The last time I saw a band playing with a lone guitar and a drummer was Zircon Lounge at the Yin and Yang Festival in NUS back in the late eighties/early nineties. Zircon Lounge by then was only left with Chris Ho (now known as X'Ho) and Yeow. They rope in a drummer from another band (I could not remember the name of either) and played that gig in the Velvet Underground theme with Chris in cross-dressing a-la-sixties-psychedelia-Velvet-personna. It was a fabulous gig, minimalistic and yet profound. They covered a couple of VU songs, I vividly remembered Pale Blue Eyes and Femme Fatale - two of my many favourite VU songs. Too bad I neither captured the moments on video or audio, which I regret it even to this day - that was one of the best gig ever by a local band in my humble opinion.
Ben Harrison has been around since his first gig fronting the Deadbeats at the Marine Parade library in the early nineties. He is currently in his own band, Etc which has whitered down from a guitar-bass-drums to just a guitar+drums band (much like Zircon Lounge above). Ben is an amazing guitarist, you wouldn't believe it until you see him live. With just his lone guitar and effects, he created a fantastic wall-of-sound echoing Sonic Youth/U2 etc.
On 30th Nov 2008 Etc played a gig at the Esplanade Outdoor Theatre and opened with a new original song titled "Dancing to the Smiths" that John Peel would be proud of and possibly bopping in his grave. The lyrics maybe still a works-in-progress but the music is almost perfect. With a little touch-up on the lyrics and a proper studio, it could well be hit material. Press on, Ben! You deserve a hit!
I was smitten by nostalgia both by the music and the words. It was a hark back to the days of New Wave in the eighties and the progressive alternative pop/rock of the nineties. John Peel got a mention in the first verse as did Smash Hits, the eighties magazine.
Thank you, BEN for keeping the faith ALIVE!
3 comments:
Hello - good to have met you and thanks for the DVD ... which I got the nerve to cast a critical eye over. I forgot we encountered so many technical glitches at Esplanade.
Here's another version of 'Dancing to The Smiths' that is truly truly unplugged. The lighting is candles. The guitar is acoustic. The camera was wind-up. And my brain was off.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Yi7aXompZhQ
Recorded live on 31 Dec 08 at 1001 Bukit Merah.
Feel free to embed it and all that.
How can Etc capture your films online? Is there a url we can use. be nice to post some souvenirs around.
thanks for listening.
ben etc
Hi, Ben!
It was nice to finally chat with you after so many years since the Deadbeats era! I have the vids in mp4 format and could possibly upload to Youtube so that more fans can get smitten by your music. I could also use Mediafire to host the files. You let me know which songs you want to spread and I will cut out each track from each performance, upload and notify you the link.
Esplanade guy stopped me from filming Zack & Lohan's fab performanceon 12th, DAMN! I got a reasonably good audio rec of the 13th one with Neil Young's "Burned" and have been looing it on my Shuffle for days!
Keep your heads up! I am forever a BIG FAN.
If someone stops you filming Etc in future tell them you have a Release Form and Etc have signed it. In the case of the Esplanade I think you have to request from the act to ask for them to sign it - Esp to process it. Bureaucracy ... so not rock and roll.
I guess you just need to let someone who's playing know and they can do something about it.
Post a Comment