Nanobangbang Debut Recap

Nanobangbang headlined their debut performance at the Parlor on Friday July 11th.



First off I'd like to thank everyone for your support. I know how many shows there are in Austin every night and I was super impressed with such a great turn out! Josh R, Josh D, Caitlin M, Kevin B, Jason C, Cari P, Rachel B, Tim S, Rick G, Amanda J, Bianca, Teri F, Luke G, Katherine M, Lace, Hans R, George M, Michelle G, Anna L, Allison M, Dakota S, David L, Beverly A, etc etc-- everyone I forgot and everyone who just stumbled in. And that guy who tried to sing with me! yall, it meant so much for you to witness the only performance of its kind (I'll expand on that later).

And of course I must thank DIY Danna for putting on the show. And Attic Ted for asking me to play.




THE CONCEPT:

The show was a semi linear, start from nothing and build, representative of a progression. Where NBB came from, where NBB is, where NBB is going. From acepella vocal exercise to noise/field recording with only voice to more beat oriented and structured collaborations.


My old outlet was described best by my dear friend Willis Dyer: "One of the things I think make for great art is the seamless combination of what's obscure and what's familiar. I think you blend those two things beautifully in your music, with your re-appropriation of old songs sung over ambient dissonance. You have such control and discipline and feeling when you sing, and I think it's your forte as an artist."

There was this. I did my very own version of Phil Spector(via The Teddy Bears, thenn the Beatles)'s "To Know Him Is To Love Him" over a digital recording of my friend reading a letter email out loud and a found tape (by Chad) of a woman talking to the tape recorder as if it was her old lover-- which I had pre-manipulated manually. I had put these and the other backing tracks into a loop petal as phrases. (see diagram below)

Nanobangbang will be departing from this sound; this show marked the passage of that era which I may only pay homage to at future shows. Very happy to have been asked in time to perform this -alone music- before moving on to more collaborative and structured work.





THE VISION:

Everyone "on stage" was to dress in black & white. This Everyone Included:
me, Eric Tierkunde, Winston Reed, Sam Gary, Chad Allen, [Kevin Adickes rendered a last minute absence due to recording for Moth!Fight!, so I did the Flutter & Bounce a duet solo]

and...

The Liddell sisters reading.

I decided since I was solo enough of the time, to use people as props in order to divert some attention off me and create an image that could provoke a thought-- so I had The Liddle sisters reading. I found Annecy's black & white silky unique looking dress from Goodwill and Hannah's black & white birded silk blouse from Goodwill as well, and she provided her skirt. They both brought their own books. Lots of people commented on that after the show-- their ideas of what it represented etc. A guy talked to me about how he thought it was about the Catholic religion; reminded him of Catholic school. (The happened to be library books).









THE VENUE:

I found the Parlor to be an ideal venue for a low pressure arrangement. I always thought Nanobangbang's first show should be there. I happen to like pizza and beer too.

As you may likely know, I've performed before with other ensembles, have performed people's pieces that they wrote, but never my own creation. It's a very different feeling to perform what you yourself have envisioned rather than being a vehicle for other people's vision. So it was nice to be in a casual environment.

But what Nanobangbang has in mind is a little more theatrical than the Parlor's aesthetics can allow and plus I couldn't use one of my pedals because the sound was so bad there (I think it was the feedback from this one particular light). Luckily, I don't NEED effects for my voice-- but it sure is fun. I was going to do some looping stuff. Which brings me to my next post I should write because I purchased the vocal petal I've been wanting Chad found it and I got it from some dude off craig's list. (tangent!)

THE SOUND:

see "the venue"



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Set List with Petal reference guide:





Notes on drums and noise for NBB's version of Roy Orbison's Crying:






Tentitive Set list with sunlike loop petal diagram:






Thank you for reading! Hopefully see you next show-- I have some bookings in the works. Will be back to let you know when and where. Most definitely Quacks (38th), hopefully The Opera House before it closes: maybe at the closing show.
[upcoming: post on sadness of the opera house closing]


I want to do it at Salvage Vanguard Theatre (Church of the Friendly Ghost) and/or The Blue Theatre and play up the more theatrical components. In fact, I have this whole furniture installation in my head I'd like to see. With people as props again-- but this time more active. I want to re-create that film noir scene where everyone is at a cocktail party-- waitresses come around with drinks for real, people sit among each other, then we perform inside that environment but on stage. Think Rita Hayworth.

OH! Speaking of film noir. Chad & I did our cover of The Long Goodbye. The song done many styles in Robert Altman's movie rendition of Raymond Chandler's novel: The Long Goodbye.


Thanks for letting me share all those thoughts with you,

Nanobangbang