Lo-fi thoughts and Shonky Reflections on 'Fragments of a Punk Opera'

 Working intensely on recording, writing, producing and filming more instalments of the 'Fragments of a Punk Opera', I've been reminded of the DCA exhibition 'Shonky: The Aesthetics of Awkwardness' which I attended in 2018, between 2nd and 3rd years of my BA. I recall the show making no impression at all upon me at the time, but it obviously stayed with me as I immediately thought back to it in terms of the form and methodology of that which is loosely-formed, rough, somewhat klunky - yet nonetheless still engaging or, I hope (with regards to my own work), at least entertaining. 

I routinely refer to my music adventures as 'lo-fi' and this is an accurate description, but it is also in keeping with the DIY aesthetic which is a signatory on the original punk manifesto. My method is basic, not by choice but by virtue simply of how it is: with no training in music production, I use basic means to create pretty basic music: the drumkit requires several hundred pounds worth of new skins and cymbals, and the main crash has a 2-inch split in it. Punk did everything it could with the rock 'n roll basics of bass, drums, guitars and vocals - one or two groups even incorporated keys, as I do too, albeit in a faux-jazz idiom which is still, I would claim, of punk heritage, as I have no formal or any other understanding of jazz and associated music theory (if it qualifies as jazz at all then it is genuinely 'shonky jazz', no?).

These jazz-ish moments may owe their inspiration to the classy sophistication of pop-musical geniuses Sparks via the smart-ass lyrics, but the production and attitude is more suggestive of the quirkiness found in early Adam Ant or the Stranglers. The works also reinterpret aspects of two previous (if not in fact still ongoing) bodies of work, 'Weimar' and 'A Punk Trilogy in 4 Parts': decadence, cabaret, dark humour and occasional historical and social references which all bounce around between the other recurring interests and obsessions - narrative, character, relationships, betrayal, heartbreak...and occasionally art, as in this track:

Herein, musical professionals will note missed beats, fluffed notes, flat vocals, hammy performances all round - none of which is done on purpose to simulate crude or raw aesthetics as a shallow raison d'étre, but is simply the results of "doing what I do". Sometimes the fluffs aren't noticed until well into the mixing process, and digital music editing can only fix so much. The Band Aid-patched results are therefore in full concert with the 'shonky' concept: I make music because I love it: it's an affair of the heart, not of the intellect. I do not try to polish the results too much: too-slick production would only highlight the fluffs and clangers even more, and make them sound much worse. A rough, hissy punk demo track can get away with a lot more than an HD production of 'Moonlight Sonata', in which instrumental perfection is expected.  

A recently-recorded track with a Sham 69 vibe, 'I Swear', humorously bleeps out the occasional swear words until the ad lib rant at the end, in which the f-bombs slip past the completely out-of-time censoring devices, thus not only calling into question the authority of the censor (which was wielded as hamfistedly during the original punk era as much as any guitar in the hands of countless young would-be upstarts), but also celebrating the subversive punk voice itself: despite all attempts to shut us up, we are still shouting:

For we know three chords, and we therefore are a band. 

As a working-class phenomenon, punk highlighted the élitism of the music world of its day, and levelled the playing field of musicianship (going on to inform various subsequent waves, and Grunge, in later decades). My body of work does not shun the economic divisions of society. The two main characters start off penniless, and possibly end that way, too (assuming they even survive). And does the millionaire gangster sit beneath a portrait of the late Queen Elizabeth II for reasons other than mere affection? Economic concerns are writ large across the 'Fragments' project, starting out from the reality of my need to replenish an entire drumkit and invest in a recording microphone (rather than merely yelling at the laptop), to the desperate situation of the two main characters, Steff and Jen. However, the levelling and liberating tendencies of technology, which originally allowed punk to flourish at street-level, have permitted this artist to realise their creative endeavours in a tangible form, in the same way that cheap Xeroxing technologies of the 1970s allowed fans and writers to publish and distribute their own 'zines, and no longer had to rely upon the stuffy music papers of the day for opinion and information.

'Hardwired' Public Screening and 'Bad Money' Continues...

 As expected, my presentation of 'Hardwired' at DJCAD last Wednesday (26th) went splendidly well. Working with only a couple of sketchy notes, I managed to speak for 45 minutes around the 20-minute screening, thanks to a very engaged and talkative audience. As my first ever solo presentation/exhibition, I found it a very rewarding and exciting experience, and hope to do more of the same soon. 

Here is the full presentation, plus Q & A:

The layout of the event was exactly as I had first imagined it back in the Springtime - incorporating the sculptural Medusa work, printed flyers, and me presenting in character as Em in a snake print dress, which reflects the serpentine aspect of Medusa's myth. The feedback and discussion points surrounding the characters inspired me to push on with the nascent 'punk opera' concept ('Bad Money'), and a few days later I had a good demo song 'Madame Melodie Melody' recorded, from which grew a big musical production number and some semi-improvised narrative working around the slim storyline to date:

"I am the one, I am the law and the word. I am the beginning and the end. I take what I want and I get what I need At a profitable, comfortable dividend... You got a problem with that? You better go speak to the Lord, honey. He's the only one who's gonna save your godamn sorry ass now... 'Cos I am only a dame (But what a helluva dame) And while this world's my oyster, I will eat pearls and I'll poop caviar... We were put on this earth to do the best we can, and London town's my cloister And if you want a share, then you better beware 'Cos I'm (she's) a mean mutilator like Robespierre You said it boy, I'm the fellah's biggest fan I'm (she's) gonna get you any way I (she) can... So don't mess around with the Big Bad Melodie Ma'am... That's what I am."

Spot the Harry S Truman reference above...

This clip, filmed in part of the family house, involves me portraying 4 characters, stretching the concept of multiplicity of persona, and may be the most ambitious indoor musical video work to date, as a result. Synchronicity, a recurring theme within much of my creative work going back three decades now, resurfaces when reflecting upon the retro aspect of the Madame's interior decor and style (antique, Royalist, jazz) versus the younger, brasher youthful protagonists (contemporary, poor, punk). The flip.comes when we discover that Melodie is a furious atheist, as a result of Jen's blabbing about her devotion to prayer to resolve their economic situation. Intentional deadpan comedy now also infuses the work, as a means of propping up the stock/cliché character types (musical theatre, after all, isn't renowned for its depth of characterization), and one of the redeeming qualities of original punk was its cheeky and subversive sense of humour and occasional lapses into the elder generation's sphere of music hall and other popular forms (e.g. the piano singalong interlude in the Cockney Rejects' single 'The Greatest Cockney Rip-Off'). The movie musical has therefore some features in common with the porn film: neither can possess narratives or characters that are too deep or layered, due to the need to pack in sufficient 'crowd pleasing' scenes - both genres, too, tend to assume some level of 'audience participation' to be considered truly engaging. 

The whole artifice itself is attractive to me, in terms of my growing methodology with increased exposure - even celebration - of the limitations inherent in making works like this alone with no assistance. I would be interested in presenting some of the musical material live one day, perhaps as part of a multi-media exhibition of the punk cycle. Might the 'book' of such an opera be traditional, or radically rethought - whether in a Brechtian mode or some other alternative or subversive means? The libretti displayed as works in themselves which stand alongside, rather than being subservient to, the musical aspects?

Rather than constructing an entire genuine musical film out of these interludes, this body of material is now being dubbed 'Fragments from a Punk Opera', with fragmentation itself a recurring theme and methodology in my recent work (cf. 'Fragments of Amazonia' (2018), 'Fragments, Intermediaries', my MFAAH final exhibition in 2021, and as a subtext in the 2022 film 'Hardwired') wherein what is included is as relevant as the idea of what is not, or what is shown versus what is not shown. Which sections, stories, characters, from the over-arching narrative are deserving of having a song and dance made about them, and which ones not? Furthermore, the concept of connectedness itself can become the responsibility of the viewer, the audience, if the 'book' - i.e., the over-arching storyline, is left deliberately ambiguous, or even non-existent, providing only the libretti of each individual song. The old punk methodology of DIY - from printing and distribution (photocopied cut 'n pasted fanzines) to the music itself ('learn 3 chords, form your own band') - can therefore be applied not only to me as creator, actor, composer, musician, but to the audience who are invited to create their own beginning, middle and end from the selection of musical and other materials on offer. A 'random access' musical. Who are the villains and who the heroes? Why? True anarchy - make up the story that you want to see, not the one that is fed to you... (perhaps for this concept to fully work, some more ambiguity of character and motivation may need to be applied. But, as it stands - are Steff and Jen truly blameless? Is Melodie really irredeemable, if she regularly decapitates other gangsters, and furthermore, respects the Queen? Who's to say that Mr. Hookz won't let Steff & Jen 'off the hook' out of personal sympathy?) Furthermore, are there any links to my previous works - such as the similarity between the Melodie persona, and my work of a year ago, 'A/Object' and 'Untitled Sculptural Objects'?

There is potential for the humour to get blacker, and the art to become more artistic, in reference to one of my favourite films of all time: Peter Greenaway's 'The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover', which also deals with themes of crime, betrayal, and revenge, concepts which have already begun to swirl around some of the newly developed lyrical ideas.