Exhausted but happy, that's often the way I feel after working in FU-CHING-GIDO. Today we had a rehearsal for our upcoming gig on June 17th at Sabaco Music and Café in Tokyo.
Here we are, hard at work!
We've been working on a new song, which is a tune I first heard when I was 16, on a record by an English double-bassist, who originally heard it on the radio in a hotel room in Bulgaria and scribbled it down. Since I've been suffering from pianica envy, I decided to add a new instrument to the band, starting with this tune, which I play with my feet, just to add to the already ridiculous levels of multi-tasking currently taking place.
So now my set-up looks like this:
It looks quite hi-tech, but in fact at the moment I'm just using it to trigger a sample of a lovely old Smith American Organ, as owned and played by my Dad in Spain.
So, in fact, our new song is a Bulgarian/American/Spanish/English/Japanese collaboration! Is that a first?
All going well, we'll be debuting it on June 17th. Come and check it out! Should be a lovely gig, and we're very much looking forward to hearing Fujiwara Daisuke as quartz-head who's sharing the bill.
Hello hello! Fu-ching has uploaded a new blog entry about FU-CHING-GIDO's recent gig. You can read it HERE
For those of us not fluent in Japanese, the juiciest bit is the mention of our next gig! It's early days, but mark JUNE 17th in your diaries, block out the entire day, get your trousers pressed and come on down to our gig, d'yer hear? More details to follow, but it's looking like a great night! And we'll hopefully have a new tune to play!
Last night we played our third gig, at Live Bar AJA in Nakano Sakaue. Thanks to everybody for coming. It's a real pleasure to play for such a warm and attentive audience. Your support gives us a lot of energy. And many thanks to Fang Taeil, one of my favourite guitarists and leader of the fantastic Marcos Brothers Band, who arranged the gig with us.
So, I've had musical duos on my mind a lot recently, since Fu-ching and I made the decision to form a band together and not invite anyone else. I can honestly say at this point that playing in FU-CHING-GIDO continues to be one of the great pleasures of my life, and I couldn't be happier.
When we decided to play as a duo, I had a think about other duos which I really like. Obviously The White Stripes are a big one, and also I really enjoy Ben Butler and Mousepad. One recurring factor in these bands, and something which I enjoy hearing, is the wild rawness of their live performances. And recently I perhaps understood where a large part of this raggedy wonkiness comes from. I'm pretty sure it comes from Pure Fear!
Seriously, performance-wise, I think there has been very little that I've done that's come close to the nerves I've experienced performing in this duo. And that definitely lends a raw quality to the performances. But also, with nowhere to hide on stage, I find myself relying partly on my own preparation, but most of all, in the moment, I completely rely on my partner to help us get through the performance. Luckily my partner in FU-CHING-GIDO is a truly amazing musician! So, together with the astonishing new levels of stage-fright, I've also been able to experience a massive amount of musical pleasure, and I can't wait to see how things develop.
Tonight I'll take a look at the video and audio recordings of last night, and see if there's anything nice to share online.
In the meantime, I'll leave you with a couple of clips of those great duos I mentioned. Although their music is quite different to ours, I think anyone who's come to see us live may well recognise a similar crazy fear factor!
All the best,
Gideon
