THE END (of Chapter 1)

Was Ist Das? gigs in the Calder Valley came to an end last night in a blaze of noise, folk and menstrual incense.
noise in the wood
I declined to make a speech last night because it was all too much but it has to be said Was Ist Das? gigs were not me alone. They were only possible with the help, support, encouragement, address books and equipment of so many.

It would not have been what it was without Mick West, Jonathan Lees, Jake Blanchard, Andrew Liles, Dave Ives, Sophie Cooper, Chris Price, Charlotte Meecham, G-Babbz, Rick Tomlinson, Gig, Roger & Elva at the Robin Hood, all the Trades Club people, Masonic Jim, Chris Hladowski, Fern Bast, Clive Russell, Jorge Boehringer, everyone who came and everyone who played. Everyone who ever said a kind word about the gigs.

This morning after is surreal. Its hard to believe it has ended and I know many of you last night don’t believe it has but it has. My remaining time spent in this country is going to be taken up with my day job and with preparing to leave this country.

The Owl Temple closes it doors for the last time in the valley. Somewhere far away on a dusty plain, an elf owl hears those doors echoing. Every ending is a beginning, it muses, and then the coyotes begin to make a strange noise.

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Hebden Bridge – Inkfolk – SKULLFLOWER + ANDREW KING + TOR INNOCATION BAND – Sunday 6th December 2015

SkullflowerWEB
The final Was Ist Das? gig before I emigrate to America and there’s only one way to go out….with a bang.

Formed in 1987, they emerged from the Broken Flag noise scene but with a sound far more guitar-driven than most of their peers. Their intense sonic assaults have been influential on such bands as Bardo Pond and Godflesh. Band leader Matthew Bower has worked with many of the leading lights of the UK underground such as Vibracathedral Orchestra, Richard Youngs, Ramleh and Colin Potter.

Tor Invocation Band is a nebulous, international unit of seasoned improvisors. As given to the light as to the dark, their exploration of space, sound, noise and sacred spaces. For this evening they will be: Jake Blanchard with members of Woven Skull, The Family Elan, Core of the Coalman and Sophie Cooper.

It seems like the perfect way to end it all, with our ears ringing!

Advance tickets available for £5 plus paypal fee from here

This will be a last-train friendly gig. If you’ve not been to Inkfolk before then please see our venue guide

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Todmorden – upstairs @ Golden Lion – ARTTU PARTINEN + MARLO EGGPLANT + GIRL SWEAT – Friday 20th November 2015

arttuJorge Boehringer (Core of the Coalman) and Ned (Was Ist Das?) team up to bring you a night of music in Todmorden that will test just how crazy the venue Crazy8s can get (Crazy8s being upstairs at the Golden Lion in Todmorden).

Arttu Partinen [aka Amon Dude] is over from Finland spreading sonic chaos everywhere he goes. Expect oodles and oodles of acid-fried noise exploding in your head drum.

Marlo Eggplant is a prominent figure in a thriving and diverse international scene of female experimental music performers. With an intuitive command of minimal instrumentation, including processed autoharp and contact microphones, Marlo Eggplant’s sparsely structured notes and layered static textures build into sonically dense drone improvisations.

Girl Sweat – FUCK YEAH! amphetamine industrial psyche rock from Stockton, like Pussy Galore meets Cabaret Voltaire

£5 in, last train friendly but with party fun and drinking afterwards for the locally inclined

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Hebden Bridge – Picture House – Halloween Film Festival – Saturday 31st October 2015

web version

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Todmorden – upstairs at the Golden Lion – PRETTY LIGHTNING + BRIDGET HAYDEN + IRMA VEP – Friday 30th October 2015

pretty lightningOur dear friends Tor Bookings have put together this simply blazing line-up and what I could do put hassle them until they agreed to let me DJ.

Headliners Pretty Lightning are a dazzling German psyche duo who are both members of the collective Datashock. Bridget Hayden should need no introduction after all the incredible live sets she’s performed in the valley in the last few years. Irma Vep played Tor Fest last year at the intimate Bare Arts show that I couldn’t go to.

£5 on the door

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Hebden Bridge – Trades Club – ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO UFO + THE FAMILY ELAN + WOVEN SKULL – Wednesday 28th October 2015

amt2015WEB Its Acid Mothers Temple at the Trades Club. Do I really need to say anymore? Support from Bradford’s excellent folk power trio The Family Elan and Irish power trio Woven Skull.

Tickets on the door are £10 (£8 for members) but if you buy in advance then only £8 (£6 members). GET THEM HERE: ticket link

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Todmorden – upstairs at the Golden Lion – TOMAGA + JAKE BLANCHARD + SOPHIE COOPER – Saturday 17th October 2015

11990497_1045133722193654_5077980417623065113_nWhite Rabbit have kindly asked me to do a bit of DJing for this Todmorden bash headlined by Tomaga with support form our dear friends Jake and Sophie. Can’t wait!

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Todmorden – Upstairs at Golden Lion – CARLTON MELTON + VERT:X – Monday 28th September

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Was Ist Das? and White Rabbit Promotions are teaming up to bring you a dazzling night of psychedelic rock upstairs in Krazy8s the fully formed venue upstairs at the Golden Lion in Tod.

vert:x play full-on psychedelic rock and have contributed to many of the highly collectible Fruits De Mer Records compilations.

White Rabbits light show will be on, so will Was Ist Das’s smoke machine and we’ll have another band playing after vert:x 😉

Last train friendly live music but if you want to stick around then we’ll play you some music. £5 on the door.

Poster by Sarah Coppen

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Todmorden – Unitarian Church/Golden Lion – TOR IST DAS? FESTIVAL – Friday 14th to Sunday 16th August 2015

Tor Ist Das 400Was Ist Das? will be moving to Phoenix Arizona this Winter so as the start of our farewell, we are doing a festival in collaboration with out dear Todmorden friends Tor Bookings. We have some major headliners, with Saturday night being topped by a trio of Andrew Liles (Nurse With Wound), Maniac (Mayhem) and Carl Stokes (Cancer) and then on Sunday we have both Newcastle’s man of the moment, alt folkie Richard Dawson and Leeds noise rock institution Ashtray Navigations.

Also playing are dark chanteuse Chicaloyoh, instrument builder Sam McLoughlin (aka Samandtheplants/N.Racker), Bird People (full band set, folk drones), Lutine, Laura Cannell, Desmadrados Soldados De Ventura (Manchester noise rock orchestra), Girl Sweat (stockton’s one man collision between Jon Spencer & Cabaret Voltaite), Daniel Voight (analogue experiments in sound), Terrine (Claire from Headwar’s solo no wave assault), Flamingo Creatures (wild improv insanity), Ambrosia(@) and Isnaj Dui (Katie from The Owl Service & The Sly And Unseen).

For more details go to http://wasistdas.co.uk/toristdas/
To buy tickets go to http://wasistdas.co.uk/toristdas/tickets/

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