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| Hello |
Yesterday evening was Light Night, and as previously announced, The Mekano Set played a live soundtrack to a video montage of our own making at the Everyman Theatre.
Rehearsals had been a bit of a mixed bag... we managed to
record some footage early on, and Milk wrote lyrics that centred around the Liverpool / maritime / docklands
theme that had some political undertones (and bits that were downright
obvious). Then came the question of the actual music.
Despite problems with our various technologies, ranging from “oh, the laptop turned itself off in mid-recording again ha ha ha” to “I'm playing a G on the keyboard but that clearly isn't the note that's coming out of the speakers” and everything in between, we finally settled on three sections to accompany the video (which Milk had now painstakingly sellotaped together in spite of the unruly machines): a minimalistic intro; slow-paced title track “Water Flowing Up a Hill” (which cheekily repeats the Everyman's “Play on” slogan many, many times); and “Cruiser Rules” – this one had a little bit more of a groove and thus allowed Arthur to make the best of his new oil-drum drums and gave him a chance to really shine (which he did!).
Despite problems with our various technologies, ranging from “oh, the laptop turned itself off in mid-recording again ha ha ha” to “I'm playing a G on the keyboard but that clearly isn't the note that's coming out of the speakers” and everything in between, we finally settled on three sections to accompany the video (which Milk had now painstakingly sellotaped together in spite of the unruly machines): a minimalistic intro; slow-paced title track “Water Flowing Up a Hill” (which cheekily repeats the Everyman's “Play on” slogan many, many times); and “Cruiser Rules” – this one had a little bit more of a groove and thus allowed Arthur to make the best of his new oil-drum drums and gave him a chance to really shine (which he did!).
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| Milk and Water, Flowing up a Hill |
Aside from technical glitches, there were also discussions about
how much (if any) silence should be involved in the soundtrack, how many drums
would be needed, the balance between planning and leaving space to improvise,
and what our impish patron demon, the Mhechan, would make of all this, what
with his name not being mentioned once in the whole performance.
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| The typewriter is an essential part of the percussive selection. |
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| We're wearing the same shirt... well, this is going to be awkward. |
So imagine how pleased we were when it did all come together
in the end, sounded good to our ears (and to at least some of the audience who
kindly told us so afterwards), looked great projected onto that big screen which
took up one whole end of the room, and felt as if it actually flowed, with
quite a few of the lyrics matching up with the footage in places we hadn't even
planned!
Although we didn't get to sample the numerous other delights
that were happening throughout the city for Light Night, the newly redesigned and reconstructed Everyman
Theatre was a great place to be. We had a quick snoop around into the
Auditorium which had been transformed into a dark ocean of calm, and an even
quicker peek into the room where the evening’s debates were happening.
The whole building was buzzing with people, so thankfully we also got a fair share of passers-by, looking in on us, sitting down, staying for a few minutes or the whole performance.
The whole building was buzzing with people, so thankfully we also got a fair share of passers-by, looking in on us, sitting down, staying for a few minutes or the whole performance.
Big thank yous go to the Everyman Theatre and its staff,
Victoria Junashko and Jo Stapleton who supplied us with superb additional visuals,
Alan for snapping some super cool silhouettes of us (and sticking around for
all three sets), Cath and Andy at The Gregson Institute, Thomas Lang and everyone else who came to listen and show their support.
We're a happy bunch.
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