Alex Spanidis (Drummer/Songwriter) was born in Thessaloniki-Greece in 7th June 1976.
Thanks to his father’s passion for music and also seeing his older brother playing piano, Alex started playing drums at the age of 12. He played 4 years as a self-taught drummer with some local bands and then he decided to join concervatory in his town, called New Concervatory Of Thessaloniki (N.C.O.T.), taking lessons in Drums & Classical percussion. In 1996 he finished his studies in the drumset. Furthermore, continued his studies, attending to State Concervatory Of Thessaloniki (S.C.O.T.) for Classical-Orchestral Percussion only: marimba, timpani, vibes, snare drum, , etc.
In 2003 he finished his studies with highly-up grades. Also in 2002 he had started taking lessons in the section of orchestration and Big Band Direction at S.C.O.T., graduating in 2005. in 2021 he started new studies in University of Macedonia - Thessaloniki in the department of Music Arts and Science. He’s been in several clinics,also taking private lessons, from great drummers such as :
Francisco Mela, Ari Hoeniq, Gene Jackson, Greg Hutchinson, Kenwood Dennard, Lenny White, Peter Erskine, Dave Weckl, Jim Chapin, Billy Cobham, Jacubu Griffin, Alexander Mashin, Roberto Gatto, Kostas Anastasiadis and marimba player Gergely Nagy.
Member as a timpanist and A’percussion player with composer’s YIANNIS MARCOPOULOS orchestra : PALINTONOS ARMONIA (2003-2004).
Founding member and songwriter in : PAVLOS PAVLIDIS& B-MOVIES, ELENI TSALIGOPOULOU & BOGAZ MUSIQUE, NASA FUNK, EKMEK, THE PREFABRICATED QUARTET, INTIOTEK, EAR, DUENDE JAZZ ORCHESTRA, TRIO OF GRAVITY.
He has played and plays as a session artist or member with : SHEILA JORDAN ,DAVID BERKMAN, MILCHO LEVIEV,DIEGO RIVERA, MICHAEL WEISEBERGER,MARC ABRHAMS, CRAIG BAILEY, ARLAN OSCAR SCHIERBAUM, JAMES WYLIE, PETER SALTCHEV, NATI ‘’KING’’ MAIMONE,NELLIE TRAVIS, SIMON HELLE, VENTZI BLAKOEV, OLIVIER GATTO,CRAIG WALKER, OLEG CHALY, CHARIS IOANNOU, DIMITRIS TSAKAS,VASILIS XENOPOULOS, DIMITRIS KALAITZIS, MIMMIS PLESSAS, YIANNIS MARCOPOULOS, YIORGOS KAZANTZIS, THEODOSIA TSATSOU GROUP, BLUES WIRE, NICK&THE BACKBONE, THESSALONIKI STATE SYMPHONΥ ORCHESTRA, JOHANN SEBASTIAN JAZZ ORCHESTRA, SYNCHRONIA CINEMATIC ORCHESTRA,DUENDE JAZZ ORCHESTRA, just to name a few.
Alex, has developed an amazing abillity at playing different styles of music with enormous flexibility, adding his own signature taste, making his own mark at any musical style or form. He has collaborated in many officially released recordings, has toured Greece and many other European countries as a member of a handful of successful bands ( ..by Nik Dounoussis). Finally he teaches in : Modern Concervatory of Thessaloniki ( Sychrono Odeio), and in different public music schools all over Greece, giving masterclasses too.
Participation in Festivals: