on 16th october 2014, steve, an impro singer with a synth, ghoufran, pianist, and myself on drums and melodica with my trusty echo pad ipad app, took to the cube stage as a kind of warm-up house band for a film event about ‘the year of the sex olympics’. it was all very last-minute, but i got there early so i could set up the drum kit left-handed by the side of the big screen where the piano lives. a polite and subdued gathering sat and chatted quietly throughout our set, reacting each time steve delivered a killer line. once he got going, the sci-fi futurist theme took flight to the very anti-climax

performers:

Steve Lake: Vocals, Synth
Ghoufran Warlow: Piano, Cubichord
Keef Chemistry: Melodica, Percussion, Vocals

i recorded our entire performance, from the second i pressed record to the second i pressed stop, and it’s a little gem of improvisation. a dystopian operetta.

• two minutes into cranking up steve leaves for ‘a piss and a quick cigarette’, just as i’ve got my soddin ipad to work, leaving ghoufran and myself to our own devices. ghoufran’s piano work is excellent and i’m happy to follow his lead
• the projectionist interrupts us to ask about when we would be playing while we’re playing
• steve has returned from his fag break to join us in a march into the future, which oddly has an eastern european vibe
• here steve begins his narrative while i juggle with melodica, ipad and drums. he’s such a pro when it comes to delivering vocals
• and so it begins properly – ghoufran and steve interact to set up a fabulous futuristic theme, while i find some beats to hold it together here and there. by about 1:30 the theme is formed and running, two minutes in and the pronouncement is made ‘in the future…’. the music drops out and swells, ending with a great storyline from steve about tv, with the killer line ‘and everybody’s a star on the internet’
• the theme cranks up a notch, with further observations from steve, delivering great lines to a high point in the song, which then drops to a dub beat
• recovering from the last song we muck around until steve announces ‘i think there’s something wrong with it’, at which point i stop and query what’s up? my fault. he’s in character and i missed it. carry on …
• steve’s in full flight now, recanting a strange dream he had, chock full of fab lines. ghoufran has slipped behind the screen and is playing some kind of out-of-tune upright piano with screws sticking out of it in the dark
• the story continues with a touch of melodica over the ‘cubichord’ instrument and synth, where steve finishes recounting his dream and ties it into the year of the sex olympics – nice work
• the grand finale

you can download the album for free and enjoy the set in its entirety

download the album: cube orchestra – sex olympics (74mb zip file)
cubest 001 collection: cubest 001
cubest 002 collection: cubest 002
cubest 003 collection: cubest 003
even more cube orchestra music: session 23 july 2014
more info about the cube orchestra: cube orchestra wiki