The above video is a 10 minute ‘highlights edit’ done by Iain. If anything it gives you a taste of the style we are working on.
Ghost Inputs are set to play live this Saturday the 22nd at Wytallibar, and with any luck we’ll have some media for you.
The Ghost Inputs Halloween Gig for 2008 has been and gone! Overall, I felt it was a little hit and miss due to a smallish attendance, most folk waiting politely for the punk band after us, Suspected Terrorists. We did, however, achieve some songs with higher ambitions and complexities, so this will give us confidence to really ramp it up with future gigs with a better vibe. Vibe is everything playing live. You really pick up on the subtleties in the room, the intentions and tensions – and it ends up affecting the music.
Mum was visiting for the event, and managed to snap a few bits of evidence:
We’ve another gig on very soon at the Armidale Club, on the 6th which is this Thursday night. in support of TuneFM’s birthday bash (I think), and this time we’ll be on late. After that we’ll have some time to develop ideas for the 22nd of November, at Wytallibar.
Thanks to R, Alex Z, and Mum for coming along to support. Special thanks to Simon for being a front of house engineer for the evening, the sonics were excellent. We were filmed too, so I’ll let you know if a youtube video surfaces…
Iain Mackay and I have yet again changed the name of our live duo project from Solsonic to Ghost Inputs. It feels good as a name so far, so we’ll have to see if it sticks. We’re set to play live again at the Armidale Club on October the 31st, a suitably dated event for our new name. Reharsals have been fairly solid so far, and we’re really honing in on ‘set ideas’ for songs that allow for refinement rather than plain searching for anything half decent to play. It’s a nice balance between improvisation and highly structured dance beats – you can dance to it but it’s also food for the brain.
So if you happen to be in New England on Halloween do come along to the Armidale Club to see Iain and I do our thing. We’ll try to get some more photos to post here too!
In the mad rush of things going on at the moment Iain reminds me that we’ve a gig on that I’ve forgotten about! This was last Wednesday the 24th, leaving only two days to get ready for the Armidale Club’s open mic night on the Friday the 26th! Holy smoke, I though it was going to be a month later! Nevermind I thought, been practising for a while now with Iain, so we won’t do too bad.
The evening was opened by Ed Campbell’s 299′s project throwing some laptop driven pop to ears that may not have experienced such a thing before. He had some fine moments during quiet sections and the electronic vibe paved the way nicely for Iain and I to go on second. Our project name has moved onto ‘Solsonic’ and operating as a prog-dance duo. Here are some in-the-heat-of-the-moment-photos thanks to R:
I think we played for around 40 minutes but it was hard to tell due to being caught up in the whirlwind of the sound and performance. Overall we achieve our goal very well, to play progressive improvised loop-based music with a sense of fun, groove, melodic engagement and characterised entertainment. Of course, many minor slips occurred, and things can ALWAYS be improved upon, but the overall energy was right on for the aim. And it was fun to do! That seldom could be said of playing live, as there are so many ways it all can go wrong. I left the gig feeling that something small but important was achieved, and that Iain and I can now build upon the live idea with confidence.
The 50 odd people were generous with attention and applause – no heckling or looks of utter confusion could be detected. Assorted audients came up and gave thanks after the show, which is nice to hear from people you do not know, or from people who are not directly ‘there to support the project’. One particularly satisfying encounter was with a Zia from Wytaliba who invited us to play live for a fund raising gig for the Stockwood Festival during late November. To be asked to do this is a big honour, and I’ve long wished to play live there one day. Looks like there is much rehearsing and refinement to go!
Finally the dust is settling on a very busy period, so busy to the extent that participating in this blog and regular web antics has been a difficulty. Work has simmered down to acceptable gentle levels, and personal life has done much the same opening doors to time for regular practice, composition and mixing. And releases. This I am looking forward to!
In what has felt like a blink of an eye I have moved residence! The Pink Tank is no more. My studio and all my junk (much of which has been thrown or recycled this time) hasn’t gone too far as I’ve remained in Armidale. I am now located at Galloway Street. I shall get some images up soon, but for now you can take my word that it is a lovely leafy and quiet area on South Hill. The space is a little larger than the flat, being a big old house with odd rooms and shrouded back yard. I’ve already spent time setting up the studio, placing important sound absorbing material up in the room and placing the speakers in the best possible position for audio bliss. The results have been impressive! I think I’m getting a better sound than the Pink Tank: a clearer stereo image, and much clearer and deeper sub. It’s a joy to work on music in there.
Some regular coaching with Ruth Strutt has me feeling a lot more confident in singing technique. We’re working specifically on ironing out old bad habits of constriction, and exploring the possibilities of the baritone part of my voice. For the first time ever I’ve really enjoyed singing low and resonant, opting for an octave down when I used to opt for an octave up. Ruth is also getting a sense for how high I can go, which can be up to a G#6 (or 5?) in full body voice, and even higher using a proper blend technique (mixing body with falsetto). I’m still slowly working toward doing vocal recordings for my songs (for which there are many to do), but this now feels easier than ever. There are a few outstanding recordings that need doing for Alex Strain and Beatslaughter that are motivating me as goals.
I’ve a new toy: which I’ve dubbed Loopzilla. This a Boss RC-50, brand new. It effectively means that I can do away with the studio-computer as a tool for live guitar looping (so no more lugging fragile computer bits to venues). I can layer and loop audio on the fly, very similar to the tape-loop Frippertronics approach. I’ve already recorded some interesting melodic textures using this device, which seem to spill out of my hands intuitively in layers and overdubs. I’m keen to test it out in a live situation, mostly likely with Iain MacKay with his electro/acoustic drums. And there will be no doubt more additions to a growing library of delicate ambient guitar pieces, possibly evolving into a separate release project.
Speaking of Iain, we’re working on a little film project. He’s put together a rough montage of abstract time-lapse imagery. I shall be viewing this and deriving some sort of soundtrack applicable to the visuals that he can further edit into some sort of cohesive work. Think psychedelic gardens…
