From Sydney, Damian and Piers have been kicking round in various bands but have now settled into their roles as the Fragments. They have just stepped out of the recording studio with a new single - Obvious - and they'll be on the phone to tell me all about it tomorrow.
The Grey Daturas are a local instrumental trio that have been around for a few years and have just released a shredding instrumental album called Dead In The Woods, which, being that time of year and all, has just sneaked it in to make my top Australian releases of the year - if indeed I was to attempt a list. It's an awesome album on Crashing Jets, the label that brought you that incredible My Disco EP recently.
From their website:
This November, the Grey Daturas give birth to their 2nd album ‘Dead In The Woods’ on the CRASHINGJETS label (My Disco, Agents of Abhorrence); chock full of spaced-out jams, freak-outs and the usual noise you'd expect from the improvisational trio.The band have a couple of shows scheduled with Japanese act Limited Express (Has Gone?). Friday November 26 both bands will be at Missing Link (in the basement at 405 Bourke Street) from 5.30pm and again on Sunday November 28 they'll both be playing with the Young Professionals & Bug Girl at the Builders Arms in Fitzroy.
Since their earliest shows in 2001 the Grey Daturas have been celebrated as being one of the loudest and most uncompromising live acts gigging within Melbourne’s underground scene. The band’s main objective from their onset was to improvise live soundtracks to 16 mm films, however since losing a permanent projectionist the three core members of the Grey Daturas, Robert Macmanus, Robert Mayson and Bonnie Mercer, have had to adapt to performing without regular visual accompaniments. While there are no actual ‘songs’ in the Grey Daturas repertoire, all improvisations reveal common traits distinct to the band… from electronic drones, impromptu rock riffing, industrious drumming , and most importantly, noise. Their sound has already gained them support slots with the likes of Magic Dirt, Neil Hamburger, Kim Salmon, Bar McKinnon (Mr Bungle), and Clann Zu. In 2002 The Grey Daturas headlined a night at the Next Wave Festival. They have double-headlined two tours to Adelaide (once with Sir and again with Birdblobs) and also headlined two tours to Hobart.
From the 11th to the 12th of the September 2004, the Grey Daturas knuckled down with Melbourne sound engineer Neil Thomason (Ricaine), to record a series of improvisations for their latest album ‘Dead in the Woods’. The 16 tracks selected for ‘Dead in the Woods’ traverses electronic drone-scapes, one minute freak-outs, blissfully-heavy psych jams and in-determinant music games. While crammed full of the sounds the daturas have shaped into their own they are not shy to draw upon influences as varied as The Stooges, German 70’s electronic outfit Cluster, American doom-drone band Earth, and 20th century composer John Cage.
