London show report & Vomir UK tour Diary
Vomir,Flithy Turd and The Rita
The show London review
Vomir set:
Though I‘ve enjoyed and dwelled in Vomir’s recordings over many hours, this is my first (un)live experience of the frenchman’s brutal and grey static hypnotics. It all starts with you being handed a black plastic bag as you move into the back room of the Grosvsenor pub in Stockwell London, it’s like your entering some strange and arcane ritual- which in a way I guess you are. Pretty soon Vomir climbs on stage, faces away from the small, but curious audience, pressers a few buttons on his equipment then dons his own black plastic bag & stands completely still for the next 18 mintues of his set. There’s something deeply sad and emotional about his posture that almost brings tears to my eyes, and the wall of thick and unrelenting HNW that is emitted from the PA’s speakers seems to enhance and deepen this melancholic yet other worldly feel. Above the audiences’ head is a slowly spinning disco ball, and this makes things even more unreal and out of time; as if the normal world has stopped or slowed down for Vomir’s wall of noise. With-in a few minutes of the set I decide to don my own plastic bag, and to start with I feel a little silly, but with in a minute or so it seems to make perfect and bleak sense as I’m locked deeper into the wall of sound myself. A few times over the 18 minute set I come up for air & pull up my bag, all around me people are either standing with bags on their own heads or staring hypnotised at vomir’s glum figure. Then the noise stops, vomir pulls his bag off and the spell is broken, and the real world floods back-in. I can safely say this set was quite unlike anything I’ve experienced before- it seemed to hit me on an emotional gut level, and for that I’m extremely grateful - truly breathtaking stuff.
Flithy Turd set: After the total emersion of Vomir the set by Filthy Turd comes as something like light relief. That’s not to say Darren Wyngarde’s power electronics as shamanic performance art is easy on the ears, but after twenty minutes of pure wall from Vomir anything will sound a little tame. A little quote from Da Turd’s website gives you some idea of his head space: “Here in the Midlands we are all Shamen, bogmen, mud-people, fish-people and shadows. We have our own ways. Old ways. “
Whatever you think of the sounds he makes you can’t say he doesn’t put on a spectacle. Starting the set in business suit and black shoes he proceeds to enact a symbolic regression from civilised London spiv to midlands wild man via two mics (mostly to be found in his pants) and a table full of junk, twigs and a dented cymbal. The electronics are of the brutal amplified feedback variety varied to some degree by the smacking and crashing of the items on the table. In the cold light of day there is something seriously silly about the sight of a little bloke with microphones down his trousers standing bare chested, twigs in mouth while atonal feedback squalls around, but subjected to the sheer brutality and clinically delivered performance you can’t help but think he may have something here. Perhaps a kind of Ballardian dystopic vision of a decent into animality soundtracked by technology slowly tearing itself apart.
I wished I had brought earplugs to be honest, mainly as his set comprised sounds of the dangerously high pitched variety. But after roughly fifteen minutes he stands alone on the stage, stripped to the waste, face covered in brown gunk (I didn’t want to ask) triumphant lord of the filthy world he surveys.
(editors note….for those wondering what happened to the review of the Voltigeurs set......well both Mr Batty & Mr Simpson felt rather underwhelmed and smoked out by the first few minutes of their set, so both parities retired to the bar area for the remainder of the set… so we felt it would seem a little unfair to review just those few moments of the set)
The Rita’s set:
By the time the Rita has set-up his table and kit the backroom is nearly full with around 150 to 200 people awaiting the brutal assault that is The Rita live. To start with I make my way right to the front to get pictures, and just about manage to stay there for most of the nine to ten minutes of the set opening piece. The first track is made out of a series of rapidly noise textures; and as the Rita works like a man possessed adjusting peddle dials, manipulating & rubbing this weird and wired up block- you can truly see his commitment and love of the noise form, as when he sinks 'n' stays with a certainly grade of static texture it’s like watching someone shoot-up.. and that mixture of pain and pleasure. Around the seven and a half minute mark the left hand side of my face is starting to get numb, and I’m truly worried I could possible lose or damage my hearing in one side of my head- it’s really is that loud!, and it’s quite possible the loudest thing I’ve ever heard- I’ve seen Merzbow live and The Rita seems like two or three louder than that. Anyway at around the ten minute mark I make my way back through the crowd towards the back of the room, and it’s still extremely loud and instense. After this first track/ set The Rita works though a series of shorter 2 to 5 minute tracks- I guess there must have been around five to seven of these, and each was as brutal and intense as the next with him jumping from one extremely static textural dwell to the next; I guess there were moments where it became wall-like for a few minutes at a time, but really I’d call this set more brutal Harsh textural noise with slightly walled dwells. What ever you call it, it was a truly brutal & intense experience that I won’t forget for a long long time. Let’s hope The Rita gets over to these shores again one day, as really any fan of noise or extreme music of any form has to experience the purely and brutal sonic attack that is the Rita live.
Vomir tour diary:
With my little suitcase, I arrived in London and went directly to the venue, the Grosvenor where Pete from Second Layer shop organises almost every noise shows of the city. When I arrive, I am cheered by Andreas (Flesh Coffin/Hour of the wolf), Karl (Skonhet), Paul (BBBlood), Andrew (A View from Nihil), Roger (Musique Machine) and others with whom we have a great talk about HNW aesthetics and of course some trades... Sam (The Rita) just ended his soundcheck, so its my turn. A cig, a beer, just the time to give some bags and I unleash my sound on the great PA. Then it's Filthy Turd, with a pagan/humorous performance, with brutal sound. It's the first time I see this great project live, and I enjoy it. Then it's Voltigeurs with their amps roaring. Samantha now switched on guitar to go with Matthew's, and the pair sounds fantastic. Then it's The Rita. As everyone, I was eager to hear him and it's no disapointment. The man knows his noise, the 'american way', that is very professional. A first set, then two encores, each time a different set up, each time a precise and massive sound, completely controled, full harshness. We pack, I sleep at Paul's place and next morning it's breakfast near Second Layer. I have more time to talk with Sam The Rita. He's a sweet guy, very clever and interesting, so it's great to talk about anything with him. Just the time to browse the shop and I am on the Voltigeurs' van and we head North.
We cross the country talking about Burroughs, Kenneth Grant and cinema and we arrive at Matt & Sam's house where we rest for some time drinking tea and feeding the cats. It's cold and rainy and I will drink tea almost non-stop from now on... We then catch George Mutant Ape, then Bridget and we go to a church in Skipton where we'll play in the crypt. Great place. We install both Voltigeurs's amps (that everyone will use), we soundcheck and a few people show up, very dedicated ones and everyone does its best: Amazing sets from everyone, great sound echoing on the walls of the crypt, the amps roaring. We pack and we head back to the house, dropping Bridget -she actually does not talk a lot so I really hadn't had the chance to know her-, and george takes a cab to go home. We have more talks, more smoke, more drinks and I crashed on the sofa for some sleep. Next morning we go eat very good Indian food then we go to George's house to pick him up and let's go up north to Newcastle.
Good venue, downstairs a pub, friendly people, good audience. We here join Lee who will team with George for the Inseminoid set, and Basilica - a drone project - starts the night. Voltigeurs have amp problems but no matter they still deliver the good sound. I play right after them, as Matthew likes it, with just a very little pause between our two sets so the noise flow keeps coming.
We crash at Ben's place (and also Basilica) and we all sleep in the living room...
Next day I go in Lee's car (yes, I have a seat ! - there was none in the back of Matt's van ; ) and we all go to Glasgow to join Al (At War With False Noise) who set up the show. Again a nice place down a pub. This night was an amazing set from Inseminoid, no more pbs for Voltigeurs so it's superb and I finish right after them. Great dedicated audience.
Now it's over, we go at Al's place for Black Metal and Doom, and we all crash on the floor. We are cheered by Al's cooking breakfast for all of us and it's time to fly back.
SOOOOOO, yes, it was good, it was noise, it was good audience, it was nice to see/talk to everyone and let's hope that next year we'll do more, hopefully in more European countries ! But now I'm back in my isolation, and it feels good !
Writing credits are as follows….Roger Batty work is in red, Duncan Simpson is in purple and Romain 'Roro' Perrot( aka vomir) is fittingly in grey!