Review Fix Exclusive: Square Halo’s Demetrios Loukas Talks ‘The Lyme Years’ And More

Review Fox chats with Square Halo’s Demetrios Loukas, who details the band’s origin and the creative process behind their new album, “The Lyme Years.”

Review Fix: How did the band get together?

Demetrios Loukas: I came across Trey’s YouTube channel back in March 2015; it was a video of a very young Trey in what appeared to be his basement playing the music to ‘Elated 80s’ on a programmable keyboard. This instrumental was positively American, very ’80s-inspired and I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT! It was this instrumental that compelled me to e-mail Trey asking if he’d like to collaborate on a song to promote my FIGHT LYME NOW Campaign.  

Review Fix: How does the band create music? What’s the process like?

Loukas: Well, I write and record all my songs independently, and these songs literally took me years to finish because of my battle with Lyme disease: most days I’d be too unwell to get out of bed much less write and record songs. 

When I began working with Trey, he was in his 2nd year of music college. We’d connect via Skype and work on songs. I’d send him my pre-recorded vocals along with my long-time composer-collaborator Omar’s suggested chord progressions and he’d compose and arrange each and every song with me via the internet. It wasn’t an easy process (poor internet connectivity often prevented us from working together) but Trey’s musicality and ingenuity fascinated me from day one.

Review Fix: How was the album written?

Loukas: ‘The Lyme Years’ are about life lessons; the kind you learn the hard way and the kind that change you for good. In February 2005, while training to be a primary school teacher in Oxfordshire, I was bitten by a Lyme-disease-infected tick while on a school trip to a farm. The health system missed the infection and my health almost immediately began to deteriorate. In April 2008 the infection began to affect my neurology and consequently, I developed an inexplicable depression that slowly began to break my spirit. In August 2011, the infection attacked my heart and from this point onwards, my life became a living nightmare. So many things went wrong, unimaginably wrong and in all areas of my life; it was an overwhelmingly negative time in my life, one that I shouldn’t have survived considering how long I remained undiagnosed and untreated. Leading up to my diagnosis in 2013, a hospital clinical psychologist encouraged me to continue singing and songwriting because she believed it would lift my spirit and it did, albeit momentarily. Lyrically, each and every song seeks to share what life has taught me since contracting this very-hard-to-diagnose and very-hard-to-treat infection.

Review Fix: Any cool moments?

Loukas: I’ve always loved American music, especially African-American music. Nearly everyone involved in the production of ‘The Lyme Years’ is American and for me, this is like a dream come true. The album features some very talented musicians all of whom are considerably younger than me. What’s come as a very pleasant surprise to me is how much Trey’s generation (i.e. people in their 20s) like our sound. 

Review Fix: How have your previous albums gotten you to this point?

Loukas: ‘The Lyme Years’ with Trey (and Omar) is my very first proper album. Having said that, all my previous recordings and collaborations have definitely helped me grow as singer, songwriter and co-producer.

Review Fix: What makes music from Minnesota, Japan and London special?

Loukas: The fact that Trey, Omar and I have managed to realise an album, despite being continents apart, is a miracle!

Review Fix: How does it all come together?

Loukas: With great difficulty! Trey, Omar and I reside in distant time zones, so I’ve had to get used to staying up very late in order to work with them both. 

Review Fix: Why does R & B still matter?

Loukas: African-American music has inspired the world over and will continue to do so!

Review Fix: What’s next?

Loukas: Personally, I pray for a full recovery. As for the ‘The Lyme Years’, I sincerely hope Trey, Omar and I (with the help of Tim Heslin at Fresh Tracks Marketing and Michelle Bayer at Shelly Bay Music) succeed creating enough public interest to attract an established record label to invest in our album and our potential.

Review Fix: Anything else you’d like to add?

Loukas: I hope the songs that make up volume 2 of ‘The Lyme Years’ get to see the see the light of day!