International Drone Day
Saturday 17th May
Gulbenkin Theatre, Canterbury
There is now less than a week to go until International Drone Day lands! Just to be clear, we are talking about electronic synth drones here, not the flying sort. They have their own day at the start of the month, so if you have wandered here by mistake, bad luck, you've missed it! International Drone Day started in Canada in 2015 and has grown in popularity since then, with events happening worldwide on the 'official' day, 24th May. We are ahead of the game in the UK though, thanks to Kent based Coastal Electronauts who are organising this year's event at the Gulbenkin Theatre in Canterbury on Saturday 17th May. Electronaut regulars ambient electro-acoustic artist Shape Navigator, electric violist Sophie Sirota and experimental east/west coast synthesist AnalogueMechanic will perform, with impressive interactive visuals provided by innovative analogue/digital video artist @diz_qo. Star of the show, though, will be Sam Battle aka Look Mum No Computer, who headlines, fresh from a successful clutch of dates in Germany. Charismatic, full of energy, and a little bit bonkers, we interviewed Sam recently for Outsideleft and this is a rare chance to see him play in the UK. He will perform with his monster of a modular synth, Cosmos 2, and anything could happen. This is the man who built a synth out of Furbies and creates flame throwing organ doorbells after all!
The event commences at 7.30pm and there is also a second stage situated in the theatre bar where Sebtic Smile and GHOSTYHED are hosting a communal drone/jam from 5pm, for which attendees are invited to bring their own synth and join in, while the same two artists plus John Gallen will perform their own music from 9.30pm following the conclusion of proceedings in the main theatre. It promises to be quite a day.
Essential Information: Tickets are available from the Gulbenkin Theatre website for a bargain £12 (or just £8 if you are a feckless student and can prove it).
