Mellotronists

Meant to send this to the whole list, not just Duncan...



-----Original Message-----
From: ferrograph@... [mailto:ferrograph@...]
Sent: 17 February 2002 19:45
To: Mellotronists@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Mellotronists] 400+400 and loop-making



Duncan/all

Only just fetched my mail after a week's hecticness (?!).


so andy T (who was at the JB planetarium because we wanted to show him what
our setup was, because he was going to be driving the van on the dutch trip)
said he had his 400 out in the carpark, it having been streetly'd and now on
it's way home.


As you do!


andy lives about a mile or so from me, so possibly the closest
'tron neighbours in london- anywhere?- are me, andy and woolly....


Woolly?? My mate Gary lives only a few miles north of me, but further than
Duncan.


so we borrowed his frame for the gig at jodrell bank and then decided it'd
be
an essential laugh to take his 400 aswell as ours to the gig in holland. so
we did.


Would'ja believe I had to persuade them?


I have an excuse, sort of. andy probably spent a few weeks in therapy after
the ordeal that the dutch trip became. he may well have forgotten the
frustrating three hours driving around amsterdam looking for secure parking
for the (bog-standard) transit van that was an inch too high for the
euro-standard car parks we found. we had to put it in the marriott while we
stayed at anne frank's old house across the road.


How could I forget?  :-)  What Duncan doesn't mention is that on our day
off, the band (naturally) spent the day sampling some of the delights
Amsterdam has to offer, specifically of the herbal and liquid varieties. *I*
hired a car and drove to my favourite 2nd-hand shop in N.Germany (!) and
spent a happy day there burrowing through mounds of old vinyl. Not that I'm
a sad bastard or anything, you understand...


this is easily forgotten in the light of our near-death experience with a
low-flying goose at 70mph on the way back through belgium. that would've
been
the end of the band, the van, andy and both of the 400s.


I seem to remember Steve (rmi member) screamed loudly and clamped both hands
over his eyes, like it would've made any difference.  :-)  I think the
windscreen would've come in, but we'd probably have survived. Anyway, it was
on their side...  :-)


THEN we were set
upon by a french customs guy, a complete jobsworth fuckwit with a .38 and,
as
it turned out, no sense of smell. all those cases in the back went
unsearched
while he dismantled the cab of the van instead. his smarter colleagues stood
out in the rain and mocked him, the stash made it back to london.
amsterdam's great.


Christ, I went apeshit when I found out Duncan could've got us all a free
anal examination for our troubles...


so well then, what did we do with the recordings? ...
what we gave dave as our contribution was a remix creation from the *two*
concerts, using multitrack and audience-"bootleg" recordings to get the full
effect... so some of it actually has three or four 'trons going at once.
as far as I know, it's still available from smd. I would have to negotiate
something with dave "do what thy wilt shall be the whole of the moon " law
to
have our portion available separately but I think it could be done.


It'd be nice if it was available, 'cos I don't know about anyone else, but
I'm *really* not that fussed about an expensive 8-CD box of bands I'm not
very interested in! Sorry if that sounds a little harsh, but most of the
'EM' I was exposed to over the two concerts was anodyne, formulaic and
basically, just plain dull. rmi's organic approach wins out every time.


what I should mention while you're all still awake is that BOTH machines
behaved perfectly throughout the set in huizen, despite the long drive and
the subterranean overnights in the van. we used proel swell pedals on both
machines- I think I let andy keep one for his troubles.


You did, and I'm extremely grateful! It's already seen action on two
different sessions, and I'm still hoping to use it live one day...

Andy T.
M400 #1145

http://freespace.virgin.net/andy.thompson/