There are images from last week's gig and they can be viewed here: Live Images index. They were taken by Ridder and Stephen Birch.

We're back @ The Providence on Western Road this friday, with Patrick on bass again. Brighton post-rockers My Rhino are on too.

Rehearsing in my brother's old Ford Escort has been tricky but interesting. Oh and last week I got to see The Diamond Family Archive who were excellent. Scratchy, delay-looped archtop guitar... wicked! Imagine Robert Wyatt produced by Tom Waits.

So Thursday 10th March we ended up doing an impromptu set @ Brighton's Pav Tav. It was a little quiet from our point of view, and we really weren't in good health, but we did stay on afterwards for the Tavern Club {see - we're not completely anti-social} and had a groove to the likes of Joy Division, New Order and Electric Six! Wicked!

Saturday 19th we played @ The Providence in Brighton. Despite one or two technical glitches {Patrick our 'guest bass person' was using the other band's dodgy amp which decided to start making noises of it's own half way through the set; and their drummer also decided it would be cool to play furniture with his sticks during our set, completely out of time with what we were doing - sorry folks!} I had a really really great time. Really pleased with how it went and the fact that I got completely wrapped up in the music most of the time. Singing jibberish during the soundcheck is a real booster.

I think it's also shown me I need to trust my own sense of judgement a bit more - we didn't need to go down the 'vintage amp' route in the first place. Getting a balance between going with the flow and knowing when to row...

Possibly there may be some photos of the evening?

I understand that people {musicians at least} do still get offended by drum machines and sequencers. In our defence, for a live band it doesn't make life entirely easy because it puts extra pressure on the live instruments to provide dynamics. Yeah, it means we're not a 'proper band' but we're obviously not attempting to be one. Also, the same people who wanted to ban drum machines {The Musician's Union for example} also didn't want real drummers to be recognised as 'real musicians' either. It's worth remembering that once upon a time amplification and electric guitars were considered unprofessional, uncool, and unnatural too.

On another level, a lot of our ideas start with the beat first, because we love drums, and as non-drummers ourselves, it means that we can approach ideas in a way that is less about our own egos and more about the sounds. And because the beat and the sound of each drum is so integral to the track, I don't think it would be fair on a real drummer to demand of them that they play exactly the way we want them to. The drummers that we know {see - they're not all afraid of us!} all have their own styles, and again, we don't want to resort to 'session musicians'... Blah blah...

So back to Saturday. Sorry if I was a bit anti-social before, during or after, I have to set all that junk up myself {not because I don't trust anyone else, it's more that I don't trust anyone else to be horrified when they see that I have everything connected up in a really abnormal way} and it's totally, totally distracting! Right now I can't afford to replace one bit of kit, so everything needs to be present and accounted for at the end of the night as well...

We did a couple of new tunes this time {Come On Behave and AllWords} which were fun to do. The sound guy and the organiser were total pro's {we're still a bit surprised when people let us put pretty much everything through distortion and delay}. Thanks to everyone who made the effort to come and see us!

Anyway, it can't have sounded that bad up-front because they're having us back on Friday 1st April. So there. And then.

The Mekano Set

Well last night was an interesting night. It was amusing if nothing else. Sorry if i was overexcited or offensive or anything else that made me seem wierd. Shame about the Ocean Rooms gig. I wonder if dude was ever gonna tell us if we hadn't asked!

Anyway, re previous post about the hobgoblin gig last year.. who fucking signs onto forums called "expert" musicians? anyone who writes a post like that is obviously interested in the image of being a musician and nothing else. Surely someone who loves what they do and is good at what they do, can rise above "space" issues at a gig & still put on a good gig, especially when they have been offered a free gig!! anyway, drum kits & huge amps obviously don't count as equipment anymore because in every gig i've played where these said items have been present, they are the space thieves!! & considering the bass player had more pedals than any of us put together, and more than anyone needs i don't think he has a case!! Sorry, do i seem bitchy? this is not my intention, i'm just really good at it sometimes!!

Anyway, moving on to more important (though perhaps less amusing) subjects, i have seen a picture on the internet of the guy who is going to play David Brent in the "American" Office...? does this seem wierd to anyone else? I don't know about you, but i'd feel pretty insulted if the TV companies thought that i wouldn't understand comedy & that they needed to redo it so that i could "get" it! I mean, the programme's been done and been done well, why does it need to be done again, so soon? It isn't like it has outdated effects, surely it would be a lot cheaper & less effort to just import it, and maybe spend the money on funding some struggling script writer to come up with something new instead of Hollywood having to remake old & foreign films because they've run out of ideas. I'm sorry, I'm doing that bitchy thing again. I'm just in that sort of mood!

I'm going now, i'm not always like this!!!

We've just been offered a gig @ Brighton's Pav Tav tonight, Thursday 10th March. And we've accepted. So we'll be on about 8.30 pm. Life is certainly unpredictable...

The Mekano Set

The Mekano Set

is it true that i can (until they stop me, even though i'm on my lunch break) blog from work?

yes.

is it true that the ocean rooms gig has been cancelled?

why, man?

Just a quick one to say that, sadly, The Ocean Rooms night has been cancelled.

The Mekano Set



Oh well...

So Miss Garfield and me got a mention in this month's Brighton Source magazine:

"Brilliant bass-heavy ambiance generated by a two-piece gothic, trip-hop dub outfit. Milk makes the music and Beth sounds like both her Gibbons namesake and PJ Harvey. Sirens luring you toward a dark fate you'll embrace." Meatbreak and Rizard, The Brighton Source, March 2005.

I can understand the gothic / trip-hop / dub references but I'm surprised by the Portishead {vocalist} comparison.

And so we're playing @ The Ocean Rooms in Brighton this Thursday. We're on early, about 8.15 pm, so no excuses about it 'being a school night'. Meanwhile, here's some Mekano Set live pics. Thanks to Poggy for those!

Oh - I suppose I should say that The Ocean Rooms gig will just be me and Beth. No cellos. No jazz funk. No comedy routines. Well, probably not.

Also, at last, there's a new .mp3 up @ the .mp3 page and it is called Sadim and it is a bit of an odd one. I want to tell you why it's called Sadim but it's not very deep so I won't.

If I was a music journo {if only...} maybe I'd describe Sadim.mp3 as "a torch song from the Twilight Zone... Sadim embodies the dichotomy, or the duality of the torch-singer: on one hand, the Diva, objective in her suffering, standing strong in the face of adversity, and on the other, the crooner, wallowing in his unrequited self-pitying masochistic martyrdom...." Or maybe i'd just say it's a double-ring-modulated guitar, a sampled DMX drum machine and a load of over-amped vocals. The latter would probably be more accurate, but less funny, and probably both aren't particularly interesting. God, I need to just stop typing now.

Wow, I'm in one of those 'I can take the p*ss out of myself better than you can" moods that Ade Noize used to have.

So Come On, Be Dave.


Laters, haters,

The Mekano Set.

I'm posting this because I think it's an interesting reaction to what we are about, and I also thought it was quite funny:

Someone sent me a link to this post on a web site called 'Expert Musicians Forum' or something like that. It's a reference to the gig we set up last year Upstairs @ The Hobgoblin in Brighton. I think it was written by the bass player from Jennie's former funk metal band {on the night in question, The Mekano Set featured Beth, me, Jo, Lewis and Nige}:

"Well it's done, it's over and we really didn't play well. On the positive side though, despite us thinking we were way below standard the audience thought we were good... It didn't help that the other 'band' - The Mekano Set - managed to fill the stage up with cellos, flute, synths, drum machines, computers, effects, and more leads than I've ever seen in such a small space, so we spent the gig tripping around them, and our guitarist (Jon) was forced to be stranded right out at the front with a spotlight on him! And no soundcheck. But that is the way of gigs - you just have to deal with it and to be honest, we were a bit out of practice at that."

I really like the bit about "the other 'band'...". That's a nicely condescending touch. Exactly the kind of thing I expect and maybe even want? Interestingly enough - it doesn't happen very often.

It's funny because to me it's obvious that we've never been a conventional 'band' and we have no interest in trying to be one. It's worth noting that in the room in question, there is no stage, we only had one quarter-size cello {there was also a double bass - but that belonged to Toby from Fenris Wolf}, one synth, one laptop, no drum machines, no drum kit, and no massive amps. The bass player from their band had more effects {those lush, exotic looking line-6 type things} and cables than the rest of us put together.

It's also worth mentioning that there were actually three bands {and three bands worth of equipment} that night. The third band was essentially a live jam between Jennie and Fenris Wolf.

The room in question is tiny and I make no appologies for filling the space because we organized the gig, Beth paid for it, we let the other band/s headline and we gave them as much time as they wanted. No one was forced to do anything - we were all crammed into corners as much as anyone else, in fact Nigel was practically invisible behind a speaker that was a poor substitute for a total lack of monitors {see picture below}.

We were all as accommodating as possible, and well behaved {apart from the embarrassing 'personal space invading' moment when their guitarist threatened one of our female members for daring to put an empty pint-glass on his 'Marshall stack'}, no one got a proper soundcheck. And from what I heard neither band went down particularly well - actually a lot of people found the whole experience pretty dull, including band members.

The other band have actually split up anyway {Jennie now plays with our guitarist Nigel in Shrinking Sixpence}. People seemed no more interested in seeing a music-student type funk metal workout than they did an electronic improv 'ensemble' {that's a better word than band isn't it? Far more pretentious}.

At the end of the day, it was meant to be a bit of fun - you can't take that place seriously, it's just a tiny room above a pub with an awful PA, no stage, no monitors etc. We all had far too much equipment for the place - but everyone had been there before and should have known what to expect.

Exhibit A: This is a picture taken on the night {by Poggy}:



{From Left to Right: Milk, Jo {and Austin, the junior cello}, Finn, Lewis {The Steam Age}, Nodule}. The effects at the front of the stage and just behind the big speaker on the right belonged to the other band. That's Toby's cool black and white double bass on the right just behind Mr. Steam. Ironically, it's Jennie's drum kit that looks swamped.}

Maybe we'll post a page of Poggy's stuff as there are some funny shots of us 'before, during, and after'.

The Mekano Set

just a quick note i guess. now that i've learnt how to do this i may as well do it while i remember how or before i break something. Nothing too important to report, i suppose it's just the usual ranting. Milk will be used to me ranting, he usually gets to hear it all... poor guy! Anyway, moving on. to what, i don't know! Its a relief to have gigs coming up and i think its put both of us in a generally good mood about things.

I'm looking forward to hearing the new offerings from bands such as garbage & nin this year and, sad as it may sound, i can't wait for the new resident evil game. it's looking to be a fairly entertaining year. the demise of curve has put a slight downer on things for me but they've done enough for me already. Anyway, I'll always have kate.

i talk shit, huh? anyway,
later
miss ya Bill