Ian: These photos are in reverse order...like the movie Memento. This is the end: the airport. And if the pizza everywhere else in Italy was anything to go by, this machine at our gate could probably make all of my dreams come true.
Ian: After the show, they backed a car up to the house and we jumped in and took off for Milan and drove through the night to meet a red-eye flight to Berlin. Our driver didn't speak much English but he was a good guy. And fast.
Ian: Le Harmacy = D.I.Rad. Diego turned to me before they started and said 'Welcome to hell' and it was a pretty good summation of what came next. These guys brutalised and strobed us for about 15 mins. It's one of the few times in my life when I've been a bit 'Okay, this is getting a bit much, I might have to go outside.' That's our Italian promoter Lorenzo on drums.
Ian: Tom making noise.
Ian: I can't remember this guy's name (there were eight or so acts before AXXONN) but this dude's synth rampage was completely on song. I loved it.
Ian: Epic noise jamz.
Ian: The artist formerly known as Ale. Ally finally played on the last night of our stay in Italy after days of coming to our shows, driving us around and helping us assemble PAs. And his set ruled: drones that turned nasty, understated and precise. It was gold.
Ian: This guy did some noise and then painted a bit and manipulated the sounds with the paint. I have no real idea how it worked but it looked and sounded cool.
Ian: This guy laid down an epic pad of sound and then wailed on the microphone over it. Very slick. We took some interest in his gear (especially his customized mic) and afterwards he gave Tom one of his older mics. A week later Tom played a show with it in Berlin and I'm gonna use it on a track for AXXONN. So this guy is probably gonna be famous just because he was nice to us. NB: All of this stuff was great. For serious, this is one of the best noise/sound art things I've ever seen. I'm not sure if these acts are the cream of the southern Italian noise scene or if this is just how high the bar has been raised in this part of the world. Either way, it was a pleasure and an honor to be there. I'm gonna write to Lorenzo and get some myspace urls of this stuff and post them up here so every one can dig on it.
Ian: This was my favourite act of the night. He is known locally as Nicki Rotten. When we got to the venue (a half finished Italian manor house) Lorenzo told us that Nicki would be playing on the mound of dirt outside. I thought he was joking. He wasn't. Nicki came, set up his amps (including a baby Sunn) and some lights and smoke machine and got to it. He started without a hint of introduction - we were all standing around having dinner then BAM! we all turn around and watched this. He was like an epic sound destroying troll sitting on a little volcano. It made me so excited I kinda danced a bit. I've never really danced at a noise show before.
Ian: Valentina cooked for the punters. It was her parent's place that the gig was held. She was great. The police came during the show and after she told them who she was and who owned the place, they told us to have a good time and be careful on the drive out seeing as the road is a bit tricky and people will have been drinking.
Ian: Gear porn. Not sure we should be encouraging this type of page visit but whatevs.
Tom: Presto!? No.1 label.
Ian: Where the show was. This photo doesn't really do it justice; it was big place when you went downstairs and up. It's going to be a beautiful home when it's done.
Ian: Not a bad view from the front porch either.
Ian: Caution, highschool romances crossing here.
Ian: I have the Reason patch for this organ somewhere. Not really.
Ian: More doom metal tourism. We're digging the churches and cathedrals.
Ian: Creepy.
Ian: Also creepy.
Ian: Will Oldham played on the beach and we went. As a girl at the party the night after said 'He is a dirty fucking man!' Beautiful songs and a fun night.
Ian: Italian cuisine.
Ian: Beach before Bonnie Prince Billy.
Ian: Tom's salad. Later tossed. Not by me, that's fo show.
