An Evening with Ranger Spacey.

Tour pt 4 - The Lansdowne.

THE LANSDOWNE // 24 MAY

Briscoe, Tales In Space, Capitol + The FireTree

A few of us had been sick all week and between soundcheck and the gig, I lost my voice.

Byron duo the FireTree had been shoehorned into the bill by the venue the day before and they Matt Corbied their way through some Angus and Julia Stone territory. They were sweet but played too early to make an impact. 

Capitol came next and didn't play my favourite Capitol song Velveteen. I was very cross, but they did Let You Down and their cover of Rebel Yell so I forgave them. 

LEEEEEEEEEEE!

Capitol hold a special place in our hearts because they were almost the lone witnesses of our first ever gig. Before Briscoe had even thought about gigging Yak, Dee, Dave, Kate and I were playing a Dusker show (the other band we are all in) in Katoomba with Capitol and a band from the mountains. The mountains band pulled out at the last minute and early evening contentment with a 2 band bill gave way to 11pm drunken insistence on a third - the outrageously under-prepared and drummerless virgin Briscoe. 

The pub was changing owners the following week and the bar staff apparently didn't care for the incoming administration enough to bother with tedious things like commerce. They emptied three bottles of tequila into us for free. Then we played. For an hour maybe... we don't even have that much material now that we've had a rehearsal, I shudder to think what the hell we were playing back then. This guy (left), Lee was his name, kept assuring me afterwards that we were artists, but I think I overheard him later assuring a chip in the table laminate that it was an artist so, we're pretty much artists. 

In the end both Lee and Capitol were just as trolleyed as us so the reality of the gig died that night along with most of our brain cells.

It was around the middle of Capitol's set this time around that I realised my voice was disappearing. 

Luke, Pieman and Bambi (TiS)

Tales In Space were next, an electro-pop rockin 3 piece fronted by Luke Bertoz who mixed the Briscoe record. Jesus they were good. They have been around for a while but I don't think I'm being overly biased when I say they have what it takes to make it, if that means anything whatsoever. For a small electro outfit they've struck the perfect balance between live playing and backing track. They are slick, busy and engaging on stage and the songs (especially their new ones) are fucking undeniable. 

We got on stage and while the others tuned up I strummed the first verse of the first song desperately to myself, trying in vain to squeeze out something resembling the melody. I had nothing. I was shitting myself. Jacob started the song, I started to sing, the sound guy started to turn down my mic. It felt like my voice was sandpaper being dragged up past my larynx, I definitely did some permanent damage but apparently this is what rock n roll is made of yes? Yak and Dee and Kate stepped up the backing vocals and Yak even covered a few guitar parts that he could see I was gonna be too preoccupied to bother with.

Man it sucked but I'm glad it happened - I've always feared this kind of thing but at least I know what to expect now - I know my kick-arse band will fill the gaps, I know that the people in the front will still clap despite their true feelings, and I know that most people will be listening only enough to know that we started and we finished.

"Good set man"
"Ha, thanks that's kind of you"
"Whoa are you losing your voice?" 

READ PART 5 HERE

The Mixing Process pt 2.

Luke Bertoz (left) of guitar sound on 'Animal':
"Sounds like angels pissing in my ears"

dave & kate listen in disgust to luke's simile

maths, recording and tales in space

Algebraically speaking if Briscoe is x and Dusker is y and Rosario Ferraro is R then:

x - y = R

In other words, I was playing drums in the very excellent band Dusker when I was trying to start briscoe. I loved everyone in Dusker so I bullied them into joining briscoe. This reconfiguration needed a drummer though, and despite protestations from my stroppy ego, I asked monster Rosario Ferraro to join. This overlapping of Dusker/briscoe personnel will hopefully lead to logistically simple touring and a few WTFs from confused gig-goers.

Luke in his natural habitat with dave, kate and me

I have been mixing the briscoe stuff with Luke Bertoz at Zapata Studios in Coogee. I was also in there on the weekend recording with Dusker. It was the first session for an album, and we finished one great song written by Dee and Jacob which will likely be the first single. Luke is also recording and mixing the up-coming Ranger Spacey E.P. which is going to rule.

Luke is a crazy production angel, he makes the best suggestions and tells it like it is. He is very friendly and accommodating and will work his butt off all day as long as you feed him regularly with subway and breath mints out of a flat open palm. He is also in a great band called TALES IN SPACE.

Yesterday he told me about Google Alerts and how that if anyone anywhere writes "TALES IN SPACE" on the internet, Google tells him. So this is a test. Luke, you have 24 hrs to comment on this post or i will prime my musket and hunt you for sport...