The Voidologists: Live at Squeaky Wheel (Saturday)

The Saturday show went well, although I ran into some technical difficulties and had to switch around my setup. My delay pedal wasn't working, so rather than try to figure it out, I opted to just perform without it. I also ended up going through the board instead of my amp, so the speakers I played through were missing a layer of distortion. The result was a much more controlled, cleaner performance with an emphasis on subtle sounds instead of the usual ferocity and clashing contrasts. I also intentionally played more "robot" style sounds for the benefit of Kendra and Lauren, who both showed up to see me and take some awesome photos. I lost track of time and accidentally rushed through my set, only playing about 13 minutes, but it was a solid 13 minutes so I suppose it's okay.

It was an amazing week. The next goal is to try to promote myself and see if I can get an actual gig somewhere in town. There are enough house shows and warehouse venues around here that if I work hard enough, I just might be able to play again. I've gotten a really positive reaction from both people who are into noise and others who aren't at all. Kendra actually insists that I should start classifying my music as "robotica" instead of noise...I just might, although I still have to stay true to my roots. I've been doing this for over ten years now, and I'm honestly really proud of it all. I'd like to think that all that time spent playing and practicing alone has led me to a sound that can be appreciated by more than just...well, myself.

(Also, I got an award!)

The Voidologists: Live at Squeaky Wheel (Wednesday)

Laura, Andy, my sister, and Kendra all came to see my show at Squeaky Wheel on Wednesday night. Stacey had made an amazing video of ridiculous distorted images, looped video, and some great retro 60's looking robots. I hadn't actually seen the whole thing, but I had total faith that it would be great. (and it was, there were many compliments on it after the show.)

I've always said that if even one person that I don't know shows up, I'll be ecstatic...and two people showed up! So I was double-happy. I was bonding with the one guy over Merzbow and noise in general, and the woman who showed up was actually one of the organizers of the Infringement Festival. She was excited to see my show, and we talked about how I do things and my passion behind all of this.

She even wrote a great review the next day on the Infringement blog:
"then over to Squeaky Wheel to see "The Voidologists" whom I had missed at the Noise Fest on Monday. I HAD to go see this act, which was described as a footnote on their promotional material as sounding "like a robot orgy in hell...gone wrong". I thought they deserved an audience just for their marketing acumen. "They" is a misnomer; "The Voidologists" are essentially one techy guy named Dave that puts it all together in his basement, backed by a video his sister made. That last sentence makes it sound like kid stuff; au contraire; this was the audiovisual equivalent of being run over by a tank, and enjoying the experience. I was thrilled. For those with an acquired taste, NOT to be missed. At Squeaky Wheel at 6pm on Saturday."

This entire experience continues to be surreal for me, it's just...amazing. Completely amazing.