Improvved
The improv band played on Saturday night. After getting in from the out-of-town show at 7 that morning, I wasn't all that excited about moving gear again - especially the epic amount this band was going to need. It's the opposite approach of GS - get as much stuff and as many people onstage as humanly possible.
Eb and I made a couple of gear runs to add to what was in the trunk from the night before. By the time everything had been hauled into the club the excitement was starting to build for me. Here's this huge pile of instruments, and they're all going to be played at once!
I was worried the show would be a logistical nightmare, what with all the setting up and tearing down. As it turned out, all of the bands set up at once in different parts of the (large) room and there was no more downtime than usual between performances.
I couldn't stay until the end of the show due to other commitments, but I saw some interesting things in the time I was there. The first band was pretty primal, actually wrecking a couple of guitars; the second used an array of electronic noises, at one point unexpectedly breaking into a fit of fall-on-the-floor screaming, which I found out later had less to do with performance than just frustration with malfunctioning gear.
Our band was up next; between some absent regulars and new additions we ended up as a 13-piece. There were two people in the band I'd never even met before. We used three guitars, two basses (with a lot of effects), a sitar, a spacebeam, about five drummers and an assortment of tin whistles. The jam lasted about 20 minutes and was shockingly cohesive, under the circumstances. There's video of it out there, and it's somthing to see. So many people pounding on so many things, all in unison (well, sometimes). Admittedly, this is not for everyone (like all of my bands seem to be). It's "just a bunch of noise". Yet, to me there were more than a few inspired moments, and some people in the crowd were really into it.
The two bands I saw after our set were also quite good. Both were two-piece improv units, one with guitar and drums, the other with dual electronics. They both went over well. It was a great show overall.
There was talk that this show could have gone on at the One World, a vastly smaller venue. Now that I would like to have seen. Band members would have to be piled on top of one another, and who knows where the audience would go. It would be intense though. Less space = more rock.
Eb and I made a couple of gear runs to add to what was in the trunk from the night before. By the time everything had been hauled into the club the excitement was starting to build for me. Here's this huge pile of instruments, and they're all going to be played at once!
I was worried the show would be a logistical nightmare, what with all the setting up and tearing down. As it turned out, all of the bands set up at once in different parts of the (large) room and there was no more downtime than usual between performances.
I couldn't stay until the end of the show due to other commitments, but I saw some interesting things in the time I was there. The first band was pretty primal, actually wrecking a couple of guitars; the second used an array of electronic noises, at one point unexpectedly breaking into a fit of fall-on-the-floor screaming, which I found out later had less to do with performance than just frustration with malfunctioning gear.
Our band was up next; between some absent regulars and new additions we ended up as a 13-piece. There were two people in the band I'd never even met before. We used three guitars, two basses (with a lot of effects), a sitar, a spacebeam, about five drummers and an assortment of tin whistles. The jam lasted about 20 minutes and was shockingly cohesive, under the circumstances. There's video of it out there, and it's somthing to see. So many people pounding on so many things, all in unison (well, sometimes). Admittedly, this is not for everyone (like all of my bands seem to be). It's "just a bunch of noise". Yet, to me there were more than a few inspired moments, and some people in the crowd were really into it.
The two bands I saw after our set were also quite good. Both were two-piece improv units, one with guitar and drums, the other with dual electronics. They both went over well. It was a great show overall.
There was talk that this show could have gone on at the One World, a vastly smaller venue. Now that I would like to have seen. Band members would have to be piled on top of one another, and who knows where the audience would go. It would be intense though. Less space = more rock.
posted by the baron ash von foolishness at 5:28 AM
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