September 25, 2006
this is where the Spring really springs
We're off to Lyttelton on Wednesday for the first night of 'the Ballad of William Knife', at the Wunderbar at 9.30. Come along if you're in Canterbury.
Then two nights in Dunedin - Friday 29th & Tuesday 3rd at Arc Cafe.
This show will be a really interesting folk music / modern electronic / post-everything guitar/banjo/sax/drums distortion / historical tragicomedy.
My new South Island collaborators are great, the workload's being shared amongst some keen & creative individuals. It's great having two major new projects in the post-Ascension Band era - as well as William Knife I'll be playing at Lines of Flight festival on 5th of October.
Steampunk folktronica at its finest:
The Ballad of William Knife
at the Wunderbar, Lyttelton, Wednesday 27th September, 9.30pm
at Arc Café, Dunedin: Friday 29th September, 8pm
Tuesday 3rd October, 7.30pm
Take a step back to the 1860s with the new music & multimedia theatre show from award-winning writer/musician Dave Edwards and Matthew Thornicroft from Dunedin band Suka.
‘The Ballad of William Knife’ is set in Otago during the goldmining era and features a mixture of traditional Scottish, Irish and New Zealand folk songs along with original music, video projections, theatrical interludes, and texts from writers of the era.
“We’ll be doing folk songs – ‘Auld Lang Syne’, ‘She Moved Through the Fair’, ‘Scotland the Brave’, that kind of thing – but in our own eccentric style”, said Edwards.
“We use electric guitars and live computer remixing along with banjo, saxophone and percussion – there are elements of heavy metal, post-rock and experimental electronica in there. It’ll appeal to people with an interest in our country’s past as well as people looking for something new!
“I thought it would be a good challenge to work with traditional songs – I love folk music, it has a lot to say about the human condition. And the colonial setting has interesting parallels with our own time – sudden population increase, environmental change caused by humans, the evolution vs creationism debate, and issues of imperialism and how the early settlers became New Zealanders”.
Dave Edwards has been performing and releasing albums since 1998 and last played at Arc Café in 2004. He won best music award for the 2005 Wellington Fringe Festival with the 14-piece ‘galactic punk rock chamber orchestra’ Ascension Band, and recently performed internationally at the Liquid Architecture Festival in Brisbane.
He will also perform a solo set at the Lines of Flight Festival on Thursday 5th of October as Dave Black.
Matthew Thornicroft is best known for his work with Dunedin band Suka who formed in the early 90s. He and Edwards met this year in Nelson where they are currently studying on the Nelson School of Music’s Contemporary Music Performance course.
Their other collaborators on the show include guitarist Hayden Gifkins from Nelson bands Mumblegrunt and the Faraway Tree, vocalist/percussionist Cylvi Manthyng, and playwright Suraya Singh who makes a return appearance from London where she is now based.
For more information visit www.fiffdimension.co.nz/williamknife.htm