THIS AMBITIOUS ORCHESTRA / THE MYSTERY FAX MACHINE ORCHESTRA + John Bisset & Alex Ward + Special Guest Jim Sclavunos (The Bad Seeds, Grinderman)

Sat 8th Aug 2009

The Orchestra Pit and V '68 Promotions presents
THIS AMBITIOUS ORCHESTRA
THE MYSTERY FAX MACHINE ORCHESTRA
+ John Bisset & Alex Ward
+ Special Guest Jim Sclavunos (The Bad Seeds, Grinderman)


Doors 7.30
£5 at WeGotTickets and here
£7 door

They don't have institutional support. They don't receive grants. They aren't community projects. These are rock bands. 

Very, very large rock bands. 

In New York City, audiences are buzzing for This Ambitious Orchestra, the 20-member symphonic rock band from Brooklyn, who are rejecting the shackles of their conservatory training to create a new brand rock music. Their talent has already been tapped by TV On the Radio, The Dresden Dolls, Rasputina and others. 

We're excited, also, to reveal that Bad Seeds and Grinderman drummer Jim Sclavunos will be appearing to play drums on a song by his band The Vanity Set which has been arranged for orchestra.

"Led by local artistic risk-taker Benjamin Ickies, This Ambitious Orchestra aims to inject rock sensibility into classical music (or is it the other way around?). The result is a herky-jerky showtune soundscape that makes us want to skip and smile." – Time Out New York 

Meanwhile, accordionist Martin White has been making a noise on the London cabaret scene with his large-scale chamber-pop ensemble The Mystery Fax Machine Orchestra, entertaining audiences with their lushly-arranged songs at the Bloomsbury Theatre, Hammersmith Apollo and Latitude Festival and providing live orchestral backing for the likes of Jarvis Cocker, Luke Haines, Malcolm Middleton and Robyn Hitchcock. 

"Wonderfully eccentric" – Time Out London; "Beautifully-arranged comic songs" – Telegraph 

John Bisset & Alex Ward have worked together in many and varied settings – from free improvisation to collaborations with Orchestras. 

In the urban surf quartet Pocket they were the central duelling guitars, whilst their output outside of that group encompasses L.E.G.O., the Gannets, Country Dad and the Guillemots, but tonight be prepared for departures, digressions and diversity. 

"Ward's nasal sneer versus Bisset's deep-throated, Vox AC30-amped twang. Bisset's melodies pit the guitars against each other, trading phrases in a spiralling, competitive hocket, until both collapse back into the main tune." Wire Magazine.

 

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