the Ivory Tower

iCave welcomes the world
Go to the bands official site to view some more photos of the Ivory Tower's studio
The Ivory Tower Timeline
1992 – Ivory Tower was formed by two friends, Dee Theodorou (vocals/keyboards) and Kostas Charalampidis (guitar/bass) in Moschato, Athens, Greece. Their plan was to create a heavy metal band like all the classic ones that they used to hear. A lot of members passed from the band until the time when Nick Aravanopoulos (keyboards) and Theodore Pitsikas (drums) joined in.
1994 – This four piece band recorded a demo tape with two tracks composed by Charalampidis and Theodorou. Those tracks were "A Few Days Make Eternity" and "Society".
1995 – Due to studies and military service of the members, the band went on hiatus for several years. Meanwhile Charalampidis, Theodorou and a friend of his, George Papantonis (guitar), composed songs and did several side-projects together.
1999 – Dee Theodorou along with Nick Aravanopoulos and Apostolis Koskinas (guitar – now a member of the Greek band CReal) formed a band so as to record a demo. The track "Time Stands Still" was recorded in 20 days time and the band took the name The 20 Days Project. In the procedure of recording the song, Kostas Charalampidis played the bass as a guest musician and that was the time when the idea of the "Ivories" reunion came up. Unfortunately, Aravanopoulos couldn’t follow up to the band due to his job. So the first attempt was with the following line-up: Dee Theodorou (vocals), George Papantonis (guitar), Apostolis Koskinas (guitar), Kostas Charalampidis (bass), Sostis Ropaitis (keyboards) and Bill Alexiou (drums). After a long period of rehearsing a variety of covers, the band was disbanded because something seemed to be missing.
2002 – The three guys that remained in the band (Theodorou, Charalampidis and Papantonis), along with Aravanopoulos, continued jamming and playing various songs, but not in the "metal" mood of the "Ivories". The co-operation of the four guys led to the recording of a demo with two covers, which is also the title of the certain release. The songs "Eye of the Tiger" – Survivor and "Tears of the Dragon" – Bruce Dickinson were recorded by the band. They continued playing under the name Ivory Tower as a four piece for a while and that was the time they composed "I Lied to Me" in its earliest version.
2004 – The peak of that co-operation was their first semi-acoustic live show in the café-bar, "Cinexeia", in their hometown, Moschato. This happened on January 24 of that year and during that gig, Charalampidis and Papantonis met Jim Kourmousis, a guitarist that Theodorou had known for a little time, and latter .. a small chat he became a member of the band. The decision was made! The rebirth of Ivory Tower, a band with a Heavy Metal direction, doing loads of rehearsals, giving a lot of shows and finally, recording the band’s first full length album. Looking for a drummer, the band found Spyros Kypriotis, a drummer that played in Charalampidis side-project Nemia. The rehearsals went on, and the band performed twice, with Nemia as a support act, during the summer of 2004. The first one was held at the club "Kyklos" in Pagrati, Athens, on May 24, and the second was held at the music scene "Athina" in Moschato, on July 3, where the band recorded and videotaped the gig for their first live CD/DVD entitled "Live At Last".
2005 – The "Ivories" started recording tracks for their album early that year at "K.st." and continued performing live. Six gigs occurred during that year. On January 23 the band performed at the club "Onoma Tou Rodou" (Kalithea, Athens) with Mina Morfi as a guest singer. Then on February 28 they performed in Moschato's "Tenta" space along with Teleia & Pavla and Tabula Rasa, during the carnival of their hometown. On June 17 the band returned at the club "Onoma Tou Rodou" to play with Ygro Pyr and Exterrator. On July 1 they gave another show with Exterrator, this time at the music scene "Ston Aera". That gig was recorded and video taped for the needs of their second CD/DVD release entitled "Ivories In Utopia". It was the first gig of George Konstantakelos (keyboards) as the sixth "Ivory". Konstantakelos was a long time friend of Theodorou and Charalampidis and also the singer/guitarist of Nemia. Another gig took place at "5/4" music stage on October 30, where the band played for about 2 hours and 30 minutes. Okio (ex-Tabula Rasa) was the other act that night. On November 26 the band performed at "Mike’s Irish Bar" and the gig was entitled as "The Shortest Live" due to its duration that was only 30 minutes. During the summer of 2005, the band released a maxi-single with the song "A Few Days Make Eternity" and some raving reviews came in for a promising release. Finally, it is very important to mention that the name Ivory Tower was an idea of Charalampidis and Theodorou back in 1992 (but not registered), so the band changed their name to the Ivory Tower, due to a German band that used the same name.
2006 – The recordings of the first album went on, but the band gave some live shows too during that year. The "Ivories" played at the "Mike's Irish Bar" on January 5, so as to promote their single. The live was entitled "A Few Lives Make Eternity". Once again the band took the stage of "Tenta" space in Moschato, on February 11, where the band played several tracks of their forthcoming album. The gig was video taped and entitled "The Carnival Show". Later on that year, the band performed on "5/4" music stage on March 12 with the progressive rock band Sunset as an opening act. That was the last gig with Spyros Kypriotis on drums. Spyros quit the band because it seemed that he couldn’t handle the job properly. Bill Mastoris (ex- Okio) replaced Kypriotis behind the "Ivory" drum-kit. The first gig with Bill was the "Join Forces Festival", on April 7 at the "5/4" music stage. This was a 3-band festival (the Ivory Tower, Luv Sux, Remember Lizzy) in which the band was the headlining act. The gig was recorded and videotaped for a CD/DVD release. SEPTEMBER 7 was the most important date for the band. The album entitled “The Ivory Tower” was released! It was a concept album talking about the life of a mysterious man called Steven Towers… It’s important to say that the certain release was a self-financed effort! The next day, the "Ivories" gave a party at the café-bar "Cinexeia", for the celebration of their release. A lot of people were present, hearing the bands work for the first time. Many reviews came in for the release and almost all of them were raving. Magazines such as the Greek "Metal Hammer" and the Greek "Rock Hard" and e-zines as "Rockpages", "Metal-Temple", "Rock Underground" and "Metal Frontiers" reviewed the band’s album. The members gave some interviews for the album, too.
2007 – After the success of their album, the "Ivories" continued performing live, promoting mostly their own material. The first show of the year was entitled "Echoes From The Tower", and took place at the club "Onoma Tou Rodou" on January 13, where the band played almost all the songs of their album. The next gig was called "You're In The Army, Live" and took place at "5/4" music stage with Ladyz Night as the opening act. This was the farewell gig to Mastoris who joined the army. Three days after the gig, the saddest, canniest and most peculiar moment of the band was to occur; The co-founding member of the band, Kostas Charalampidis, took the decision to quit the band. Until now, nobody really understands the reasons that Kostas left. Maybe he was tired of the whole "running procedure", or maybe it was just a… change of heart. Even in that tough situation, the remaining members took a brave decision to move on! The next step was the search of a new rhythm section so after a month of testing about six persons, Costas Koulis (drums) and John Kiousis (bass) were the two guys that filled the vacancies of the band. Costas was a huge fan of the band since he first listened to "A Few Days Make Eternity", and as a reporter of the "Rockpages" e-zine he had reviewed the single and the album and interviewed the band twice. There was also a strange link between him and the band, so when he was asked to join in, "YEAH" was the only answer. The band stood very lucky in the selection of Costas because apart from being an unbelievable drummer, he is a fine musician too. The "Ivories" already knew Kiousis by the time he was playing in the band Sunset. Therefore, with this new line-up, a new era for the Ivory Tower had begun! The band started rehearsing with the new rhythm section and during that time, the guys performed unplugged twice at "Texas" club, and both gigs were recorded for CDs. In the first gig, on April 23, Theodorou, Papantonis and Kourmousis performed a variety of songs and the live took the name "Ivories Unplugged". The second gig, on May 15, was an invitation from the "Greek Kiss Army" to perform some KISS covers during their party, and that was the first touch of the new rhythm section. The next gig took place at the "Lazy" club on June 30 in which the band was a guest of Sorrowful Winds and this was the first full electric live show with the two new members. After two years and a half, George Konstantakelos temporarily quit the band due to his heavy work schedule. On December 1 the band performed a tribute gig at "AN" club, invited by the "Hellas Metallica Club".
2008 – The new year came with a gig at club "Look" on January 25, with Elisadeath, something that was repeated at the music stage "5/4" on February 10. After a three month pause due to his heavy work schedule, George Konstantakelos re-joined the band. On February 26, the band performed at "Tenta space" of Moschato during the period of Moschato carnival of 2008 with Prejudice Reborn as the opening act. On March 23, the band took part in the first tribute album to KISS entering the studio and recording a cover of the well known song entitled "Love Gun". Then on May 16, the band hit the stage of the club "Lazy" and performed three KISS songs (Sure Know Something, Heaven's On Fire, Love Gun) and "A Few Days Make Eternity". On May 23 and through a competition, the band selected to open the show for the great Blue Oyster Cult in Athens (Theatro Vrachon) on June 5. On late October, Kostas Charalampidis - the original bassist and co-founding member of the band - returned to the "Ivory" family. On November 13 the band performed at club "Texas Necropolis" and the support band was 4bitten. This was the come-back gig for Kostas Charalampidis.
2009 – On February 22 the band performed at "AN" club, participating in the second semi final of the "Battle Of The Bands - Wacken 2009". On March 15 the band organised, at "Tenta" space of Moschato, a mini festival entitled "MoshFest" with three more groups performing live, Minor Six, Elysion and Elisadeath. Inside the "Tenta" space and beside the live appearances there were also some more events, such as DJ sets and also a pavilion with skate boarders.
Another dream came true… After almost a three month period of hard working, the "Ivories" acquired their personal studio. A space about 80m2, professionally manufactured after a lot of study and personal work.
iCave opened its gates!!!
Shine On The Ivories
===========================================