Crayola Lectern's Ever Decreasing Circles

Everybody's Got To Be Somewhere 18/12/11

2012-01-04T22:33:00.001+01:00

Man of paint and poetry, Gary Goodman has been putting on these somewhat ace afternoons of spoken word, performance art and music, known as Everybody's Got To Be Somewhere for some time now with co-curators Ben Graham and Anthony Murphy though the present format has now come to an end. As Gary put it on Facebook, "We wanted to end it while it was still the strongest, most eclectic show in town. We brought you (well Ben did) the legendary Mick Farren, we hosted a benefit for the prominent and important Jeff Keen, and raised his profile too, the genius Wolf Howard, Jeff Sheppard's last ever English poetry reading (twice!)... we've had comedy, performance, live and recorded music, demonstrations, cyber interviews, film, short stories and, of course, fantastic poetry."
Myself and Al Strachan hopped up on the Albert stage on this the final EGTBS to do a few Lectern songs - Billennia, Slow Down and Hallucinate (a Happy Christmas) - and to enjoy some of Brighton's great performing wordsmiths, Quint, Jimmy McGee, Tim Leopard, Alice Walker, Jeff Sheppard, Dan Belton, Lisa Jayne and Ben Graham - though I did miss one or two, being as I was with me kids.

(pic of Al Strachan casiotoning in Lecternium)
Our little set was extra sweet as my 3 year old, Mary and 7 year old, Jude sat up on stage as we played and Jude jingled some sleigh bells to the Christmas song. Unfortunately I used a dodgy lead and so my electric piano started disappearing from the mix at intervals. These things happen however, such is life.
So au revoir, Everybody's Got To Be Somewhere and hopefully see you all again Somewhere Else.

Crayola Lectern @ The Coach House 16/12/11

2012-01-04T15:48:00.005+01:00

Another splendid evening at the highly vibesome Coach House, tucked away in a secret corner of Kemp Town. Simon Drinkwater opened proceedings with beautiful guitar drones and soft incantations followed by my friend (and former band associate in Celebricide, Emotikön and Passiondale) Tim Leopard, who performed a hugely entertaining spoken word concerning Chris Moyles and a bathtub with electronic accompaniment by Mass, also of Passiondale.

My set was the first we've done with Jarv on drums and casiotone alongside Al on cornet, harmonium, Omnichord and casiotone. We even worked out how to play my Christmas song which I'd never have expected to ever do live.
Also did Billennia, I Will Never Hurt, Ultrasonicmetaglide, Fall and Rise (formerly known as Untitled - now named thus as a tribute to The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, the spirit of which is evoked in this tune (somehow!)), Submarine, Barbara's Persecution Complex, Awesomne View, Slow Down, Mork Calling Orson (Come In Orson) [abridged version], and Combobulatory Explorations - so lots for Jarv to store in that brain with only a couple of rehearsals. Seemed to work rather well though!

Hallucinate (a Happy Christmas)

2011-11-27T20:04:00.002+01:00

Well here it is - the Christmas song. This has the be the most arse about tit way a song could possible be written/recorded as I decided to work out how to use Logic in the process. So rather ridiculously I decided to spend an hour doing improv piano tracks which I could then whittle down into the good bits and then whittle further into the bits of the good bits which actually fitted together. In the end I think I ended up with none of the best bits but some of the bits which did fit (somewhat) together. So I ended up at 9 minutes. I got quite attached to that version as it really flowed and had some great other bits but knew that I'd be hogging the compilation cd so I ruthlessly culled it, bringing her in at 5'26".
Hallucinate (a Happy Christmas) by Crayola Lectern
I think there is something left resembling a song - although not in a particularly conventional structure and I couldn't manage some rudimentary recording things like having stereo tracks etc! I wouldn't say it's the best thing I've done but at least I know how not to record in the future.
Lyrically it name-checks a few carols and even Boney M get a look in in line 6.

Hallucinate (a Happy Christmas)

When freezy sparkles glitter in the starlit wintry sky,
As Santa's slaves in sweatshops toil to feed the Christmas lie,
And good king Wenceslas looks out upon the Tesco's store,
Makes Twinkle Twinkle little star not want to shine no more,
But rest ye merry gentlemen, let nothing you dismay,
For Mary's boy child, Jesus Christ was born for you to slay.

(It's a time for) gluttony,
(It's a time for) poverty,
(It's a time for) slavery,
(And it's a time for) faux bonhomie,
(It's a time for) greed,
(It's a time for) slaughter,
Yeah, slaughter and greed,
(It's a time for) robbery,
(Oh, it's a time for) evil,
Evil, oh evil.

Hallucinate a happy Christmas (etc)

I'm promoting a gig...

2011-10-14T13:44:00.003+01:00

The Bad Black Dots

2011-09-19T12:33:00.001+01:00

Artist, visionary and all round top chapette, Rona Innes has very kindly made some bad black dots drawings for my emergency psycollectiv freekout unit, The Bad Black Dots. The one above should be named Vortex Death Dot as even without discernable facial features it manages to convey a terrible and sinister menace.

The dot above is well badass and the face is beautiful and baad, man, whilst small hairy dot below probably plays in a dotty band...

..alonside hairy fringe dot below who could be either the lead singer/screamer or maybe the drummer...

...whilst poor old Evil Edna dot below has been left home in the kitchen to poison the food.

Rona says she just knocked them up one evening recently. I love 'em and they're a big help in giving the collective a visual identity. Please go check out Rona's work at her website here.

La Mômo, The Fuck U Planet Earth and The Bad Black Dots

2011-09-18T12:59:00.001+01:00

Another great night down Brighton's charming Cowley Club which has been undergoing various improvements courtesy of Graham Newbury. It seems huge now simply for having relocated the mixing desk.
The Bad Black Dots (Phase III) comprised me on bass, E-Da on drums, Kai Wong on guitar and Al Strachan on casiotone and was much fun for me (and hopefully everyone else), The Fuck U Planet Earth played a fantastic set which sounded immense, krautrocky and was quite joyful indeed and then we played our 29 minute La Mômo set which had various unlikely people boinging around the room in what appeared to be glee.
Which was nice. Big thumbs up to Zygote Collective.

Crayola Lectern @ The Coach House, Brighton 03/09/11

2011-09-12T11:20:00.004+01:00

Brighton still shows it has its secret corners and hidden places, free from corporate advertisements, drinks promotions, banging soundz coming from ear-splittingly conversation-defying speaker systems which we now expect to experience amongst the wreckage of this post-X-Factor age; where having a night out must involve the active pretence of having a good time, as yet another Tequila slips down towards yet another messy end to yet another predictably crass night out.
Brighton's The Coach House exists away from all that worldly clutter. It's not a pub as the name suggests, so there's no sign up displaying any desire to fill itself with anyone looking for the 'good time' as outlined above. Instead, here is a space that supports creative living with wide-ranging workshops including beekeeping, basket making and a lot more, as well as providing a charming place to experience live music. The wood-burning stove, candles, the old church harmonium (which we used on the track below), the bare plaster walls, wood-beamed ceiling and oak floor all conspire together to create a rather magical little spot off the main road, up a hill and down an alley in the Kemp Town environs.
Submarine - Crayola Lectern by Crayola Lectern
The evening started with the improvised sounds of 9, namely Will from ViV and Jarv (sometimes drummer with Crayola Lectern), two great talents in the town coming together to redefine our expectations in sonic alchemy, followed by Sun Sets Over Whitehawk, woozily and bloozily improvised experiments with clarinets, bass, effects and voice, followed by Embla Quickbeam's resonance and drone pieces whose harmonics blend in the blissful noisemurk to create their own organically melodic lines, followed by Crayola Lectern, who overcame a major bout of tremens in the first song to settle into a happily lengthy set with just Al Strachan and I, Lectern, together giving it our best with my very own Technics PX7 electric piano, purchased off papa Strachan Snr, himself. We played three completely new songs and Jarv joined us for the last couple of numbers on them drums.
Great to see so many friends and acquaintances there - even one or two self-professed fans. Quite extraordinary and one beautiful warm-hearted evening.
Setlist:
Babs' Persecution Complex
Billennia
Submarine
Untitled
Slow Down
Combobulatory Explorations
I Will Never Hurt
Tumbling From Stretchers
Wholetoner
"Fireworks"
Awesomne View

William D. Drake + Crayola Lectern @ Komedia

2011-07-14T15:05:00.001+01:00

Late again, Mr Lectern!
This was a very special night indeed. I'm not sure my words would do it justice but I will say - what a wonderful night!
Lucy Cage mentions the evening in question on Collapse Board and we played To Go Off And Things (Jon singing & acoustic guitar, William D. Drake on piano, me on sax.)
To Go Off And Things by Crayola Lectern
Then there was our version of Robert Wyatt's Sea Song - dodgy sound quality recorded on a phone but you get the picture.

Still happy a month later.

William D. Drake "The Rising of the Lights"

2011-05-30T11:31:00.002+01:00

I must be careful as I have no interest in being a music critic but very occasionally I feel compelled to rejoice in certain records with a fervour, bordering on the evangelical, making me look to an outsider like a born-again, out to convert yet this is not for my secured place in the after-life, my salvation having already been achieved here on Earth, holding this thing in my hands.

This thing here in my hands is The Rising of the Lights, William D. Drake's new album. The month of May has been a perfect time to 'release', it being the period in the calendar when flowers bloom and new life prospers. In fact, as I see it, William D. Drake has not released an album at all, rather he has had a baby. Lovingly written and played by all concerned, replete with all the joys and woes a life can muster, generous in so many ways, from the wealth of ideas to the tickling of the listener's brain's pleasure receptors, the enchantments, through to the packaging. It feels like a beautiful gift, lovingly wrapped and full of magic.

If artists, as are sometimes claimed, are mere vessels who capture the ghosts and vibrations from the ether, then the ether surrounding William D. Drake's being must be supercharged with possibilities and great emotional depth, never overbearing, rather enticing, mesmerizing, leading me up the garden path to a place where the ornamental hermits and great adventurers dwell, alongside those other rare outsiders like William D. Drake himself who have the ability to write hugely accessible songs, but which still retain their intrinsic mystery, without cultivating a beard to prove the point (no slight intended, my dear beardy friends).

The "outsiderness," I refer to is borne of a strong personal sense, unfettered by fashionable dictates, yet always looking forward, combining the old and new, a celebration of life, "overflowing with joy and with pain" without making a meal of it. It happens naturally, crafting out of Love's own materials, he plays the notes he plays because it is coming from an inner place and to give it out to all us philistines is just plain kind of him. It's a kindness he shares with Robert Wyatt - perhaps he over-estimates his potential audience due to a generosity of spirit which many lack.

The songs then, in a nutshell? Well, we have the playfulness of Super Altar, Ant Trees, Wholly Holey, Ziegler, Song In The Key Of Concrete - so unfair to lump them in together under such a trite heading, needless to say the playfulness is a mere foil for the wealth of ideas each of these songs possess. The gentle reassurances and soothings of Me Fish Bring, Laburnum and In An Ideal World, the gloriously exciting Mastodon with it's amusing little lyrical moment, title track, The Rising Of The Lights whose luminescent bacteria stir from their dormancy with a seductive menace in preparation for an attack on the nervous system, full of mystery and danger and then there's show-stopper, Homesweet Homestead Hideaway, which as the wonderful song subsides after the invocation, hypnotizes us to "go with the the flow" into dream, taking us together along tributaries and into a wide expanse where our souls let fly and there's something of the end of a great Western to all this as the end credits roll and looking back over my shoulder I become aware how vast an inroad this album has made into my own subconscious.

That such redemption can be extricated from a circular piece of metal alloy will never cease to amaze me.

Ant's Epic Journey

2011-04-27T10:57:00.001+01:00

Had to admire this tiny ant's perseverance in dragging a deceased spider across the room today. So much so that I've given it some epic, heroic (for an ant) piano music to help it on its way before its rehousing to an exterior location occurs.

Crayola Lectern @ Latest music bar, Brighton

2011-03-17T19:50:00.001+01:00

Much fun last night at The Latest Bar near Brighton Pier (formerly Joogleberry Playhouse) with some most interesting other bands, namely Plus (who have to surely be the most ungooglable band in the world) as well as Bella Kardasis and Paul Farrington.

I even reneged on my decision never to play an electric piano live ever again and braved the in-house Kawai which was completely fine (ok, the key action was a bit heavy, but anyway...) A very odd stage sound in that I couldn't hear what my right hand was doing on the piano much as everything was swamped in subby frequencies, but apparently it sounded great out front.

At the end of the set we went into an unplanned musical few minutes of serene spontaneity - probably the high point of the set and it felt for those minutes that our three brains had melded into one. A great moment in a good gig!

Return Of The Mighty Mômo!

2011-01-23T20:43:00.005+01:00

La Mômo played our first gig for a couple of years at The Albert in Brighton earlier this month. It were a right hoot and Greg Neate got a couple of great pics. Here's one of us (we're a duo now.) Thanks to Betsy for lending us her rather nice Danelectro geedar as mine was playing up a bit in rehearsal. Crayola Lectern didn't play in the end despite putting in an appearance on the poster! I did play piano in The Legend! seven piece allstars and Jon Slade played some great rock'n'roll 7"s toooo.

Hamptons, ViVs & Lecterns @ Unitarian Church, Brighton

2010-12-19T14:18:00.009+01:00

Another fine Willkommen Collective evening was had at Brighton's splendiferous Unitarian Church in the company of some really great music makers, namely ViV with their alchemical blends of overtones, heavenly tinkles and post-rock (if I may) tension and release, utilising cello, double bass, brass, piano, guitar, vibraphone, percussion, Korg, flute and silence. They make the sort of music that I used to wish Tortoise would make but never quite did. One of the best cd's of the year for me was their eponymously titled debut which may be heard and purchased at www.radioviv.com. Similarly enchanting were The Mary Hampton Band, comprising ViV's string section and flugelhorn player (Alistair Strachan, who actually played in all three bands this evening) along with a brilliant viola/vocalist underpinning Mary's dobro pluckings and pianoisms. The songs follow the folk narratives whilst retaining quite trippy tribal rhythms in a peculiarly krautrockish way which can't be a bad thing. The group encored with a perfectly pitched unaccompanied vocal chorus.
Very pleased with the Lectern set - the room at the Unitarian church has a very high-ceiling which allows the sound to set flight around the air, taking on it's own ghostly form beyond what has been played. Reverberation - but not a wrong reverb, rather a wonderful magicky one which enhances without obliterating the detail.The Broadwood baby grand is also quite special to say the least.
These great photos of Crayola Lectern were taken by the one and only Mr Greg Neate. Find more of his band photos here as well as a further set of photographs documenting his recent work in Ghana here.

Crayola Lectern @ The Albert 2/11/10

2010-11-11T13:44:00.002+01:00

I supported Hollow Moon last week in place of The Rhinestoned Immaculates, who I play bass with. Did a solo spot on the house piano which is a little more rickety than usual with the B above middle C not sounding. Quite a fun gig though, as the piano creaked and clunked along like some cumbersome contraption adding a certain charm to the proceedings. I played Combobulatory Explorations, Tumbling From Stretchers, Danfare and one other (possibly). Good fun.

Clouds over Clayton

2010-10-21T09:22:00.001+01:00

Nice to be rewarded with an astonishing view having walked up a monstrous hill with something of a hangover on Tuesday. Unfortunately views don't look so good when taken through a phone camera but the clouds look pretty fab and well worth the climb and the sheep shit I trod in whilst taking these.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Tamsin

2010-10-02T14:18:00.006+01:00

Here I am with Tamsin in June 1996 at Bracknell Festival where our band supported Ian Dury and The Blockheads (no, our band wasn't Hawkwind!)
I post this on the tenth anniversary of Tamsin going off to live in California (aged 6) - here we are on the beach in Worthing pretending not to be freezing during her visit last Christmas.

God's Salute

2010-10-01T14:40:00.004+01:00

I took this picture of a World War 1 memorial the day before yesterday just outside Sway in the New Forest on my phone. The rainbow went all the way over and back down again, like a heavenly blessing.
Somewhat serendipidously, yesterday I read that World War 1 is now officially over with Germany having paid their final instalment of damages for the crimes against humanity inflicted during that period.
After taking the photo I stood in the same spot turned around and took this one.

Crayola Lectern @ Westhill Hall 11/9/10

2010-09-15T14:38:00.002+01:00

Open a bottle of wine, light a cheroot, dim the lights, put on your headphones, close your eyes and re-live the Crayola Lectern gig at the Westhill Hall last week to an appreciative crowd of Willkommen Collective folk.

Crayola Lectern @ Westhill Hall 11/9/10 by Crayola Lectern

Blowing My Own Saxophone...

2010-09-05T19:35:00.003+01:00

...and oboe on the splendidly kosmische and utterly psyched out Drum Eyes album.

Verily, 'tis a thing of beauty and on nice thick vinyl as well as cd.

Arch Garrison + Crayola Lectern @ Komedia 27/8/10

2010-08-29T11:35:00.006+01:00

A fine, fine evening of music was had by a rather small audience at Komedia's superb studio bar on Friday with a spellbinding performance by Craig Fortnam and Sharron Fortnam aka Arch Garrison, playing those strange and compelling tales of real lives over hypnotic nylon strung guitar pickings. Craig makes it appear effortless and asserts that it really isn't anywhere near as difficult as playing classical guitar and as we looked on it seemed like his picking fingers weren't doing an awful lot yet the sound coming from the instrument told me that there was so much going on - bass lines, melody, counterpoint, grace notes - all from this single guitar.
My friend Julian and I decided that Mr Fortnam probably has two more arms coming out of his back playing another guitar which we couldn't see, or possibly he has a tiny arm coming out of his wrist with some extra useful fingers for some of those trickier sounding passages... whatever it is he does, it verges on magic. And the tunes are fab too.
The Lectern set went down a treat despite a smash up during Forgot My Big Idea and all was good. Afterwards we headed off en masse to the Heart In Hand outside of where various Spratleys, Fortnams, Lecterns, Hayes and Poole sang a rousing rendition of Cardiacs' Hymn to the strains of Jon's secret organ. A fitting gesture of gratitude and good vibes to the very sadly still poorly Tim Smith.
Grateful thanks to the most excellent Mr Haillay for all his help on the night.

Crayola Lectern set:
Tumbling From Stretchers
Ultrasonicmetaglide
Forgot My Big Idea
I Will Never Hurt
Combobulatory Explorations
Slow Down
Billennia
Awesomne View
Trip In D (full trip)

The Family Elan, Hamilton Yarns and Crayola Lectern @ Westhill Hall

2010-08-06T10:52:00.002+01:00

After a bewilderingly sad week of bad news upon bad news, it came as some relief to play a gig in the old Sunday School hut which is the Westhill Hall on Compton Avenue in Brighton. A reassuringly familiar sort of place, I'd previously once played there with The Legend and it was great to finally get to play my own songs on the characterful, fairly elderly and a tad honky house piano; charming as anything with its odd resonances conspiring alchemically with Jon Poole's and Alistair Strachan's respective casio and cornet magic, creating an overall sound greater than the sum of its parts. The room has what I can only describe as a gentle warmth which is acoustically very satisfying and conducive to listening to music, and as The Family Elan and Hamilton Yarns showed, the sparser the music, the more the room came alive.

Regrettably I missed most of both of their sets and it was clearly my loss on both counts from the moments I did catch.
Thanks to Rowan for having us play.

Setlist:
Ultrasonicmetaglide
Combobulatory Explorations
I Will Never Hurt
Billennia
Slow Down
Awesomne View
Trip in D

Crayolectric Eclectern @ Cowley Club

2010-08-06T10:40:00.003+01:00

And so it came to pass that Crayola Lectern's Kosmick City All Star Rockers played another hypnogig at the Cowley Club alongside the splendidly spellbinding Milk And Pickles and those masked noise crusaders, White Tiger.
Trip In D was performed, beer consumed, friends were made, old pals reacquainted and all was well. Thanks to thee Zygote collective for having us back.

Crayola Lectern's Kosmick City All Star Rockers line-up:
Wendy Rae Fowler - bass
Andrew Jarvis - drums
Noah Taylor - eclectric guitar
Tiffany Bryant - space voice, floot
Alistair Strachan - cornet, Korg
Crayola Lectern - eclectric guitar, manual guitar loops, drone

Everybody's Got To Be Somewhere

2010-07-17T22:53:00.004+01:00

Father's Day and we head over en famille to The Albert where wordsmith, artist Gary Goodman's afternoon of spoken word (with a bit of music) is underway, curated on this occasion by Ben Graham, himself a gentleman psychedelicist and also man of words.

This was the first solo Crayola Lectern gig ever in the history of the known universe, Alistair being on a train from Edinburgh and Jon being on that little pootly chuffer train on Brighton's Marine Parade.

There were three small dogs in the audience who barked between songs - a kind of dog applause I like to think. My daughter Mary tried crawling onto the stage during my set, all captured on film by Noah.

The piano in The Albert is fine despite what they say. It has a dodgy low G and don't press the soft pedal as it sends powerful shockwaves through the entire instrument. But it sounded great, with apleasing brightness, a brilliant attack and a tinkly sweetness when played in a such a way. Responsive is the word.

This gig made me feel much better about playing and I decided to probably not bother playing electric pianos live again. Two new songs were played too, Tumbling From Stretchers and Danfare. Confidence regained.

Splitting The Atom Eclectronica Alldayer

2010-07-13T20:30:00.007+01:00

Brighton's Hydrant venue was filled with some mighty freakydeaky sound manipulators and oscillorapers back in May. Great freekout musick makers, drone kings and queens, nudity, theremins, pedal abusers and experimentalists of different colours.

I forsook my usual song-oriented set for a carefully designed drone piece with some unusual beats accented by the bass and drums, the intention being to freeze time in essence and to enhance the feeling of existing in the present. I jokingly referred to it as an attempt to hypnotize the audience but seriously that was really the intention.

As a huge fan of experimental music making I wanted to do something other than manipulating sounds with pedals. Total respect to those who do this as their experiment but after years of making electronic drone manipulations with found sounds and instruments/ effects, I personally find it no more experimentally satisfying than trying different note clusters on say, a piano where the overtones do all the work. Piano improvs would have been a good thing for me to do on this occasion but in the absence of a piano I assembled an interesting group of individuals, gave them an approximate time-line for the piece with a couple of cues (via text message), did not formally rehearse and we went ahead and played the gig. Some members of the group had never met before, others had never improvised live before - so, what with the hypnosis etc my experiment can be seen to work on several levels.

Which is why I was pissed off to read the age old "more-experimental-than-you" review on this blog about my show. Needless to say there wasn't a Wyatt moment, not a whiff of prog as suggested (except possibly the big intro).

I get tired of the tedious elitism which plagues the 'experimental' scene down here and in London too when I last checked; I think I know what tickles the experimental cognoscenti and naturally endeavour to break away from the predictable confines of what is deemed appropriate for the 'genre'- in search of a vastly wider spectrum of sound possibilities including musicality and entertainment.

Seems to me that the fact that the audience were entertained and having fun goes against the grain of being deemed successfully 'experimental'.
The audience were shouting out Hawkwind song titles by the end of the set and it really felt like we were playing to like-minded people. OK, so we had a krautrock wig out in the final section but - it was organic, spontaneous and nearly everyone had a great time.

The Crayolectric Eclectern Kosmick City All Star Band comprised:

Tiffany Bryant - flute, space echo vocals
Andrew Jarvis - drums
Wendy Rae Fowler - bass
Tim Keegan - guitar
Alistair Strachan - cornet, Korg
Crayola Lectern - manual guitar loops, drone

Crayola Lectern @ Scaledown - April 30th

2010-07-05T20:57:00.003+01:00

Those lovely Scaledown people had me back to play a gig supporting the wondrous Viv Albertine, who, pleased to report was every bit as fiery, ascerbic, dynamic and erudite as we could ever hope for from our punk iconettes, articulating, with the bitter rhetoric of one who might have experienced the feeling of having been cheated, the myth of love, with a righteous acceptance. Her songs possess that same pissed off (but still able to have fun) smart teenager energy, which partially propelled The Slits and it was a real treat to see the grown up version.
Talking of growing up, here I am, 43, writing a blog... about another brutally challenging Crayola Lectern gig to have to live through. Like it matters! Yes indeed, sadly I put in a performance as stilted and troubled as that of the previous 12 bar gig.
A tensing of the upper body, tremor, palpitations, hyper-self-consciousness, the inability to sing coupled with the darkest ennui, deepened by the fact that I was playing a(n electric) keyboard and not a real acoustic piano, resonances from which my own music needs for its harmonics, led to a Lectern Lite moment to be experienced by the (un)lucky few and my own attitude to the audience was that of a timid man who just drove a long way and is now no longer in the mood. So, sorry!
Interestingly the recordings sounded ok and some people seemed to genuinely love it which was a surprise.
Scaledown is a fabulous place to experience stripped down versions of some of the wackiest and wonderfullest musics made by people of recent years. Respect.

Arch Garrison, William D Drake and Crayola Lectern @ 12 Bar

2010-05-03T19:49:00.013+01:00

Al and I played a Jonless gig at the 12 Bar on 14th April and rather weirdly I lost my bottle during the set. A dreary and impenetrable black curtain of self disgust descended upon and enshrouded me throughout. Hands were more shaky even than usual, causing me to miss notes and generally lose the mood. Only a few people watching but all of them mattered. I mean, the people here are my musical soul compatriots, anyone who goes to see Bill Drake or Craig Fortnam's Arch Garrison, so this fact served to worsen the general existential "melancholy" a hundredfold.
As it was, those who witnessed this tragic event were very kind afterwards and I did soon cheer up, it must be said, thanks in no small part to the totally life-affirming sets that followed me that evening.
The William D Drake trio of James Larcombe, Dug Parker and Bill are simply on fire at the moment, full harmonies, reedy sounds, television organs and those bloody amazing notes which the man always appears to so nonchalantly choose to play. I can't wait to hear the new album which may possibly be released by the end of the year. If these songs are anything to go by, it may be the best album yet, which, as anyone who knows me here will testify, is saying something.
Arch Garrison were lovely, despite a bass which suddenly decided not to work. Those guitar patterns, the bedrock of North Sea Radio Orchestra, weaving themselves into sub-patterns, painting colours both ancient and modern, like a medieval Stereolab at times, singing songs of intrigue and mystery, dark yet almost naive, childlike yet slightly sinister at times and always timeless.
Am loving the album King Of The Down (buy it) and watching it live with the full band comprising James Larcombe (again) and Sharron Fortnam was just brill. I don't understand why Craig's (and Bill Drake's) music is still so relatively unheard of. I'm starting to feel like I'm in on some of the best secrets in music these days. On the Cardiacs forum page someone noted that the Arch Garrison album might have come out quite Sea Nymphs-y, had their (very sadly beleaguered) friend Tim Smith been involved with it's production. As it is, with the sound untarnished (by his avowedly supreme genius and strangely fascinating wheezy or tinkly noises) what we get here is a true sounding (ie "spine tinglingly great" to quote Mr Drake) record which needs no such enhancements. To give you an idea of how my brain reacts to the album, the first song takes me off from the old town of Trumpton-on-Sea with Captain Pugwash as my guide, navigating unknown yet familiar oceans, possibly in a dream years before those programmes' creators' great-grandparents had been born. So you see, so early on and I'm talking jibberish, weirdly immersed in it, which hopefully precludes me from having to write about it in a meaningful (to others) kind of way. This is the way with all music that I like. My own words are just too nonsensical to describe these things the mind conjures with music.
Suffice to say that after one listen through in the car yesterday, Jude, my five year old son was singing three of the songs off of it.
Tonight, I wasn't worthy but I had a truly great evening in the end.

Crayola Lectern @ Thee Cowley Club

2010-04-25T10:03:00.008+01:00

Those Zygote collective souls have been ferreting away in the underground putting on some well decent bands of late, particularly of the experimental/angular persuasion, so imagine my trepidation when given a headline Lectern slot (my first) by them at the Cowley Club recently.
I needn't have worried - it was a fantastic night and seriously lovely people in attendance - my kind of people. I didn't know there were any of us left! Jon and Ali were splendid as ever and it was the most relaxed I've felt before.
Mega-thanks to Graham Zygote for managing to locate an 88 note keyboard for the occasion too as well as to Noah for turning in a "hippie shit" (his term) acoustic set of dark, reverb soaked tales of woe, fresh off the plane from doing some altogether different things (but mainly this) at SXSW.

A Quick Glance Backstage At A Crayola Lectern Gig

2010-03-19T13:27:00.005+01:00

Ah yes, I do like to relax before a performance in the presence of youth and beauty. Thanks to Noah for providing the photographic evidence. In fact, whilst I indulge you in the privilege of sharing a pre-gig backstage moment, here's one of Noah, taken that same evening.
Ah, happy times.

The Bad Black Dots

2010-03-19T11:45:00.023+01:00

The world premier live performance of The Bad Black Dots has just occurred in Brighton. The groop is an emergency back-up psychedelic freekout band for such occasions as when other groops I'm in have to cancel. As such the line-up is volatile, liable to change depending on the availabilty of local genii and the demands of the occasion. On this occasion it was the band Emotikon who couldn't fulfill our billing as "Butch," our guitar strangler had to go to Texas for some strangling.

This particular The Bad Black Dots (for let us not omit the definite article) comprised Tim Leopard (formerly of Celebricide, currently of Passiondale and Emotikon) vocalising full formed narrative streams of consciousness, Jon Poole (formerly of Cardiacs, currently a Crayola Lecternite) on fretless 'porn' funk bass with Adam Collier Woods (formerly of Walk On Water and Pets) on drums, Andrew Jarvis played a beautiful conch and hosepipe, Tiffany Bryant sang Gong-like and fluted perfectly through a copicat, Alistair Strachan (Crayola Lectern, Hamilton Yarns, Oddfellows Casino) played cornet (or flugehorn?) and Korg synth - these three were positioned stage right in the arkestra pit from whence their cosmic vibrations, drones, modulations and slides emitted - and me, Crayola Lectern, for that is my name, played the electronic guitar.
In some ways an unlikely grouping of people but the overall effect seemed to work extremely well according to the audience although they were half pissed as befits a Saturday night in Brighton. Those of us in the band who've enjoyed being sound carriers for Damo Suzuki got to experience a similar frisson in creating instant compositions alongside Tim Leopard's spontaneous tales of darkness and light. An extra surreal quality to the proceedings in the form of two gents, seated to the fore of the dancehall, steadily holding a recording device, their presence juxtaposed against the engulfing sonic furies, was a nice touch indeed.
As yet The Bad Black Dots do not appear on MySpace or elsewhere. The name hails from a jam once had under the influence of a recently attended Acid Mothers Temple gig, the jam comprising Sadie (La Mômo) and Emil (MAP) and me, collectively The Bad Black Dots (Phase One). This final photo of Tiffany and Alistair was pilfered without permission from a certain craigboney's Flickr photostream because it is very nice and I'm too cowardly to confront him about using it in case he says 'no'.

Oddfellows Casino + Crayola Lectern, Komedia March 9th

2010-03-11T10:59:00.005+01:00

Crayola Lectern photo by Noah Taylor

Back at the excellently vibed (and perfectly piano'ed) Studio Bar at Brighton's Komedia, myself, Jon Poole and Al Strachan popped back out from hiberhation for another Lectern gig, this time in support of David Bramwell's ace Oddfellows Casino. David's songs exist on an almost otherworldly level, one foot on a different spiritual plane whilst the other brandishes a nice cup of tea (yes, I know you can't brandish a cup of tea with a foot - just bear with my inept metaphors here). In other words, reassuringly spooky and laden with powerful imagery. Great band augmenting his piano songs and particularly pleasing to see a harmonium being put to good use alongside (the aforementioned) Al Strachan's plaintive flugelhorn motifs - also a staple part of the Lectonian "oeuvre" nowadays.
The Crayola Lectern set went down well with the Oddfellows audience as I'm sure we tick some of the same boxes whilst being different enough to avoid the dreaded audience fatigue, although that didn't stop many of them from yakking their way through the set.
I was still reeling from the news of Mark Linkous' untimely passing (..still am..) and we played Spirit Ditch in his memory. I'm pleased to say (quite paradoxically) that it went down better than any of my own - and as such was a suitable parting gift for (from?) him in the musical aether. He who changed my world when I discovered his songs.

Crayola Lectern setlist:

Ultrasonicmetaglide
Forgot My Big Idea
I Will Never Hurt
Combobulatory Explorations
Slow Down
Billennia
Untitled
Spirit Ditch (by Sparklehorse)
Awesomne Viewe
Wholetoner

Oh no...

2010-03-11T10:36:00.003+01:00

I'm not one to make 'sincere' tributes to every passing musical hero but the passing of Mark Linkous leaves a void in my world. I can remember where I was, who I was with and what I was doing the first time I ever heard Sparklehorse. I was in Sweden, nineteen ninety something, touring in Supermodel. We were with the owner of Luger productions who had sorted out the tour. He put the cd of Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot on in his office and by the the fourth bar of opening track, Homecoming Queen I had been entirely seduced by the wretched, beautiful truth therein. Never looked back.
One of my three favourite artists is gone now. I just have hazy memories of watching Sparklehorse at the (old) Concorde in Brighton. Mark Linkous was a major contributing factor in the creation of Crayola Lectern. My song I Will Never Hurt was inspired somewhat by him although it is about something else.
Goodbye Frederick Mark Linkous - and thanks for leaving future generations all your wonderful songs.

The Bad Black Dots

2010-03-07T00:24:00.003+01:00

Debut performance, featuring....moi!

The Spider And The Bee

2010-02-05T20:12:00.005+01:00

For the full dreadful affair, click below!
The Spider And The Bee - Crayola Lectern

William D Drake + Crayola Lectern @ Komedia

2009-12-15T21:34:00.002+01:00

Yes, that's correct folks. William D Drake and Jon Poole performing some choice Cardiacs tunes together towards the end of Bill's set. These things don't happen every day.
Dive into the pond and see what some of those Cardiacs people had to say...

Music From Beyond The Veil

2009-12-13T15:40:00.005+01:00

Sometimes when I extemporize on the piano it feels like it is playing itself. My own ideas seem to become subsumed by something outside of myself as the overtones contrive to blend into new harmonic shapes. I have occasionally likened this feeling to that of singing ghosts whose essences reside in the old piano in this 106 year old room, built on the site of a windmill which existed here all the way back to the times of the Domesday book.
So it was a great moment today when I got in the car to drive to the cashpoint to check my bank balance (£12.73 available - this wasn't the great moment) when on Radio 4 was this wonderful programme, Music From Beyond The Veil.
Particularly interesting for me is from 19 minutes in, Keith Howard from SOAS's description of the use of cymbals in Nepali tribes to communicate with the spirit world via the overtones produced which create what he describes as "the murmuring of spirits," with very specific drum patterns for different forms of communication with different spirits in the ritual - this tallying somewhat with my own (less considered, lazier and unlikely to many, I'm sure) intuitive 'belief' in accessing spirits via the upper partials on the piano here at home.
Towards the end of the programme, it was great to hear Dr Peter Fenwick talking about music being heard during near death experiences. I met Dr Fenwick a few times in 1987 as I was involved in testing a dream machine he was setting up to provoke lucid dreaming, but that's another story....

Listen to the programme here on BBC's iPlayer gizmo.

Worthing's Waldberg Baby Grand

2009-11-20T18:13:00.003+01:00

Here's a pic I scanned from the local paper last year as I read with growing interest of the renovations afoot at St Paul's in Worthing. Indeed this place is now another great thing for Worthing, creating opportunities for the arts and music as well as making it all the more agreeable to those musically-inclined café frequenters with an interest in history and architecture. This newly revived St Paul’s church, now a community centre and arts space exists thanks to the undeterred fundraising of a group of individuals for whom building restoration and future of the community must be important. I had the good fortune to amble inside this beautiful old landmark building yesterday and enjoy a decent nosh up from the Lime café therein.
Also, to get to the point, there in front of me upon the altar stage was standing a Waldberg baby grand piano with a little note inviting any passing pianists to get up and have a go. Of course it would be churlish to pass up such an invitation, so after my food I stepped up and played a couple of pieces as befitted the general aura of tranquil sophistication and post-reverential awe such buildings were designed to provoke. There’s also a nice sounding Welmar upright – the same model as in my parents’ house – standing next to the stage.
So anyway, a beautiful piano in a beautiful space. In Worthing! Things really are looking up here.

Worthing Beach Piano

2009-11-19T10:38:00.005+01:00

Great to see another example of public piano positioning going on in my own neck of the woods. Pity I only just found out about it though - I'd have enjoyed a little tinkle on the beach as it were... There are even claims that it's the first beach piano in the UK. Thanks to musician Andrew Walker for getting it together, having been inspired for the idea by a similar outdoor piano scheme in East London.
Stuff like this re-asserts my faith in Worthing. The town seems to be changing a lot these days as people (like myself) from Brighton have kids and realise they can't afford that extra bedroom and garden in their favourite seaside "city," and so file over to Worthing to settle, it being so close. So maybe I will get round to organising that all-dayer psychedelic music festival at the Lido of which I've been dreaming for a while now after all.

White Night 2009

2009-11-13T15:34:00.003+01:00

I’m no good at going out on my own.
My pal Rona emailed, telling me about an animation she has made to be projected up on the front facade of the Unitarian Church in the North Laine area of Brighton to be sound-tracked by some of our La Mômo music as part of the White Night Festival. I thought – sounds very interesting - and I checked the website which made mention of PIANOS POSITIONED RANDOMLY AROUND THE STREETS OF BRIGHTON upon which passers-by were tacitly invited to play. I felt a rush of blood. Was it anger at not being the first to know? Was it a flutter of delight at being able to participate in such an event? Well, both.
So after a gruelling shift at the care home at 9pm I headed over to have a go. There were lots of people filling the streets with all sorts of weird and wonderful things going on but I was on a mission to find and play these pianos.
First one I found was a black grand outside the Pavilion with a couple playing a Satie Gymnopedie. Nice tone, pleasing, calming. Nice start. Quite a few people gathered around as I lurked unconfidently behind a Doric pillar out of sight.
“Nope,” thought I, “I’m not playing that one yet, I need to find a more humble instrument.” Over the road outside Laura Ashley was just the one but it was being tinkled with by another couple so I sauntered back up to Jubilee gardens where an Aeolian Pianetta stood with a girl playing Debussy’s Arabesque in E (very nicely) with an appreciative audience hovering.
I was starting to feel more nervous and awkward, wondering why I had come along at all so I wandered into the theatre bar and downed a pint before gingerly approaching the (now thankfully abandoned) Aeolian. I sat down and started playing and was aware of people starting to group behind me. What I played felt weak – one of my own – my hands were shaking even worse than normal and after my 4 minute number I disappeared off into the night – one guy said something nice as I left and I think he knew how I felt.
I walked back down to the mini piano outside Laura Ashley, jamming my knees under it as it was so small it did feel suitably humble, a little out of tune which was actually quite nice in a way. I played two of my tunes on it, had a little applause from the people who stopped by and chatted to a be-trilbied pianophile called Rob who looked exactly like I did when I was his age. Most peculiar. He told me of the slightly broken seafront piano without pedals but which made you play like Tom Waits – so I had to go there.
I sauntered through the crowds of scantily clad teens teeming in and out of the clubs of West Street and headed towards the piano outside a seafront burger stall and sat there in the moonlight playing Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata as the traffic rushed past and people played cheeky notes as they walked by. I had a go at some Neil Young too. The guys in the burger stall smiled at me through the window.
Back in the North Laine I went back on to the Aeolian and managed to get a decent performance out of it this time before heading back to the grand by the Royal Pavilion. Just as I went to play it a guy dived in front of me and started doing a speed version of something-very-famous-by-Beethoven before doing boogie-woogie versions of Oasis songs (at the crowd’s request) – I had an internal hissy fit, deciding not to play this piano as everyone just seemed to want to be entertained (how dare they) so I headed back past the Waggon and Horses where another honky tonker entertained more drunk people on another piano. All this boogie woogie and honky tonk was too much for me so I buggered off back home.
Looking back on the evening it is good to know that pianos are always pounced upon by anyone who has ever contrived to play a tune on one. They’re quite irresistible.
Great idea to do this – I’d really like to go to White Night’s sister festival in Amiens, France. Maybe there’ll be less boogie woogie over there and more melanchodelia.

Fiery Foods Festival, Brighton

2009-09-19T20:48:00.003+01:00

Much goodness today seeing Bill Drake with James Larcombe playing more wondrous songs in Victoria Gardens near the Old Steine in Brighton, scene of the small but lovely Fiery Foods Festival on what must have been one of the most beautiful days of the Summer. New song and set opener, Ziegler was just fabulous - and a fitting start to another fun-packed set with more familiar and unfamiliar material. The kids loved it too - great how the music is so accessible to really young minds too. And being surrounded by so many smiling faces and exotic foody smells at the same time just made it all the more pleasurable. I don't think the William D Drake set was advertised as such so we felt oddly privileged to be there.
Plenty for the children to do too and a bar tent which I unusually didn't go into, probably as young master Lectern was running around everywhere and I couldn't let my eye off him for long in case I lost him in the crowd.

William D Drake + Crayola Lectern at The Brunswick

2009-09-03T16:38:00.014+01:00

So as I was saying in the previous post, William D Drake came down to briny Hove (see what I did there?) to play at The Brunswick in its splendid wood-panelled room, which has been transported back through time to its original Thirties’ style. With a small theatre stage and two decent pianos it is ideal for promoters who put on less rocking music but more music which falls into the “Other” category (saxophonist Gilad Atzmon played there the preceding week, a man originally known to me through his work alongside the great Robert Wyatt).
And there's indeed plenty of otherness to be experienced at tonight's gig - in the form of many of his lesser known songs (ancient and modern) brimming with those special moments and secrets, known only to himself which facilitate total audience enchantment. The live band now comprises trusty cohort, James Larcombe (hurdy gurdy, harmonium and (that other very special invention of Bill’s) the Television Organ), singer, Dug Parker who also graces the wonderful North Sea Radio Orchestra and peering out from behind the upright Cramer piano, the man himself.
I would say that it was a super special gig as the choice of songs was so unexpected, like a Christmas party surprise with more and more songs tumbling joyfully out of the magician’s musical hat, like a male Mary Poppins, astounding the kids with the contents of his/her bottomless bag of goodies; a couple were old Lake Of Puppies songs (a band which comprised of Mr and Mrs Fortnam and Mr Drake), one song which had taken him 20 years to finish which he dedicated to his parents who were in the audience, The Collar (from the Mr and Mrs Smith And Mr Drake album), Paradox (from the first album) and the new ones.
Indeed 'the new ones' show Bill to be magnificently in control, as ever, teasing melodies out of the least likely places, a contrapuntal flirt, sending us off into a strange yet familiar superbly sonic outerworld. Ornamental Hermit and Home Sweet Homestead Hideaway seem (to me) to tell of an unspoken yearning for escape, a desire to simplify and search for that elusive tranquillity of solitude (to quote Paul Weller (!)); the eternal dichotomy of social animal versus private “eccentric.” Then again I’m probably wrong, whichever, it matters not as, once again my imagination has been propelled magnificently forth unto lesser-chartered waters by the Drake effect.
After the evening was over and most people had filed out Jon and Bill did an on-street impromptu version of Cardiacs' Hymn - a poignant (but also highly entertaining, historic even) moment with which to end the proceedings. (Picture pilfered from Sarah Dobinson's photostream).
The response to the Lectern support set was heartening indeed – there are a couple of new ones, Billennia and Combobulatory, which went down a treat and Al Strachan’s trumpeteering and flugelhornification were remarkable, sweet and perfect with Jon Poole’s top secret Casiotron sounds and notes which all together gave a bed of strange and beautiful humanity for the piano to sit amongst.

Crayola Lectern set list:

Ultrasonicmetaglide
Forgot My big Idea
I Will Never Hurt
Combobulatory (listen)
Slow Down (listen)
Billennia (listen)
Untitled (listen)
Trip In “D” (listen)
Awesomne Viewe
Wholetoner

William D Drake's return to Brighton

2009-06-03T13:37:00.002+01:00

And today these posters went up in Brighton for what's gonna be one special gig:

Mark Eitzel lands in Brighton

2009-05-15T23:25:00.002+01:00

(l-r; Mark Eitzel, Crayola Lectern)
So anyway, here I am looking like a freakoid fanboy stalker next to the great Mark Eitzel with whom I have been playing the piano these last three weeks rehearsing and performing for three evenings during the Brighton Fringe Festival - a production of excerpts of a musical called Marine Parade for which Mr Eitzel wrote the songs and took up the rôle of a character who props up the bar in a seedy B&B on Brighton's seafront, like a one-man Greek chorus with songs as his narration. Or something.
Whatever, it worked effectively in an evening which took in excerpts from said play, interspersed with some other great musical shenanigans from such uniquities as Kassia and Lee Westwood as well as Lee Ross's fine group, Lee himself also playing the major rôle of an interminably frustrated hotelier, Steve, whose life is picked apart by a chance meeting on a seafront bench by a shady character called Archie to whose forceful philosophising he eventually succumbs.
I can't try to do the whole thing justice here but as an evening, under the directorship of Jo McInnes and with a host of volunteer super talent flexing its muscles, the audience got something pretty special.

Piarnographic Material #8

2009-05-11T12:38:00.003+01:00

Phhhwwwoooaaaarrr!!! Is it a bird? is it a plane? No, its architect Daniel Libeskind's 5 metre long Schimmel which resides in Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum which he also designed. I think we can nearly dance to architecture now, Mr Zappa.

Piarnographic Material #7

2009-05-11T12:26:00.003+01:00

Phhwwwoooaaarrrr!!! Here we have a Fazioli M. Liminal grand beaut. I discovered this piano via the Synthtopia site where they pose the question, "Is it too sexy?" Trust the Italians to make something so desirable.

Piarnographic Material #6

2009-05-10T18:50:00.003+01:00

Phhwwwoooaaarrrr!!! Now this is a very special electric organ made by GEM. Found on this website. It is very special because (if I'm not mistaken) it was used somewhat by the one and only Robert Wyatt on his Rock Bottom album (not bought it yet???) and some of the others. It has a lovely humanlike and wobbly sound which I have come to love dearly. Even better than a Casiotone in my estimation (this is high praise indeed as I do rate the humble Casiotone).

Piarnographic Material #5

2009-05-10T18:18:00.004+01:00

Phhwwwoooaaaarrr!! A lovely little see-through number once again. I found this one on someone's photostream having google-imaged "awesome piano." I think this baby resides in a designy museumy place in Denmark judging by the other pics. The sign says please don't touch - the ultimate tease for any serious piarnographer. Personally I'd love to get my maulers on her and put her through her paces.

Piarnographic Material #4

2009-05-08T19:44:00.003+01:00

Phwwooooaaarrr!!! Look at the legs on this one, eh. That original piano star and superstud Franz Liszt owned this delightful Chickering & Sons grand. It must have taken quite a hammering with his magic fingers, but still a looker after all these years.

Piarnographic Material #3

2009-05-08T13:36:00.002+01:00

Phwwooaaarrggghh!! Here's some sixsome action at last. Heavy duty piarnography, although not strictly speaking a piano - more an electronic keyboard, known as a Six Keyboard Musitronic Piano. Once again, pilfered from elsewhere on the internet this instrument was apparently designed for teaching purposes.

Piarnographic Material #2

2009-05-07T14:29:00.003+01:00

Phwwoooaaaarrrrr!!! Here we have another beauty (Schimmel again, I think), a gorgeous see-through perspex number belonging to the Russian pianist/composer Dmitrii Malikov. I hope he won't mind me showing off his pianoforte here. Although I feel that I'm entering the shadowy realms of Reader's Wives-style piarnography. To covet another man's piano can't always be a good thing. But this one's pure sex.

Piarnographic Material #1

2009-05-07T10:26:00.005+01:00

Phwoaaaaarrrrrrrr!!!! A tasty Schimmel Pegasus Grand here designed by Prof. Luigi Colani to get ya going. Its great to see what is often (quite wrongly) regarded as an old fashioned instrument (in the world of electronics etc) being given a futuristic treatment. Wonder what she sounds like.

A Seagull Waiting For A Haircut

2009-04-01T13:00:00.002+01:00

Yesterday morning in West Worthing. It even started knocking on the door with its beak. The hairdresser was due to open about 2 minutes later. So impatient.

The Midsummer Tree of Olde Worthing

2009-03-24T11:00:00.005+01:00

After stumbling across an article on Wiki about Worthing folklore, I found it necessary to find and photograph what is left of the infamous Midsummer tree in Broadwater. It is said that skeletons rise from the earth and dance around the tree on Midsummer's evening so I'm going there this year instead of Stonehenge.
I took these pics last week and made up a little instant piano composition suggesting a skeletal dance over here at my Podbean site too for what its worth.

Electro is Dead

2009-02-26T15:30:00.004+01:00

At last, a bitchy post bemoaning a late tide of unsatisfying "Electro" bands haunting Brighton's rehearsal rooms and gig venues. As we all know I'm the king of electro as it should be done and anyone whoever saw mine and Sadie's band play will testify that the key to making the genre work is to mix it up with a secret ratio of garage guitars, a specifically metered beat (again, a secret, sorry) the correct level of dub strategy in the bass tone and a certain exact quantity of repetition. I can't divulge any of the numbers here as it is top secret and was arrived at by listening to certain groops and feeling a certain way about music as well as experimenting actively for over twenty years on a daily basis.
So when I hear those little electro bands playing in these rehearsal spaces about town without consulting my supreme authority on the subject I can only turn and look away in embarrassment for the inevitable glaring errors which ensue.
Furthermore, certain drugs make the making of great music impossible. I'm looking at you, Cocaine. Don't do it kids, it impairs your judgement and your ability to hear bass and treble correctly. For Coke users, all music exists to soundtrack their everlasting monologues of flatulent self-regard; to exist in the background as something they can leech onto to appear hip to the beat. Whilst the arteries harden and become more brittle a few years before the big Arrest, all that is left of these poor departed souls is wasted music made by wasted people who insist on luxuriating in banal, candy-flossed toilets throughout this ever-narrowing country of generica.
I have finished. Rant over. Now, fuck off!

(some irony intended here and there so don't take it too personally you stupid, self-absorbed cokehead!)

EMOTIKON

2009-01-22T16:43:00.012+01:00

(l-r Butch Hunkenstein, Marilyn Mandelson, Kurt Bikerious)

A message from Armitage Cistern:
Taking up Coil's baton, adding a soupcon of Suicide, removing the melodies and adding extra noise - ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce Emoticon.

UK-based Germanophiles who will share their hot tub with YOU but beware, these guys are dangerous and their music is not for the faint-hearted.

As you can see, these guys are hot, hot, hot. For bookings and other enquiries contact me armitagecistern@gmail.com

In his own words and handwriting: Thelonius Monk

2009-01-09T12:01:00.003+01:00

I just found this posted up on a forum and wanted to remember it. Words of advice with wit and wisdom from a true genius.
If its too small to read, click on it.

Crayola Lectern @ Sanctuary Cella

2008-12-18T00:54:00.010+01:00

It would seem to be that there has been another Crayola Lectern live experience recently. Indeed, it would appear from our sources that combining some of the piano tunes with the psych guitar instrumentals was order of the day in the Lectern camp. This was due to the lack of a real piano, however the Nord Electro did a fair job but I miss those resonances and overtones which only a piano can provide.
The venue, Brighton’s Sanctuary Cella is a perfectly well formed bijoux and vibey place, pleasantly dim lit, lending itself neatly to the quieter end of the live performance spectrum. It would be great if a few more venues in Brighton (and the world for that matter) got pianos though.
The Lectern set springs further into life with Jon Poole’s psychedelic casiotoning, adding a whole Saucerful of Secrets to the mixture, whose choice of notes is always unusual, beautiful, quite perfectly Wyatty, furhther enhanced by Al Strachan’s flugelhorn and trumpet refrains whose tones embrace the whole humanitarian soul in which the songs exist and which are a major part of the sound. Here below is Trip In D, a guitar loop with improvised and semi-improvised trippery.
We also successfully saw our way through Medieval Domestic which is song containing all but one of the major and minor chords.
Birdengine played next – a poetic, eccentric, solitary chap whose velvet-voiced and nylon strung eclectic musings gave rise to much good feeling in the room, immediately transcending the usual limitations of a man with an acoustic guitar.
The evening was completed by This Is the Kit, an English couple relocated to Paris, recently returned from a Japanese tour. Charming and wry folk music, beautifully sung, skilfully plucked and droned as their infant daughter slept in a guitar case offstage. It was cool how the duo incorporated their child into their music realm without it appearing at all forced. Indeed, why should it? If anything it served to draw me into the unspoken integrity of their music, much like in La Mômo, gigging at 7 months pregnant, bringing our baby to our sound-check at a swanky West End bar/venue during London Fashion Week. Not an easy task but a logistical necessity and the right thing to do in such circumstances.
Crayola Lectern setlist:
Ultrasonicmetaglide
Goldfish Song
Untitled
I will never hurt
Med Evil Domestic
Trip in D
I Forgot My Big Idea
Slow down

Steeple Remove - Electric Suite

2008-11-01T10:07:00.006+01:00

A delicious mixture of new-wave, krautrock and serialist minimalism. All wrapped up in one sweet sweet package. Moments of Arvo Pärt beauty, early Roxy Music, Spacemen 3 and Suicide with that mid-low repeat kick, motorik drive. Pulsating through me. Hypnotized - aah yess.. you gotta love this band. The best thing in France today.

www.myspace.com/steepleremove

Spaceshipp - J Spaceman and Matthew Shipp

2008-10-23T10:42:00.003+01:00

Another pleasingly minimally packaged musical treat from the Spaceman and friends sound factory just landed on my door mat. So I must scurry off to immerse myself forthwith.
Two tracks, the first, Inner, existing for over 40 minutes of drone space exploration, with sounds washing over me, through me. Unplayed, ghost-harmonic melodies caressing my subconscious mind amidst the blackest harmonium note clusters, sounding out like hells own organs. Echoplexed strands and pulses throb and resonate, rotate and spin like I'm inside Tangerine Dream's Phaedra for the first time, lost beside an abyss, only to be scattered across space and blown into all oblivion. Yet there remains, simultaneously a feeling of being in the warm, analogue, control pod, viewing these cosmic phenomena with an objectivity. A calm control, the reassuring motion of the spaceshipp engines whirring onward.
The second track, Outer, provides a contrast, starker with the melodic use of celeste and looped Vox Starstreamer providing motion to the musick ritual before fragmenting away.
I feel I should add, for the record, that this music also aids digestion, loosening up the accrued colonic matter and (forgive me) causing the most satisfying dump I've had in years.

R.I.P. Rick Wright (1943 - 2008)

2008-09-17T09:29:00.003+01:00

The sad news came in yesterday that Pink Floyd's Rick Wright passed away. His contribution to said band is massive, his own songs being among the finer moments, emotionally touching and humane. His piano, organ, and other keyboard playing gave the band their sound, shining through the songs of his bandmates, blessing them with overtones and untold beauty.
I've been listening to his music for over 30 years (occasionally stopping to put the kettle on) and yet couldn't have named Pink Floyd's keyboard player until about five years ago. Such was his understatement or perhaps reluctance to join in with the cult of personality usually associated with gargantuan rock bands. He seemed like a gentle soul with a sometimes melancholic air, who cared about his music which was so deeply embedded in my subconscious that it became a significant influence on my own playing as a keyboardist in bands and still very much as Crayola Lectern. The central zone between A Saucerful Of Secrets and (Robert Wyatt's) Rock Bottom is pretty well where I like to bed down amongst the musical echelons.
I was touched when I watched a recent Pink Floyd documentary, by Rick's respect and empathy for his late friend and fellow founder member, Syd Barret. Now they have each found their peace and heaven will be all the better for having them re-united.

William D Drake + Crayola Lectern in Liverpool 31/07/08

2008-08-05T10:04:00.006+01:00

Liverpool is the latest English city to have hosted the indomitable Mr Drake performing his songs and compositions of uniquity. The evening was hosted by Lost Voices who are, in their own words: an impromptu and involuntary organisation that puts on live music events, promoting the spirit of the eclectic.... an intoxicating blend of the strange, the wonderful, and the strangely familiar. Such words could almost have been written with Mr Drake in mind. The venue itself was the View Two gallery, a fabulous space, equally at home to music as to art, with its old grand piano, fairy-lit ambience and separate bar area, mainly located in the top floor of a substantial old building in the Cavern Quarter of the city. Experientially, it was like a cross between a New York city loft "happening" and an evening of cultural bonhommie in one of those grand old apartment buildings to be found in such European cities as, say Brussels.

Opening the evening were the delightful sounds of Andy Frizell (voice/guitar) and Simon James (voice/flute) from Liverpool's own zappaphiles, Wizards of Twiddly. Theirs was a gently moving set which incorporated a version of Cardiacs song, Stoneage Dinosaurs - a mark of respect for the song's creator Tim Smith who is very poorly at the moment and who is in many of our thoughts at this time.

Next up, on the piano was Crayola Lectern aided by Joss Cope on casiotone as well as some feedback guitar which underpinned some of the more tempestuous piano passages amidst the otherwise "optimistic melancholy," (if there can be such a thing.)

Finally, William D Drake, solo on piano, wondrous to behold, conjuring up a whole new universe of sound colours, all at once both modern and ancient, taking us on uplifting trips through time, delighting in playful abandon or plunging us into darker realms where dreams exist. Or...something like that anyway! Like all good music - words don't do it justice. Whatever, all the pleasure nodes are fully tickled as Mr Drake introduces us to fab new songs such as Ornamental Hermit and Key Of Concrete, surprises with favourites, Dragonfly, Ghosty Ghost, Sweet Peace (hear the live version here), The Kissing Song, Paradox and even allows Mr Lectern to play that sax solo on Melancholy World again.
The audience, enchanted, join in with some of these songs which live alongside them like old friends.
Talking of enchantment and spells, Mr Drake explains the subject matter of some songs, notably opener, Sylvie's Proof, about (and probably for) his late grandmother who always promised to come back to visit after she passed away but has yet to make an obvious appearance. Here's to hoping though - and the alchemy which lies within this music may bring her back yet.

Crayola Lectern @ Scaledown 30/05/08

2008-06-09T09:14:00.008+01:00

And so it came to pass that Crayola Lectern and his intrepid accomplices arrived at The King and Queen in the West End for another of the legendary Orchestra Pit's Scaledown events where performers are invited to scale down their oeuvre in both instrumentation and set duration. A certain type of confidence (called blind faith in Lectern's case) is required in this intimate setting of clearly witty and intelligent people, seated expectantly and reacting appropriately to the several performers' 15 minute sets this evening.
Luckily for Crayola Lectern we got to play for longer, having journeyed from the south coast and were on last. So off I went to Brighton to hire a keyboard and pick up Al Strachan whose trumpet playing has become one of the main ingredients in the Lectonian aural recipe. The keyboard I hired was a Yamaha P70 digital electric piano. I later regretted it as it felt all wrong and wasn't much like a piano at all - the notes were a little too weighted and response a little slow and, well it sounded wrong to me - although later, listening back it sounds actually pretty great.
I'm ashamed to say I missed much of the other performances due to an emergency Casiotone rehearsal downstairs with the ever up-for-it and splendidly turned out Joss Cope in the crowded public house, huddled round a small table with (ex-Diary, now Milk Roar's) Nick Rowan and Paul The Girl. This was the only rehearsal we had and props to Joss for bothering to learn the songs in such a short time amid his own busy schedules.
And so to the gig - Ultrasonicmetaglide worked a real treat with Mr Strachan playing Omnichord alongside Mr Cope's casiotone - setting a dreamy scene for us to exist within for the next 25 minutes of songs and ponderings. I nearly forgot to play my best song (thanks for reminding me in time Al.)
Andy Coules sent me an mp3 of the gig and it sounds great - ok a few minor slips but nothing fatal. We survived and we hatched plans for a rehearsal or two before next month's Liverpool gig.

Setlist:
Ultrasonicmetaglide
Goldfish Song
I Will Never Hurt
Awesomne view >>> finale
Forgot My Big Idea
Slow Down
Wholetoner

Photos by Emile Pesik and Andy Coules, taken from www.theorchestrapit.com

William D Drake and his So-called Friends - live @ Herne Hill

2008-04-14T09:14:00.009+01:00

The Half Moon in Herne Hill was recently blessed by William D Drake and his So-called Friends who played the spectacular Briny Hooves album in its entirety. This was especially pleasing as these arrangements have been humming around my head since I bought the album last year and having the chance to see the instruments and voices working together in such an informal setting was a frankly splendiferous experience.
Flanked to his right by the paradoxically impassive yet impassioned Terence Pitt and his left by the equally ambivalent gaze of Melanie Woods there is an immediate feeling of there being a spectacle to attend to. Their presence softens their leader's countenance as they protect and project with sweet voice harmonies and Mr Pitt's perfectly placed trumpet and flugelhorn motifs, themselves offset by Bernard Holden's alto sax and clarinet. Organs, keyboards, harmoniums litter the relatively small stage. These instruments variously attended to by Messrs Drake, Larcombe and Davies (all of whom also grace the (fabulous) North Sea Radio Orchestra - see post below) taking every care to ensure those all important keyboard layers and textures are faithfully reproduced live. Add to this the dynamic drum-expertise of (Blurt's and Cardiacs') Bob Leith and the guitarings of Briny Hooves co-producer (and studio owner) Darryl Anthony and you have one full stage, crammed with all the ingredients which made the album so stunning in the first place.
I spent some time videoing parts of the concert though my vantage point was a little disadvantaged and there was quite a lot of audience noise (naughty audience) during some of the quieter songs which renders much of the footage unusable. However during the encore (which consisted of Freedom and Love, Coming Round The Mountain, Love In An Overcoat and a final song I didn't know but which is recorded here for posterity) I managed to squeeze myself between the band and speakers hence a slightly better stab at video "quality'. If anyone can tell me the name of the song I'll get Mr Cistern at YouTube control to update it on the web.
Just to say I really hope (and expect) to see this group playing somewhere like the Queen Elizabeth Hall some day soon though the Half Moon pub did a good job of getting a nice sound though it has to be said.
A wonderful evening!

North Sea Radio Orchestra gig in Brighton

2008-03-23T00:18:00.007+01:00

Once again the Friends Meeting House in Brighton provided the perfect setting for a concert, this time on 16th March by the perfectly formed and rather marvellous North Sea Radio Orchestra. A Victorian built establishment with panelled walls, a balcony and a built-in soundboard in the far wall designed to facilitate the projection of sound across the room, the Meeting House rapidly filled with 120 people on another wet and windy Sunday night.

The Crayola Lectern set looked unlikely to leave the ground at first as the PA’s “phantom power” setting had somehow managed to route itself away from the channel where it was needed and into one of the microphones. The result of which was a quiet casiotone and a frustrated casiotonist and yet Mr Poole did manage to play quite beautifully even if he did look suicidal at points. Mr Strachan also played his trumpet with aplomb and made some sounds I never knew possible on the instrument whilst also adding some foot-bells at a crucial moment in the set. See the next post down for some live footage of two very new songs.

After the interval NSRO took the stage and went on to enchant those present with their salty cadences. My relationship with the actual mass of water known as the North Sea goes back a long way and I used to swim in it quite happily back in my childhood before limping back across the sand to cower freezing behind the windbreak on such Norfolk beaches as Bacton, Cromer or Great Yarmouth with my grandparents. Nowadays I take my annual walks to Blakeney Point along the windswept reaches from Cley-next-the-sea or take my offspring on the boat trips out to see the seals from the quay at Blakeney. I have seen the sea eat up the land in places over these years, its majestic power and icy grey sheets challenging us mortals to conquer it, enticing us in on calm days only to drag us away forever with its unforgiving and relentless undertow. I have also seen the black oil-covered cormorants washed up in their deathly scores along the coast, one of the by-products of the North Sea oil drilling and shipping on the many rigs scattered across these waters. This plunder of the ocean floor has only happened since the sixties though and I guess that North Sea Radio Orchestra might take their name from a time before this invasion due to the arcane romantic allusions the name conspires to form in my mind. I only quite recently became aware of Doggerland, which now forms part of the ocean floor in the North Sea, but formerly a land mass which connected Britain with mainland Europe. NSRO’s quintessential (if I may) Englishness makes me wonder more about the kind of inhabitants that dwelled thereon. Indeed the music of NSRO makes me wonder all kinds of things as it takes me away from the everyday and offers me something I hadn’t previously considered for a change. Like Robert Wyatt’s Maryan [from the album Shleep] the unusual watery images invite me to drown in the icy folds and submit to the greater forces of nature.

So here they are tonight, North Sea Radio Orchestra mere yards away from the English Channel. The violin sounds as old as the South Downs behind us and contains as much human sadness and emotion in its shimmering tones as I can ever remember hearing. It blends amongst the perfectly pitched voices of the chorus like a swallow flitting its way to and from the eaves on a midsummer day. The cello and bass clarinet resonate together to form a deep (ocean) floor, the reedy organ and bassoon also complement each other as do the mesmeric vibraphone and guitar patterns that adorn this music together with the timeless piano motifs and stunning solo voice of Sharron Fortnam. Composers Craig Fortnam and William D Drake’s musical arrangements combine to forge a magnificent creation in NSRO. This was a special night for Brighton and many thanks to NSRO for hauling all their stuff down to the south coast.

Crayola Lectern set:

Ultrasonicmetaglide >>
Goldfish Song >> C descent >>
I Will Never Hurt >>
Old Magic [formerly Epicish]
Forgot My Big Idea
Awesomne View >> Finale
Slow Down
Post-Dream Creation Come-Down
Whole Toner

Crayola Lectern in glorious technicolor!

2008-03-22T23:33:00.003+01:00

Here are two new songs which I played for the first time at the Friends' Meeting House in Brighton last week with the help of Jon and Alistair. Thanks to Joss for filming it.

Slow Down - Crayola Lectern

Slow down, you move too fast
Runnin’ round and round just like you got a rocket up your arse.
And you’re not gonna be the star of my show, oh no.

Slow down, you drive too fast
And you can’t see the little children behind parked cars that you pass.
And you’re not gonna be the king of the road, oh no
Cos dreams they explode when you’re living with a heavy load.

I see your career’s taken off but the quality’s not what it was.
Slow down some time.

Slow down, you move too fast
Runnin all around just like you got a rocket up your arse.
And you’re not gonna be the star of my show, oh no
And stars they explode
It must come as quite a blow.

Forgot My Big Idea - Crayola Lectern

I just forgot my big idea
It was great, I hesitate to say the best one I had for years.
I just forgot my big idea
Now its dust and I must try and make it reappear.

(music goes off on a bit of a journey at this point)

White '76 Gibson Thunderbird

2008-02-15T17:48:00.008+01:00

Here's my space bass!

Armitage Cistern Enterprises (A.C.E.) - An announcement:

2008-02-03T00:44:00.002+01:00

Some harsh words from Armitage Cistern Enterprises (ACE):

Yes, that’s right folks! North Sea Radio Orchestra are finally coming to Brighton to enchant your salty ears with their ancient cadences and dreamlike sojourns into ecstacy itself. This extraordinary evening will occur on Sunday 16th March in the appropriately splendid surrounds of the old Friends Meeting House for the (frankly) quite paltry sum payable of five pounds.
Only the VAIN and the FOOLISH will not seek pleasure therein; indeed as so-called “musick lovers” you may consider it your DUTY to mark my words and experience the delights on offer.
www.myspace.com/northsearadioorchestra

The Friends Meeting House, whilst being alcohol free, nevertheless houses a BLOODY NICE grand piano upon which Crayola Lectern will tinkle and tonkle for YOUR delight.
www.myspace.com/crayolalectern

So then! Roll up, roll up! Purchase tickets from Resident Records(01273) 606312 and Rounder Records (01273) 325440 or from:
http://www.wegottickets.com/event/26568
http://www.wegottickets.com/event/26569 (concs.)
Tea and cakes will be available in the intermission. All ages show. Venue curfew at 9.30pm so even those filthy alcoholics who haunt Brighton with their foul ways may be assured of their poison after the performances.

You have been warned!

William D Drake + Crayola Lectern, Brighton

2008-01-19T16:12:00.001+01:00

I know it's a while ago now in the quick-moving world of popular music, however let it be noted that on the 2nd December 2007 a William D Drake wended his way down to Brighton through the severe weather to perform a solo concert at the Friends Meeting House on Ship Street. This turned out to be a highly suitable venue for such a performance, the room with its red carpet, high ceiling, choir stalls, oak wall paneling and well turned out Yamaha C3 grand piano. The only lighting, a standard lamp by the piano, an old table lamp stage left and a myriad of subtly twinkling fairy lights adorning the rear wall. The venue was a seated arrangement with rows of chairs facing the stage just like concerts I remember going to back in the years when the actual musical and entertainment factor superceded the need to walk around, chat, get drinks in and such. Having become accustomed to the informal arrangement of yer average gig it came as a relief of sorts to simplify the whole process by putting my attention (as audience member) more solely on the performer.

Of course, when the performer has the innate musickal wizardry and charm of William D Drake this becomes all the easier. His tunes take us higher than the next ten glasses of wine would've done in this alcohol-free venue and the need to converse with one's friends dissipates as soon as the man's fingers touch the piano keys for the first notes of his set. I can think of so few other people who manage to harness the tune-smithery and dexterity factors into such a downright loveable whole, with influences stretching from the late medieval or pre-raphaelite travelling minstrel music through Victorian whimsy with sideways glances perhaps at Brian Wilson's odder beauty or Robert Wyatt's unassailable otherness. Drake's mastery of whole tone versus chromatic shifts belies an unfathomable depth of control leaving one sometimes gasping. His knowledge of how to not just make it beautiful but to make it one-more-beautiful than we'd have imagined possible is an inherent part of the foundation upon which Drake's compositions are built.

This all being said, another factor that made the evening was actually the lack of reverential silence which great (and not-so-great) players and songwriters often engender from their audience. Instead was the feeling of being relaxed, entertained, tickled even. Respect was evident amongst those assembled, but also a warmth which is often missed at such occasions. Mr Drake's set covered a range of songs from his albums along with a sprinkling of rarely heard Sea Nymphs (The Lad) and a fabulous new song entitled Ornamental Hermit. The quintessential Bonzos-esque Englishness of Love In An Overcoat was played at Jon Poole's request, Airly Beacon which had Drake splitting vocal notes into two with throat-singing zeal in his re-working this Charles Kingsley poem, something hitherto done by a certain Gustav Holst. Ghosts of other long gone poets breathed again during the evening as Drake put Longfellow's A Psalm Of Life into his own timeless context and thus giving such lines as "and departing leave behind us footprints in the sands of time," a new place to breathe. I always liked Hawkwind's version of this poem too! Crayola Lectern played the alto sax solo and outro in the sublime Melancholy World from the Briny Hooves album during the encore.

The Crayola Lectern set which preceded William D Drake's was the first to be performed on a piano and as such was a far cry from the recent gig in Cardiff at the Swn festival which has received a somewhat varied response critically. This evening at the Meeting House sealed the use of the piano as being the primary instrument for Lectern live performances. Played alongside Jon Poole's resonating casiotone voicings and psychedelics as well as Alistair Strachan's emotive cornet playing, the piano is clearly the vehicle on which the music makes most sense.

Warm thanks are extended to Louisa Hernandez who took great care to ensure the sound was right in the room as well as Livy and Sadie who nobly took charge of the door amongst other organizational roles. Also to the musicians involved and to the audience who helped make the evening so enjoyable.

Crayola lectern piano setlist:
1) Ultrasonicmetaglide
2) Goldfish Song >>
3) C Melody
4) I Will Never Hurt >>
5) In Heaven coda
6) Epicish
7) Dreams Pass By
8) In Heaven coda >> Finale
9) Whole Toner

Crayola Lectern @ Swn Festival 2007

2007-11-16T09:46:00.000+01:00

Friday 9th November: Picked up Jon and Jerry for the drive to Cardiff to play at Clwb Ifor Bach for Plan B's Antifolk night at Huw Stephens' Swn festival. Swn (meaning Sound) has its similarlties to SXSW in Austin where I've played four years running in Supermodel and Departure Lounge. A showcase of a town as much as the bands in some ways, these kind of festivals are a great way to sample the local clubs, bars and venues which are often a walkable distance from each other so gig hopping is the name of the day. In stark contrast to Cardiff's bristling muse was the Travelodge, languishing over a chain bar near the train station. A shall we say utilitarian experience. Best use it just to sleep in and for that it was fine.
In the car we listened to Jerry's cd's - Gang of Four, Grinderman, Amy Winehouse, Devo and most importantly Billy Childish's "Christmas 1979" work of genius - the refrain of which sprang up uninvited in the middle of Crayola Lectern's set during the Trip In D section.

I have read too much now to really know the true meaning of Antifolk other than to say that it involves being yourself, drinking heavily, getting together with like-minded people, putting on events and is a regional beast whose protagonists may skip around these scepter'd Isles playing their songs to each other. In that way it fits Lydon's model of uniqueness and is the new punk rock. Most of the people who play Antifolk events share a lyrical strength, notably Milk Kan's Scrappy who brings to mind such individuals as Patrick Fitzgerald or Daniel Treacy. Wit born of loss anyone? Tragicomedy? Songs about failure, lost dreams, celebrating banal events or raging against numb-headed 21st century fuck-headedness. It is here amongst the lost and bewildered that Crayola Lectern probably fits somewhere although much of the Lectern music is wordless, not possessing the verbal dexterity of these Antifolkers. Ukeleles are welcome, lo-fi has come to mean exactly what it always claimed to be (only it used to involve specific technology to make those Pavement records sound so scuzzy, not to mention the legion of copyists they inspired).
The evening kicked off with Le B and her quite enchanting tales and guitar musical shapes; the vulnerable yet terse, lyrical maestro Winston Echo plus band complete with songs about goldfishes, Mertle's charming wit which I missed (sorry) but have seen her weave audiences at the Sunday Sermons around her finger, Crayola Lectern doing a Saucerful Of Secrets-esque musical melanchodelia, forgetting some of the key words in the main lyrical song of the set, Goldfish Song; Larry Pickleman's room clearing, mutherfucking post-antifolk (you heard it here first) inspired proselytizing; The Legend!'s final short and bitter set with Crayola Lectern saxophonic accompaniment, challenging the people drifting back in for the late night club to stay. Like a moment from The Office, the resounding silence of a hundred clubbers, mouths agape who didn't expect G. G. Allin or any free noise voodoo. They just wanted to dance.
Photos by Maciej Dakowicz taken from Swn Festival Flickr link.
Further reading from Everett True's Village Voice article.

William D Drake + Crayola Lectern

2007-11-01T22:02:00.000+01:00

Damo Suzuki @ Bohemia Arts Festival

2007-08-12T16:51:00.000+01:00

Damo Suzuki continued his nomadic path through the world of music with his Never Ending Tour on Saturday 11th August at Bohemia Arts Festival in Kent which was an unusual affair - a pudding competition, tennis tournament plus an array of spoken word and music performances between the two stage areas. We took our nearly-three-year old who roamed freely without too much fear of getting lost around the verdant grounds of an English country house (formerly a kennels). Quite lovely and awfully English, what? Lazing on a sunny afternoon is the order of the day, woozily watching the tennis as one imbibes yet another extremely generous glass of wine before sauntering over to the Military Tent to see what's going on or dozing in one of the yurts or tipis thoughtfully positioned amongst the grounds. I however, despite having a bad hair day, was there to get my bass boots on for another life-affirming gig with the aforementioned grandmaster of instant composition, Damo Suzuki along with E-da and brothers Maff and Ned from The Egg. I also brought along the Casiotone avec effects and alto sax to add some skronkicity to the proceedings.
Playing music with Damo Suzuki is an exceptional experience. During our performance I did not actively think a single thought but became a partially hypnotized cog in a shared brain machine whose purpose was to create a sustained moment of mood enhancement via the medium of music. Sure I enjoyed every moment as the rhythms and melodies shifted and soared but more as a spectator rather than as a player. Like when the brain is focussed for example whilst driving, sometimes the driver will not notice that the last 30 miles have passed. Apparently this is when driving is at its safest. There is a magic component to successful instant composition, the brain chemistry alters a little, somehow the soul swells with a new confidence and the idea of failure ceases to exist, possibly due to the near shamanistic approach applied by Damo. It is a very physical process requiring some considerable exertion from him. We really are sound carriers, Damo being the conduit through whom the cosmic sounds in the electrical magnetism around us are channeled. Somehow a spell is weaved whereby the sound carriers conjoin to complete the spirit circuit as voices of the dead and other spirits are raised. Or something. Perhaps attempting to describe what goes on in these shared moments is impossible.
The audience danced like their lives depended on it, we had the obligatory loon jumping up onto the stage and joining in (thanks to Gerald for rescuing my sax) and people asking us what planet we came from afterwards. Kids with blown minds are always fun to talk to after a gig but this time I felt an almost total shutdown. Sweet exhaustion. I just pointed at Damo Suzuki and spluttered, "It's him. He does it."
I went back to our tent to get my young son to sleep and drifted off into a long reverie myself, awoken for a while by the sounds of festivals. Conflicting musics gently poking my synapses as a band played on the stage and other music merged into it from elsewhere.
These pics were taken the next morning as the festival geared up for another day.
The next day I went back to work at the care home (mopped up a lot of sick that day) and it was like it had never happened. Perhaps it was a dream.

Portraits

2007-06-06T08:50:00.001+01:00

I can't just throw these envelopes in the bin with such deftly turned portraiture on display. The picture above is by Noah who's noted the red and black stripey top, worn rather too frequently over the last year (I have three the same you see) and the family portrait below is by Jon - or Biological Jon as he's becoming known - hence the speech bubble and the red hair (not on display here!)

Solar Fire Trio @ Engine Room, Brighton

2007-05-30T13:13:00.000+01:00

On possibly the wettest day of the year Liverpool's Solar Fire Trio landed in Brighton to give this city some serious free skronk and clatter. Despite the problem of the venue being double booked and getting drenched looking for a place to have a drink before returning to sit through an eternity of appalling electro racket band meaninglessly strutting and fretting upon the stage, Solar Fire Trio finally took up the reigns 3 hours later than anticipated. Some bands would have given up by this point, Brighton being notorious for staying in when it's raining but despite a scarcity of bodies they immediately began to entrance those in attendance with this maelstrom of music. Imagine Mats Gustavson, John Zorn and that giant drummer out of Faust being friends and making intuitive music together with the all-important rock'n'roll heart and you're getting some way towards Solar Fire Trio.
This is a band who toil under the banner of improvisation but who serve to do the term a great favour. This is a group who sound like they know what eachother are thinking, pre-empting eachother's thoughts with new sonic hues and challenges. One alto (Dave Jackson) and one tenor sax (Ray Dickaty) plus ten Corsanos worth of drumming in Steve Belger, Solar Fire Trio blend to create timeless epics of impressionism; one has to remind oneself that all the noise here is a result of exertion, these being acoustic instruments which demand lung power, embouchure control (check out some of that altissimo) and the obvious physicality of drumming. There are no electric keyboards or guitars, no effects pedals but a tornado of pure sounds whose mergence creates a bigger sound than the sum of its parts.
There is a great deal of emotion which I may be externalising onto the band yet when we speak the next day Ray Dickaty mentions that when they get together, they talk about what's going on in their lives and then make sense of it all with the release of making music, as a therapeutic device to keep them sane. This is how Solar Fire Trio make me feel, their glorious cacophonies contain such a range of feelings as to make perfect sense and not forgetting those sweet melodic interjections; motifs where the warm heart of the band can be felt, inviting us in.
Tonight Solar Fire Trio gave a lot, exorcising the frustrations of the visit down south by giving spoilt Brighton a show it didn't deserve or attend. Of course in a years time everyone will be claiming to have been there.

Crayola Lectern, Noah Taylor and The Legend!

2007-05-26T20:29:00.000+01:00

Well, once again Crayola Lectern has appeared live, this time upstairs at Fitzherberts, a groovy little bar in Brighton near the Pavillion. Crayola and Jon Poole weaved their strands of melanchodelia™ (with some well-placed free-honk saxcstacy from Noah Taylor) to an esteemed and appreciative audience of around 20 people including Noah’s pal Nick Cave who later expressed some words of encouragement regarding the music as did Everett True, himself due to perform later in the evening; and was that Mick Harvey in the audience too? I wasn't sure but anyhow in this next shot Noah is swinging an echo hoop (or something) which made a particularly excellent and appropriate sound on Crayola's more droney loop piece. Needless to say, Mr Poole played exquisitely whilst Crayola was a bit hit and miss (in a good way, he'd like to think.) Bless. Anyway, there's minidisc recordings in existence for him to pore over.
Next up was (this evening's host) Noah Taylor’s Nervous Breakdown with whom Messrs. Poole and Lectern played (guitar and casio/saxophone respectively) along with Rob on drums (sorry, I don’t know his surname but he’s very good and plays guitar with Hans Blix and The Inspectors, I think.) Started up with a cover of Suicide’s Ghost Rider and went on to do a few songs penned that very week by Mr Taylor ranging from a weird and sweet country love song to total melt-down, acid-fried rock’n’rollishness. Insanely good fun it was too, with Noah looking like he’d just stepped out of a Navajo reservation.
And so it was that The Legend! Took to the stage alongside all the former people plus Jamie Sellers on bass. Jamie played with The Legend! many moons ago and I’ve seen him play a few times over the years in bands such as Baba Looey and (Sally Young’s post-Ut outfit) Quint. Everett True began with the ice-breaker “There’s a man going round taking names, Death is the name of that man,” and went on to perform a set ranging from impassioned to plaintive with a little more bile than usual, maybe due to having a drummer (Noah) this time. My favourite moment was when he accused a particularly rapturous audience of “sarcastic applause.”
Total gratitude to Greg Neate for making it down and for taking the photos which adorn this blog entry. It was a busy week in Brighton with The Great Escape festival (i.e. loads of bands playing everywhere) so it was a surprise to see anyone there really! Maybe we can thank Noah's fine posters (see below) for publicising the event so artfully.

Julie Tippetts - Sunset Glow (Disconforme)

2007-03-27T22:33:00.000+01:00

I'm currently experiencing something of an epiphany as I listen to Sunset Glow, recorded well over thirty years ago but sounding as relevant to my life and musical preferences as anything else I've heard and loved. For the sake of perspective I was seven or eight when this record came out. My young mind found pleasure in heroes such as Jacques Cousteau, Barry Sheene and Evil Knieval. That year I started attending a new boys school, spent time going to (and worrying about) the dentist, swimming, piano lessons, muddy knees. Not a magic mushroom in sight in Bedford's narrow confines and my musical appreciation was in the process of being sullied by Junior Choice on Radio One. I liked Slade. These were not necessarily Bad Things as such, it's just that so much great stuff didn't filter through to the mainstream. Nothing new there of course - this is how great art comes to be regarded as such, unbesmirched by over-rotation and not feeling a need to cultivate an attitude in order to withstand the wordy missiles of the press.
Like Robert Wyatt's Rock Bottom, Julie Tippetts's Sunset Glow immediately transcends all such baloney and speaks directly to the soul. The boy fixated on underwater and motorbikes would have felt this, the invisible human hand guiding his way through the music. The songs bursting with warmth, the empathy of the players and the clear sense of joy within the sound. Horns skronk most excellently, voice becomes saxophone or so it seems.
Blogs are weird, I feel weird for having one actually. I only write stuff I feel positive about on the whole here hence my so-called review of this fine album. Actually I'll just rescue myself here - there are plenty of proper reviews of this record online; I'm on night duty in the care home, just played Sunset Glow for the first time, feel enriched and want to share with all one of the people who read this thing.

William D Drake - New albums

2007-02-20T13:43:00.000+01:00

William D Drake
Briny Hooves (sheBear)

Right from the start Briny Hooves proves to be transportative, hurling us yet lovingly into a revelatory reverie of a long forgotten England. Mr Drake's piano providing the core to these fantastical compositions, the dream is further enhanced by sweet woodwind, solo trumpet and cello. Mellotron and harmonium freaks will walk away smiling only to realise that they are but celluloid ghosts, picnicking amongst the hoof-prints of Drake's psychedelic pastures.
Without so much as a glance at current trends William D Drake's music exists solely on its own terms albeit with the occasional affectionate nod to another uniquely affecting individual, Robert Wyatt.
Clearly the work of a genius, Briny Hooves still maintains a firm hold on a sense of innocence. Here lies part of its magic; the other part is caught up in the sheer unusual yet blisteringly appealing choices of melody and counterpoint which inspire and stimulate those beautiful places in the brain. Seahorse makes me feel complete, in touch with my fellow human; quietly incantatory and reassuring.
In the future Briny Hooves will appear on those Best Albums Of All Time lists and as I continue to listen to it everyday for the rest of my life I shall smile smugly in the knowledge that I told you so.

William D Drake
Yew's Paw (Onomatopeia)

I'm quite dizzy now with glee. Having just had my soul turned inside out, shaken out and neatly folded by the above (Briny Hooves), I now turn to it's solo piano companion release Yews Paw which marries masterful dexterity with playful wit, all the time recalling a different age somehow. There is something essentially purifying in listening to these pieces. Pieces is always an odd word, usually referring to the piano hence my usage but I would equally call these wordless songs. Not tunes though; I think there's more to them than being mere tunes!
Who cares anyway? Just put it on, let it exist in your living rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms, walkmans (sorry - iPods), cars... Life is too short not to get this. Yews Paw makes me want to redefine Hollywood, take it back to Chaplin and find a different path from that point to a new place where the soundtrack tells the story. Even at the jauntier end of the scale, much of Drake's work is totally cinematic. I just hope Ken Loach decides to make a silent movie because the soundtrack is right here.

Crayola Lectern Hits The West End

2006-11-27T16:39:00.000+01:00

Hallelujah, Crayola Lectern and his beautiful assistant, Mr Jon Poole graced the West End of London (namely the King and Queen in Foley Street) on 24th November to a short set of material at Scaledown. It is indeed an esteemed list of performers from the Scaledown archive that Crayola joins. This evening Crayola closed the evenings performances which included some true gems such as the fragile beauty of Lucy Johnson's music - autoharp, voice, looper and guitar; Ian R Watson (trumpet) and Pete Marsh (slide) which also sounded fantastic; songwriter Nik Gillow who I unfortunately missed (sorry); geoffthepianist and his agile piano gymnastics and Lost Robots' nifty, shifty, pulsating musical mood-swings.There were 15-20 minutes allocated to each performer which is good as it keeps things moving and the evening had a genuine feeling of bonhommie about it. The Crayola set felt lovely; as the first note was about to played the Crayola Lectern mobile phone went off, so the call was taken and the audience all said "hello" to an embarrassed Mrs Lectern on the other end of the line. Jon's casiotone accompaniment is not to be underestimated in the live Lectern experience as his take on otherwordly beauty fits so perfectly in to Crayola Lectern. It's a joy going on a mini-tour in a little Ford Ka with a Casiotone and a guitar with just the two people after our (especially Jon's) experiences of bigger tours where there are always more people to pay out of the profits, needless to say there was talk of touring like this for a few dates and of recording the debut Crayola Lectern album together on Jon's studio.
So the set actually ended segueing into "Is This The Life" (only the last ten bars or so) by Cardiacs which certainly pricked a few ears in the audience as Bill Drake and Bob Leith were in attendance. It's true to say that Cardiacs have inspired songs such as Medieval Domestic which Crayola wrote for his (as yet unreleased) Map album (Map being the duo of Crayola and Mr E Smith). The Map recording of Medieval Domestic can be heard here by the way.
The set list for the gig was:
1) Ultrasonicmetaglide >>
2) Goldfish Song >>
3) Untitled Instrumental >>
4) In Heaven (from Eraserhead)
5) Medieval Domestic
6) Trip out section (Guitar loop with added vocals and sax with a swap over of instruments thus ending with Jon on guitar and Crayola on Casiotone.)
7) Sea Song (by Robert Wyatt) >> Is This The Life (by Cardiacs) - closing bars.

Kids today!

2006-10-20T14:39:00.000+01:00

Displaying excellent taste in music and journalism, here is Lectern minor reading the fine Scottish underground music publication, Beard.

Upcoming gig alert

2006-10-07T23:25:00.000+01:00

Oh yes, Friday 13th, a most fitting date for the release of the Celebricide album, "See The Bad Nurse Make Disease." Celebricide DJ's play sinister pop downstairs at the after show party. La Mômo also playing so somebody's gonna be a busy boy.

Crayola Lectern World Premier Public Performance: Fringe Bar, Brighton 19/04/06

2006-04-21T17:25:00.001+01:00

Yes indeed, after much concern and many misgivings Crayola Lectern gave his first solo performance at Monster Bobby's Totally Bored night in Brighton. Far be from me to actually review it, I can at least mention here in the relative safety of digitalis that it occurred.

The handsome fellow on the left is actually "Random" Jon Poole who played the Casiotone throughout the show whilst Crayola sang with a guitar. Mr Poole managed to play some particularly tricky songs with only 36 hours notice and frankly it could be said "saved Crayola's bacon." There aren't any other human beings capable of such an endeavour as far as i'm aware especially when one considers all the other musical information stored in the man's cranium.

So after another day at the care home a quick run through chez the Pooles' was had and we arrived a bit late for our soundcheck. The Fringe Bar is a pretty groovy little haunt; always reminding me of some low-key café bar in America. Decked out by JJ (a.k.a. Noki) the place took on a slightly Lynchian quality, further enhanced by our coda "In Heaven, everything will be alright," borrowed from Eraserhead. The set included two MAP songs, currently awaiting release from our album "Genetic Malfunctions Triggered By Events" - Immortality Blues and Medieval Domestic as well as Robert Wyatt's Sea Song and the Lectern songs.
Special mentions to all the other performers: Monster Bobby (Pipettes guy's songs of wit and charm), 0+1= (2 locked-in acoustic guitars with a Slinty feel), Katie Dunne (songwriter/guitarist) and The Comet Project (Coil-esque space music/sound.)
So this blog's my own tribute to Jon and to Tim Keegan who lent me his guitar and played harmonica on a song "Hangin' In Rags" which I wrote one morning in Nashville as a Departure Lounge possible. More props to Bobby for his Totally Bored experience and to Robert Wyatt for writing the last song in my set. For once the minidisc player worked (thanks Mrs Lectern who also took the photos.)

Setlist:
1 Ultrasonicmetaglide >>
2 Goldfish Song >> In Heaven coda >>
3 Unnamed Song >> In Heaven coda
4 Medieval Domestic
5 Girlfriend (Trip Sandwich)
6 Immortality Blues
7 Hangin' In Rags
8 Sea Song (by Robert Wyatt)

Damo Suzuki: "Creating Time And Space In the Moment."

2006-04-11T19:33:00.001+01:00

Damo Suzuki is a much admired human being around these parts. His network of musicians (or "sound carriers") stretches across the world and their talents are many, whether it be the fried psychedelic genius of Acid Mothers Temple guitarist Makoto Kawabata in Japan or the flaming saxedelics of Ray Dickaty in Liverpool's Zukanican or maybe the collective genius of Cul De Sac in NYC; there are literally hundreds of musicians whose passion for their music has led them to the master of instant composition, Damo Suzuki. I am honoured to join this list once again for two more performances (Brighton and London) of Damo's Never Ending Tour.
April finds Damo in fine fettle and after my day's work at the care home Brighton's Pressure Point is heaving with krautrockers, jazz freaks, experimentalists, music-lovers one and all. The whiff of herbal enlightenment pervades the hall and there follows a 2 hour show of instant music with Damo's muse guiding the sonic free dervishes through an adventure of sound. There are spiritual horn bursts and skronking, dual drum motorik polyrhythms with hypnotizingly locked-on bass, the scorched blast of electric guitars, the summoning of otherworldly voices from the man and the sound, sound, sound of lives being lived, existing in the moment. I get home at 3 a.m. and dream of flying through tunnels of yet more sound, waking up with tears of liberation in my eyes.

I get up early to go to a family wedding in Peckham with wife and child but after the ceremony my 18 month-old falls, hitting the back of his head on the concrete garden path of the Registery Office.The sound it makes goes straight to our stomachs so we head to King's College Hospital's A & E department where we meet another young head banger of the same age. Two hours later we're out again with a checklist of things to watch out for like vomitting which could indicate the possibility of more serious injury. We make it to the reception for the main course but things are not quite right so we head off as soon as the speeches are finished, back to Brighton.
The next morning it's Sunday, the day of Damo's London gig at The Spitz. I work at the care home from 8am - 2pm then drive up to London for soundcheck. A brisk walk along the rainy gauntlet of Indian Restaurants that is Brick Lane confirms my hunger and I succumb to a tasty haloumi and cous-cous number back in the venue with drummer Iain. Nearly as good as the Matar Paneer I shared with E-da in Brighton's Goa restaurant (whilst Damo tucked into a fish) before the previous show.
Steeple Remove play first; a band who I totally loved whose sound recalled Can, Air (no I'm not saying that because they're French) with vintage Stereolab. Dirty Korgs, excellent Karoli-style guitar wigging and some well-placed sweeter noises which all but satiated my krauting thirst with their controlled urgency. If Steeple Remove were this evening's Faust then Brighton's Fujiya & Miyagi were tonight's Kraftwerk with some wafer thin slices of Harmonia. A more electronic feel and more subtle than the previous band, their music was moving with dual-voiced, whispered incantations over pulsating kraut-throbs. A stunningly fine groop, they have an album due out next month which surely has to be worth investing in.
Damo Suzuki network finished up the evening with a slightly different line-up to Brighton - one less drummer, Terry Bickers' blissed streams of guitar and some sweet blues from the end of time which gave the music space to breathe, once again with Damo's invisible guiding hand we were irrevocably lost in the moment. Afterwards I was asked many questions by audience members - "How long do you rehearse?", "How do you remember what to play?", "Who is leading?", "How do you know when to stop?" and I explain that the idea of instant composition is that it succeeds if the audience believe it to be pre-ordained and this is how it differs from "improvisation."
What Damo is doing with his Network is, as far as I know, unprecedented. It is a generous gift in my opinion and built on trust in much the same way as the music itself. Trust and belief being two primary building blocks at the psychological core of instant composition.
I drive back to Brighton with Alistair, the cornet player, through a full-scale blizzard, reaching home at 3 am again. Baby is being sick which is a worry after the head bang of the previous day. My parents arrive for a visit in the morning, we get a call from an Estate Agent telling us our offer on a flat has been accepted and by the afternoon we're back in the children's hospital where our son's kept under observation incase there's any internal bleeding. We're let out at 8.30 pm, he's okay - they think it's just a bug after all. I reluctantly bail out of a Celebricide rehearsal, go home, get a take-away and eventually crash out. Up at 6.30 am, work at 9 am, challenging behaviour until 3 pm. Get home and my poor wife's ill now; and what the hell am I doing? Sitting here typing this! How much can happen to a person in 36 hours? Sorry, I just had to write it down.

La Momo + Coin-Op + Celebricide + Shark @ The Bull and Gate 16/03/06

2006-03-20T00:47:00.001+01:00

Cardiacs @ Concorde2, Brighton

2006-02-05T22:28:00.000+01:00

Well there have been two gigs worthy of note over the last couple of months. Firstly Cardiacs at The Concorde2 in Brighton back in December who were just wonderful. Kavus of the Monsoon Basson has done a fine job of taking up the baton of lead guitarist from Jon Poole who left a while ago to play bass with The Wildhearts. Now he's finally packed that in I have hypnotized Jon into wanting to be in La Mômo so he's joined as our drummer. This of course is bloody brilliant news for us all. Anyway, back to Cardiacs: my gig buddy, Tim stated that tonight's show was the best gig he has been to in the last ten years (the last being a gig by Cardiacs at The Venue, New Cross).
One of my things at Cardiacs gigs is watching the reactions of the audience; there were several Brighton rock stars present, standing with their jaws resting on the floor in a state of perplexed disbelief. I mean this music is compelling and to me it matters more than a million Arctic Monkeys (not dissing the Arctic Monkeys, they're just the rage currently for whatever reason). Cardiacs music either gets you or does the opposite. For many it seems to do the opposite, I don't know why - maybe because it's bewilderingly beautiful and relentless in equal measure, it is contrapuntally awesome, maybe people cannot handle these things, after all popular culture has been getting more and more neanderthal. Cardiacs music takes it's influences I guess from Debussy (whole tone scales), medieval madrigals, extreme beat-driven krautrock wigouts, Stravinskyesque stabs, math rock with tunes, tunes, tunes - as many good tunes as the friggin' Beatles. Possibly it's the humour that puts people off, maybe it's the sheer exuberance, the life-affirming ecstasy of those psychedelic cyclic passages that people cannot handle. If I was a teenager I might say that it's the only music which ever physically lifted me off my feet in a cosmic swoon. But that is Cardiacs - they make me feel so young and free.
All I know is Cardiacs have been ripped off by your favourite bands and will continue to be so. They are the most undervalued band England has ever produced (and man, are they English!) Tim Smith deserves to be a millionaire from this music. Lets just hope we don't have to wait for the these geniuses to be dead and gone before someone pipes up somewhere important with those immortal words, "Actually, y'know those Cardiacs, they were fucking amazing."

So that was one of the gigs worthy of note. The other was the ever shimmering Robyn Hitchcock at Komedia which I'll write up next time.

Interview: Paul Sullivan of The New Amusements

2005-11-03T12:39:00.000+01:00

(photo by Neil Phillips)

The New Amusements (Gareth Owen, vocals and Paul Sullivan, guitars and vocals) started life as The Happy Couple, playing pubs clubs and bars in Worthing, and for two years hosting a regular open mike night at the now defunct Renaissance bar.
Gareth and Paul met at the equally defunct Craic Bar (now a posh Chinese Restaurant) some five years ago, drawn together by a mutual admiration for such diverse artists as Jeff Buckley, Elvis Costello and Tom Waits.
They began writing original material, but became known for their idiosyncratic cover versions of songs by The Kinks, The Beatles and Tiffany, which they performed at venues around Worthing, eventually accidentally entering and winning a prestigious battle of the bands competition in 2003.
Gareth has been involved in various musical projects locally, including Chris Simmons' first band whilst Paul has a longer musical pedigree, starting out as drummer in mod revival band The Accidents, before becoming singer and chief songwriter for 80's indie stalwarts The Chairs, who released a string of singles culminating in an NME single of the week and a Radio One session. He subsequently released a solo album "Barbershop Raga" (Magic Cod Recordings 1990) followed by "The Heyday of Tony Stone" (Get Hat 1993), before dissolving the band and moving south to Worthing in 1998.
Paul is technically old enough to be Gareth's dad.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Crayola: What was the trigger which set you off on your musical path?

Paul Sullivan: I think it was seeing The Who on Top of the Pops doing Join Together in 1972, and leading the entire audience out into the car park. I’d had the enormous good fortune of growing up in the 1960’s, so the radio was always full of great tunes which were frankly taken for granted. I didn’t start to choose my own music until I was a teenager, and The Who ticked all the right boxes for me; angry, foppish, violent but always tuneful.

Crayola: If you could speak to that person you were then, what do you think you’d say to him?

Paul Sullivan: Go and see The Who while they are still alive. Idiot. You’ll be sorry.

Crayola: Who do you still find inspirational?

Paul Sullivan: Lennon and McCartney, Bobby Wyatt and the Canterbury mafia, and strangely Bob Dylan although I don’t possess any of his recordings. The late Jeff Buckley. What I like to call Transit Van Prog (TVP); adventurous experimental music created under difficult circumstances.

Crayola: You started as a drummer in The Accidents; how long did that last and what made you decide on the guitar and forming/fronting The Chairs?

Paul Sullivan: I was writing songs from the word go, and I only took up the drums so I could get into the band. It was 1977 and it seemed unthinkable to be a ‘punk’ and not be in a band. The guitar and singing thing was going on at the same time, but it took me a few years to pluck up the courage to stand up there and face the music.
Drums are great though, don’t get me wrong.
The Chairs were an interesting development in that we had a very definite ethos which informed everything we did, from haircuts to chord changes. We were political in that we disapproved of a great number of things for example guitar solos, dry ice, breast beating, men wearing make up etc.

Crayola: Is it true that you played gigs with Hüsker Dü and The Charlatans? How do you recall such bands?

Paul Sullivan: Hüsker Dü were really nice to us. I was in a band called Gene Tryp at the time and it was their first UK gig, at the old Marquee in Wardour Street. Greg Norton was particularly supportive and we got invited to a couple of their other shows.
And Christ were they LOUD.
The Charlatans gig happened in 1989, again their debut gig in London at the Powerhaus where they bussed in thirty or forty fans from Northwich. They were on different medication to us, and communication was stilted. However, the whole show was joyful and exciting. Their late organist, Rob, was a nice guy. Tim Burgess was off his nut and stole our keyboard player’s suede coat and had the cheek to wear it on the cover of the NME the following week.

Crayola: Popular folklore surrounding The Chairs throws up a number of unlikely stories: did you race Stiff Little Fingers up the M1 once?

Paul Sullivan: We overtook Jake Burns and SLF on the M6 while we were en route to Manchester and they were going to Liverpool. Jake Burns had been working as a producer for Radio One and we had been trying to get our latest single played to no avail. We wound down the window (at 80mph) and passed Jake a polite note that said “Why haven’t you played our single you Irish cunt?”
He replied with a note that read “Because I don’t work for the BBC any more you English wankers”. Still to prove there were no hard feelings, he gave us a bottle of beer (still doing 80) which he had thoughtfully shaken vigorously before handing it over.

Crayola: When did you go the USA? What happened?

Paul Sullivan: I went to Boston in 1990 for a holiday after The Chairs split, and met a huge number of lovely people, most of whom were in bands like Big Dipper, Gigolo Aunts, Christmas and The Lemonheads. The whole experience was invigorating for me, and I got to do a live show at The Middle East and a radio interview at WMBR. Everyone was so nice I went back the next year and the year after that.

Crayola: What was it like playing in London in the eighties? Was there a scene as such which you fitted into or did you avoid all that?

Paul Sullivan: Indie has now become a recognised musical genre, like nu metal and trip hop, but the eighties was a tricky time for bands that didn’t have a box to put their music into. We were an independent band in that we produced and financed our music outside of the music business, and it was an uphill struggle. We didn’t feel part of a scene so much as outsiders. We rarely made friends with other bands. It was too competitive, too many bands competing for too few gigs. We would have liked nothing better than to have been signed by a major label, but the truth was they just didn’t want us. We kind of peaked around the time of the Madchester thing, and we were determined not to jump on the bandwagon like The Soup Dragons for example. So it was a moral victory if not a financial one.

Crayola: How come The Chairs split? Were they were badly upholstered?

Paul Sullivan: Too many arses not enough stuffing.

Crayola: You recorded at Air studios with The Liberty Takers under the auspices of Lance Phillips, yes? Did you get to meet Mr Martin?

Paul Sullivan: Never met George. We weren’t really supposed to be there. We used to record when Dire Straits and A-ha had gone home. George wasn’t around much, but I did get a friend to have him sign my Beatles Recording Sessions book, along with Macca. It was a great experience to play with 48 tracks and I learned loads from all the guys there.

Crayola: The Liberty Takers’ “The Heyday Of Tony Stone” was recorded at what is now, the extremely-cool-to-namedrop Toerag studios, since The White Stripes et al. Who is Tony Stone and what was Toerag like?

Paul Sullivan: Toerag was smelly and dingy. It sounded great though, and Liam is a dedicated and fascinatingly eccentric man. He disapproves of new technology, and everything in his studio dates from the early sixties. Even the magazines in the studio were vintage 1960’s German porn. He helped us to make a great sounding album. Tony Stone was meant to be the soundtrack to a swinging sixties movie that never actually existed. We watched a lot of films from that era, like Alfie, Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush, Blow Up and so on, and sampled some dialogue and I wrote a very loose treatment about a guy who “gets it on”, “freaks out” and “blows his cool”. It’s partly autobiographical, and there is a film in there struggling to get made.

Crayola: What creative endeavours have you been up to since The Liberty Takers?

Paul Sullivan: Poetry, short stories and some tales for children. I keep returning to the music though; it has healing qualities.

Crayola: And on to The New Amusements: what’s in the name and do you have a bunch of new songs to unleash upon us?

Paul Sullivan: The name can be seen in 3 foot high letters on Worthing Pier, and constitutes free advertising. It was meant to distance us from the Happy Couple which had become a covers act.

Crayola: What is your idea of success?

Paul Sullivan: To be still doing it after all these years. It’s a bit like greyhound racing; once the dog gets close to catching the rabbit, it can see it’s not a real rabbit, and stops chasing.
Success in artistic terms is all about narrowing the gap between your intention and your outcome.
For most people though it’s still about being famous and selling stuff.

Crayola: There's so much more, isn't there, Jellyfish, Roddy Frame, Eric Matthews, The Cavedogs, Chris Bell, the time you met Alex Chilton at an Iggy Pop gig, the time you freaked out Roger McGuinn, and the day you were mistaken for Nick Heyward!

Paul Sullivan: And the time I asked a Liverpool bus driver if his bus was going to Speke.

Electrelane, Afrirampo, Polly Shang Kuan Band & Fake Valerie Action @ Sallis Benny Theatre 22/10/05

2005-10-23T19:03:00.000+01:00

Holy shit, what a night.
Sallis Benny Theatre has got to be one of the best sounding live venues in Brighton. Having never been there before we were pretty damn impressed by the vibe of the place, helped of course by the Ladyfest crowd who were out for a good time with high expectations for the music. Not only that but there is a sweet garden accessible off from the side of the hall where it's possible to escape for some fresh air or for a fag (as it's no smoking inside.) The general lack of confrontational bouncers added to the peaceful ambience.
Fake Valerie Action (formerly Valerie) kick things off with their beat-driven inspirational sloganeering punk rock'n'roll. The last time I saw Valerie was at the Freebutt a couple of years ago, then an endearingly shambolic mess of good ideas; the heat and sweat of the crowd that time seemed to encapsulate the essence of the band. Nowadays, filled out to a 4-piece and playing in far more salubrious surroundings their expansion fits the room. They play a show in a very real sense of the word with an entertainment factor of ten.
Polly Shang Kuan Band, on the other hand don't seem to be out so much to entertain the audience in quite the same way. With an array of mic'ed objects put through effects as well as a bowed saw (which was sadly inaudible to these ears for much of their set) they played a shortish set comprising of one piece. The sound combinations often worked despite the seemingly random nature of the filtering and the non-tonal sound crescendoed into a wall of noise. It was quite natural really but definately the sort of thing that requires the right mood from the listener.
Afrirampo were next up and proceeded to change my life over the next 40 minutes. Two devastatingly skilful, charmed and original Japanese females, one on drums and vocals, the other on electric guitar and vocals - together they summoned all the powers of the gods and flew them into the audience. They have no self-consciousness, they are free, together. The maddest combination of squeals and squeaks from their fine voices with shamanic meltdown music. We were all tranfixed, hypnotized; this was the most uniquely thrilling set I can ever remember seeing anyone play. The bass drum and toms got taken into the crowd during the last song, the singer handed a couple of sticks to two audience members to help the tribal beat. One of them was me! Meanwhile the onstage rhythms continued and they eventually marched offstage. Everyone in the room was in love with Afrirampo by this point. Oh my!
I can't imagine having to go onstage after such a life-affirming experience but Electrelane were handed the baton and duly rose to the challenge. I like Electrelane, have seen them grow as it were. I noted some snazzy new guitars in their arsenal and the more frequent addition of a voice these days. An honest voice, not a diva, just a human who'd written the song's voice - my favourite kind. Again it's the beats that these ladies do so well, motorik as ever and with some fantastic speeding up/slowing down bits. Very satisfying. I suspect that quite a lot of Albini has rubbed off on the band (having worked the last two albums with him producing.) There were some text-book, post-rock, guitar-on-amp, feedbacking moments which put me in mind of the Chicago scene - not a bad thing. What is special about Electrelane is the sweetness, the girlishness and even the man from Big Black cannot (and wouldn't, I'm sure want to) eradicate that.
I wish they'd fix their f***ing website though.

The Fabulous Return Of Coin-Op

2005-08-12T23:43:00.000+01:00

2 hours ago I was still here, expecting my love to go and see Coin-Op at The Freebutt in Brighton whilst I stayed in to babysit but, alas for her, she was too tired to go so I went along instead. The result to my shame was that I missed the other bands, Leader and Cortez, both of whom comprised of former Coin-Opers amongst their ranks.
The gig was sublime for me, a familiar tickling in the cerebral cortex with a well-defined yet pleasingly subtle euphoria; those wonderfully chosen chord/melody combinations that remind me of some of Cardiacs' transgressive moments, Coin-Op are very much alive after a long silence, Ian Shark's motorikally emotive drumming propelling those songs into just the right places, all four band members singing a sweet unison, a feeling of solidarity without getting too slushy. Nick has found the Jen sound (and appropriate notes) which triggers emotional well-being amongst the combined sounds of Telecaster through a vibrato Fender Twin, bass, voices and drums. Man, I sound like a bloke in a guitar shop.
This band aren't like that, they're special, to be treasured, there's a humanity which reminded me of seeing the Flaming Lips years ago (circa Clouds Taste Metallic). Welcome back, Coin-Op, you've been missed.

Peculiar 20th Anniversary Coincidence.

2005-04-19T06:35:00.000+01:00

Rewind: April 14th 1985: Bedfordshire.
Two days after passing my test I was driving an old Austin Morris between Bedford and Ampthill; I had pulled away from a roundabout and was working my way up the gears on a long sweeping bend. On the rear seat sat a tape recorder with The Monochrome Set’s “Strange Boutique” album on one side and China Crisis on the other. It was my soundtrack as a discerning seventeen-year-old having been influenced greatly by a 12” sampler of Cherry Red records bands. As I leaned back to turn the tape over, the car strayed over to the other side of the road and I turned back round to find myself face to face with the word VOLVO travelling towards me at a combined speed of 90MPH. It was a truck. On impact the car windscreen shattered over my head and the roof was ripped off, the Austin shunted into a roll, back onto four wheels and into a precipitous mud-filled ditch. As the car fell down the ravine I knew that I was already dead and I found it peculiar to still be participating in the action.
Fast-forward: April 14th 2005: Brighton, East Sussex.
Twenty years to the day later I am stood in a room with a group called Scarlet’s Well running through their soundcheck at the Sussex Arts Centre. Stage-front stands Bid, the man whose voice I had been listening to coming out of the tinny cassette player speakers as my skull split in that Austin. His voice sounding familiar, Fender Jaguar slung around his neck, I was transported back to that fateful day in my life when everything I knew changed. The cranial swelling that is still with me today throbbed as if to remind me of it’s reason for being. Even injuries have memories.

The Concretes + Frida @ Concorde2, Brighton 19/02/05

2005-02-25T14:24:00.000+01:00

A couple of free tickets courtesy of Totallyradio provided a brief respite from work, work, work and gave me a chance to see a wonderful band from Sweden called The Concretes. Not knowing anything about them prior to the gig I spent the evening entranced by the spectral beauty and strange vulnerability of this 8-piece band. Lovely to hear such sublime trumpet and sax arrangements in the music pinned down by a nonchalantly rocksteady female drummer.
The style of music put me in mind of a combination between the occasionally junked out minimalism of Spiritualized, the confused beauty of The Television Personalities, the city cool of The Velvet Underground with a Mazzy Starry-eyed vocal. The singer was peculiar to watch somehow with a laidback dignity and thelongest sleeves I think I've ever seen.
I had been expecting another garage band with a "The [insert name]" vibe, so ended up being happily surprised and inexplicably moved. Find them at http://www.lickingfingers.com
Support came from a Swedish lady, Frida Hyvönen. I caught the last two numbers of her set. Just her and a keyboard/piano. Deceptively simple, witty songs played with a graceful playfulness, she had the audience feeding out of her hands.
A fine evening of humans doing music.

Massive loss.

2005-02-11T07:20:00.000+01:00

So I got a fucking job, okay!
The final admission of a failed career in music? Or a practical way to ensure a life which we can enjoy as a family without wondering when the bailifs are coming to knock our door down? The answer is "A little bit of both."
Truth is, even when music looked like it was paying the way I still tended to have a job and when it came to touring I'd have to take unpaid leave. This is pretty normal for any Joe in a band who put records out, especially those with children.
So the only gigs I attended in January were those I played and I can't review them (can I?)
I say, "them," but I should really have put "it," as I only played one gig. It is relevant because the gig at Brighton's Concorde2 was one of the many benefit concerts in aid of the tsunami appeal. It was a Saturday night in such a fine venue - we were one of nine bands playing and from the stage it felt exhilarating, life-affirming, special. Maybe it was just the great monitor sound. The audience seemed to not hate us, they stayed in the room, they clapped, they were supporting the appeal. The gig sold out (£5.50 a ticket, 500 capacity.) An email came from the promoter saying thanks and they made £200 for the charity. Now maths was never my strong point but I really hope that they (and by default "we," the bands) weren't merely using the staggering news of this awful disaster to get our names out there and pay a venue what must have been a high hire charge for the night. There were other better publicised tsunami events going on in Brighton the same Saturday night where I heard of the bar-staff working for no pay, free venue hire, a sense of pro-action.
I felt a bit down about it all afterwards - we'd had a great article about our band in the Worthing Herald off the back of it.
Maybe I'm just sore cos our fans didn't come to see us.
Meanwhile thousands of people in Indonesia had just about given up hope of ever finding the bodies of their kids.

Robyn Hitchcock @ Komedia, Brighton 6/12/04

2004-12-11T22:33:00.000+01:00

As is to be expected at a Hitchcock night, a fine evening was had by all with plenty of surprises from the band. Robyn's between-song banter, already the stuff of legend, was particularly hilarious and tangental. Audience expectations for being kept amused between songs is usually pretty high at a Robyn Hitchcock gig and I sometimes sense that the man could say almost anything and a few diehards would laugh irrespective of what, but tonight we were laughing from our bellies at the surreal logic of Robyn's stream of consciousness. This is relevant because it ties in with the same skewed reality which inhabits the songs, giving them that edge which borders on tragicomedy in a parallel universe.
So the set began with the man and his guitar playing a few new songs from the Spooked album (recently recorded in Nashville with Gillian Welch and David Rawlings), accompanied by Morris Windsor on backing vocals and shakers. The song "Television" was memorable as a kind of love-song from a lonely person to their TV, played without irony which is where the tragicomedy comes in, I guess. Moving and ever so slightly absurd.
Soon, up step the band, Morris taking his place behind the kit, the initimable genius of Kimberley Rew on electric guitar, the be-trilbied Paul Noble on bass and ex-Higson, (infact name any band) Terry Edwards on baritone and alto sax, trumpet and even organ.
So there we are waiting for a crowning moment when the band kick in when surprise no.1 happens "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" by Rose Royce. I swear there was a huge question mark hanging over the seated audience as the band played their faithful rendition of the song. Then Robyn announced that meanwhile, in 1978 whilst that was number one in the charts, The Soft Boys were doing...this next one - and so we were treated to various Soft Boys tunes, with some of the harder ones off Can Of Bees which I've never heard live before. Sure, a few more covers of dodgy disco tunes were included - even Lipps Inc "Funky Town!" Quite ridiculous. It was great to hear "Listening To The Higsons" with Terry Edwards playing along too.
Tonight was a massive treat for any Hitchcock fan or non-fan, to bathe in the glow of such a collected talent in so informal and relatively intimate a setting.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds @ Hastings Pier 3/11/04

2004-11-04T23:13:00.000+01:00

Well there I was doing a spot of decorating in Worthing for my friends when I get a call from Everett, "Hey Chris, I have a proposition, fancy coming to see Nick Cave in Hastings tonight?"
Erm, YES actually.
So we set off with David McNamee and Russell Warrior in the trusty Cavalier for the longish drive to Hastings listening to Abattoir Blues and The Lyre Of Orpheus en route. As is usual at a Nick Cave do, there are more familiar faces in the crowd than there are down my street, one of the first I see being Terry Edwards, sax and trumpet supremo no doubt come to see his old Gallon Drunk cohort James Johnston attempt to fill Blixa Bargeld's place in The Bad Seeds. Fortunately he doesn't try to do such and plays organ and acoustic guitar instead.
The early part of the show was poignant as can be - yesterday George Bush was "voted" back in by the great inbreds of middle America (thus ensuring an ongoing state of fear borne of xenophobia and Christian fundamentalism in U.S. politics) - So early on Nick's singing 'Hiding All Away' with it's refrain "There is a war coming." This is followed by the awesome 'There She Goes, My Beautiful World,' which needs no explanations. Beautiful indeed and powerful. Between songs after the crowd noise dies down there's a palpable sense of danger, tension as the band familiarise themselves with the actuality of performing these new songs.
This is apparently a warm-up show for The Bad Seeds - they're augmented by four gospel backing singers which adds a good new dimension to Cave's latest material which comprises the entire set.
The encore sees a couple of oldies, Oh Deanna, God Is In The House, City Of Refuge. All very pleasing and especially suited to the backing singers, the stunning dual drums/percussion of Jim Sclavunos and Thomas Wydler, the deeply emotive violinisms of Warren Ellis who seems to capture emotions in their raw state, Conway Savage on the piano looking much as his name suggests, Mick Harvey and Martyn P. Casey holding down their respective guitar and bass with purpose and fluidity and Cave, stalking the stage like a horror circus ringmaster, transfixing us with his tales of woe yet riddled with dark humour.
So the show ended, we ended up in the late bar on the pier playing pool badly, me drinking shandy as there was driving to be done.
Our mood was quite ebullient which is always a sign of a good gig, we headed back late and stopped off in the ruins of Pevensey Castle, had a slash in the moat, got lost a few times but eventually got everyone back just fine with our prostates all intact.

John Peel 1939-2004

2004-10-27T03:42:00.000+01:00

Today is a sad day, bringing with it the news that John Peel passed away last night whilst in Peru with his wife Sheila. This man championed lesser-known music throughout his years as a broadcaster and became something of a legend in his own lifetime.
I met him briefly in Brighton in November 2003, fumbled in my pocket and handed him a tiny pink La Mômo cd. He gracefully accepted it, asked me how it should be pronounced and if I'd been wandering the streets looking for him. He patted me warmly on the arm and we parted. Two or so weeks later he played our song Zircon on his radio show saying that he looked forward to hearing more from us. I remember thinking that he might like it as the start of the song recalls his favourite, Teenage Kicks by The Undertones.
Today I cried as I did the washing up for the memory of a man with whom I had grown up (I was born in 1967, the year his BBC work began.) Thanks for all the good music you aired and for that warm and humourous way you presented your many shows. I'll miss you; there's nobody to step in, you were a one-off.
My thoughts are with his family - may he rest in peace.