tony fisher: guitars, effects
chris p mowforth: bass
andy heintz: keyboards, tapes, effects, voices., musical saw, kazoo
tom augsburger- percussion
aided and abetted at various times by the GIANT PAWchestra ( tove redevall- guitar & vocals, tracy vandal- vocals, thea heintz- violin, sallie robbins- cello, maria alavarez echenique- vocal translation )
Influences
mainzer cats, mark ryden, liz mcgrath, howls moving castle, nursery rhymes, amphetamines, alan moore, sandman, tetsuo, ealing comedy, film noir, retro futurism, robots, animation, spongebob, taxidermy, abandoned buildings, anthropomorphism, psychedelia, lowbrow art, paranoia, daleks, burlesque, masks, cold war, celebrity, stasys eidrigevicius, jan svenkmajer, cabaret, oil projecters, fire, full metal alchemist, gantz, chobits, karas, ghost in the shell, art toys
The Ancient Order of the Giant Paw was a secret society formed in London during the 1880s A contemporary of the ' Golden Dawn ' , it was based around an icon which was believed to be the severed paw of a she-demon.....
The legend of the Giant Paw claimed that the Paw was cut off by Abdul Alhazred , a mad poet of Sana, in Yemen, who is said to have flourished during the period of the Ommiade caliphs, circa 700 A.D. He visited the ruins of Babylon and the subterranean secrets of Memphis and spent ten years alone in the great southern desert of Arabia -- the Roba el Khaliyeh or "Empty Space" of the ancients -- and "Dahna" or "Crimson" desert of the modern Arabs, which is held to be inhabited by protective evil spirits and monsters of death..........
In this desert he attempted to invoke the she-demon Theasalli , a cat/bear like entity which roamed the earth in search of children whose souls she stole to enable her to lactate the 'milk of life', and animate her demon spawn..........
The legend states that Alhazred succeeded in calling the demon , which became so enraged it tried to drag him into a mighty chasm to the pits of hell, a fate he escaped by severing the monster's paw with his scimitar.........
Over history the Giant Paw passed through many hands, Olaus Wormius mentions it in his texts of 1487 , it crops up again in Henri Cornelius Agrippa of Nettesheim's influential work De occulta philosophia libri tres (1531), before becoming the property of the Elizabethan magician and astrologer Dr John Dee during his stay in Prague in 1587, given to him by the alchemist Jacob Eliezer known as the "Black Rabbi"..........
The Giant Paw then disappears , the next record of its existence being the formation of the ' Ancient Order Of The Giant Paw ' in London by John Ravenscroft , the son of a wealthy mill owner who had amassed a huge fortune during the early years of the industrial revolution.........
Initially just a playboys vice and opium den, the club members soon turned their hand to dabbling in the occult (a very fashionable pastime in the latter half of the 19 th century) but with dire consequences for Ravenscroft who became implicated in the murder of several East End children who had been discovered ' torn to pieces as if by some monstrous animal ' and although his family's influence kept him from the hangman's noose, he lived out his days in Bedlam..........
The Giant Paw is still the property of the Ravenscroft family, having been passed down the generations as an heirloom, and is now kept at their family estate in Bodmin, Cornwall...........
Since 1983 there have been over 60 sightings of large cat-like creatures on Bodmin Moor ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/136546.stm ) .........
In 2005 John Ravenscroft the 4 th started the record label ' FERAL electronics '.............
Their first signing was the band Giant Paw...........
In 2006 Giant Paw decided they would not be a traditional 'band' anymore, but would be a musical greetings card company issuing strictly limited edition hand made cards containing numbered CD-Rs of specially recorded songs......................
LIMITED EDITION ART CARD SERIES 1 RELEASES: ................................................................................................................ ISSUE 1 (DECEMBER 2005)- A WINTER TALE... one track cd inside individually hand numbered ' snow paw' design card. Strictly limited to 50 cards.....SOLD OUT
ISSUE 2 (NOVEMBER 2006)- EARLY RISER/ SOMETHING AROUND A.... two track cd inside limited edition hand screen printed card...design by Chin Keeler ( Doberman Family).strictly limited to 200 hand numbered cards....SOLD OUT.
ISSUE 3 (AUTUMN 2007)- MOSQUITO/SILENCE... two track cd inside limited edition hand screen printed card...design by Chin Keeler ( Doberman Family).strictly limited to 200 hand numbered cards.....SOLD OUT.
ISSUE 4 (SUMMER 2008)- FLOOD/SURGE... two track cd inside limited edition hand screen printed card...design by Chin Keeler ( Doberman Family).strictly limited to 200 hand numbered cards... OUT SOON
mosquito/silence artcard/cd artwork by chin keeler release date 29th sept 2007
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'flood' by joe vaux, inspired by giant paw track 'flood' to be released soon
A special DVD set of the February shows is now available to pre-order at the wire-sound shop
This strictly limited edition 2 disc, region free, PAL format DVD set will be shipped in June.
The ‘Real Life + Thereafter’ DVD contains the entire concert filmed at Manchester Academy …
PLUS … Extra features include ‘Feed The Enemy’ filmed at the rehearsals, an alternate take of ‘A Song From Under The Floorboards’ and exclusive images from the period …
PLUS … On the second CD disc, you get an audio recording straight from the desk of 11 songs from the show at The Forum, London …
PLUS … In the package, you get a free tour T-Shirt in any size you like ranging from Super Small to Mighty XL and all stops in between.
Society is afraid of your wild natures afraid of your naturalness, so from the very beginning, it starts cutting your wings.
And the most dangerous possibility in you is the possibility of love.
Because if there is love, you can go even against the whole world.
If you know your being, there is no question of becoming.
All that you could have ever imagined to become you already are.
You are gods who have forgotten who they are.
You are emperors who have fallen asleep and are dreaming that they have become beggars.
Now beggars are trying to become emperors, in dreams they are making great efforts to become emperors, and all that is needed is to wake up! You may be the last generation which has be the possibility to rebel.
And if you don't rebel there may be no more chances.
Humanity can be reduced to a robot like existence.
