Jump to content

grit

Members
  • Posts

    80
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by grit

  1. Here we go:

    In July '97 I had seen Richard at Phoenix Festival (UK) and then three weeks later at The Essential Dance Weekender in Finsbury Park. Both sets featured the Aphex Bears dancing, fighting and humping around the stage while Richard played out from his children's plastic play-house
     
    I had agreed to travel to Las Vegas with friends in September of that year and the truth is, I really wasn't prepared for the full-on assault of the senses that I encountered.
    Scanning through the flyers and leaflets in the hotel, I picked up a listing for the Hard Rock Cafe and Aphex Twin was scheduled to play on 19th September, the day before I flew back

    Supported by Luke Vibert with a DJ set and with Sneaker Pimps and Linoleum also on the bill, it was a no-brainer

    The gig was insane - Richard's best gig ever apparently

    I recall there being a red chaise longue on stage and Richard lay on the floor behind it with his setup
    The set list began with tracks from the newly released 'Come To Daddy' EP and I particularly remember Bucephalus Bouncing Ball pinging around the venue

    The Aphex Bears were a little more hyper than I had seen previously and one bear unzipped his costume to reveal Matt Jones (The Jones Machine? of RePhLeX infamy)
    Stage left, next to a particularly menacing security guard was an Asian girl, who was wearing a costume that seemed to consist of a single ribbon, wrapped around her torso
    As Matt's dancing got more and more manic, she handed him an electric shaver and he proceeded to shave his chest and head, throwing the clippings into the audience who were now being worked up into a state of increasing irritation

    Matt grabbed a plastic cup and shoved it down the front of his bear costume
    When the cup emerged again, he proceeded to throw the contents over the crowd

    Panic ensued and as the security guard moved onto the stage to take down this obscene teddy bear, the Asian girl proceeded to unroll the ribbon, getting naked on-stage.

    That was it! - They got shut down early but man, what a gig!


    PS. Warp Records ran a competition to win the Aphex Bear costumes - You had to write in (!) and complete the lyrics to "To Cure a Weakling Child"
    I got a letter back saying that although I had been picked as a winner, the costumes were absolutely rancid and had already been destroyed so they would send some 12" promos instead

    • Like 11
    • Haha 1
  2. 20 hours ago, Joyrex said:

    I would go re-read the interview with Paul Nicholson, who worked with Richard on the SAW II artwork and design.

    I'm pretty sure either Paul made it "close enough" without getting too precise, but I am pretty sure the CD/Cassette artwork wasn't changed to reflect the format differences/limitations.

    This would make a great YouTube video for WATMM's YouTube Channel... if that existed.

    At a recent talk (hqi, London) Paul Nicholson discussed the creation of the album artwork but couldn't recall if there was a cassette version of SAW II

    1543753359_2023-04-2620_38_59.jpg

    1626064538_2023-04-2620_43_16.jpg

    1763618041_2023-04-2620_45_22.jpg

    1384489518_2023-04-2620_40_45.jpg

    • Like 3
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.