Solo Electronic Tour: Day 11 - Auckland (Wine Cellar)

After rolling into Auckland both Thomas and I decided that we had already lost so much money that, hell, we might as well splurge on a Backpackers for the last night. I remember having liked the backpackers on Queen Street, where the band and I stayed last year during the A Low Hum tour with craftwerk, and so Thomas and I booked two beds there in a dormitory room for $20 NZD each. That particular backpackers also had the advantage of having secure parking (not an insignificant bonus given Auckland’s notoriety for petty crime), as well as being right around the corner from where we were playing.

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Solo Electronic Tour: Day 10 - Hamilton (La Commune)

[photo by Petra Jane]

After playing Happy we crashed at Thomas’s place again, but because we had a long drive to Hamilton ahead of us, neither of us got a decent night’s sleep. Truth be told, I was bloody exhausted and still a tad down about the previous night’s show.

Anyhow, nothing cures a bit of sadness during a tour like a long drive. Although driving is exhausting, monotonous, and expensive, it is also, I think, the essence of excitement. Traveling, after all, is the heart and soul of adventure. New possibilities flare up, changing landscapes tickle the imagination, and, most importantly, one has time to reflect and rebuild healthy levels of anticipation.

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Solo Electronic Tour: Day 9 - Wellington (Happy)

I think both Thomas and I had high expectations for this show. When we started out on our tour, we were constantly joking about how the turn-outs for the first three dates weren’t of dramatic importance, as the “big” shows (this and the Auckland show) were yet to come. Even if no one showed up for that first weekend, we told ourselves, that, too, would be OK, as we could just treat those dates as a kind of wider dress rehearsal.

Much to our delight, it never came to that. The cosmos spared us the experience of playing to empty rooms, and, contrary to all my cynical expectations, the first two shows probably turned out to be two of the most memorable shows I’ve ever played.

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Solo Electronic Set live-to-air on Radio New Zealand National!

Yay! I’m so thrilled that my National Radio recording session is now online! If you missed out on my recent Solo Electronic Tour, this session will give you a pretty fair idea of the kind of material I was playing.

I’m not really satisfied with how I ended up playing Darkwave = MC Squared, but it’s not a total write-off either.

Track-order is:

[01] Riding On A Bull Through A Marsh Filled With Tears
[02] A Heart Made Of Cotton
[03] Darkwave = MC Squared
[04] Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Thanks to Kirsten and Matt for doing the interview with me and recording the session - it was a blast! :)

Stream the entire session (43′50″) here.

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Solo Electronic Tour: Day 5-8 - Palmerston North (Thomas’ home)

The first four days of being on the road were now behind me, and I was grateful. Grateful to be able to relax for the week at a beautiful home, but also grateful that the first set of shows had gone so well. My personal stakes in the outcome of this little adventure, after all, were quite significant…

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Solo Electronic Tour: Day 4 - Palmerston North (Central Library)

I went to bed straight after the show the night before, but given we had to be in Palmerston North by around noon-time the next day, neither Thomas nor I got much sleep. In fact, Thomas got virtually none at all, as he and his flat mate went out on another poster run to advertise our Happy show. Thomas didn’t actually go to bed until 4AM. We needed to get up around 8AM. Ouch!

The two of us were like zombies when we woke up, blankly staring at all the tangled cables and gear, dreading having to carry it down, drive for a few hours, set it all up again, play a show, and then, take it all down again. (Read the rest of this story…)

Some might like to be perverted in that way

A forum comment regarding my recent Auckland show:

“His solo thing is rad. (…) A lot of his songs are really raw and honest, some too much for my liking, well one song in particular, its like you’ve overheard a private argument a couple is having, just awkward and you’d rather not listen. But some might like to be perverted in that way. But generally I really like his solo stuff. Intense and melodramatic, just the way I like it!”

Haha. I actually feel kinda conflicted about having posted the above comment, as I’m simply lifting the quote right out of a forum discussion without the user’s knowledge or consent. In many ways I feel like forums are just totally off limits for lifting quotes etc., because a forum is like a gathering place for a group of people, and reading other people’s comments about your band definitely has something vaguely voyeuristic about it. It’s almost like I am eavesdropping on someone’s private conversation that was never intended for my ears.

However, in this case I just had to make an exception, because the guy just perfectly describes the kind of show I’m going for. I totally adore the fact that he was uncomfortable with certain aspects of the show, yet still enjoyed it.

Many people on this tour came up to me after the shows to comment on the use of certain field recordings. Some were transported back into their own memories and felt almost ecstatic about the field-recordings, others felt clearly alienated by them.

But therein precisely lay the point of using them! I wanted people to feel strongly about something. I wanted them to absorb the intense emotions of experiencing beauty and at the same time feeling terribly uncomfortable - that, after all, is the way life is! Art cannot be this idealistic fluffy dreamworld where we all bask in passive entertainment.

Something has to happen to you. Something true, that derives its energy from life itself. It cannot all be easy. Something has to be difficult. Something has to be shit. Something has to be wrong. Even within the context of beauty there has to be something you can hate, something you can reject, something you can say “no” to.

The beautiful without the ugly is but kitsch.

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Solo Electronic Tour: Day 3 - Wellington (Brownnote)

One of the real perks of this tour/holiday was that Thomas and I frequently got to crash at Thomas’s family home in Palmerston North. We had virtually no money to spend, as we knew we were going to loose hundreds of dollars on this tour - a prediction which turned out to be spot on, unfortunately. So, after the Wanganui show, we packed up and decided to drive down to Palmy to spend the night and, given that it was closer to Wellington, sleep in a little longer the next day.

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Solo Electronic Tour: Day 2 - Wanganui (Eye of Night)

Despite the nagging street noise of nearby clubs and the overall cold nighttime temperatures, I actually slept rather well. Thomas and I didn’t have all that far to drive to our first show in Wanganui, so we took our time with breakfast and Thomas even got a bit of practice in. After hauling Thomas’s gear downstairs, we played a bit of real life 3D Tetris in trying to fit it all into the car, and then made our way up north along the coastal road.

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Interview with Stephanie Cairns for Salient Magazine

Stephanie, a writer for Salient, made it out to our Brown Note show in Wellington last week, and interviewed Thomas (i.ryoko) and myself about our music and our solo electronic tour of the north island:

Salient: What are your top local bands/artists? Is there anyone out there who isn’t getting the attention they deserve?

Me: Anyone who puts their heart and soul into their music and has the courage to release and perform it is, in my opinion, deserving of a certain amount of respect. As far as who’s getting attention and who isn’t, what does any of it matter in the long run? Those who are serious and passionate about their art will continue unabated on their journey, be it with or without the support of the masses, industries, or specific scenes. If you have heart, conviction, and never give up pursuing what you love, then, I believe, you have a chance at building a life worth living. Of what value is attention then, when compared to the love of existence?

Read the entire interview and live review on Salient’s site.

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Electronic Solo Tour: i.Ryoko at the Palmerston Library

A short clip I made of Thomas performing his i.Ryoko set at the Palmerston North Library.

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Solo Electronic Tour: Day 1 - The Drive Up

I was hardly well prepared to start my journey when I woke up on Wednesday morning. I was to perform the very next day and had not even yet gotten around to practicing all songs, let alone pack. The ferry crossing from the South to North island would leave Picton around 6 PM, and I had roughly a 6 hour drive ahead of me, so I decided to get up as early as possible. That way, I would be able to pack up my gear and load up the car in time to depart around 10 AM.

Although I managed to get away on time without forgetting anything essential, I learned one very sobering lesson…

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