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Well we've done it... an actual, finished production copy of TGV is sitting here in front of me on my desk... and it's bloody brilliant!
Hat's off to Paul Taylor (in particular) and all those at Mute and Technicolor who really (and I mean REALLY) pushed the boat out over the last month or so to make this beautiful package a reality.
But as Paul said earlier today: "I'm not sure I can watch it again for a little while though".
I know exactly what you mean mate, I guess you know when you've overdone it (especially on something as intense as TGV) when even your dreams (mine) start including TG gigs, TG people, TG graphics, TG sounds (you name it!) that you've been working on for so long.
Time for a festive TG break I think. ;-)
BTW: Pre-ordered copies are being mailed as I write this.
The inception of TGV started after our TG 're-grouping' performance at the Astoria in May 2004 (on disc 6, I think). That show alone was a major milestone for TG as, apart from being 'free', it was our first show for 25 years or more, started the TGV ball rolling and we somehow accumulated a paid crew of around 40 people. Which was a big change from the 1970s' & 80s' when we just had a handful of volunteer helpers.
Naturally there was a film crew: consisting of a dozen or so camera operators dedicated to filming the whole thing on stage and back stage, the 'FX Rentals crew': who were recording everything onto 24-track and binaurally, a 'second unit / just in case' crew from Mute studios: who were piggy-back recording onto another 24-track, a hardcore FOH 'seen it all before' PA crew (TG's first encounter with Charlie Poulet, who's now become our regular FOH engineer). Plus of course, what was to become the current 'TG entourage' made up from: TG ourselves, our manager, tour manager, onstage & road crew, the Mute PR & merch teams and various but essential friends and family. And it's this entourage that has been our ongoing 'TG support structure' since the Astoria. So if you've ever wondered why TG don't perform live quite as much as you'd expect us to it's because (apart from following our own non-TG careers) this 'not so little lot' costs an absolute fortune in transport, airline tickets and hotel bills. Plus there's the matter of a TG fee of course! That's why we have yet to play in the USA this time around, partly because most of TG and our entourage are based in the UK and there don't seem to be (so far) any US promoters prepared to cover our substantial costs, plus the continuing demise of the Dollar exchange rate has to be factored in too. So, so far we've only played festivals in Europe or large or unusual venues like Tate Modern and the ICA where things like 'finance budgets' aren't such an issue. I guess a re-grouped TG playing in the USA would be another milestone wouldn't it?
I've put up the pre-order pages and links for the new Throbbing Gristle TGV, 7-disc DVD boxed set. Which roughly equates to... TGV has almost reached its final milestone and is now 98% closer to being a real-life physical product, and a major step-up from what seemed like the eternal limbo of compiling, editing, mastering, authoring, beta testing, bug fixing, tweaking and test viewing. TGV pre-order page.
I've posted some photos on Flikr from the recent 24-hour (and what will probably become legendary) Mute '4298607' party. FYI the '4298607' numbers refer to (in this order) the Mute building number in the Harrow Road, the year Mute moved into the building and the year they move out (and go to EMI).
And what an utterly weird experience it was walking through the doors into that building again. It had been transformed from busy record company offices into what looked like a twisted post-apocalyptic 'industrial party' film set. Bunches of severed cables hanging out of ceilings and walls, discarded odds & sods and paperwork on the floors and dozens of empty offices. The place had no signs of fixtures, fittings and furniture, just lots of bean bags, old sofas, spot lights, strobes, video projectors, make-shift drinks bars, a barbecue in the car park, 3 or 4 DJ systems on different floors, a fully equipped stage in the warehouse and people, kids, drinks, food, more people and cameras everywhere you looked (plus the presence of a slightly menacing security crew constantly wandering around, I guess to stop anyone walking off with what little 'Mute souvenirs' were left).
I think the idea was to give what could have been a maudlin event a really positive spin, and it worked. Everyone was really buzzing and there were a lot of smiling faces and a lot of hugging going on. We were just Mute 'artists' and yet we bumped into quite a few 'former Mute employees' we hadn't seen for years. But Mute has employed a lot of people over the last two decades and it was great to see so many people turning up and seeing old friends and work-mates. Daniel (Miller, head honcho) even did the old 'meet and greet' routine on the door, classic! Never thought I'd see the day. We went along with Andria Degens (aka Pantaleimon), who used to be Daniel's PA and we all did a short contribution for the 'Mute video diary' that had been set up in the former studio on the top floor, the studio where TG recorded the TG Now album back in 2004. They also had a great room (actually I think it was Daniel's old office) with hundreds of 'Mute' photos covering 20 years pasted onto the walls. Nostalgia overload! But great. As we left dozens of people were still turning up and you could hear the noise way down the street.
Footnote:
The following week the building was demolished (and Mute were going to time-lapse film it for posterity). There's also talk of one of those blue memorial plaques going onto the new apartment block that's replacing it.
End of an era, new beginnings and all that...
Started the month with flu and 'winter vomiting virus'... ugh!
But preps for our Italian shows are progressing well now. We've decided to go back to our 80s' gigging method of traveling very, very light. Which in this case means I'll be performing with just Ableton Live on a PowerBook, a small MIDI keyboard (Edirol PCR-M1) and a MIDI fader controller (Faderfox). While Cosey will be playing her cornet, harmonica, Baby Kay guitar (thru a Boss GT6) and vocalising through a processor (a Boss VF1).
For anyone who saw our shows in 2004/5 we are reworking/remixing those video projections (yet) again and they are looking incredible. The graphics are a mixture of real images and manipulated video and have an organic/fluid feel and complement the tracks really well (one five minute section alone took 30 hours to render!).
TG album release update:
OK... the release of the new TG album 'Part Two - Endless Not' is still delayed. But it seems the reasons why are not as clear cut as I thought. It's a long, boring story which basically boils down to a certain amount of confusion and miscommunication between TG members, TG management and Mute. No 'one' person or organisation is to blame and we are now all working towards getting a definitive 'official release date' that will be kept to. Don't shoot the messenger... and you can stop bombarding TG and Mute with emails now.
The new TG album is completed, delivered, ready to got into production and is titled: 'Part two, The Endless Not'. It sounds (and looks) effing fantastic, even if I say so myself.
Official worldwide release is January 2006 on Mute Records. The initial pressing will be an extra-special edition. Now maybe we can get on with recording the new Carter Tutti album...
A Podacst of the live set Carter Tutti performed on ResonanceFM in Nov 2004 is now available by clicking THIS LINK.
Jan - March
Recording new Carter Tutti (Cabal) album.
Recording new Throbbing Gristle material at Mute's studio in London.
Cosey and I recently spent a while at Sleazy's house in Western-super-Mare working on some preliminary TG ideas prior to us all getting down to the real nitty gritty at Mute's studio in London.
The Throbbing Gristle TG24 CD boxed set is officially released on the 23rd December 2002 by Industrial/Mute.
Follow this link to the Mute TG24 pages for details of the reservation procedure. (link expired)
A TG24 exhibition is running from 4th-7th December in London. More details here (link expired).
Me and Cosey played another DJ set at the recent Mute IRREGULAR #9 in London. We had a really good time and we'd like to thank all those who came along to make the evening a superb event and particularly to all those bopping along to our spins.
We met up with a few faces from the past, some label mates and a lot of Chris & Cosey and TG fans too. Praise too to Vic20 and Richard Kirk for some particularly fine performances.
We've had a few more DJ offers since so maybe this could be an enjoyable offshoot of C&C.
Well we're back from our jaunt to the sunshine State and a great time we had too! We met up with many old and dear friends and also went a bit 'shopping crazy'. If I get some spare hours I'll post a few holiday pictures here at some point. We came back to a few hundred emails and the jet lag seemed to linger longer than usual but I'm pretty much back up to speed with current projects. The TG boxed set masters have been burned and approved and I'll be delivering them to Mute in a week or so.
We intend to start work on our new C&C album in the coming months, more news on that as and when it happens.
We (myself and Cosey) have finished the second track of our collaboration with Mortal Loom and it sounds fab. The completed tracks will be released on the next Mortal Loom album later this year.
Most of the CD re mastering and production work for the Throbbing Gristle 24-hour CD boxed set is completed. However, the release date has been moved back and is now officially the 23rd December 2002. This is to ensure we get the complex packaging and parts exactly as we intend. Believe me this is going to be one hell of a release and definitely worth waiting for. In the meantime there will be an announcement from Industrial / Mute Records regarding an interim TG release.
I'm currently experimenting with recording and mixing complete tracks on my Apple iBook while on the road (plane, train, hotel etc.). If all goes well the results should hopefully see fruition next year in the form of a CD release.
A review of my new EAR3 CD is available to read here. (link expired)
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