Master of none

I wanted to let people know about some gigs which are making me happy; one that I have played recently and two which are coming up…

ORE at Cafe OTO

On the 1st of February we played our first gig as ORE at Cafe OTO. This was the usual doomy, droney affair but with an extended line-up and sound, courtesy of Michelle Hickman on tenor horn, Olly Coates on cello and Will Cooper on great highland bagpipes.

This was our second outing with this line-up, which we really enjoy and is our second time of playing for the wonderful Full Of Noises crew. Very happy making indeed.
 
ORE
 

MrUnderwood and Kit Downes

On the 28th of February I am playing an improvised gig, as part of the London Contemporary Orchestra Soloists series, with Kit Downes on keyboard. The aim is for me to channel and process Kit’s playing, the sounds of some MortonUnderwood instruments and live environmental sounds. Our aim is to create a deep listening experience for those present.

This will be my first time playing for LCO and at Limewharf in London. Further details here. It is also a great pleasure to be playing with Kit for the first time.

LCO
 

Glatze is back!

Lastly, I’d like to highlight a gig I am doing partly for old times’ sake. On May the 27th I will support Melt Banana, for Capsule, at the Rainbow Warehouse in Birmingham. Further details here

This will be the usual bonkers live electronics from Glatze, and brings me particular joy as this was the first slot I ever did for Capsule, in 2009. Plus I am very much looking forward to dancing my tits off to Melt Banana; who are cracking live!

Glatze
 

Master of none

If you are wondering what the title of this blog is about, it refers to the broad variety of output this represents and that frankly it does make me a bit of a jack of all trades, and master of none. BUT I have come to understand that this is what makes me tick creatively. I admire virtuosity greatly but personally speaking I find keeping my output diverse and stimulating suits my personality and way of working better. Sometimes this makes me ponder whether greatness will ever be achieved but then I consider how fulfilled I am by such work and how pleased I am with the experiences I create for my audiences and all is well.

As ever, I reserve the right to change my mind on this…

Hope to see you out and about at one of these gigs!

Glatze, live and thrice live

Last weekend I played a thoroughly enjoyable gig at the Frog and Fiddle in Cheltenham. It wasn’t as well attended as I’d like but the room was ace, the sound system was storming and everyone who was there was there was lovely and seemed to really enjoy it! BINGO!

Having been concentrating on other things for a while I now find myself with three gigs in three weekends. Following on from Cheltenham I will be playing at the Dirty Bristow Fete this Saturday and the Whales EP launch party on the 5th of September. I’m really chuffed to have been asked (!) but I also have my concerns…

Apart from the usual nerves and self-doubts I am also a little worried about both gigs, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I worry that people who have heard my EP will expect me to sound like that. In fact I am billed as a “Romany Surf Step Supremo” by Bad Egg (see flyer below), which is cool / true but I only do one tune from my EP in my liveset. Secondly, I might be a bit of an odd act for the Dirty Bristow bill. I am particularly concerned what the Dirty Bristow lot are going to make of my raucous antics at 9:30pm…ho hum! Both of these might be non-issues and I will give it my all regardless but I just wanted to get these thoughts out in the open. Either way Glatze does what he does, so nehhhh!

Event flyers below (click each flyer for more info):

Wasson?

I’ve been on holiday. Half my time was spent at home working on projects and for the other half I was forced to enjoy myself by leaving my shed and studio behind, to visit my home village of Par, in Cornwall.

Here is an update (in list form) of what I achieved:

  • Got airplay of my debut Glatze EP on The Big Paws, Brumcast, Phantom Circuit and Brap FM – I thank you very much for your support!
  • Got lots of positive feedback about my Glatze EP. People seem to choose different tracks as their favourite, which can only be good news?
  • I even sold a few copies so far through my Bandcamp. This means a lot – cheers!
  • At the fantastic Port Eliot Festival, which I thoroughly enjoyed attending with my ueber-cool dad, I handed copies of my EP to Grayson Perry, Gavin Turk & Deborah Curtis, Tim Smit and Jarvis Cocker. For some reason I was too scared to give one to Martin Parr.
  • I have had a couple of Glatze live dates confirmed. I will be playing my reworked liveset (including the song “Glatze” from my EP) at The Frog and Fiddle in Cheltenham on the 20th of August and then at The launch event for the fabulous Dirty Bristow magazine, on the 28th of August.
  • I have been working hard on my midi-octopus to get it sorted and music written for it, for my debut performance at The British Science Festival, in September. The associated workshop is coming along nicely too!
  • I have been in working on updated noise box / optical theremin designs for my workshop at The Digital Media Centre in November, and I will soon be announcing another similar workshop and performance(s) at an upcoming festival (a favourite of mine), once details are confirmed

So, all in all it’s been a busy holiday. Rather productive though and I did nearly finish reading a book too…