What an awesome evening's music at The Arnolfini!

JJ and The Birdman, Defibrillators and Mick Flower / Chris Corsano. I'm sure all the other drummers in the audience were drooling too.

Some quick reviews:

JJ and The Birdman - my good friend Tony Orrell and his mate, the keyboard player from The Scissor Sisters. They played an intriguing Kraut-Disco improvised set. Tony was using a Hubback Skull Gong, Hubback Vulture Sculpture Cymbal and a set of cowbells and woodblocks. Oh yes - and a drum-machine plus some kind of looping device. JJ was mellifluous and bubbling. Tony was energetic.

Defibrillators. Well, what can I say? 2-piece art-noise pandemonium. Their opening onslaught had everyone in the front 2 or 3 rows putting their fingers in their ears as fast as they could - and me popping in my musicians' earplugs (they were primed and ready - I've heard these guys before). It was fantastic though. Loud, dark and visceral. The opening explosion was made all the more startling by the extended pause beforehand due to sound problems - no sound at all. Seth Cooke played a vintage Premier drum kit with concert toms, a set of crotales and a mix of cymbals including one of my Stainless Steel Rides. Tony Geisha played an analogue synth, a radio-mic, a Mac and a Wii Controller - like some ironic triumphant phallus.

Mick Flower played a hypnotic Shaahi Baaja - which is like a cross between a dulcimer and an auto-harp, with electric pick-ups. Chris Corsano had everyone tranced out with his effortless, flowing, free-drumming on a little kit with old beaten-up Zyn Cymbals, plus lots of other metal oddments and a string/bridge across his snare drum that he could bow. I have no idea how long they played for. It was like time went somewhere else. They took the dynamics up and down a couple of times, reaching a natural and delicate end not long after the final climax.


I was very pleased to see a very healthy turn-out for such "way-out" music as well. I do like Bristol in this respect. Between The Cube, The Croft, The Arnolfini and The Folk House, there's quite a scene.


It was good to have a quick catch up with both Tonys and Seth after the show. And great to be introduced to Chris Corsano too. We talked about - of course - cymbals. I think Chris has unwittingly set me on a quest to find a new way of working with Stainless Steel. Well have to wait and see where that leads...

West Kennet Gong Barrow

First, an introduction to what I do. I am England's only Artisan Gong and Cymbal Smith. One of but a handful in the whole world. I forge metals such as Bronze into musical instruments, percussion instruments. Please check out my website.

Now, the story of the Gong Barrow...

Last Friday - Friday 13th in fact - I went out from my home in Bath, England to Stonehenge (less than 30 miles away). I went with the genius photographer Andy McCreeth to attempt some publicity photos for my Cymbal and Gong business. Due to a confusion between opening times and "last entry time" we arrived too late to gain access to the Ancient Monument. First problem.

Never mind, we thought, there's always another day. But, while we're out, let's try the Avebury Standing Stone Circle instead. It's not far away. Well, we drove through some magnificent snow fields that were still hanging on - like some forgotten land without the Sun - everywhere else had cleared by now. Eventually, we got to Avebury. Too dark by now, the Sun had practically set. Second problem.

Never mind, we thought, what about the West Kennett Long Barrow? The Barrow is an awesome example of a Neolithic Burial Chamber, a cavern constructed by hand from vast stones, overgrown with earth and grass, on the top of a natural ridge. But it's a long way from the road, uphill on a muddy track, we've got lots of heavy equipment to carry and the car says it is 1 degree C outside. Third problem.

So, OK, we weren't properly prepared for this. The temperature - while not quite arctic - was pretty chilly, and only getting lower. We weren't that well equipped with suitable warm clothing. And it was only getting darker. We had 1 Maglite with batteries of unknown remaining life and 1 tiny pen-torch. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, not much really. From that point on the evening was more-or-less a triumph! The long slog up the hill pulling a trolley that wanted to be a plough and carrying shoulder-wrenching bags served to warm us up and kept us warm for a good while afterwards. Andy managed to navigate the various pitch-dark chambers of the Long Barrow to set up his flashes and camera, pen-torch in mouth. And I sat there, trying to hammer a gong. In a puddle. In the dark...

After a while, we thought we'd probably got some good shots, and our fingers were starting to become useless against the energy-sapping, joint-stiffening, cold air, So we called it a night. While packing up, we became aware of a police helicopter observing us, in infra-red, from above. Maybe we have some explaining to do? At the bottom of the hill, we were indeed greeted by a policeman and policewoman. But they weren't too interested in us or why we were dragging a large anvil on a trolley. They had a missing person, had we seen anybody? Well, I hope they found them. While it was a beautiful, clear, starry night, it wasn't a night to be abroad unprepared.

Here's the pick of the crop from our night in the Long Barrow:

This turned out to be an amazing shot. Well I think so anyway. The lighting and shadows make me think of a Rembrandt painting and the composition and textures are oddly reminiscent of Salvador Dali.

We'll try Stonehenge again some time soon, but I'm not sure we're going to eclipse this experience or the photographic result!