EDGE OF COLOUR – 10 DAYS IN TASMANIA – DAY 10!!!

SATURDAY 16 JANUARY

Not really that hungover… well, maybe a little…

But a trip to the Salamanca Markets and a delicious spinach and cheese pie will fix the wounds!!!

And give us energy to rehearse our dance moves (yes dance moves, synchronised ones…)

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And so here were are… the big one… and our backstage tent.

Bit nervous now. Better capture the moment.

And how it did ROCK!!!

Some serious concentration on some serious video mixing is going down here…

The rehearsals were worth it…!!!

Svenja’s visuals were exquisite.

One does not need dance training to get loose:

My favourite shots:

Svenja chills out post show…

The after party…. I think it could be called the pinot noir party… Ahhh Tasmanian wine…

EDGE OF COLOUR – 10 DAYS IN TASMANIA – DAY 9

FRIDAY 15 JANUARY

So we had a fabulous day off today and packed in fun times…Starting with oysters and riesling! There were cranky punters who missed out on this goodness… Our VJ Svenja Kratz was not one of them…

They were serious about this business… we had to take notes!

But worth it…

And so in preparation for Saturday night’s performance we decided it was war… with the beanbags… Many time during the festival I enjoyed their comfortable lure, finding myself foregoing the pleasures of the dancefloor lest I lose my pink pillow. So Svenja decided she was going to make animation helping the beanbag move way to a pumping dancefloor… Clear a space for the dance peeps!  Or else this could happen to you…

Luckily the white wall of the Christian Boltanski installation provided the perfect backdrop for Svenja’s demonstration of how to move beyond the lure of the giant pink pillow!

So Friday night featured the amazing performance of Cat Hope…Wolf at Harp… Hope composed a visual score interpreted by four drummer/percussionists… Amazing…

John has already been pulled into the luscious form of the pink beanbag… beware!!!

Unfortunately, upon recommendations from both band members, Svenja stuffed tissue into her ears to reduce cochlea damage.  There was a slight misunderstanding about the appropriate size of how big one should fashion a tissue (clean!!!) earplug, resulting in a tissue ball getting lodged in her ear canal and subsequently putting her in a very bad mood for 15 minutes until Michelle managed to rescue the tissue and restore Svenja’s good mood.

The night was a bit of a bean bag bliss out…

Next up we watched the amazing Decoder Ring in all their serious gloriousness…

And of course followed it up with more amazing Tasmanian Pinot Noir…

EDGE OF COLOUR – 10 DAYS IN TASMANIA – DAY 8

THURSDAY 14 JANUARY

So today we have our first performance at the MOFO Festival!

The PW1 Space certainly looks a treat lit up in the evening time…

Back stage… we shared an tent! Well, changeroom with those wacky madmen the Cumbia Cosmonauts. Fun times.

It was a cabaret thing for Michelle Xen… incognito.

Chillaxing post-show in the bean bag area…

Edge of Colour post-show… WIRED on post-show excitement.

EDGE OF COLOUR – 10 DAYS IN TASMANIA – DAY 7

WEDNESDAY 13 JANUARY

So we’re back at the festival today and very pleased to participate in this glorious program.

And the night is lit up with the lights of the MONA FOMA….

We were lucky enough to grab a place for the viewing of John Cale’s recent work, Dyddiau Du/Dark Days,

Next up were the Cumbia Cosmonauts… These guys turned out to be freaking loose cowboys playing a live Latin American mash-up and So. Much. Fun… Their dedicated VJ amped their antics and energy with a sampled mash-up from NASA to beasts in the forest.  The leader of the act lured the MOFO’s off their beanbags, encouraging a dancefloor to the percussive chorus of the band with their toothbrushes in action…

EDGE OF COLOUR – 10 DAYS IN TASMANIA – DAY 6

TUESDAY 12 JANUARY

Rehearsal time… Spent today rehearsing the set/s for this week.

Rather than details of a day of fine tuning I’ll merely post you a new track for your listening pleasure!

We are ready to return to MOFO….

EDGE OF COLOUR – 10 DAYS IN TASMANIA – DAY 5

MONDAY 11 JANUARY

So all day spent fine-tuning the set…. I have a little tidbit, sneaky peek of a new track sans vox….

The track is called Dub Trip.  We are certainly looking forward to playing it for you all on Thursday and Saturday.

EDGE OF COLOUR – 10 DAYS IN TASMANIA – DAY 4

SUNDAY 10 JANUARY

So a quiet day in blogland which could translate to super boring writing… I’m tempted at this point to direct you to more interesting blog at this point… So I will...

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/01/30/39-apple-products/

Hahahahahaha. So if you have diverted to the above blog: Yes, I buy Apple, can’t stand iTunes, love my iPhone reluctantly, and have a MacBook Pro… Yes I can laugh at myself…

So if you have returned to read I have a post of appreciation to the guy who taught me about the finesse of the EQ DJ mix.  We are currently staying with him in the house of music… Also, a house-music aficionado, I watched patiently all those years ago and learnt how to mix a track in with subtle wickedness… Good mids with a little high end… slowly building and building until the phrasing is right to fade the bass and drop the new track!

Ah memory lane…

I have always been inspired to re-sort my records after a visit…

EDGE OF COLOUR – 10 DAYS IN TASMANIA – DAY 3

SATURDAY 9 JANUARY

Soooooooooo hungover…. 10am checkout…. Ouch

So after the world’s most delicious pie (scallop pie!!!) and a loaf of sourdough filled with quince paste (oh yum) from the Salamanca Markets, we have our hire car and are on the way to Launceston before long… Though more than anything we are dying to hang out for the opening of the MOFO PW1 venue, we have plans for seeing friends, trees and wineries.

In Lonnie (as referred to by the locals) we join some friends to celebrate their wedding with their Tasmanian friends.  Again, divine food… So lucky!

Can’t complain too much about being hung over when we have this view…

Cheese heals all hangover wounds…

Almost time to start rehearsing….tomorrow…. maybe…

EDGE OF COLOUR – 10 DAYS IN TASMANIA – DAY 2

FRIDAY 8 JANUARY

MONA FOMA OPENS TODAY!!!!

And the venue is in preparation… PW1 – The Princes Wharf Warehouse. Dying to see inside…

So the festival kicks off! What a diverse crowd gathered for the opening of this brilliant festival… Always a good sign when all are welcome and then actually rock up! Here is a small section of them…

We tragically missed the first performance due to a busy restaurant! But arrived in time to catch the Japanese funk crew Mountain Mocha Kilamanjaro… Fucking excellent.

The funk was followed by the cappuccino delights of Jim Denley and Kim Myhr.  There was both patience and uncertainty in the crowd’s response to this duo’s ambient experimental sound.  Smart programming by Brian Richie and the festival team allowed this more experimental performance to be experienced by the diverse audience.  The subtle and beautiful rhythms and textures of the performance were most greatly appreciated by an enraptured little girl, who threw herself around in front of the speakers as the sound rolled up and down.  Great example of cutting loose for us older peeps weighed down with our likes and dislikes! Bravo!..

So it was at this point we happened to meet a friend and her partner who just happened to be in Tasmania and at the opening of MONA FOMA! I must say this chance meeting did make for so much fun…

So by now we have secured pink beanbags and are settled in with our beers and friends  for the amazing, amazing, amazing drummer and percussionist, Mani Neumeier! Mani began his set performing with his Japanese wife and then moved up to behind the kit for a wild solo performance.  This guy is extraordinary… 70 years old, fitter than me, rapid fire beats and as much energy as the dancing 4 year old… Amazing.

We loved it….

The final performance for the evening was Black Joe Strummer and the Honeybears… The bean bags were lifted out off the dancefloor for the Austin Texans so the overwhelmingly white crowd could get down to the James Brown influenced, Black Joe Strummer sound.  A commendable spectrum of facial hair, suits, ties, hats and sax, plus an overwhleming commitment to the funk made for a stellar show… Perhaps these guys have a hook up with Old Gregg, guardian of The Funk…

Wicked.

EDGE OF COLOUR – 10 DAYS IN TASMANIA – DAY 1

THURSDAY 7 JANUARY

WE HAVE ARRIVED!!!

So after 4 hours sleep last night… an inflight movie starring Bruce Willis… a few beers and a stopover in Melbourne.  We’re here.

Before we go any further people, it must be said.  Blogs can be wretchedly boring.  No offense to those who partake in the blog space.  But one must be realistic… Do you really want to know about the inane details of our day? Nah. Pretty unlikely…

So why keep a blog…. Well I guess we’re about to find out!!!!

Either this gets interesting or I’m pulling the plug on this narcissistic word workout.  Or realistically I’m only writing it for my mother.

So.. Day 1

My idea was to read my book and finish the chapter on Socrates on the plane, but delirious reading of ancient greek philosophy was eclipsed by an unknown inflight sci-fi film starring Bruce Willis.  I’ll never know if that movie was any good.. too delirious to tell. Oh well, perhaps it’s better this way.  I understand the premise of the Virgin Blue inflight entertainment charges and their “try before you buy” Foxtel sampler… I also recall their UKTV channel playing old episodes of The Bill (actually they could be new but I wouldn’t know..). I just have to wonder, how may people actually tune into this channel and decide “YES! THE BILL! Take my credit card details and withdraw my money so I can regale in this long running British police procedural television series! I can think of no better way to spend my flight time”. (No offense to any avid watchers of The Bill.)

…

So arrived in Hobart and was met by a lovely artist called Skye who was as lovely and cool as the weather and generously drove us around on a little mini tour of the area. After checking in, we met up with Chloe Goodyear, the Executive Director of the MONA FOMA festival.  Apart from being fucking rad, she also booked us for this gig.  Whilst I am tempted to sing her praises just for this, the reality remains intact that she is cool whether or not she likes my electronica band or not. May mean nothing to those who’ve never met her.. but there are those women that you meet that are just fucking cool. And fun!

Have walked past the main festival warehouse venue we’ll be playing at.. Prince of Wales Wharf. PW1… A gorgeous big old warehouse I’m dying to see inside… trying to keep calm… can’t wait to get on that stage…

So please feel free to vote as to whether or not this blogging business should continue.  We will have photos! Coming soon!

Arigato Gozaimus

Michelle

Edge of Colour

And so I will be graceful now and send thanks out to the peeps who generously write supportively to us whether by text, facebook, email or phone.  You are all very special and thanks. Thanks mum!

Gross, ultimate fighting is on the hotel cable channel and there’s blood in the ring! Wrong. I guess there’s no accounting for taste when it comes to entertainment… At least they’re not playing that doof doof shit.

x

…And so here is the view of the wharf and the warehouse… A long, long , long warehouse that will be housing a big big party from the 8th of January…