Learning Greek with Humour’s Andreas Christodoulidis

When Andreas Christodoulidis arrives for our interview, it feels as though the sun has come out. Far from the moody angst-rocker of my imagination, he radiates a warmth and energy, not just about his music, but about life in general. At first this feels slightly at odds with the aggressive power of the songs on Learning Greek, his band's debut album. But Humour have been on their own journey, and Christodoulidis describes the more gentle beginnings to their first musical forays. 

“We wanted to sound like The National!" he admits. "It wasn’t really until lockdown that the music we were listening to became a bit punkier. A lot of American bands like Protomartyr, Preoccupations, people like that. And that’s when we made a conscious decision to make it heavier.” 

This energy fizzes across Learning Greek, with tracks like Memorial and In the Paddies burning with a righteous anger. At its heart, however, this is an album about identity, and a sense of yearning for belonging. “Both my parents are Greek, but I grew up speaking mostly English," says Christodoulidis. "Which is why my Greek is not as good as it should be. Growing up my sister and I always joked about being cultural nomads. In Greece, people consider us Scottish, but then at school we were always considered Greek. So, you never feel like you are fully in either camp.” 

It’s a sentiment that will resonate with the increasing numbers of mixed-race Scots across the country. So why Learning Greek? “A lot of the songs we’d already written had this theme of nostalgia, and in some ways, regret. Recently I decided to start learning Greek again as a way of reconnecting with myself, and with my family. And the sense that this side of my life might slip away if I didn’t make an effort to hold on to it.”

As the sole lyricist, Christodoulidis has his work cut out. Does he stick to a routine, or just wait for the magic to happen? “I go through phases of writing, and then not writing and starting to panic! On my phone I have notes of ideas I wake up with, and also pieces that I’ve read – in books, films, anything. And that often really helps to spark things.” This speaks directly to one of Learning Greek’s standout tracks – Plagiarist – with its arresting lyrical confession: 'I’ve lifted every line'. Is he simply following in the long line of musical magpies? 

“I find it really exciting when you notice that someone has taken a line from a famous poem, or you can spot little influences in lyrics. It’s the same with visual art [Christodoulidis is himself an art tutor], one painting can be a homage to another. And quite often the source will be unrecognisable in the song – but it’s that stimulus, that starting point, that makes it work.”

The title track, a mere 59 seconds long, centres around a recording of Christodoulidis with his father, studying a translation of a Greek poem. It’s moving, arresting, and a perfect interlude in the frenetic pace of the album. What did his Dad make of it? “I think he was a bit confused! The other day I was showing him that we were on BBC 6Music, with Memorial, another song which he features on, and he was like, 'Is that me?!' But that song was inspired by one of his favourite Greek poems, and I think he liked the way I had interpreted it.”

Was there ever a suggestion that the Greek influences might extend to the instrumentation? Franz Ferdinand, another Scottish band with Greek connections, had a track on their most recent album which saw them try a take on traditional rebetiko music. “Growing up, I didn’t want to listen to Greek music," Christodoulidis confesses. "It wouldn’t have been cool. But I listen to it a lot more now, and it’s so beautiful, so unique. I really wish we could have had something like that on the album.”

Learning Greek marks the latest success story for Rod Jones and his Post Electric studios in Edinburgh, a stable already home to Hamish Hawk and rEDOLENT. Whatever Jones is doing, it’s creating something special, in very different genres of music. So, what does the future hold for Humour? “We’re playing across the UK in December, but from there we don’t really know. I think we want to let it develop organically. I always say this when I’m tutoring art – you shouldn’t know what it’s going to look like at the end, because if you do, you aren’t really finding anything out. You should be surprised. If you know what it’s going to be – if it’s that easy – then what’s the point?”

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Learning Greek is released on 8 Aug via So Young Records

Humour play instores at Assai Records, Edinburgh and Glasgow, 14 Aug; King Tut's, Glasgow, 6 Dec