I've been very busy with many things, including my other job as an artist and life model, as well as lots of sawing! I recently played guest saw for a wonderful artist known as Tigers Bride in Shoreditch at St Leonards Church (a beautiful church venue). You can hear her music here, and it really is wonderful. In non-playing news, in May I was lucky enough to catch a gig by the Tiger Lillies, with Adrian Stout- a musical saw hero of mine! I've always been a fan of creative saw players, and Stout in particular is very creative! Great to see and hear! Recently, I have been able to combine my life modelling and sawing, thanks to Jane Fordham at Fabrica gallery in Brighton. As a regular model for her incredibly inspiring drawing sessions at the gallery, I recently posed whilst playing my saw, allowing the artists to work whilst being carried along with the sound as it carried around the huge space. I will be playing saw at Fabrica next week with a violinist and her loop pedal, for a special gestural music-inspired drawing session. Click here for details. This weekend, I returned to east London to work with some of my favourite performers- the incredible Late Night Shop Cabaret. I love doing things with these four talented ladies- they truly have been the saviours of modern performance art and cabaret for me. What they do is both very 'Now' yet incredibly different to what everyone else is doing right now. They were performing at Wiltons Music Hall (the oldest working Music Hall in the world!) for the Edinburgh preview of a wonderful play called 'The Greatest Liar That Has Ever Lived'- a retelling of the story of Pinocchio, using mime, physical theatre, live music and puppetry. I was invited to play as part of he musical interlude with accordionist Tom Baker (of The Bohemianauts) and harmonica player Jez Hellard. It was a dream for us all to play in such a history-soaked venue, with its peeling wallpaper, crumbling brick walls, fairy lights and 100+ year old wooden stage floors. ...And the acoustics!! To die for. Sadly, I missed out on being one of Amanda Palmer's 'official' buskers this year, (I sawed for her last year with pianist Kevin) as I was at a wedding. (Albeit, a beautiful wedding of 2 good friends, one of whom is a local poet, Chris P, who I have had the pleasure of accompanying on the saw in the past!) But she did play a ninja gig on the beach post-show. Was wonderful. I'd love to play with her one day, as the punk cabaret scene was a strong catalyst in the performance element of my work as a musician. One day Amanda! ------------------------------------------ I've recently started messing around with loops on guitar and saw, and have recorded a sketch recently of my experiments. 'Burn down the Cabaret (a sketch)' can be listened to here. It's ambient and lo fi. Hope you like it. I also have a new saw! A BIGGER ONE. Hope to update again soon with more musical adventures! Am taking my saw to Secret Garden Party, so i hope to do lots of guest sawing! xo
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This weekend, Farling & Shields made their second appearance- this time at the Steampunk Hidden Music Box in Brighton. In between Lillys marvellous Mechanical Flower dance, we played a few numbers, including one original composition and some Christmas melodies! We very much enjoy playing together, and so expect to see and hear more from us soon!
For now, click here for Silent Night. ------------- Halloween White Mischief-style was wonderful fun! I played a little saw, and then danced until the early hours with my good friend Professor Elemental. Hope to work with the creative and hard working folk at White Mischief again! Have a wonderful Christmas! xo Lots of exciting saw-related adventures lately....most recently I played saw with the wonderful Lilly May Farling on piano as part of London cocktail week with Hendrick's Gin. Much music was made and much gin was consumed, and we shall hopefully be playing together again soon, so do keep an eye out for Farling & Shields. For now, the next time you can hear me sawing sans accompaniment, will be at White Mischief's Halloween event: More news soon!
Kate xo Greetings! Lots of saw news today, so an update from Saw HQ! First up, another Sawchestra outing, this time for 'Play! The Brighton Maker Faire After-Show Jamboree' (phew- what a mouthful) We've been asked to perform a live score to a brilliant early 20th Century animation by our friends Spacedog. Also performing are a number of Brighton-based experimental performers, including Spacedog, and the magical Jane Bom-Bane, with her harmonium and mechanical hats. Very excited about this- it happens on the 3rd of September, at The Brunswick, Hove. Before that happens however, I'll be making an appearance in honour of a favourite musician of mine, Amanda Palmer. In keeping with her busker allegiances, I'll be serenading Brighton gig-goers on the saw, as they make their way through the foyer of the Concorde 2, on 1st September. I'll be accompanied on piano by Kevin, whom I played with recently at an art event I put on- Still Life. Finding a musician you can improvise with so comfortably isn't easy, so I'm overjoyed to be playing with him again. I've also recently been asked if to possibly play saw in a modern production of Macbeth - early days, but the possibility of performing in my favourite Shakespeare play is very exciting!
More news when I have it. Plenty more Sawchestra outings on the horizon, and more news about that when I have it as well! Meanwhile, in guitar-land, I'm finally back on my feet after a period of ill-health, and back playing with Gin Panic. Whilst I was unwell, my bassist and singer made the most of the hiatus and played more gigs with their other band, Kidnappedkids. They just play and hit the record button and what happens is something really special. Fans of instrumental, improvised noise will love it. Check it out, or catch them live. Gin Panic meanwhile, will be playing the Urban Bar in Whitechapel on the 27th August. PEACE. Greetings saw-fans, Sawchestra have been terribly busy the last couple of months, what with the Folly for a flyover gig, and a gig onboard a canal boat at the Shoreditch festival. Sadly I've been unwell and unable to play at these last 2 events, but both went terribly well. Here's some info from guest saw player, Spacedog's Sarah Angliss: Adrift with the Sawchestra Here's some photos from Folly for a Flyover: Now I'm back on the mend here's a rather silly and extremely candid video uploaded by my best friend Esther, singer of Quiet Choir. This rather anarchic jam between myself, Esther and cult performance poet, Salena Godden was recorded the night I turned 28, surviving the rock and roll death age of 27. Myself and Esther were huge fans of Salena in our late teens, and so, when she turned up to perform at Hammer and Tongue in Brighton the day before my birthday, we went along with our mutual friend Fox, and partied late into the night with various poets, musicians and rappers. The night culminated in a noise session at Fox and I's place, recorded below. And yes, we are quite drunk. The following night, of course, I played a bit of saw for Gentlemen & Assassins: Upcoming Sawchestra gigs include Playgroup festival- on the Saturday evening, we'll be bringing our 'Adventures of Prince Achmed' live soundtrack as well as unusual instrument workshops during the day.
Also with us will be Paul Harrisons X Piano- something you have to see/hear! -------- Sneaky peaky news of future saw adventures- it's looking more and more likely I'll be a small part of punk cabaret icon, Amanda Palmers' show in September, for her Brighton show. Stripey stockings at the ready! Hello! Lots of news for saw fans today: As well as performing this Saturday at Folly for a Flyover in Hackney Wick, we will also be bringing 'Adventures of Prince Achmed' to Playgroup Festival, on the evening of the 6th of August. During the day, members of Sawchestra, including myself, will also be running unusual instrument workshops. Here's what they say about us: 'Audience members are invited to play along to Lotte Reiniger’s ‘The Adventures of Prince Ahmed’ (1925) with a live soundtrack by Sawchestra, instruments will be provided but feel free to bring along your own percussion, bells, toys or unusual instruments. Sawchestra is an orchestra of musical saws, toys and other unusual instruments.' Post-flyover gig, i will be heading on over to my favourite cabaret haunt in Dalston- Die Freche Muse. Will have my trusty saw in hand, and am sure I will be playing a few tunes there.
In other news, here's a picture from a recent Gin Panic gig. We've not payed for a while, due to illness and May's Fringe festival responsibilities, so it felt good to get back onstage and make some guitar-based noise. Aaaaand, the Brighton Fringe Festival is over. Im sad to see the end of it, but a little relieved as my saw and I are rather exhausted. In addition to the odd bit of saw playing onboard our carriage, I was once again be asked to perform on the musical saw for the dashingly handsome and delightfully talented Bompas & Parr, onboard the Hendricks Horseless Carriage of Curiosities at the Brighton Fringe 2011.9 lucky dinner guests were treated to an evening of literary-themed courses, together with matching gin cocktails...an of course, some musical saw from myself. This time I was a human lampshade and played saw as and when the host required it. You can read a wonderful review of the evening in The Independent, and in the printed edition, there was a little picture of myself. :) The meal was followed with a little snuff and a little ether, as the Victorians would I suppose. I would highly recommend snuff if you like your nose burning, and ether if you don't like being able to walk very well. Thanks Sam & Harry! Now onto Sawchestra news!
We have been asked to play on the 25th June, somewhere in Hackney, a repeat performance of 'The Adventures of Prince Achmed' live film score- you get yet another chance to catch it! More shows are being finalised as we speak, as well as the 30th Oct's special Halloween show...how exciting! More details to come, but do take a look at our Sawchestra website for more info! We'll be in rehearsals this weekend so more news soon. Kate xo Im super pleased to announce that our Sawchestra now have a nice and shiny new website, courtesy of our founder, Mr Foz Foster- www.sawchestra.com
Do go have a look! As a collective, we've got lots of exciting projects coming up- our next show is looking to be on the 25th June in London, as well as a London Halloween show on the 30th. Do keep checking back for updates! Our recent performance of 'Der Golem' at the London Sci-Fi festival was a rousing success, and we should be doing it again sometime later in the year. In solo-saw news, in addition to adding a little musical strangeness here and there on board the Hendricks Horseless Carriage in Jubilee Square, Brighton as part of this years Fringe Festival, I've also been asked to perform a little in between courses for Bompas & Parr's one-of-a-kind carriage meals. Roll on the festival season. Hopefully there will be many more opportunities for saw-related shenanigans. Tomorrow sees the second Sawchestra live film score Ive been involved in, at the london sci-fi festival!
We're bringing so many strange instruments in the sawmobile, that theres no room for players, so we're jumping on the train from Brighton. A few London-based players will be joining us, and since its a bigger group this time, we've had no real time for full rehearsals.....this ones going to be almost completely improvised! What fun! Hope to see some of you there! Full details here: http://www.sci-fi-london.com/festival/2011/programme/event/der-golem-live-soundtrack-sawchestra On Sunday, the Sawchestra piled into a van and headed to Angel, islington, to perform our live score of 'The Adventures of Prince Achmed' at the Little Angel Theatre, as part of the 'Reel Islington' festival. Ive also stumbled across a little video intro on youtube of our previous performance at The Marlborough Theatre in Brighton: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAkcK5tcLvg Our London performance featured some new faces, as well as solos from each saw player.We've been invited to do it again in London, in September, but without the 'audience playing along' element....updates on that when I know more!--------------------------------------------Going away from the Sawchestra, (just a little anyways) our leader Foz Foster is onboard to start co-writing the music for my huge upcoming project: This is going to be HUGE. Its currently in the writing stage with aerialist, Kitty Peels, and will be a surreal and dark story, put onstage with circus performers and live music (you bet therell be plenty of saw!). More news and snippets when they happen.... ------------------------------------------ Aaaaand finally, its with great joy i can say once more; All Aboard, the Hendrick's Horseless Carriage of Curiosities! I spent lots of time last year onboard the Carriage of Curiosities, getting exchanging stories for gin. Definately a fair swap.
This year, I'll be onboard again, this time for the Fringe festival in my hometown of Brighton. Expect plenty of onboard sawing! Do drop by and see our beautiful carriage from the 20th - 30th May, in Jubilee Square, right by the library. Bring your curious tales, and share a gin with us. :) |
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