Our first ever gig... and first ever day playing as a trio (rehearsals included... our sole one as a trio was three hours before this set). Performed onstage at the Manhattan on Friday, July 17th, 2009, as part of an evening of experimental music organized by Paul Goguen (aka Paranerd). We were followed by electronic musique concrète artist Ghistlain Roy (from Montréal) and Paranerd himself. Visuals were provided (via Nintendo NES console and LCD projector) by Heosphoros (which I believe is pronounced "He is for us" in a German-like accent).
Although HGH is commonly known as the acronym for "Human Growth Hormone(s)", it also comprises my first initial with the other two members' family initial. The three of us first played together during the community performance of Terry Riley's "In C" (see Performance #1 of "My 7 Performances"), organized by Frédérick "Fred" Hétu (who plays computer-based samples and keyboards here). André Hébert was the guy who helped me into the performance, by collaborating on rehearsal and showing up at the same time (he plays a Telecaster guitar, or maybe a Stratocaster... it's hard to see on this video... with only an amp and a volume pedal). I, over-achiever and with a hidden inferiority complex, showed up with Gibson Les Paul, Yamaha 5-string bass, Roland RC-300 MIDI programmer (which I forgot to touch during the _entire_ performance, despite testing it several times during soundcheck), CASIO MIDI-capable keyboard (from the late '80s), and a rented Roland RC-50 loop pedal combo (which may become my new pet plugin). The RC-50 is why I am frequently crouched down during the set.
We quickly found out during our sole rehearsal (we believe in speed ;) ) that we have a penchant for Henry Cow, early Tangerine Dream, ."Ummagumma"-era Pink Floyd, "Starless and Bible Black"-era King Crimson ("We'll Let You Know"), and Quebec's Dionne-Brégent and René Lussier (even though we may not actually listen to those groups... No wait, I listen to everything but Henry Cow on a semi-regular basis, and André loves the Henry Cow and René Lussier).
Ranco'r (with the apostrophe to reflect both the English and French spelling of the word) takes its name from the fact we were basically playing an encore. Whereas I believe André and Fred were both surprised we hadn't played our whole alloted half-hour, I was stunned to realize we'd actually been at it for over twenty minutes (My, time flies...). Having pretty much used all we'd played during our rehearsal that evening, as well as what we'd discussed afterwards, it was time to start from scratch (Well, almost. I accidentally started the freshly-recorded loops again (there, another encore ;) ) before stopping the machine, saving them, and proceeding to a fresh slate. Part 2 sees us going back to free-form experimentation with a little bit of melodic spice (a descending guitar motif that ressembles Stoney and Meatloaf's "She Waits by the Window"). Someone must have given us the signal to end the set, as André surprisingly brings in an unexpected chord, sweet yet jarring. The after-set banter and tear-down has been kept in otder to show the light-hearted nature of the evening: we were there for fun, and fun we (and apparently the crowd) had. Thank you for all the kind words and constructive criticism that were shared after our set, and thanks to both Paranerd and Ghistlain Roy for putting on impressive sets as well.
PS: I absolutely must declare that I had every intention of passing my bass and guitar to Fred, who also plays drums atop in addition to those instruments. In the heat of the moment, I plum forgot. Fred was still quite happy when we concluded the set... as were all of us, in fact. :)
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