X-Industrial

Well the writing has been on the wall all along, but after the TG show in Hoxton London a week ago, which was relatively painless, enjoyable, and even began to pay off some of the cost of tickets, Genesis decided to move, first hotels, and then cities, un-announced, making herself unavailable for the remaining tour dates, and leaving the rest of TG and all the promotors and fans in a certain amount of a quandry.

Either we could bow to Gen's seemingly senseless and out-of-the-blue decision and pull the tour completely, and so be jointly responsible for all the money paid out, to get us to London, and round Europe, put us up in in hotels etc, or we could play the remaining shows as best we were able (albeit at a reduced fee since Genesis chose not to be there) to lessen our joint losses....

Fortunately, to our great gratitude, and the relief and appreciation of the fans who showed up (amounting to some 99% of ticket holders - very few were only there to see Gen it seems), what Chris, Cosey and I did as X-TG was greeted with just as much enthusiasm as TG had been in the past.

Apparently the public share our interest in "Chamber Music for the Coming Hard Times", and, despite missing the jumping-up-and-down-encore factor led by our undoubtly-skillful and curious looking, trans-dressing (though not trans-gendered) figure head - everyone said X-TG was just as good, if not better, than the old style TG.

On her website Genesis is keen to point out she only left THAT tour and still considers herself part of TG. For anyone that is interested, her included, I can confirm that TG will continue to complete all existing contracts, sales, ongoing negotiations and the recording/delivery obligations already in place, but it's clear neither Gen nor the rest of TG have the interest, time, energy (or even spare cash) to risk pursuing further live performances together, fraught as they are with the possible problems we all suffer from: concerns about health, unequal treatment or contribution, availability of the appropriate medications for pain, stress or lack of sleep, not to mention our own outside/personal commitments...

Also about the future of TG live, I do not regard it as possible for any changed band or variation of personel to perform live as Throbbing Gristle without all the original four of us on stage. If Chris, Cosey and I play live together again it will be as X-TG to make it clear it is a new entity, despite its Provenance which will draw on our own individual work and interests, just as much as any TG reference, which feel to me at least, tired, though the approach to music composition, remains as unique and exclusive to us, as any band I have ever come across....

I for one bear Genesis no ill will, though it would be nice to recieve some communication explaining what happened, rationally, and accepting that her precipitous actions had consequences for all of us, even though I am still several thousand pounds worse off than when we all agreed to do these dates...Money I can ill-afford to lose at this point...

As luck would have it, the "doors" Genesis opened by flying home, and out of the way unexpectedly, have revealed hitherto unseen paths into the future that are both interesting, exciting, as well as being ones I would probably not have pursued, if I'd just been Harry Pottering around in Bangkok with my HouseBoys...

So I thank you all for that, from the bottom of my heart!

Sathu, Sathu, Sathu....

Nobody knows the future, after all.... All we can do is try to make it as enjoyable, inspiring, helpful, encouraging and illuminating for everyone as possible, in the time that we have left.

In my book that means not only remembering the past and music of 30 years ago, (whether or not it's good enough to satisfy drunken Americans!) BUT NOT REPEATING IT, no matter how easy.

best2all
unklesleazy

Ossian & Cyclobe

In addition to their burgeoning publishing ventures. Cyclobe members have recently released an album called 'Wounded Galaxies Tap at The Window' currently available on vinyl (not sure if this is retro or futuristic (or maybe "future-retro"!) Anyway it's jolly good. Ossian Brown and Stephen Thrower are joined on this release by the musicians Michael J York, Cliff Stapleton, John Contreras and Thighpaulsandra.

The record fulfils all ones expectations for long-time progeny of Coil but with a totally up-to-date feel. By all means buy the deluxe heavy-weight vinyl edition from the Cyclobe website esp. if you are a vinyl person - the artwork by American Artist Fred Tomaselli reproduced LP size is worth the money alone, but I hear on the grapevine the album will be available as a download from Cyclobe's own Greedbag store soon. Check their webssite for details.

The album came out on the 1st November with a limited edition insert containing a piece written by Geoff Cox-Dorée. This editon is available through the Cyclobe website on 180grm white vinyl. Residents of the Far Colonies can save excessive postage charges by ordering via Forced Exposure, or Cargo.

The 23 Stab Wounds of Julius Caesar

Following my last post about Ian's exhibition, at London's Horse Hospital from Friday next, here is a sample ,-)



I havent sen all the drawings as yet, but looking forward to it. I'll probably be there on the 7th.

PS Shame about Gen going home early from the present dates. Your reliable old unkle and Chris & Cosey will still be playing something new there. More than that I cannot say, but it certainly will be interesting!


Love to all
unkle sleazy

Seasonal cheer!

Ossian's book is out at last!

Its a beautiful collection of Halloween photos from the late 1800s to the 1950s (mostly) and has lots of ideas for ways to traumatise youngsters, prior to... no wait can't say that!

...Nor do I mean it obviously - no one deserves to be traumatised, and everbody lkes to dress up "nasty" for time to time... I know I do!

See a review and more pix from the Financial Times here.. Check it out!. Oops this link may not work (too early in the morning for me to figure out why not ,-) so please paste this URL into your browser if you want to see the good stuff! http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/91b3b49e-e16d-11df-90b7-00144feabdc0.html

It's the perfect Christmas gift!

Scorpio Matter Arising

By Chance (if you believe in it) my current sojourn in Europe reaches a climax on November 7th with my chance to visit Ian Johnstone's exhibition of drawings and other art at London's Horse Hospital - see here which I am greatly looking forward to. You will remember Ian's excellent and visionary art for most "late period" Coil albums. Not to be missed if you can get to London... (till November 7th.

This follows a series of 3 remaining TG shows in Prague, Bologna, and Oporto. See here for details of venues, tickets, times etc. Hopefully we will get it together to record these shows and make one or more available by download (see the TG website in a week or so). Our recording of the first show failed prematurely unfortunately - possibly the result of levels of fluctuating air-pressure more often found in pressure vessels such as submarines, aircraft, and elevators, after suffering profound systems failure!

And I though Black Sabbath were loud! ;-) fuck me!

N.B. (please use equal emphasis on both these last two words, unless you are hot, male, & Thai in which case lay the stress where you like... LOL...) Sorry I've been away from "the compound" a week now!

Luckily there are a few t-shirts available from the London Village Underground TG show, so even if you could not make the event, you can still get the unique souvenir! Go quickly to the TG store site, where the remaining stock is being sold off.

Despite the immense volume, most people loved the show, describing it as Chamber Music for the Coming Hard Times.

 Dark clouds having silver linings, even more impressive, than pink fluffy ones, after all!

Best2all
unkle sleazy

Been Up So Long it Feels like Down to Me

I don't know how many of you follow trends in music making - Recently there has been something of an explosion in "home brew" electronica (by which I do NOT mean dance music, despite what i-tunes says). Benders (of circuits, speak and spell or sound enabled toys) are proudly waving their flags and soldering irons, long dirty hair and dodgy jeans waving in the air conditioning, demanding to be heard... (just kidding about the "dirty" part ,-)

In many ways this is a good thing - too many synths sound and look the same these days, and anyway the basic technology to make a hit record can most probably be found on the phone in your pocket - Quite apart from which, most of the equipment Coil or early TG records were made on, is already obsolete and broken, so it would be almost impossible to recreate Horse Rotorvator, for example, in the same way we did it in the first place. In some cases even some masters have degenerated beyond playability or even compatibility, these days...

What I'm saying is, we all need some new toys to fulfil that most basic of human urges to make a "damn fine racket" - The kind of racket which can Open the door for us all, Players and Listeners alike, to that Other Dimension - You remember - that Place you went to when you first heard Hamburger Lady, and the hair on your arms and the back of your neck stood up!

(In Thai, they call "the shivers" Con Luuk and it's a sure sign Something Special is going on, since it's too warm for people to ever to actually shiver, and round here Seriously Weird Shit like that happens all the time! That's one of the reasons I love it.)

Fortunately my old mates in TG, have risen to the Challenge, and, knowing no better now than we did then, have been putting together a collection of some of the weirdest boxes and machinery, this side of, well - Stephen Hawkin's basement, maybe?

His subconscious, even?

We just want to try to push forward this new Genre of homemade quarks, strangeness and charm, beyond the "here's a demo of some bleepy things I made, it's not a proper track yet" thing, which people normally post along with a SoundCloud bar or YouTube vid of the most god-awful, unlistenable soul-less knob twiddling I've ever heard.

Rich as that may be, coming from me, LOL ,-)

You see there's something different about TG and the "industrial process", that does the exact same thing for us, hearing our playing emerging out of the aether for the first time on stage, as it does for everyone present.

In my view this effect has nothing to do with fashion, or transgression, or sex or violence or personal loss (those all those things may be mentioned in passing). It has to do with the four of us transcending our complete lack of conventional musical knowledge, by mentally "going off on one", leading the way forward across the Threshold, and keeping our foot in the lift door, just long enough that you can jump in, and join us for an hour or so's journey Upward (or maybe down, who knows which way is really Up, these days?)

TG will be showcasing the results of our efforts a few times around Europe over the next few months, trying out a lot of new equipment, some being commissioned specially (or software written) for us by boffins, some of whom have the most severe cases of Asberger's Syndrome I have ever come across, but make gear that is literally unsurpassed, and others whose day-jobs are so dangerous that we are genuinely not allowed to tell you about them, for fear of our lives.

Please see the Throbbing Gristle website, for details of dates, and an excellent taster video by Chris and Cosey here.

If you can make it, especially to the first show in London on the 23rd (!), where things are most likely to go out-of-control, and I am still "discussing" insisting on all members of the audience signing a non-disclosure agreement, some tickets are still available here .

I guarantee it will not be like any DJ or laptop (ugh!) set you might see, and if you go just 'cos its the "place to be", and stand around talking and drinking to your trendy London friends, and being generally unaware of what's happening around you, you'll be missing out...

We all get the Goods we deserve! ,-)

My best to you from Bangkok, surrounded by the overwhelming smell of burning incense, hot solder, & boy sweat, and the sound of hammering metal, and Buddhist Mantras ...and that's just the upstairs!

tee hee

love unkle sleaz

Just when I thought...

...it couldn't get any weirder...

Imagine if Pol Pot have decided, instead of sending all his scientists to work and die in the Killing Fields, he had decided instead to put to them to use, genetically engineering a Master Race using stolen DNA from Bruce Lee and Serena Williams, but because of a cockroach in his fax machine, the resulting misprint resulted in them receiving material from Bruce Lee and Kenneth Williams instead (Don't know Kenneth Williams? A genius! - see him on YouTube clip.

Imagine they continued working for 50 years in a lab so isolated in the jungle (much too far up river for even Colonel Kurtz to venture) that they were unaware of the fall of Pol Pot's totalitarian regime. Every year they produced bizarre mutant cross-breeds with varying degrees of success.

The commander of the camp decided, for some reason, to raise them believing they were direct Divine Descendants of Mother Kali (? really? see about.com) - possibly an unwise choice, in retrospect!

As time went on the boffins began to achieve a measure of success, and their latest batch of cloned kids were not only physically viable but drop-dead gorgeous, combining Bruce Lee's physique, skill and charisma with Kenneth Williams' intelligence and Wit - a little scary and sexuallly ambiguous to be sure, given the fearful appearance of the One they all thought was their Grand Ma...

Then imagine a nearby plane crash had but a single survivor the only passenger in the upstairs first class cabin, Baz Lurhmann (oh, please ,-) Wiki Ref for Baz) who was badly concussed but otherwise unhurt. He wakes up in the remote lab's infirmary believing he is there to rehearse "Urban Street Dance-Off 3 - The Re-Match"!

He works day and night teaching these often-cross-dressing, certainly transgressive and physically odd, cloned kids to dance beautifully, but after a few months he catches denge fever and dies within hours.

In the years that follow, the kids continue to hold monthly "dance offs" that combine what they remember of Baz's teaching, with what they believe is their Supernatural Heritage (as indeed it IS, just not in the way they think)...

...Sorry this story is so outlandish (and apologies to Baz if he's reading. He's a Genius also, and hopefully not dead in the Cambodian jungle ;-)

Its the only way I can find to describe to a Westerner, what the Festival I went to last night, in a very remote villlage in the hills near the Cambodian border, was like.

Just though you might be interested. HD video may even be on unkle sleazy dot tv soon....

fuck

SoiSong Shows

Ivan will be playing some SoSong dates in the next week or so alone. Unfortnately I have been prevented from flying by health problems, but don't be concerned. Its not too serious, as neither is this:

unklesleazy.tv

Unfortunately unkle sleazy dot tv is not available in Thailand.

best2all
s

Just a quick note to say that recent unrest in Bangkok has not affected us other than shutting a few Shopping Malls here and there, but it’s too hot to go shopping anyway!

I have begun to develop and build (with the help of various lone inventors, military technicians, circuit bending specialists, cabinet makers, and antiquarians, dotted around obscure corners of the globe) the musical instruments I plan to use on Time Machines II – Perhaps it should be called Time Machines Legacy, or something similar, since it will use technology not invented when we released Time Machines. I just posted this to www.sacred-profane.com also - I know this (being musical) is not strictly Sacred-Profane news but its likely some or all of the instruments will end up available from the Sacred-Profane Store in future times, so there it is…

Best2all