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AlterNative have now done their gigs at Bellingen Hall and The Armidale Club. Iain and I attended both gigs and helped out a little with the door and packing. In time I will get some photos and sound media and post the evidence here.

The Belligen Hall gig was the most impressive, hosting nearly 200 people. The Hall was half used (being very large) and was well decorated with all matter of lighting, projections, bamboo leaf and glow in the dark hoop/flag/poy dancers. The entire evening most of the crowd were in dancing mode to the predominately house-trance music, which the band put a certain tribal element into the mix as well. Although most of the people where young kids there were a few older folk really enjoying the vibe, some of which I’ve seen at other dance parties. Apparently, though, it is said that this scene is dwindling. Perhaps a transition from trance (going since mid 90s) to a new form of music will take place.

I was glad I didn’t have to play live, as the sickness was still lingering. At one point three young boys sat next to me with their cigerettes going. Already coughing, the smoke set me off in a convulsive fit of hacking. I had to get up and move, slightly annoyed that these guys were smoking inside. I think they read this annoyance and took offense – though how you could get offended when someone is suffering because of your self destruction is beyond my empathy. Later in the evening one of these boys felt it necessary to walk past me and drop his shoulder into me. A brief flutter of anger passed through me, but being sick cured me of the over exertion, and I knew nothing I could do could prevent them from being total uncompassionate idiots. Unfortunately, their loss. This was the only negativity for the whole night.

The band’s approach to playing live music is an interesting one, possible one we will see more of in the future. Two drummers, one on kit (Darren), one with an array of toms, congas and other cool bits (Justin), attempted to play (and did so very well in places) along with the keyboard operator’s pre-sequenced beats and acid synth-lines and pads (done by Ben). So when it worked it sounded like dj-ed material with live organic drums jamming along with full human energy. Where it noticeably became confused is where the humans couldn’t quite be as stiff as the machines. Either way, the crowd consistantly rewarded them for providing trance grooves with enough sonic colour to provide a cognitive journey. In live, the groove is king.

The Armidale Club gig could have been slightly better for them, only having about 50 people turn up, again most of which really got into the dancing for the end of the DJs and the band proper. The vibe was positive. It was expressed more than once that Armidale is in serious need of new live groove electronica, as in conjunction with our staple folk, blues, country, punk and occasional metal and hip hop. We hope to remedy this with running The Arc monthly from now on, giving full scope to electronic groove and weirdness.

I’m off for two weeks on a massive road trip from Perth to Armidale. There will be lots to pick up on when I get back…

It’s been very tempting to change the heading of this post to “Uhhgg Chaos!!”, but I have several things I want to get to the point of here. It’s example of how in life as an artist both good and bad things happen all the time, but interestingly the good things seem to sprout up like flowers out of the immediately seemingly bad.

Over a month ago now things were cooking with Unity Gain – we were pacing ahead with two weekly sessions, and starting to slowly zone in on some ‘reproducable songs’. Due to reasons I will go into here and have very little to do with me personally, there was an impass and then the band was announced at an end.

Feeling a little befuddled about this happening, and still having strong desire and momentum to continue to play guitar with my friends I naturally wanted to keep something going. So I quickly asked Iain if he wanted to continue playing and try to aim to present something for the AlterNative gigs on the 15th and 16th of this month. Iain was quite a happy to give it a shot as his momentum and playing were reaching a peak. We relocated all our gear from Wood Park back over to Iain’s basement.

Things were a lot quicker but more challenging with just two of us. I had to try and make a massive bass/melodic sound with just my guitar and effects (some of which sounded really suitable). We narrowed down to about 8-9 songs and jammed solidly for two or so weeks just on those alone. Because of the limitations we were coming up with some rather original minimal elctronic grooves, some with a distinctive afro influence. Unsure of a name, and wanting to put Unity Gain behind us, we loosely were working on names like ‘Soltek’, ‘Soltronics’ and ‘Iain and Mark’s Project’.

Simon Floth had arrived back in town on holiday from another project in Sydney. He came to one of our jams and got in on the action nicely by playing his fully improvised bass on the Juno keyboard. Straight away we were able to carve out a fuller legitimate sound. It looked like Simon had a great time contributing as expressed willingness to stick around and play bass for the gigs. We gladly encouraged him and had another session as a 3 piece, probably sounding the best we’ve ever sounded…

Then last weekend I got very sick. It started out as a cold, but progressed into a nasty chest infection. I was in no state to play anything. Simon too was feeling the bug. After a rocky week of session cancellations we decided last Sunday that it was time to knock it on the head, having only a short time availible to pull together a scattering of material without confidence. Simon headed back for Syndey. Iain and I will probably regroup down the track to see if we can’t make something else out of the project. So, three to four months of playing live guitar has come to a temporary end! But what a fun time, and what wonderful way to get new sonic ideas and thoughts about grooves. And something tells me I’ve not yet finished some ideas with Luke and Dyllan…

(Oh and btw, the Band Comp is over: Sum Assult has won, with a very cool Strange Days coming second.)

Ok, you would think that ‘all is lost’, but quite the contrary is prooving so. As mentioned previously myself and Luke have been putting effort into building a basic Hi-fi PA system. The core elements have come together: I have obtained an Australian Monitor IS 1200 poweramp (that’s 400W into 8ohms, and 600W into 4ohms using the technical speak). He has a pair of Fender 2 way speakers @ 300W program, with 15 inch bass cones. Last friday we had a chance to rig it up outdoors (out of town) and crank it. There’s nothing quite as fresh sounding as crystal clear dub at full volume under a star-light sky (the bass carried alarmingly well, not the sub though). L is also getting a another pair of composites to handle the mids better and will allow the IS 1200 to output it’s full 600W of power – which will be certainly big enough for most gigs around here. We will also have good cheep access to large Mackie powered subs, so the ability to put on a electro party or show is now within our grasp.

And so the first event is planned! Mark your diaries for October 7th at The Armidale Club for the Re:Turn of _the arc_. I will be doing a mixed set of live electronica (arc music) with lots of layering and improvisation. No doubt a certain other L will be making a laptop performance as well. Stay tuned for more details.

The other good news is that I will be on a very extra-ordinary holiday during the last two weeks of this month. My dear friend Jarrad Cousin is making another move back from Perth to Armidale to live. I will fly over and join Jarrad on the epic road trip all the way across Australia from Perth to Armidale (including The Nullabor Plain). This 7-9 day haul is something I’ve always wanted to do since being young and now have the lucky opportunity to do. No doubt it will have many echoing implications for musical geographic inspiration, much like my trips to South Australia in 1998 and the Victorian Alps in 2002.

I’m also looking to meet up with James DXU, albeit for a short amount of time. If all goes to plan we might do a little sonic work together…

My very good friend Simon, aka Fable, has completed his mix of his art-pop song Coin Side B. You can download this interesting sonic adventure from here:

http://www.thequietrevolution.net/fable/mp3/coinsidebw24.mp3

Be sure to message me to let me know what you think, especially if you are unfamiliar with his previous music. It always is a unique experience. I’ve been a big fan of his music for a while now, and this is an encouraging refinement.

I stop here with yet another tease in saying there’s is lots going on that I will write about later. Oh, and I can confirm this: An Australian Monitor 300W rms 8ohm 2channel power amp is on it’s way to compliment a friend’s recently purchased DJ-PA speakers. Stereo hi-fi electro-parties are on their way!