acoustic guitars in made up tunings. looper pedals. minidiscs. bicycles. phone cameras. playing with my family.
Last weekend myself and the wonderful Lee Allatson played a short improvised set at the Under The Radar weekender put on by Magic Teapot and Echoloaction. It was a really enjoyable set, playing on the floor & feeling our way in the darkened room. Below is a video of the second half of our set, gradually pulling at the threads of the sounds we’d made and reducing them to a new quiet. A massive thank you to whoever filmed this, I am most grateful.
The All In is the last session of the year for the south leicestershire improvisors ensemble, where as many guest performers from previous sessions join in to make one massive ensemble. This was my first time in a while playing in such a large ensemble. The range of instruments and sounds was really quite broad and fascinating to be a part of. There are some pictures here (and some below) taken by Jordan Parker. There is also a bandcamp link to the 2016 All In which you should definitely have a listen to as well.
Venturing further into spontaneous composition this week with South Leicestershire Improvisers Ensemble on Thursday 7th. Really looking forward to being a part of it. Come on down!
The distance between then and now is filled with the wonder of remembering what happened on the night. On how it amazing it felt being amongst all that sound; gently passing one idea on to one another and finally all arriving at the same place, looking at each other and listening and thinking and……………then it’s done.
I leapt at the chance of getting to work with Lucy and her recordings again. Getting to play with Rattle was, quite frankly, amazing. I am so happy that this happened and thank everyone that made it so.
Like the title says, there’s 4 days to go until the Performing Industry show with Rattle.
And what’s more, you can score yourself one of Lucy’s postcards for attending too!
Until then, here’s some prepared guitar (springs shoved under the strings) taken from one of the ideas sessions for you to listen too. See you on Thursday!
Yet more shaky handheld phone footage -this time of me panning round the main hall of the Attenborugh Arts Centre in readiness for the Performing Industry show with Rattle on Thursday 27th July. It’s not often you get chances to play nice quiet spaces like this and to be collaborating with one of the best bands around is, quite frankly, blowing my mind!
Some nice words about the festival and the folk that played over at Slap Me On The Patio – they’re also on the F***book. Here’s a picture of me losing it whilst standing on the pews. Sorry about that. Went a bit Iggy for a moment.
