My take on the gigWell that was fun ;D
Because something was wrong with the second stage and the bar are was too small for all our gear we got bumped too the main stage
Loads of stuff went wrong, Hashy's guitar effects died, one of my midi leads died, we had about 30 mins to set-up and soundcheck and were still troubleshooting problems when the lights went down, but somehow we managed to pull it out off the bag and adapt and improvise. Played for an hour solid. Sound on stage was pretty good and we got some very enthusiastic applause at the end.
Then had 20 mins to get off so the next band could set-up.
Sold a few CDs and got some very nice feedback from people
Hashy's take on the procedings...A great weekend and very mellow
had a great time on stage, the guys from chaos illumination provided some nice visuals, (including custom Hashtronaut logo kaleidoscope work
- i had my back to it at the time so I have no idea
)they were sorting some stuff out for the set during the early afternoon - we were the only act to get a video projection set during the day ;D
there were a few techy hitches during the set up, but I had everything functioning ok bar my guitar as we kicked off.
the set went through its semi planned stuff, then took a weird turn in the middle and then we just waited to see where it all went, i was synced to Jez P3, and so we were swapping sequences and bouncing stuff off each other - i couldnt remember where i put my cue sheet so it just happened as it happened. The ending to the set was a heavy sequence only session that provided no respite untill we dissapeared in a wall of noise and hearty applause (and a few people were dancing throughout the set!)
If the set recorded ok and sounds OK, then it should appear sometime in the future.
we had the largest crowd of the afternoon slot, and sold a good few cds. All feed backfrom the audience has been really positive, and this morning I was told that we are back on the bill next time (in a higher slot apparently!)
so all in all - a great first outing
and thanks to Jez for help in providing some deep space disasters for the audience to get lost in- I had a gas
some more photos from the event are on the Hashtronaut website
hereA review from festival organiser Jane...Sonic World Festival 2008
It is with some relief and pride that we announce the Sonic World Festival 2008 closed and a mega success! The event was sold out, and rightly so, at £30 for a weekend ticket, with sixteen top bands on the bill, you'd have been gutted to have missed it. We are delighted with the response and the wonderful spirit of camaraderie that surrounded the festival, despite Saturday being a devilishly windy day which took out two of our marquees....
I think the artists enjoyed themselves as much as the audience. Sadly, the full line up of Tubilah Dog could not appear, due to serious illness of a band member, but SteveDog and Alf Hardy joined The Starfighters for a memorable and energetic last minute collaboration which promises to go further...A project has been born!
Also, The HigherCraft split ranks and decided not to appear, but their place was comfortably filled by the wonderfully organised and professional Sendelica with Nemesis on vocals, and , despite the venue manager's last minute decision to forbid the SWF entry to the hall until 4pm, got onstage, almost on time, thanks largely to the superhuman efforts of the sound and lighting crew and the stage suppliers. The delay, however, forced Nemesis, Snake and Mart to make the difficult decision to shave the running times of the first three bands a bit, Sendelica graciously accepted the biggest loss of 11 minutes from their set. The venue management very kindly kept selling beer to the audience....
Wind of Change followed, turning out a wonderful set of Space Rock with their guest vocalist. Earthling Society provided their usual spacey presence, making way for Xoo, a new band to the scene, who promised and delivered a punchy laser-lit set. Bassman, Keysman and vocalist James Hodkinson multi tasked with Xoo, and also came onstage with Pre-Med, delivering Synths for the bi-coloured one...
The evening was rounded off nicely by Dumpy's SpaceNutz, who, along with Alan Davey,. on bass, set the place alight with a brilliant set which had the audience bouncing up and down with delight.Mike Tuppen, drummer with Xoo also doubled up and played for Dumpys SpaceNutz immediately after the Xoo set. What a star!
Saturday dawned....
With barely enough time for a cup of tea and a couple of hours sleep, we were back on site early the next day to open the hall for the Acoustic Acts, as yet again, the venue management had changed their plans, and decided they could not give us the room we had been promised for the acoustic acts to use. So, at around 11.20am, the first act took to the stage, Part Man Part Beard, who played a lovely acoustic based set of guitar, vocals and flute compositions, intermittently heckled by Mark Amadeus, the sound Guru, just because he felt a bit saucy.
Dreamspirit was next up, Josh Dawes deserves extra merit for also pitching in as crew and helping with everything from stage erection to collecting dog poo. He played a blinder of a solo set, featuring synth work, programming and vocals. A true gentleman and professional with a heart of solid gold.
Kog was hot on his heels, another diamond geezer, destined for greatness (IMHO). He played a marvellous emotionally charged guitar/vocals set of his own compositions - do me a favour, if you haven't heard Kog, go to his myspace page or get to see him live asap.
Hashtronaut and Jez Creek took to the stage with a vast array of electronic toys, Chaos Illuminations crew put on an amazing lightshow for them, obviously completely carried away with the exquisite sounds coming from these two amazing guys. My hands were stinging from clapping so hard.Saturday Night was opened by Dr Hasbeen with his young bunch of Space Cadets, playing a selection of their much loved set of driving space rock. I didn't see the end of their set, due to running around the site like a headless chicken in a blind panic, as Bruise had got a bit lost and were late arriving on site.....BUT....having made it with minutes to spare, they got to work like things posessed, and with lightning speed and accuracy, were up and on stage on time. I managed to see about half of their set. They got the award for the best dressed band of the festival, Isobel looked gorgeous in her sparkly mini dress, and sang and played wonderfully, I missed the last half of their set as one of the marquees holding two stalls decided to head off toward the land of Oz in the wind and it was all hands on deck to keep it from taking out half the campsite....
Omnia Opera took the gaff by storm as usual, with Andy Jones asking to stroke the men's thighs, Captain Bagley providing the usual madcap theatricals as well as keyboard duties, including a marvellous rising of the sun god. The Omnia girls were punchy and lively, at one point I feared for their hairstyles, then remembered the overhead fan had been mercifully switched off! As professional and polite as ever, they had the crowd dancing and going genrally crazy.....just in time for the big shock of the night.... The Starfighters!
No one really knew what to expect, as the Starfighters had climbed aboard at the 11th hour and brought SteveDog and Alf along for the ride. They delivered in true iron fist style, a raw, driving, energetic set, the likes of which hasn't graced the stage for a long long time. Lughi had strings of snot dangling from his nose, sweat flying from every pore... Steve Dog clung to the mic stand in true Dog Stylee spitting out the Lockheed favourites including "The Right Stuff", which had me boogying back and forth at stage left like Homer Simpson on acid. At the end of the set, I was proud to deliver the birthday salute and a busty boobs cake to Steve Dog, and a cake and salute to my little girl, Kotage ADP, who also had her birthday. Thanks to the audience who dutifully sang Happy Birthday!, and to Kozmik Ken for keeping the cake thing a secret!
Harvey Bainbridge and John Bootle (Divide By Zero) took to the stage next, as ever, the self-deprecating Mr Bainbridge "played a bit, made some noises....." whilst saucily eyeballing all the ladies....The lightshow was superb, an amalgamation of work by Chaos, Spaceman Dave and a special disc of lightshow by Solar Fire Lightshow (Special mention has to go to Big Jim Lascko for that), complimenting the music perfectly. A more up-tempo set than we have been used to, the crowd loved them, and Harvey was cock-a-hoop to sell some CD's too! A last minute poi dancer provided an extra dimension to the performance.
PRE-MED!!!! What can I say? Danny Faulkner as the half black, half white fifty fifty man with his wierd contact lenses, fronting a legendary line up delivering ass-kicking slap you in the face, raw rock. If you havent heard them, get along to their myspace page and have a listen....Then buy their albums! Love this band so much, we will be knocking on their door next year for sure!!!
The Festival was brought to a close by the amazingly ear splitting GUNSLINGER. By the time they completed their first number, the walls of the venue were running with condensation, the heat generated by hundreds of leaping bodies was palpable. Alan 'Davey's bass has become almost an Organic extension of the man himself, the conduit between his musical mind and the sonic weapon we all feel turning our intestines to an amorphous jelly...Sunil's drumming skills need no elaboration, the wild man of the skins and sticks certainly knows how to earn his eight quid. I reckon he burnt off that sheep and a stone of potatoes he ate earlier in the night during the first two numbers.... JD Tait wandered his side of the stage, lashing the living crap out of his guitar, tearing up the licks and throwing them through the amps into the willing faces of the audience. Whiplash Dude! Guest Vocalist of the set were Nemesis (Jane) , re-igniting the rock spark from her days with Alan and Hawkwind, and Christina Pupoutsi whose band THC had sadly pulled out of the festival.
Major Kudos must also go to Kozmik Ken, who Mc'd the whole festival, keeping it all running smoothly, keeping secrets, playing music , and looking as delightfully psychedelic as ever.
Also a massive THANKYOU to AMADEUS ACOUSTICS for providing kick ass sound and sound management, these guys know that which they do, and they do it impeccably. BIG UPS TO AMMO BEAR and his crew.
Big Ups to Susie, (MoneyPenny), who is a diamond in every which way, keeping bodies and souls together and providing a makeshift kitchen above and beyond the call of duty.
Big Thankyous to Chaos Illuminations for a superb light show, Big Dave's Lighthouse for extra special light additions, and to Big Jim Lascko of Solar Fire Lightshow, USA for his amazingly crafted personalised Lightshow for Harvey Bainbridge. Stand up Jim and be counted!
And thank you everyone for coming to the SWF and making it the superb event it was.
All there is left to say is.....Do you want another one next year?
Jane.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
- i had my back to it at the time so I have no idea 
)they were sorting some stuff out for the set during the early afternoon - we were the only act to get a video projection set during the day ;D