A brief whizz of noise from Bar 42 the other week – song is Ugly Man.
Here’s the recent Eight Miles High Club gig in Brighton… had some good gigs lately, but this one had to be the most fun in a while – with 2) Fane 3) Melt Plastic Group & 4) the edge of an energetic crowd: all fantastic.
As part of my musical sideline as a (novice) member of the Safehouse collective, here’s some video footage – and photos – from the 25th April gig supporting Shatner’s Bassoon & Bolide, once again courtesy Agata Urbaniak:
These were taken at Sunday’s Bar 42 gig, and include shots of Dran Krwawy, La Pequena Em, Kuroneko… I really like this photographer’s work, which captures the heightened, adrenalised feel of live performance better than most others I can think of – without resorting to any of the obvious moves – so it’s a thrill to be included. Feast yr eyes, glut yr etc.
And for good measure, here’s a video of an unreleased song called Evil Relief :
It’s At The Coach House, and therefore will be mental & beyond… Also ties in neatly as a celebration of Lilith coming out.
…And as an exaltation of the evil spirits of the unclean dead rising to destroy the living, of course. All good wholesome fun.
As you can see, this gig happens on Wed 9 Sept At The Coach House… If you don’t know about this venue, you should. Same goes for the performers – I’m not playing this time, am just the door-bitch, but in ascending order we have:
Shonalika – one of the best singer-songwriters in a town full of ’em
It features super-powerful performance poet Gary Goodman, renowned multi-instrumental improviser Alistair Strachan, some attention-whore with an Irish surname that’s hard to pronounce, and devastatingly dark new talent Rochelle McLean.
And it happens in one of the – if not the – coolest venues in Brighton. Wed 8 July, folks. It may be Summer, but BRING BACK DARKNESS.
I’m thinking of starting my own regular music/performance event here in Brighton.
There’s a lot of smug, cosy, middle-of-the-road bullshit for grownup children – and very little that’s genuinely got any darkness or challenge to it. Something has to be done, and soon. Therefore, I propose:
(Although I back-pedalled later on the “we don’t want yr money” bit, when someone – quite rightly – pointed out that making it free was, in its own way, just as blithely bourgeois as the stuff I was railing against… and meant the bands couldn’t get a share of the door. I stand corrected… And from now on, you pay!)
Waterghosts was a success; both on its own terms and going by audience reaction. Jamie Sturrock, awkward visionary, I salute you (many people can talk a good game about stuff like this, very few actually risk doing it).
It was exciting to read out my writing in the pulpit, and to work with so many talented musicians and performers; sitting in the engine room and feeling all that improvised sonic deviltry strafing the church was wonderful.
It’s finally happening: at the Brighton Fringe in May at St Mary’s Church, and should be wonderfully mental.
Won’t say more at present – largely because I don’t know much more myself – but I’ll be performing a spoken word piece, and there’ll be music / sound, dancers, sculpture, and a certain amount of the kind of thing you see in the photo above. (That’s not me up there btw but Jamie Sturrock, whose brainchild all of this holy madness is.)
I’m on Radio Reverb this Sunday as part of an hour-long programme of spoken word and improvised music – that’s 28 July at 11pm, on 97.2FM. The programme’s repeated at the following times:
Tue 30 July 7am
Wed 31 July 11am, &
Fri 2 Aug 5am
Prog’s Tales from a Coldean Woodshed – details here. It features a load of readings from me, abstract performances by David Moscovich and improvised guitar interludes from Jamie Sturrock.
The show’s been recorded already and sounds absolutely superb – if you like that kind of thing. If you don’t, why the fuck are you reading this?