Matt on one leg.
Three years ago Chinwag went on indefinite hiatus. It was probably the most exciting band I’ve played in, revolving around structured improvisations, which rarely exceeded the two minute mark. Alongside my baritone-guitar playing friend, Mr Matthew Ash Bronka, I hit some drums (usually too hard), sweated a bit, strapped electronics to my drum kit, made lights flash with my bass drum, and occasionally imitated a bumble-bee. Matt did most of the creative work, whilst I tried to hone in his brilliant creative genius. It gave us the opportunity to play alongside Polar Bear at the London Jazz Festival, open for The Mae Shi in Liverpool, and labour on an hour long journey to Oxford on a Wednesday night where we performed to literally no-one. That night more or less ended any interest either of us had in gigging in pubs and clubs on a regular basis. Soul destroying doesn’t begin to cover it.
But back to the positive side, we had a great year of creative fun, doing whatever we wanted and having a blast in the process. You can listen to the two eps we recorded, Royal Jelly & All the Different Whites, by clicking on the covers below:
I probably should have uploaded this video a few months ago whilst I was still playing with the band, but I’ve been busy recently, and only just got the chance to share it…
This is a tour video of footage from some gigs I did with Smoke Fairies last October. They’re some of the loveliest people you’re likely to meet and are definitely headed places. We played 16 nights supporting Richard Hawley, finishing with a headline slot at the Borderline in London.
I wish the band all the best for their upcoming tour of the US of A, with Laura Marling.
Apples
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Above are three pieces created by Apples, an audio composition generator I developed last year. Apples presents a brand new four minute piece of music from a random selection of audio files and data every time it is turned on. The length and sections of the composition are pre-determined, but the actual audio experience is always unique.
I was hoping to upload the software so it was possible for people to experience an original Apples composition first-hand, but unfortunately it’s a bit of a behemoth. I’m contemplating developing a smaller version of the generator, but after the amount of time this effort took I might give it a miss.
On the road, near Holmfirth.
My life since finishing University in May 2009 has been a thoroughly mixed bag: stapling tax documents in a bank, touring the UK with the Smoke Fairies, suffering with swine flu (my current predicament), buying my own home, traveling in Texas…
The one thing this span of time has been completely void of is creativity. I’m obsessively tidy with my recording files, cataloging my works on an annual basis. 2009 contains only 1 piece, a sloppy incomplete puddle of noise which I am frankly too embarrassed to revisit. Compare this to the 48 pieces I crafted and slaved over in 2004 and I can see how much I have lost my creative direction. I intend to get this back on track.