A special Saturday night klinker in memory of Derek Bailey. Almost an entire evening of improvisation, on a range of instruments - conventional and less conventional. Bricks were being tapped when we arrived, accompanied by bassoon and dictaphone  (it was the bricks that were accompanied , not us). This was followed by various combinations of  Drums, keyboards, violin, bassoon.

Builder's Crack were a bit different as they had words written down (a script !). They were also very accessible with their blend of poetry, drama and music; the result being a musical cartoon.

Mad Eel ended the evening with bright velvet snakeskin dresses and a certain chaos which some might call anarchic. Musically they are not entirely listenable, but they do have nice dresses and a sense of theatre; definitely a band with goggles on their heads !

Mad Eel was so good that some of the audience had to be rushed to hospital.
O-F

Why do these crazy people do it - well probably because they're crazy. Week after week crowds³ turn up at the Klinker to see some extraordinary acts. "Do you want to turn it down". Tonight we get the usual mix - mad audience, weird acts. At this last Klinker of 2005 the crowd for Mad Eel are even more special than usual.

Several of the audience are wearing special creations by Origane-fashion, although nothing as exotic as the band themselves. Even Hugh Metcalfe, master of ceremonies, Mister Klinker himself, is sporting an outrageous furry coat instantly recognisable as an Origane-fashion original.

Mad Eel are a collaboration for the evening. Featuring greendrummers on guitar, vocals and vax; Zoe on guitar and clarinet, Matt on accordian and Stewart Keith on keyboard. The first song 'Baba the Bear goes to Wonderland' is relatively conventional 'porno disney'. It is followed by a long piece of classic vacuum action with the centre stage claimed by Greendrummers on Vax. This is what sets the Klinker apart.

Mad Eel are followed by another two interesting acts. Dylan Bates and friend play variations on the Birdy song  (including scratching to a Percy Thrower¹ 78²). Unfortunately the name of the third band escapes me, it definitely included Geese and they seemed to be flying, but I can't find any bands call 'Flying Geese' on the internet. Whatever they were called, they had a stong industrial flavour and were well worth seeing.

Mad Eel return for another song. This piece is less cohesive and both rhythm and tune are somewhat enigmatic by their absence. Surprisingly few of the audience have rushed off to catch their buses and a good crowd³ remained to witness the return of the vacuum cleaner. So in the end the bands may be quite mad, but the audience are crazy enough to pay good money to see them. No more!
N-A
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¹ Presenter of Gardner's world on the BBC, a long time ago
² A 78rpm record - old fashioned cd
³ Mostly the bands' friends

The middle act seemed to be called "Filthy geese", thanks to Gary who remembered the name!
You will even appreciate the review more more more if you can understand the subtleties and relations between the review and the video... The video of this gig can be found at www.greendrummers.com  
We are right now trying to contact Hugh Metcalf to organise a Green Drummers gig, except he doesn't answer his phone...

O-F