At Nights), which included the hits Oi Palies Agapes Pane Ston Paradeiso and Na Me Thymitheis. Their biggest selling record was the album Stilvi (Shine, 1998), made up mostly of music and songs from the film by Dimitris Panagiotatos Monaxia Mou Ola (My Loneliness Everything, 1998). It includes a fine version in Greek of Bob Dylan’s “Señor” (Tales of Yankee Power) from his album Street-Legal, along with the big hits: Monaxia Mou Ola, Epapses Agapi Na Thymizeis and Mia Synousia Mystiki.
During their career, Pyx Lax have collaborated with many Greek and international artists. The biggest number of the band’s international collaborations were included in their last studio album Haroumeni stin Poli ton Trelon (Happy in the Land of the Insane, 2003), with most notable songs: Someone Wrote ‘Save Me’ On a Wall (with Erin Burdon singing lead) and All My Angels Falling (with Marc Almond). In 1999 they also released the cd-single Let The Picture Do The Talking (As’ tin Eikona Na Milaei) along with the Corsican group I Muvrini and Sting. Other important international artists that collaborated with Pyx Lax throughout the group’s career include: Gordon Gano, Steve Wynn, Bayaka and Saša Dragić.
In 2004 the band announced in a television interview that it would dissolve after two goodbye concerts. The concerts were scheduled for September 18th in Athens and September 20th in Thessaloniki. Their final album, called simply Telos – Live Sto Likavitto (End – Live at Lycabetus) is a recording of the first goodbye concert in Lykavittos, Athens.
In 2010 Manos Xydous passed away at the age of 57. Before his death the members of Pyx Lax were in talks of a reunification for concerts during 2011. The reunification finally took place without Manos but in memory of him, with a big tour around Greece. The most significant moment was the massive concert of the July 13th 2011 at the Athens Olympic Stadium, with a crowd of more than 75,000 spectators. The tour continued with many more sold out concerts around Greece and is now on a global trail.
Pyx Lax are considered to be one of the most popular bands in Greece. Sotiria Malfa, a Greek critic, wrote that “the stamp of Pyx Lax on Greek music of the end of the 90s and the beginning of the 00s is something more than profound.” Another critic, Pavlos Zervas, wrote of their break up, that the demise of Pyx Lax “…leaves the Greek music scene significantly poorer, since it is losing a band which granted us unique, unbelievable moments, and which retained for all these years a character all its own—a character which was tending to become a “school” followed by many artists and groups.
The band has been recognized for both, their longevity and the number of records they sold, as well as “the unique feeling, which was created between Pyx Lax and their beloved public.
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