Stress might very well have been the one & only greek band with a high-paced punk '77/KBD sound, in a scene full of post-punk (& later on hardcore) bands. As far as their (sociopolitical in nature) lyrics go, they seem to encapsulate all the events & agonies of their generation; tracks such as Leros / (name of an aegean island whose mental institution has one of the worst records on human rights violations in europe) ," Genoktonia / genocide " - which was originally censored & didn't appear on record dressed with the actual lyrics until 1992, "Aghos / angst " are indicative of the band's leanings.
Stress participated in the comp. "Diataraxi koinis isyhias / disruption of public peace - a.k.a. disturbance of common peace ]" & released two LPs: "O ihos tis anasfalias / the sound of insecurity " (self-released, 1985; repressed by Wipe Out Records, 1987) & "O ihos tis anasfalias II / the sound of insecurity II " (Wipe Out Records, 1992). The latter, a post-mortem release, contains previously unreleased demo & live material from the 1983-1985 period - also contained is the track "Genoktonia / genocide", which had been censored the first time around for its lyrical content. Both records have been highly sought-after collector's items for years on end.
The band started playing shows at around '81-'82. Its first line-up consisted of Fragiskos Ninos (vox) - who later on formed Panx Romana - , Louis Kontolis (guitar), Kostas Dirvas (bass), & Nikos Polyhronopoulos (drums) - who also played with Panx Romana for a while. Other people who went through the band's ranks include Yannis Papakostas (vox), Yannis Sialakas (vox), Yannis Karydis (drums), Spyros Mandelos (guitar), & Tom Bouzianis.
