The Mekano Set

http://mekanoset.blogspot.com/



Please note that updates to the blog can now be found @ http://mekanoset.blogspot.com/

Been working hard like a good boy for two weeks solid so I'm being a bit more sociable at the moment. Also enjoying people double-take when they see my current appearance.

I have been wined and dined to such an extent that I can barely move. I can feel the walls of my stomach stretching as I type.

Just returned from an evening hanging out with Jo (Beatniksoup). Vast amount of the above was required in order for me to feel even vaguely relaxed enough to have my picture taken without constantly bursting into fits of laughter and smirkage.

From day one we always wanted to document things not just in sound but with words and pictures as well. And not in the usual sense of 'we don't have any songs but check out our new photo session' / check out the fan art / join our street team kind of way. If anyone got in a fight our first reaction was always 'are you ok' quickly followed by 'shall we take some photos of your bruises?' That's why we want to do a book instead of just another CD / download.



So yes, on Monday morning I had a bit of an accident and ended up having to take it easy for a couple of days. We thought it would be useful to document my once-again painkiller-becalmed expression, scuffs, scars and bruises. Combined with a new found inability to stand up for very long without my knees giving way.

Snappy snaps. I like the fact that we ended up with a bit of a Derek Jarman vibe going on.



In other news, we are pretty close now to having enough finished tracks for a second album. We're under no obligations to actually do a second album, and there's been no pressure to. But having spoken with the scallies at Elementary, we're going to come up with something that combines audio AND something a bit off the wall physically.

The priority lately has been to get the book together. But I've been enjoying so putting tracks together so much that we have ended up with enough finished mixes.

Meantime, why not have a listen to what we've been up to lately:http://soundcloud.com/mekanoset


The Mekano Set

B&W image of Milk © Beatniksoup 2010

If you can't find your shoes, levitation is one way to avoid getting your socks wet.

Unconfirmed report that we might play live @ Cowley Club on Friday 23rd April. Meanwhile, we've put up some mixes of a few tracks we're working on at the moment over @ http://soundcloud.com/mekanoset

'I'm gonna make love to you baby' is awfully close to 'I'm gonna make love to your baby'. Which clearly doesn't have the same vibe...



See you in time
xxx

This week we're doing some work with CDOG and Beatnik Soup on an idea for a video project. After the TYRE adventure we figured they're the team for the job... This time we're going to combine digital and analog for the best of both worlds...

The Mekano Set

DJ'ing @ The Prince Alber on Wednesday night. Groovy!

The Mekano Set

So, a pure sublime return gig @ The Albert on Saturday. Thanks to Kev, Deb, Stu Cakes and This Mono Galaxy for all their support.

I wasn't sure about the idea of playing as a trio. But we did it, and it worked.

I was fully prepared to call it a day if it didn't go to plan. With this in mind we felt it was important to go back to basics, and so we played the whole set as a three-piece with no guest vocalists or musicians. Just guitar, bass, a bit of baritone guitar on a couple of songs, DJ Ruse on electrickery and fx.

I think that's the first time in over a year that we've played Brighton without a guest singer for us (me!) to hide behind. I love to sing but I'm not into the idea of being The Singer. I managed to reign in my tendency towards ludicrous volume and the whole thing was way more consistent. It felt to all of us that we were playing in sympathy with one another.

And it was effortless frankly. No hassles, no complications. General consensus was that's the best we've sounded in a long time.

Let's just say that the last time we played Brighton was utter, utter chaos and confusion. Lack of sleep, money issues, no time to eat, sexual tensions and chemical abuse left some of us in no fit state to perform. So this was a case of make or break.

We played a version of Don't Eat the Sweets with a longer, free-form intro, followed by High Tide, Sumni, and a fresh version of Now You Know, which is now called Now You Know You Know. ;^)

The set was much more representative of the way we want to sound than before. With songs like You're The One Who Started It there was often a tendency to sound a bit too rock. We've now got a set which has all the right ingredients - the bass, the beats, the drones and the right kind of guitar (fucked up / white noise / reverse-reverb / fuzz-wah strangled and tamed).

A brief look at the photographic evidence = me looking as pale as an ice-berg and as thin as a rain, the boys having a jolly ol' time going with the flow. And no fits of giggles this time. Hopefully we'll get some more snaps up once they've been cleared by MsDee.

Well. I guess we still have a few tricks up our sleeves.

The Mekano Set