OK, since my last post I am pleased to announce that Spiral Architects are in full effect performing regularly at the Fawcett open mic nights playing sets around 15min/20min long and as such I thought I’d give you a quick breakdown and if you so wish check out www.somefoolwitha.com/fawcett to hear the sounds Spiral in and out of control for your listening mis-pleasure.
The first performance with me in the frame on theremin and pedals I have documented in the pages below, the second however again on the website, was on the 28st November and continued in the randomness we have since become accustomed too. For this night we became an eight piece, with Ross (drums) Paul (bass) Johnny (guitar) myself (theremin) Dan (vocals) and Nick (sax) being joined by Steve (guitar) and Mitz (sax).
It seemed very hectic on stage and at times not really knowing what direction it was going in or indeed being able to hear things properly it was very hit and miss, although having said that when it came to listening to the recording… feel free to make up your own mind… but it sounds not too bad for the first ten minutes or so which was a nice surprise! It was a great night though and it still seemed to go down pretty well amongst the locals.
The following week however, on the 5th December, is also up on the sight and probably the best yet. It still maintains the jam elements to the performance but the benefit of having the pubs sound guy in the band is definitely helping! So much so that the first SA link you will see for this date came about from a sound check for Ross, Paul and Johnny being randomly joined by a top mc in the form of Freedom (check it out). Further down the list for this date you will find the official performance, and I for one could definitely hear myself properly this time and the 15 minutes or so took us through various changes and sounds far more together… it works pretty well, and I think the Spiral Architects have arrived…
Then the next week on the 12th December horror as illness struck Ross (the man who goes boom) along with sax player Mitz were not able to attend. However Spiral on we must and Spiral on we did taking the audience on a musical journey. In the absence of a drummer we made it as trippy and ambient as possible with Paul on bass, Johnny on guitar, myself on theremin/pedals and Nick on sax. The second half of the performance we were joined by a random drummer who keeping the beats slightly faster made it a more a noisy affair than that of the first half….again www.somefoolwitha.com/fawcett .
…and that leads on to tonight, 19th December. Our lettuce munching hippy Ross, still unwell, had to again pass on the festivities and we look forward to him being back in the saddle for the new year. Mitz having been stuck in Gosport arrived at the pub too late to join us, so Nick was on hand for the horn section. Again the lack of drums meant it was all very ambient and psychedelic, but this time I had a monitor set up (cheers Johnny), plus a little dictaphone action at the beginning, so although the recording isn’t up on the net yet I’m pretty sure it sounded cool, I enjoyed tonight’s set so it was a shame the pub wasn’t that busy. Like the week before we had a random drummer step up for the second half of the set, with beats more in line with the vibe than the previous weeks effort. I look forward to hearing this one for sure, and look forward also to having what is becoming the “official” line up ready to perform again in January and I am going to try and get more people to come check us out…. In the meantime have a Spirally Xmas and an Architectual New Year.
Keef/Teef/Lolly
