Post by esp on Oct 27, 2006 11:31:59 GMT
The idea for a jam
The seeds of idea for the pre-jam were sown back in 2004 when I first attended Hampshire Jam 3 and was mildly disappointed to discover it wasn't really a jam at all. It was a great festival though and one which I would really like to play at. So when it was announced that this year was most likely going to be the last one, Steve Humphries and I tried to get on the bill (as Astrogator), so when the final bill was announced and we weren't on it I decided to organise something myself. The hardest part was finding a venue, but luckily with a bit of help from Steve Jenkins (HJ organiser), I got in touch with Liphook village hall and managed to book it for the Friday prior to the main Hampshire Jam. After that it was just a matter of finding willing participants, making sure that they didn't bring too much equipment and deciding on a bit of structure, to prevent it descending into total chaos.
My account
Well, I've just had a great weekend, possibly the best 2 days of live EM so far, with the Hampshire Jam and the preceding Hampshire Jam 'Jam', or 'pre-Jam' or whatever.
Steve Humphries arrived at my house around 9 am, we had a bit of breakfast and a nice cup of tea, packed his gear into my car and headed off to Liphook at about 10:15
Steve and I made good time down to Liphook, arriving about 1:15, got some lunch, did a bit of shopping and went to pick the keys up early at 2:45.
I had a minor panic when I realised that I had forgotten to bring my cheque book to leave the damages deposit. Luckily there was a cash point nearby so I could get cash instead.
The village hall was excellent, perfect for what we wanted to do.
Everyone one got set-up roughly on schedule and we were ready to go at 6:30, but waited 5 minutes for one of the audience, who'd nipped out to get some booze.
Steve got to be MC and did the introductions and we got started at 6:35 with John, Dave and Xan, who produced a most excellent start to the proceedings.
There was another moment of panic when it became apparent that in the rush I hadn't actually made sure everyone knew how things were supposed to go, which was was as one continuous set, with the people on for an hour being the 'bridges' as the others changed, so there was a bit off running around letting everyone know. after this it all went pretty much to plan, which was pretty amazing, so thanks to everyone for helping.
As I was on the door or organising most of the time I wasn't playing the rest of the evening turned into a bit of a blur, but wherever I was in the building I could still hear the music, thanks to John's excellent PA, and I don't remember any bad bits. Things faltered occasionally at the bridges as people worked out what to play, but apart from that I thought it went very well, and certainly exceeded my expectations.
We finished just before 10 and Stephan and Dave did Stephan's infamous SF medley for an encore, which was very entertaining
Audience-wise we had about 15 and I all but made back the money for the hall hire.
I guess a lot of people couldn't get away from work in time, or only got a 'pass' for one night, or weren't sure about travelling for what might be a bit of an unknown quantity.
Those that did come seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves and included HJ organiser Steve Jenkins, Grant Middleton, a group of Poles, an American, a Belgian and super EM fans Trevor, Dave and Marion.
I'd be happy to do it all again next year if there is a HJ6, or even somewhere else if there isn't, if enough other people are interested.
At the main jam on Saturday there was quite a lot of interest in the 'fringe' event as everyone seemed to be calling it, so hopefully it could attract more people if there's a next time.
the infamous rota
This is the glue that held everything together:
The rota was setup so that everyone got to play with everyone else, without everyone being on all the time. Everyone got an hour slot and a half hour slot (except one) and it was the person doing the hour slot who attempted to hold it all together at the changeover.
In the end Norman couldn't make it due to family commitments and his slots were filled by Stephan Whitlan.
Participants and Equipment:
John Sherwood usually produces ambient music under the name 4m33s but also edgey EM as half of Entity, and heavy-prog-spacey music as half of Cult Of Ashand. Equipment used: MicroKorg, Arturia MiniMoog, Arturia MMV, LazySnake, Acid used as a phrase sampler.
Jez Creek produces improvised EM, solo as Modulator ESP and with Steve Humphries as Astrogator. Equipment used: Prophet VS, Prophet 600, Sequentix P3, Doepfer Drehbank, Cheetah MS6, Roland SP404
Steve Humphries produces EM solo as Create and with Jez Creek as Astrogator. Equipment used: Access Virus Indigo, DSI Mono Evolver, Doepfer Schaltwerk, Nord Rack 3, M-Tron
Dave Gurr is a member of The Omega Syndicate, Architexture and C.H.A.O.S. Equipment used: Waldorf Microwave XTK, Moog Voyager Rack, Yamaha CS-01
Xan Alexander is a solo artist and is also a member of The Omega Syndicate. Equipment used: G4 ibook (ESE, EXSP24, EFM1, Garage Band Virtual Instruments), Yamaha DX21
Brendan Pollard is a solo artist and half of Rogue Element. Equipment used: Mellotron x2, Fender Rhodes, Micromoog, Microkorg, SRS Aurora, Beast Modular
Stephan Whitlan is a solo artist and half of Narcosis. Equipment used: ARP Odyssey, Kurzweil K2000, Korg DW8000, Roland MC202
Photos
By Phil Booth
First batch, taken during setting up.
Performing
Distance shots with flash of the various line ups in action.
and a few more
The seeds of idea for the pre-jam were sown back in 2004 when I first attended Hampshire Jam 3 and was mildly disappointed to discover it wasn't really a jam at all. It was a great festival though and one which I would really like to play at. So when it was announced that this year was most likely going to be the last one, Steve Humphries and I tried to get on the bill (as Astrogator), so when the final bill was announced and we weren't on it I decided to organise something myself. The hardest part was finding a venue, but luckily with a bit of help from Steve Jenkins (HJ organiser), I got in touch with Liphook village hall and managed to book it for the Friday prior to the main Hampshire Jam. After that it was just a matter of finding willing participants, making sure that they didn't bring too much equipment and deciding on a bit of structure, to prevent it descending into total chaos.
My account
Well, I've just had a great weekend, possibly the best 2 days of live EM so far, with the Hampshire Jam and the preceding Hampshire Jam 'Jam', or 'pre-Jam' or whatever.
Steve Humphries arrived at my house around 9 am, we had a bit of breakfast and a nice cup of tea, packed his gear into my car and headed off to Liphook at about 10:15
Steve and I made good time down to Liphook, arriving about 1:15, got some lunch, did a bit of shopping and went to pick the keys up early at 2:45.
I had a minor panic when I realised that I had forgotten to bring my cheque book to leave the damages deposit. Luckily there was a cash point nearby so I could get cash instead.
The village hall was excellent, perfect for what we wanted to do.
Everyone one got set-up roughly on schedule and we were ready to go at 6:30, but waited 5 minutes for one of the audience, who'd nipped out to get some booze.
Steve got to be MC and did the introductions and we got started at 6:35 with John, Dave and Xan, who produced a most excellent start to the proceedings.
There was another moment of panic when it became apparent that in the rush I hadn't actually made sure everyone knew how things were supposed to go, which was was as one continuous set, with the people on for an hour being the 'bridges' as the others changed, so there was a bit off running around letting everyone know. after this it all went pretty much to plan, which was pretty amazing, so thanks to everyone for helping.
As I was on the door or organising most of the time I wasn't playing the rest of the evening turned into a bit of a blur, but wherever I was in the building I could still hear the music, thanks to John's excellent PA, and I don't remember any bad bits. Things faltered occasionally at the bridges as people worked out what to play, but apart from that I thought it went very well, and certainly exceeded my expectations.
We finished just before 10 and Stephan and Dave did Stephan's infamous SF medley for an encore, which was very entertaining
Audience-wise we had about 15 and I all but made back the money for the hall hire.
I guess a lot of people couldn't get away from work in time, or only got a 'pass' for one night, or weren't sure about travelling for what might be a bit of an unknown quantity.
Those that did come seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves and included HJ organiser Steve Jenkins, Grant Middleton, a group of Poles, an American, a Belgian and super EM fans Trevor, Dave and Marion.
I'd be happy to do it all again next year if there is a HJ6, or even somewhere else if there isn't, if enough other people are interested.
At the main jam on Saturday there was quite a lot of interest in the 'fringe' event as everyone seemed to be calling it, so hopefully it could attract more people if there's a next time.
the infamous rota
This is the glue that held everything together:
The rota was setup so that everyone got to play with everyone else, without everyone being on all the time. Everyone got an hour slot and a half hour slot (except one) and it was the person doing the hour slot who attempted to hold it all together at the changeover.
In the end Norman couldn't make it due to family commitments and his slots were filled by Stephan Whitlan.
Participants and Equipment:
John Sherwood usually produces ambient music under the name 4m33s but also edgey EM as half of Entity, and heavy-prog-spacey music as half of Cult Of Ashand. Equipment used: MicroKorg, Arturia MiniMoog, Arturia MMV, LazySnake, Acid used as a phrase sampler.
Jez Creek produces improvised EM, solo as Modulator ESP and with Steve Humphries as Astrogator. Equipment used: Prophet VS, Prophet 600, Sequentix P3, Doepfer Drehbank, Cheetah MS6, Roland SP404
Steve Humphries produces EM solo as Create and with Jez Creek as Astrogator. Equipment used: Access Virus Indigo, DSI Mono Evolver, Doepfer Schaltwerk, Nord Rack 3, M-Tron
Dave Gurr is a member of The Omega Syndicate, Architexture and C.H.A.O.S. Equipment used: Waldorf Microwave XTK, Moog Voyager Rack, Yamaha CS-01
Xan Alexander is a solo artist and is also a member of The Omega Syndicate. Equipment used: G4 ibook (ESE, EXSP24, EFM1, Garage Band Virtual Instruments), Yamaha DX21
Brendan Pollard is a solo artist and half of Rogue Element. Equipment used: Mellotron x2, Fender Rhodes, Micromoog, Microkorg, SRS Aurora, Beast Modular
Stephan Whitlan is a solo artist and half of Narcosis. Equipment used: ARP Odyssey, Kurzweil K2000, Korg DW8000, Roland MC202
Photos
By Phil Booth
First batch, taken during setting up.
Performing
Distance shots with flash of the various line ups in action.
and a few more
