MUSIC/COMPUTERS – WORKSHOP/GIG: Bleep

BLEEP CIRCUIT BENDERS MAKE FOR BLEEPING GOOD TIME

The "bleep" workshop crew, champions of music made using machines,
bring circuit bending -- the art of torturing, transplanting, and
grafting electronic sound-making devices -- to life in a once-only
show at Happy on Wednesday the 26th of July, from 8pm.

"We take cheap battery-powered noise-making toys, ones you can buy
from The Warehouse or The $2 Shop, and disassemble and deliberately
short circuit their electronics -- teaching them to speak with the
most alien and unique new voices you have ever heard," says Damian
'frey' Stewart, the organiser of the event. "Then we take them to the
stage, and see what kind of music we can make with them."

The circuit bending show is preceded by a workshop on Sunday the 23rd
of July from 4pm -- the Sunday before the show -- and thanks to a
grant from the Wellington City Council's Creative Communities funding
scheme, it is free and open to anyone who would like to join in the
torturing.

Those who just want to hear the new voices the circuits are given can
come along to watch the show, which costs $5. The show will feature
the circuits that were taken to the workshop and tortured,
transplanted, and grafted -- or bent, if you prefer -- engaging in
short musical duets and group performances with the aid of their
torturers, transplanters, and grafters.

Given all of the torturing of poor defenceless circuits going on,
does Stewart expect electronics rights activists to come chasing
after him? "I don't think so. I mean, the circuits are clearly
happier when they're making better sounds. If you were a toy phone
that could only make eight different noises wouldn't you rather be
speaking a more interesting language? I know I would."

This show is the second in the "bleep" series of workshops and
performances for people who make music using machines. The idea
behind the workshops, the first of which drew 18 participants, is to
get like-minded people together, to explore new musical ideas, and to
have lots of fun -- and then perform the ideas explored in a live show
at Happy the following week.

"People shouldn't be put off by the idea of music made using
machines," says Stewart. "If you've ever seen inside a piano, you'll
know that it's a complicated mechanical device -- it's a machine.
It's the musician that makes the music -- the musician playing the
piano, or in our case, bending the circuit."

For participants in the workshop, some componentry and equipment will
be provided, but they will need to supply their own circuit to bend.
"Something electronic and battery powered that makes sound that you
don’t mind disassembling and modifying -- a toy phone, a
keyboard, a Furby doll, a speak'n'spell toy computer, anything
really."

To register for the free workshop on Sunday the 23rd of July contact:
Damian Stewart
027 305 4107
damian@frey.co.nz
http://www.frey.co.nz/bleep

Gig details:
bleep #2: circuit benders
Wednesday 26th of July
8pm
Happy
$5 on the door


IMAGES
full-res images available at http://www.frey.co.nz/bleep

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f r e y
live music with computers
http://www.frey.co.nz