Adventurer #15 31 июля 2004

Демопати

Scene - 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  48,  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!"