Turné dagbok - England oktober o november 2022 - del 3 - Leeds Wharf Chambers

After a few days recuperation across the Pennines visiting family and friends, I return to my old stomping ground of Leeds and a place that has always had good memories for me - Wharf Chambers. I have performed and promoted here numerous times, but this is the first proper outing for me as a "Swedish" noiser. Tonight's line-up, created by the ever enthusiastic Theo Gowans, has no less than 3 touring acts out of 4. I am happy to see my fellow Hogwash collaborator again. 

We're also lucky in that the ace video and audio capturing behemoth that is Bill Bartlett is in town to document the night's fun and games. 

First up, are Theo and Hilary (Cowtown, Basic Switches) performing as Garbage Pail Kids. Gadgets, toys, keyboards, cast aside tapes, mangled vocal effects and lots of fun experimenting. Daft and ace in equal measures. 

Ublo from Geneva has a stand up set of drums onstage, some of them synth drums and all sorts of triggering going on back to his laptop running Ableton with triggering going on. Afro beats and off-beats and processed vocals and noise. And the laptop needing to reset itself near the end of the set, but dealt with professionally for a final blast through. Really interesting stuff. 

Legion of Swine's set becomes a bit more of a harsh noise wall set this evening, as I find very helpful radio stations for interference and glitch and so run with it. This makes me think that maybe I don't need the kaosilator and is summat to think about on my return home. The radio part of the audio is way louder and I can push it really far, so some testing to while away the winter evenings will be required. 

French guitar mangler Mariachi is precisely that. She uses an enclosed contact mic in her strumming hand to create extra feedback to the feedback that's being created in front of the Marshall stack a few metres away. There's a lot of performance. Words can't really do justice to what we see and hear. 

Thanks a massive amount to Theo and Bill and all the other acts - a great night out. 

LoS

Turné dagbok - England oktober o november 2022 - del 2 - Sheffield Hatch

As Crowded House said on more than one occasion "Everywhere you go, you always take the weather with you" and I certainly do as the slight drizzle that's coming down in York as I leave is a massive storm with new rivers and lakes forming by the time I get to Sheffield where I am stopping with my sister-in-law and her partner and their two daft as brushes dogs, Diggle and Buffy. 

I take the yellow tram into town and walk the rest of the way along Arundel Gate towards Bramall Lane, home of the team of my very much missed mate Foz, who would love tonight's gig and space at Hatch. The venue is in a row of terraced houses and is not very obvious where it is, but I arrive just in time for the latest downpour and the hosts, Sarah and Chris from ace Sheff wonkypop band Duck arrive in perfect time. 

Inside is some nice mingling space and the venue part is small, compact and probably fits about 40 in comfortably and the PA is decent, so I should be able to get a powerful level of noise from my minimal kit. 

By the time Harlot take to the stage, the place is packed out, which given the shittiness of the weather outside (I have not missed northern English pissy autumn days one little bit!!) is great to see. They are 3 teenagers, punky, Sonic Youth-y, Riot Grrrrl-y and a great crash bang whallop start to the night, with every song being about dickheads. Loads of fun! 

Legion of Swine is the filling in this Sheff butty tonight and armed with some very nice help from Chris on the desk, I make a very very loud and harsh noise set, with some really good glitching and some football interviews somehow making their way into the set. After the set I talk to folk, including a lad born in Malmö and also meet a guitarist from the headliners whose family lives in southern Sweden. The drummer from Harlot is also learning Norwegian, so I feel very much at home in my mini-Scand night out :-). 

Headliners Dearthworms are a really interesting act, mixing post- and punk rock guitaring, p-funk bass action and synth driven geekpunk vocals, back by fine stickwork - bloody great and dead dead dead ace. 

After the music stops, there is time for socialising and the unusual sight of me selling t-shirts and CDs. Hatch is a great space and the Swine offers many many thanks to Duck and all at Hatch for making such an ace night. 

Tack så jättemycket alla :D

LoS

Turné dagbok - England oktober o november 2022

To say that this decade has been an "interesting" one is a bit of an understatement. Continual climate breakdown, politicians who are merely there to serve a handful of motherfuckers who need ALL the resources and wealth of the world apparently and a pandemic that has seriously beaten, both physically and mentally, a lot of people and put a lot of artists, who were never far from the breadline, closer or over it. Some hope is needed and with this in mind, I set about trying to organise a tour of England, my old place of residence as a now Swedish-based noise artist. 

As anyone who has tried to organise these things before will know, there us usually a lot of hanging around waiting for replies to emails and the realisation that things might not pan out as you'd hoped. I am delighted to report that this is the easiest ever tour I have organised, ridiculously easy and that is purely down to the fantastic people and connections I have with people in the UK and they will receive glowing comments in this continually updated blog post. There will be loads of external links to click on to music and info and I very much recommend that you visit said links and listen to the great music contained therein. 

(1) Wonkystuff @ The Fulford Arms, York 

Wonkystuff is the label/promotion/gadget-making collective formed by John Tuffen and Ash Sagar, who I have had the pleasure of performing with over a number of years in a number of acts (Aperitif of Crippling Malaise, The Wharf Street Galaxy Band, Polynomial, etc.....) and this event, like the majority of the previous Wonkystuffs, takes place at The Fulford Arms, which is one of my favourite spaces in York, The beer is good, the PA is good, the sound is great and the lighting is very flexible. As is usually the case, the Wonkystuff team have collected together an eclectic line up of musicians coming from West, North and East Yorkshire and in my case now, western Sweden. The show also gives me the chance to catch up with people I have not seen for years, 5 years in some cases and the familiar smell, taste and price (compared to where I live) of local beer puts me in a relaxed state and after a lot of lockdown anxiety, my social skills make a welcome return. 

As is traditional, the Wonkystuff night kicks off with the Wonkystuff houseband, this time as Deluxe Hugs. John mans the drum machines at the back with professorial concentration, as Ash sets up the punk-funk-squelch grooves for Simon Hickinbotham to postpunk guitar and surreally snarl over. Catchy, chaotic and loads of fun. 

Numbers of members slim down one, as we have the first duo of the night, Spore from Hull. Watching them perform shapes and pulsing and interfering with Kaos pads and pedals and pushing the limits of everything over 30 minutes is a fascinating watch. I am constantly wondering how further it can be pushed and secretly want them to play for twice as long to see big it all becomes.

Glider Theory are some old Hogwash acquaintances of mine Chrissie and Stuart who calm us down from the big industrialness of Spore with some flowing, drifting, guitar-synth ambience that washes gently over you  and puts me in the calm state of mind needed for an opening tour show. 

The stage is bathed in blood-red light and I sit in front of my new minimal setup, both practical in terms of weight and making me stretch my ideas of creating sound. A cheap radio into an octave shifter and a kaosilator into a Boss MT2 pedal is all I have going into a passive mixer. It's an experiment and a gamble, but the results I am really happy with and I'm looking forward to listening back to the audio. Stuff is packed, I have one less tape to take back (!) and off to bed. Many thanks to the Wonkystuff crew and John Tuffen and his family for the hospitality.  More comprehensive thinking and writing about the night provided by the fine people at Aural Aggravation - cheers Chris :-). 

Next, visit family in Sheffield and Hatch!!

LoS