Sunday Afternoon Drones, Vol. 1

Last sunday was. I would like publicly to thank everyone that have attended throughout the day, and everyone that played. I cannot recall a bad set nor a bad moment throughout the day.

Hoefizer, Cloudscapes and I were the first to arrive at an already packed Cagibi at 2:30pm, filled with people & their laptop, studying. We quietly set up, while I asked Cloudscapes to pass out the nice bookmark-flyers that I made to let people know what was going on... I felt like we were invading the room, and imposing a sonic attack to the patrons, without them knowing or wanting. But Hoefizer kicked it off quite nicely. It was nerve-wrecking, but the people did not leave, nor did not seem to be disturbed. In fact, they looked like they quite enjoyed it... the whole point of the event was to have live ambient music playing while the Cagibi café was up and running with their regular patrons coming in and going. Ambient can be passive as it can be active, the choice is up to the audience, whether they choose to participate or not, that is the theoretic beauty of ambient/drone.

I went on second. By then, Aun, de.i.te, half of the Montreal Nintendo Orkestar had arrived for support and camaraderie. I played a totally improvised drone-set for about 40 minutes, with a board that I had set up a few hours prior. Here's a youtube extract of my performance, made by Alberick:



Then de.i.te, Cloudscapes & Maggot Breeder went on. More people came by. Everyone was respectful throughout the sets. It was a very cozy atmosphere and people commented how great the event was. By then, I already had request of making it a monthly, but that would be quite a commitment. The Montreal Nintendo Orkestra, Anti-School Year & Aun followed... and it was dark outside, which was quite fitting. Shane Whitbread & Electroluminescent closed out the night. By then, everyone was too tired, and Ghidrah chose to postpone their world premiere to a better time in the future.

All in all, it was quite a successful and special event. But with some 10 hours of drone/ambient, my brain got pretty mushed and I was physically and mentally exhausted. The bar is set high however, and Vol. 2 will have quite a task to maintain the quality of the event, to be followed. Some people complained about the general overall sound, but Cagibi is not reknown to have the best P.A. However, their big windows facing St-Viateur, the decaying mould of the ancient Esperanza pharmacy look of the 70s still make the cozy atmosphere unbeatable. Nonetheless, stay tuned for the next edition.