Protagonizing in Amsterdam

Earlier this year (10th June 2011, to be exact) PDG performed at the Soundart festival in Amsterdam, organised at former squat OT301, and frankly it was a rather brilliant night. It was the first year the event had been run and was a showcase for sound artists of a varied selection of styles and cultures to come and perform in a single setting, some of which you can see displayed in the video above. Said visual unfortunately omits two PDG favourites from that night, the insane performance art anarchy of Massaccesi and the raucous jams of triple guitar band Ni (who DG got to help push on stage.) It does, however, feature US in a slither of a clip performing Nobodies Only (set to feature on our debut album, currently in the works), third bit in. We at Protagonist central would love the festival to continue into the future as a further demonstration of the fab work being done by loads of artists venturing into exciting new sonic areas outside the accepted conventions of the mainstream music industry (plus we wouldn't mind performing there again, ourselves!) For more info on the event and artists this is where to go. Stay tuned for more updates, Earthmen.

Simon Paton on bass on board for PDG

We mentioned that we have a committed new wonder bassist in our blog with the great picture of the van, but to properly introduce Simon C. Paton, here's his autobio from http://simoncpaton.yolasite.com/

I do all kinds of crap :::
I am a bass guitarist playing in various field of music.  Mostly jazz, pop, funk, contemporary, avant-rock, sonic arts and improvised music.
I played violin and guitar around about when I was 7 and around between the ages of 12-14...ish I had switched to playing viola and bass (because my fingers were huge) and had my first bits of performing experience on the bass playing in Bournemouth Youth Jazz Orchestra.  I played there for about 6 years or so.  After trying to teach myself Nirvana and Slipknot basslines, I then started getting into a lot of funk as well as some of the more "out there" "indie rock". Around about 18, I started getting into more fucked up music and formed the electronica duo (often solo project) Fridge Noises, inspired by much of the stuff Squarepusher and Boards of Canada did.  I played alongside some pretty awesome acts then.  I've since abandonded the FN moniker, did an album of alt folk inspired stuff under the name Can't Swim Won't Swim and now I make sound art/electronica music under the psudonym C!!S!!W!!S!!
I studied at London College of Music (part of the University of West London) with bass guitar genius Paul Westwood as well as Humphrey Littleton alumni pianist Eddie Harvey and saxophonist Pete Cook.  I'm also currently in the process of setting up my own group which I lead called 'Gwarek2'.  This has a mix of original compositions and re-arrangements of tunes by the likes of Mouse on Mars and Flying Lotus.  The group is largely jazz based, but also has elements of funk, electronica and contemporary music.
As well as bass guitar, I also play (to varying degrees) viola, piano and guitar.  I also compose music in addition to putting on gigs (under the name 'Moby Duck', a night which has an "anything goes" policy) and run a record label 'Kayfabe Friends' which releases CD-R's of various projects I'm involved in as well as stuff by other people that I really like lots.

The Future of the Protagonists?

Is this the future of Protagonists of David Gadsdon? In this aged picture of us, I have become a fat man with a beard and questionable dress sense, Sharen has had a sex change operation and been stretched on a rack, and Jonas is.. older. But what does our music sound like? Our we now pioneers of the classical-folk-funk scene set to take place circa 2026? Perhaps we're the worlds number one proponents of liquid weekend soup? Are we now properly butter? Why are you asking me, how should I know? Whatever, let's just hope we live long and prosper. Logically.