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.

Protagonists at Hackney Wicked 2011

Travel PDG style

 Hackney Wicked is a DIY friendly, multi-locational, jam-packed art and music festival. It also seems to bring good weather on for it's third year in a row. When a nation-wide artist offered a space for us to perform in, we jumped for the chance to bring along new bassist Simon Paton. All seemed well, and we arrived in our van, to play on the sunny tarmac. Alas, the stage was without electricity and therefore no PA. Searching for another spot was a bit of a goose chase, cos Wicked is busy. Was this going to stop us? Of course not, we set up acoustically next to a commercial residence numbered 8B, in the Queens Yard, next to CA Halpins' cube and the barbecues, right in the action. For David we presented a folding table with 3 tyres on top, supporting a traffic cone which rested in cannon position for him to be heard over his accompaniment. You could even make out the words. Meanwhile Simon gave his all on the percussion frame, tom toms and cymbals, SPeW gave one of her best PDG performances to date, and Jonas unified us on drums with added frustrational thrust. Stay tuned for videos of this outdoor Hackney Wicked set.

Farewell Kaz!

Ace multi-instrumentalist, PDG member and all-round good bloke Kaz Ohtani leaves England for Japan today, and all at PDG would like to wish him a safe trip and even more awesomeness for the future! Kaz was one of the original PDG members playing at our first gig in King's Head pub in Acton, in April, our third gig at Art Mart in Hackney, last month, and rehearsing with us a shit load more beside! He came up with many outstanding tunes for our work and provided a great energy throughout his time in the band. To say we will miss him is an understatement, he's been at the core of the creative work for PDG since it started this year. Happy travels Kaz, we hope you come back and play with us again, one day! PDG.

Examples of his great work can be found in the following places:

http://soundcloud.com/kazuy-1

http://www.reverbnation.com/protagonists

Greetings!

Hello and welcome to wordmouth central for Protagonists of David Gadsdon, the official blog of the band where we hope to show you many wonderful things safely tucked away in the dusty filing cabinets of PDG. News, pictures, videos, perhaps some art (if we feel like it), and anything else we feel like putting on here. We to hope to update it hastily and with some regularity (but not all the time because, erm, we may need to do other things too.... like breathe.)  All are welcome to come down to the hub and Protagonize with us and if you've got the time, come see us perform sometime, because we do that too.. sometimes. Cheers, PDG.