noisefromthevoid

had to share this one, for a few reasons..

but especially because the diverse mix of music..

check my archive page, or follow this direct link to the mp3..

No need to really explain the theme of tonight’s show, either you get it or you don’t. ha.ha..

9pm Tuesday Nov 27th only in the mysterious & mischevious Void..

go to www.90hz.org to listen and chat, or use the FLASHPLAYER below..

It’s been an interesting couple of months for me. The lull between the busy summer and xmas holiday seasons isn’t normally anything to write home about. However this year I decided to make good use of the extra time I’ve had, and harness the power of the internet to track down a few long lost friends. Most of my attempts have so far come to nothing as I can’t for the life of me remember most people’s last names, which makes searching for them like looking for a needle in a f*ckin’ haystack. Ha, ha.. But thanks to myspace, I did manage to track down Frank, my long time best friend, and bass player in the punk band we formed in the eighties. And not only have Frank and I started to rekindle a long dormant friendship, but he’s also kindly passed on to me some live recordings and photos of our band, that he had held onto all these years. There’s not alot, and the recordings are p*ss poor quality, but they capture the raw energy of the band, and a lil’ of the magic too. And although the songs are worlds away from the music I’ve since become associated with as a dj, they are a revealing expression of who I was back then, and who I still am today..

Honestly, listening to the band again has been an unexpected treat. After putting it behind me for the last 18 years, and despite our chaotic renditions of the songs, and the lo-fi state of the recordings, I am very proud of what we accomplished musically. .

We gigged in and around the 80’s anarcho-punk scene, including some memorable nights at the squatted “Centre”, next to the Cricketers pub in Stoke Newington. We never however got it together to record anything in the studio - in true punk style we were simply too poor to afford it. Ha, ha.. but assuming we can track down our singer and original drummer (our 2nd drummer Pete has passed away unfortunately), myself and Frank are considering finally recording the songs properly. It’s even possible (thanks to the internet and the digital age) that we could do it without me having to travel back to England to rehearse/record etc.. We’ll see, it’s just an idea at this point, but considering how inspired I feel about such a project, I reckon it might just happen..

There’s 6 mp3s here for you to check out, if you feel so inclined. Five of them are are our own original songs, plus a cheeky cover version of Holidays in the Sun by The Sex Pistols, that we did purely for the fun of it. As a side note - I had half expected our rendition of Holidays to induce groans of unfashionable disapproval from our audiences, but truth is it went down a storm whenever we played it. The songs were all recorded at the same gig, at a large, wild and chaotic squat party in North London. The line-up for this gig was:

Anne - vocals
Amelia - backing vocals
Brayo - Drums
Frank - bass
and myself - guitar

Brayo was later replaced by Pete on drums, and Amelia dropped out of the band at some point..

Anne’s voice gives out during some of the songs - she was sick with a bad throat that night - but she still pulls it off remarkably well, her Welsh opera trained and Siouxsie inspired vocals giving the 3 chord noise a dark and delicious flavor.

The photos I’ve included are from later in our band’s history (I believe they are actually from our last ever gig in ‘89 with anarcho-punk legends The Instigators), but neither I nor Frank have so far tracked down any pics of our early days, so they’ll do for now. As you can see from the way we dressed in these later pics we don’t look much like a typical punk band - truth is we had no interest in doing so, we had our own thing going on. As for my super casual and loose fitting attire - it simply gives away the fact that I was by this time dancing/raving/djing pretty much full time.. hee, hee.. Frank may have something to say about this, but as I recall it was in large part due to my focusing more and more on my djing that I lost interest in the band, and caused us to finally break up. But it aint over ’til the fat lady sings (as they say), so if/when we do get back together to record again I’ll be sure to keep y’all updated with our progress..

So here you go, and enjoy. You can click on the pictures to bring up a larger copies, and simply click on the song titles to listen to them..

Oh and lastly, a big thankyou to Frank, for all his help..

When The Whip is Gone

Four Nails

How Do You Clear Your Conscience?

The Naff Song

Moors Song

Holidays In The Sun

Tuning up. From left to right - myself, Anne, Pete, Frank

Anne & Frank

Anne, giving it up..

all eyes closed - deep into it..

rockin’ out..!

And like I already said, click on the pictures for a larger copy..

I guess if it’s the time of year for giving thanks, then I’m gonna chime in quite randomly and give some wicked appreciation for this - The Stonehenge Free Festival.

I made it there in 1984 as a young and naive punk rocker, and (besides becoming a father and a couple of insane ‘Wicked full moons’ that I’ve DJed at) it’s probably the most mind-blowing and life-changing experience I’ve ever had. I could write pages on the things I saw, amazing and shocking, but for now I’ll just pick a few choice memories -

the unimaginably beautiful psychedelic sunrises..

the wide selection of music I was exposed to, from fresh sounding electro to ancient sounding folk, otherworldly sounding space rock, and a nice selection of punk bands that showed up to play, including ‘Penetration’ who rocked my socks clean off..

and lastly that I somehow managed to walk out of there with my mind still intact.. ha, ha..

Stonehenge was also the place where my good friend Saul requested his ashes be scattered after he was fatally struck down at the young age of 18 by Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (the human variant of mad cow disease). It was also a passion I shared with several of my other friends including Ghandi (who passed away last Friday). Ghandi never got to attend the actual festival at the stones, as the one in 1984 was the last one, but we tried together in following years to get past the police roadblocks and blockades waiting for us. We were ultimately unsuccessful, but those roadtrips were crazy adventures in themselves, and stories I’ll have to tell another time. Though the free festival was systematically shut down and is still to this day outlawed, people have in recent years finally been allowed to at least gather at Stonehenge for the summer solstice. If I happen to find myself back in England again at solstice time, I know where I’ll be going to celebrate with the spirits of my dear friends Saul and Ghandi..

Most of the youtube video is from a few of the (acid fuelled and sometimes self-indulgent) performances on the main stage, but there’s also some nice shots of the general festival including the druids doing their thing inside the stone circles. Enjoy..

Tonight’s show is dedicated to my old friend Ghandi, who died on Friday. I’m not going to make it back to England for the funeral, but I figure spinning some music in his honor is the next best thing I can do..

I hadn’t actually seen the guy for quite some time, our life’s taking quite different paths before I came out to the States. But during my late teens and early twenties he was a close friend, a great inspiration, and a fellow traveller on the unconventional backroads of life. From the anarcho-punk scene, through animal rights actions, to exploring the free spirit of the 80’s psychedelic festival circuit - he, I and our close knit group of friends did alot of very intense, fun and perhaps at times foolish things together. But that’s what living is all about, isn’t it. Of all of us he was the most sweet, innocent and likeable, yet had a wild and curious streak that took him down some dangerous roads. After 20 years of battling mental problems and drug addiction he finally decided he’d had enough and threw himself under a train at Kings Cross Station in London. May his once tortured soul now rest easy..

My memories of him are nearly all happy and joyful, so don’t expect a morose show tonight - I’ll simply be spinning some good music as a celebration of all the wonderful things that he brought into our lives during the crazy times we spent together..

go to 90hz.org to listen and chat or use the flashplayer below..

We’re back with the 3rd installment in the Cosmic Punk series. A paradoxical place where edgy punk sensibilities mingle with otherworldly spaced out experimentations. Everything from indie electronic & minimal synth wierdness to quirky punk rock disco..

Lots of musical mischief and spontaneity, this Tuesday Nov 13th, only in the noise filled void..

Go to www.90hz.org to listen and chat..

Jason’s gonna be taking the controls tonight for a 2 hour journey into the musical cosmos, from punk to funk and back again. It’s his 3rd time on the show, and he’s going be kick starting the music at 9pm sharp, so tune in early. I’ll be following up, with a selection of disco, boogie and other assorted strange grooves, only in the VOID..

9pm Tues Nov 6th. Go to 90hz.org use the FLASHPLAYER below..

I’ll also be in the chatroom early on tonight. Get to it by clicking on the “Join Us” button on the 90hz.org frontpage. No registration required..

interesting article in the local free paper - the San Francisco Bay Guardian. Check it here -

From Our Bay to Norway