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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.
Krems was great, the Tate was amazing and the I.C.A. installation was brilliant, productive and exhausting. But now we are all back in our respective homes: Sleazy has returned to Bangkok, Gen to NY, we two to Norfolk and the intensity and madness of TG has subsided... almost.
The I.C.A. 12 CD wallet is pretty much done, just a few tweaks left then it goes into production early next week. Sleazy will be returning to us in Norfolk in a couple of weeks so (amongst other things) we can complete the final stages of TGV... hopefully for an Xmas release!
Cosey and myself have a batch of Carter Tutti projects to finish (new tracks & mixes for compilations mainly) and Cosey has some work to complete for some upcoming exhibitions. Then we are taking a well earned break. More news, titbits and updates in the coming weeks.
New photos from Tate & I.C.A are now available on my Flikr pages.
In the next few months I will be transfering all my photos from this site to my Flickr account.
Our trip to Madrid was short but very sweet... The people at Experimenta Club were wonderfully friendly and helpful and very professional. The venue (a massive state of the art cultural centre!) was equally impressive and the only venue we've ever played with pink carpet, both on the stage AND throughout auditorium. Plus we sold it out, played a blinding set and went down a storm!
ExperimentaClub'06 photos can be seen here
Meanwhile back home: Well no matter how much you think you're on top of things there are always those unforeseen circumstances, random problems and plain old human errors lurking in the background just waiting to confound you and bite you on the arse. Yes of course I must be talking about TG and yes the release of long awaited TG DVD boxed set will be delayed, just a bit. But it'll be worth it AND it WILL be out before the (near legendary and even longer anticipated) Part Two album. Oh no don't get me started on that sore point again!........
Wow.!. I can hardly believe it but the audio mastering is finally completed for the new TG DVD live boxed set. Weeks of mixing (and what ultimately turned into a rescue job for some of the newer material) is now en route to Mr Christopherson, who is still beavering away on the final video edits and menus. But it's all looking and sounding glorious, I just wish it wasn't all so fucking time consuming! More TG news coming soon....
Taking a few days off now...
I'm mixing and mastering the recent TG live performances in stereo and Dolby 5.1 for the new TG DVD boxed set. Sounds amazing but it's bloody intensive work!
I really, REALLY need a break after this but (and it's a big BUT) those CARTER TUTTI gigs are just around the corner and we need to start preps for them soon...
We've just posted our EVENT HORIZON list-cum-diary page on the Carter Tutti site.
There's a good review of the Carter Tutti 'CABAL' album in the October issue of THE WIRE.
Have also begun transferring our decaying video archive onto DVD (v long term project).
Audio mastering for the TGV DVD is finally completed.
Our CTI CD catalogue will now be distributed by CARGO RECORDS.
I'm currently re-organising our studio... yet again!
Also mixing the TGV DVD live recording session from 24-track for DVDs.
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