Running For Miles

Here’s a new tune we’ve recorded. Just finished it last week. I’m working on a pretty cool motion sensor for the next Milk Bar gig so keep tuned for dates…

 

The Dance Commander

Had a small test of the MIDI-Moov this week, for the Touch It gig, and it works really well! We’re thinking that the controller gets strapped to someone so they can dance to effect the music.

My friend Jason King is going to help us with the lighting by working on a midi program so they lights change with the person moving also. This should give more of a visual indicator for whoever’s strapped in, so they can see when they’re changing something.

Here’s a small video of Jason testing the MIDI-Moov. Whenever he moves around there’s a filter over the music that moves with him.

Interactive Band – Touch It

Had a couple of reviews this week, which has been nice. I’ve been applying for some funding for the new project and needed some references to get it going. Thank you to Songwriting and Blushing Panda for that.

I made this picture for Songwriting, spray painted my studio ceiling for it, blew my nose a few hours later and it was literally bright green! I think I’ve just made it quiet a dangerous place to be.

So it’s about time I started talking about what the new project is gonna be [drum roll maestro!].

The working title is Touch It and the idea is to have a live band that members of the audience can interact with. I’m writing some dance reggae style songs with Kieron Allan and Kraz at the moment [all originals] and we’re then gonna start playing with ways that the audience can control our sound as we play.

One of the ideas is to have sound controlled by dancing. So we attach a small gizmo to your body and when you move around the music filters and changes pitch or echoes and distorts. How fun would that be!

I’ve been in contact with a development team called TangibleFX who will possibly be providing us with the MIDI-Moov which we can use as one of the controllers. Really cool.

The MIDI-Moov

I’m trying to have a regular ‘sports Saturday’ with my friend Paul but he’s turned his phone off so he doesn’t have to do it, lazy sod. So I’ve probably got time to upload another tune…

This is a Tumbling Squares song called Whistle Way, one of the first tunes I sung on.

Electric Bill

So my new project Touch It is coming up. I’ve been rehearsing with Kraz, from Tumbling Squares and Kieron, from The Five Sides. It’s going really well so far. I’m gonna have a couple of rough recordings done to post in the next week or so.

Was thinking about Tumbling Squares a little bit and thought it’s a shame that our old saxophonist Electric Bill can’t get involved. He was a funny bloke. I met him in a temp office job, in 2007, and he told me out of the blue he plays saxophone. He also told me once that he broke a guys ribs with an iron bar! I couldn’t believe it, he was actually a really nice, gentle kind of guy. Bill came from one of those posh boys boarding schools you always hear are notorious for adolescent buggery. He said the boys used to regularly have gang fights between the different ‘houses’ and someone getting a serious injury was pretty standard.

Anyway, Bill was a pretty shite saxophonist – he never practised and was always hitting dud notes – but he was wicked to play live with. He had this mad energy and he’d always be moving and dancing and grinning. The crowd loved him.

He went and did one of those TEFL jobs in Japan and stayed in east asia. He loves it now, think he’s living in Singapore.

We had a Tumbling Squares tune dedicated to him…