Scene - AY Riders live in Warsaw.

<b>Scene</b> - AY Riders live in Warsaw.

2 a.m., Sunday 29th February 2004.


  Everything was quiet after a night of non-stop chip music.
250 revellers were heading home, dazed from experiencing a
concert like no other. Equipment was packed up and piled high
in car boots, and we were on the drive back to the home of
Wojtek, the main organiser, to catch some rest. That's when
Wojtek posed the question: When you first heard the suggestion
of an AY Riders concert, what was your initial thought?


  Factor6, TDM and I were in agreement - we all thought it was
a stupid idea.


  It was back in September, at International Vodka Party, that
the idea was raised. Yerzmyey announced to the assembled Riders
that a club owner in Warsaw wanted to host a live performance
of the band. We immediately started wondering how on earth
tracker music could work in a live setting. But, as bizarre as
the idea sounded, how could we possibly refuse? It would give
some real exposure to our music and put us on the map for sure.
Either we'd take the opportunity, or we'd spend the rest of our
lives wondering what it might have been.


  In the months that followed, we got a taste of how big this
venture was going to be. The first revelation was the
announcement that PZU, Poland's largest insurance company,
would be sponsoring the concert. Then came the unhappy news
that Megus wouldn't be able to obtain a passport so soon before
his military service - we even had the Russian Embassy in
Poland on the case, but unfortunately our efforts were in vain.
Finally, as the big date drew near, the media coverage
intensified to a proportion we could barely have imagined. We
were showcased on two national radio stations, and not just
with throwaway mentions - most of a one-hour programme on Jazz
Radio was devoted to our music, and Talk FM hosted a phone-in
competition and an interview with Yerzmyey.


  On Friday afternoon I touched down in Warsaw, armed with my
"Trusty" Spectrum +2 and + D disc drive. Yerzmyey was next to
arrive, accompanied by Karolina, Hellboj, Atari maniac Pinokio,
and a vast pile of hardware brought over from Krakow including
a Timex 128K, a Sprinter, a PC to serve as the disc drive for
the Sprinter, and monitors for the lot. Later in the evening,
delayed slightly by the train service, we were joined by the
Czech duo of Factor6 and TDM, who brought along a selection of
original Sinclairs equipped with Zilog's CompactFlash
interface.


  Our first night was spent, unsurprisingly, with large amounts
of vodka at Wojtek's place, reading over the collected magazine
clippings on the concert and getting our daily fix of demos and
music. Eventually we all settled down for some rest, ready to
get down to business the next day.


  The Galeria OFF club consists of a cosy little bar (where
Pinokio swiftly commandeered a corner for his Atari kit, and
set about coding an intro for a demo party the following day -
hardcore guy), backed on to a larger hall which, judging from
the posters dotted around the walls, serves as a theatre in its
other life. When we arrived it was a barren empty place, with
just a couple of dilapidated sofas pushed against the walls,
but that was soon to change. While our equipment was loaded
onto the stage, perched on a few small tables, a giant
projector screen was being constructed, eventually to cover
most of the side wall of the club.


  The first bit of decoration to appear was Factor6's spare
rubber-key 1948, displaying the constant fluctuating patterns of
Busysoft's Song In Lines demo. I honestly can't remember
whether that survived into the actual performance - I've got a
feeling we sacrificed the light show so that we'd have enough
monitors for the full crew. The inevitable pre-concert crises
happened - the shortage of monitors, the disappearance of
important audio connectors - all to be resolved at the last
minute. The reassuring beep of the Spectrum self-test echoed
around the hall, and we all breathed a sigh of relief.


  The crowds wandered in soon afterwards, to be greeted by the
sounds and sights of Taquart's epic Atari demo 'Numen'. With
the dancefloor filled, the lights went down, and it was
showtime.


  Robot Adolv, the support act, were a stroke of genius. The
simple idea behind their performance - a guy and his
girlfriend, dressed in robot costumes adorned with silver foil,
heating ducts and lightbulbs, play Commodore 64 chiptunes, make
their way to the front of the stage and dance around. They
really captured the imagination of the audience, and deserve a
huge amount of credit for setting up the atmosphere of the
night. Before the concert, our greatest fear was that the club
would be filled with people standing still and staring blankly,
bewildered by the strange bleeps and squeaks - but with such
strong central characters to take the lead, it didn't take long
before the whole audience was copying their moves, as if
dancing to chip music was the most natural thing in the world.


  We didn't have a formal set list planned in advance - the
plan was to cycle through Yerzmyey, me, TDM and Factor6 in
turn. That way, we'd be able to pick appropriate tracks to suit
the mood as the evening went on, and keep the set nice and
varied.


  To accommodate our absent friends, Factor6 played a selection
of X-agon's tracks along with his own, while I took on Megus
and C-Jeff's music - as Protracker isn't available for my disk
interface, these were played with the help of a pretty-looking
player routine I'd coded a couple of days earlier. Yerzmyey's
Sprinter was on hand throughout the performance to supply us
with spooky ambient sounds to fill in between tracks,
especially composed by Yerz for the occasion.


  We kicked off the show with Yerzmyey's Koto Mix, and straight
away we got to find out what sort of workload was involved. It
was DJing raised to the tenth power. We were battling with
temperamental ancient hardware, and juggling the sound output
of five computers into a continuous performance was absolute
mayhem. In all honesty, it must be said that the guy manning
the mixer desk was not the sharpest tool in the box that
night ... Yerz ended up having to supervise every transition
between tracks, while acting as translator for the rest of us.
Getting the timing right for the changeovers was a nightmare,
and usually involved plenty of shouting and improvised hand
signals across the table.


  And yes, there were some technical problems ... the dreaded
edge-connector wobble made an appearance just a few notes into
my track 'Primality', after I tapped the keyboard a little too
hard, causing the music to crash into oblivion. On a couple of
occasions, stray beeps and keyboard clicks escaped from
computers that really should have been muted out. The mistakes
weren't really a big deal, though; most of the time the
audience were enjoying themselves too much to notice or care,
and the rest of the time they accepted it for what it was, the
inevitable consequences of using genuine 20-year-old retro
hardware - after all, that's what live music is all about,
right? - And in general the audience were very appreciative.
Perhaps a bit too appreciative on a couple of occasions, in
fact ... one such time was during my second attempt at playing
'Primality', when a girl came up and tried to start a
conversation with Yerzmyey. All the frantic gestures in the
world couldn't keep her away from the stage - she clambered
over a bit too enthusiastically, and nudged the table causing
my +2 to crash again: - / ... luckily it was near the end of the
track anyway, and TDM was poised to launch into his next track,
Electric City.


  All the while, the large projector screen played a continuous
display of demos, prepared by Yerzmyey - and although we had no
real way of synchronising the visuals to the music, this proved
very effective. It was a very proud moment for me when Losing
Victoria came up, and I saw people in the audience taking time
out to admire the visuals.


  In the 90 to 120 or so minutes that we played, we managed to
cover an eclectic mix of styles, from the chilled to the
hardcore, all while keeping the pace up for the more energetic
visitors. It's been a tricky business to reassemble the
playlist from our combined memories of the night, but here's
our best shot:

Yerzmyey: Koto Mix
Gasman: Summer Mood (Megus)
TDM: Neverending Story
Factor6: Blah Blah Gal
Yerzmyey:
[Gasman: Primality, aborted]
TDM: FA Intro
Factor6: I Am Fine (X-agon)
Yerzmyey:
Gasman: Primality
TDM: Electric City
Factor6: Bits Main
Yerzmyey:
Gasman: Losing Victoria
TDM: Genetic Error / End
Factor6: Angeldust
Yerzmyey:
Gasman: Around Past (C-Jeff)
TDM: Super Grand Prix
Factor6: DJ Factor6
Yerzmyey: 30 Minut
TDM: Exception
Factor6: Co Ja Vim (X-agon)


  My only real regret about the concert was to do with the way
the venue was set up - there was a disconnect between the
audience and ourselves, because we were stuck behind a wall of
computers and monitors (hmm, I suppose that concept worked a
bit better for Pink Floyd ;-)) and the big screen was at
right-angles to us, so they weren't facing our direction for
much of the time. As a result, we didn't really get to hear
much audience feedback for ourselves, but the messages that
were relayed on to us by Wojtek were overwhelmingly positive.
The comments ranged from heartfelt thanks from nostalgic
old-timers, all the way to rave reviews from newcomers
experiencing the music as if it was from another world.


  One bit of feedback we did receive first-hand came shortly
after midnight, just as the organisers were starting to turn
the lights up and usher people away. A big burly guy came up to
the non-Polish-speaking members of the group, and demanded to
know why we'd stopped playing ... for a moment it looked as if
we were going to be threatened at knifepoint to start up the
music again :-). TDM meekly pointed him in Wojtek's direction,
and on seeing the friendly animated chat that followed, it
quickly became clear that he was just one more very
enthusiastic fan ...


  And so to the future. The experience was one we're keen to
repeat, and while we have no more confirmed dates at the
moment, there's been some talk about future gigs elsewhere in
Poland - and daydreams about venues further afield, too. I for
one hope that the day will come when Megus and C-Jeff will be
able to join us for a performance. For now, the folks of 8 Bit
Front have their sights set on a much bigger concert in Warsaw
- Thousands of visitors rather than hundreds - in a very
dramatic-sounding location (I can't give too much away yet).
The plan is to give the band and the computers a more central
role, while the demo visuals light up the stage around us. And,
most importantly, we want big screens showing the soundtracker
display.


  Why so important? Well, just try showing a tracker screen to
someone from outside the scene and you'll see. As they gaze at
the digits scrolling away, you'll hear them make a comment that
perfectly demonstrates how micromusic will capture the
imagination of the world, given the chance.


  "Woah, it's just like the Matrix!"