Being a native South East Londoner, and holding your debut live with us at The Albany is a truly local affair. How does it feel to performing a show that must be very important to you so close to home?
I have pretty much always lived in SE London. I’ve studied here, I’ve partied here, organised gigs here, culturally, socially and politically it is such an incredible place. I used to organise rock gigs here as a teenager, drum and bass nights as a slightly older teenager and as an adult I have organised concerts, electronic music raves and the Trailer TV which was a weekly electronic music broadcast/party in a disused lorry trailer next to the Deptford Creek where we previously used to interview artists, play their videos and have them perform to us and an enthusiastic audience inside the trailer. Although very much under threat from gentrification there are loads of cool little venues that support independent music whether live or DJ’s. We have incredible creative educational institutions very close by such as Goldsmiths and Trinity Laban that attract some of the most talented artists from around the world and smaller but equally as important music charities like The Midi Music Company that give incredible support to local emerging artists. The Deptford X festival happened recently including some awesome sound installations very close to my house and there are lots of other events like this. When organising a gig, I will always consider doing it locally first, the area is literally exploding with art and living on Deptford High Street I really feel like I am in the epicentre of it all and it is very inspiring. I’ve been to some great gigs at the Albany over the years, I remember going to see theatre shows there as a child, it is also literally a stones throw from my house and I am working with local artists and lifelong friends on this project so it feels very special indeed!
Tell us a bit about some of the other live collaborators taking part in the performance?
The musicians performing the album on the night include some very good lifelong friends of mine, Charlie Stark and Vienna Shilling are great locals singer/songwriters who you need to check out for their own personal projects. I’m privileged to be close to such talented singers and I can’t wait for you to hear their voices spatialised live on the 360° system. Charlie Stark recently released an incredible EP called UFO. Check out his entertaining new UFO video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAPfLYxE2pw). Alison D’Souza and Tristan Horne are playing the string parts on Viola and Cello. They actually recorded and co-wrote most of the string parts on the album itself so it is perfect to have them involved in the performance, as well as being top class professional musicians they bring some really creative ideas to the project and are able to do pretty much anything when it comes to string playing. Ben Hartley will be playing the percussion parts, I’ve taught music alongside him for a few years and always wanted to work with him in some sort of way and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. He is a very diverse musician, he can improvise where needed and recreate material from the album will precision accuracy too. Vocalists Kate Tempest and Laura Lopes also feature on the album but unfortunately can’t make the gig as they’ll be abroad but we will be performing the tracks they are on and spatialising their studio vocals on the 360°. As well as working closely with Tom from C&R to spatialise the album in 360 we have an extremely talented mixed media visual artist Jake Strickland producing some very interesting visuals where he’ll be hanging displays between the speakers surrounding the audience using Raspberry Pies.
For those of us who don’t know, can you explain what 3D sound is?
The term basically refers to audio technology that allows sound designers and composers create fully immersive sonic environments by placing and moving sound anywhere around 360 sphere. It is most often used in VR, video games and 360 video to construct realistic soundscapes. Most people will have experienced some form of surround sound at the cinema.
How are you using 3D audio in your live show?
I have been working with immersive audio specialists Call & Response at their ambisonic studio in South London to mix my stereo album into full 3D audio. If you think that most music people listen to is in stereo, so two loudspeakers or headphones. The mix engineer can place sound either to the left, right or centre of a stereo image.
For this gig we are going to have 29 loudspeakers arranged in a dome that is over 10 metre in diameter. This means I can place sound pretty much anywhere I want. It adds a whole new compositional layer. We’re also using live string players, percussion and keys. The live sound will also be moved around the sphere.
Warchestra 360 is the live performance version of Warsnare’s forthcoming album on Infinite Machine, out in Feb 2018.