Founders:
Nicholas Dobson, Creator/Co-Founder
Michael Mellender, Co-Founder
Origin Lodge
Oakland, California, USA:
Nicholas Dobson (Supreme Tiger) Michael Mellender, Wrong Rong, Darling Freakhead, Morgan Guberman, Nathaniel Hawkes, Dan Rathbun, Carla Kihlstedt, Matt Lebofsky, Sylvain Carlton, Steve Lew, Dr. Steven Clark, Dren McDonald, Karry Walker, Thorn Freddy Price, Jon Axtell, Kelek, Jessa, Wally Scharold, Adam Stacey
Wig Lodge
Oakland, California, USA:
Dr. Steven Clark (Grand Poobah) Sal Orlando, Bunny Knutson, Edward Current, Michael Wertz, Andy Cowitt, Nicholas Dobson, Michael Mellender, Darling Freakhead, Gregory Slusser, Jon Axtell, Garth Kauffman, Chris Xiques, Simone Kusz, Sharky, the band Svelte, sometimes Matt Lebofsky, and occasionally, Steve Lew
Bullet Lodge
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA:
Kai Esbensen (Chief Trajectory Officer, Resonant Bellwether Severe) Blake Albinson, Brooke Murphy, Marshall Bolin, Bob Amaden, John Curtis, Jenny Case, Rod Smith, Jansen Price, Eric Hall, Ick, Dave VanderWall, Joel Allard, Kristen
Neptune Lodge
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada:
John Crawford (Lodge Head) Dave Cheong, Olo J. Milkman, Shawn Killaly, Brian Garbet, Kimla Attiana, Azam Tyab, Debbie Love
Burning Lodge
London, England UK:
Brother Oak (Lodge Head) Mother Matches, Brother Buffalo, Brother Typewriter
Loge Cromorne 13
Paris, France
Joe (lodge head) Labsynth, Jeanne, Bedrael, Cliaven, Jud@s, RV
The Black Lodge
Austin, Texas, USA:
Adam Kahan, Allen White (not the drummer from Oasis), Reed Burnam, John Dixon, Josh Robins, David Wyatt, Sam Arnold, Eric Bohlke (Lodge Head) Andy Loomis
Clutter Lodge
Gorinchem, Netherlands:
Reinier Loopik (Ubiquitous Shrieking Being and August Patriarch) Lennaert Borra, Patrick de Wit, Menno
Lodge of 1,000 Names
Los Angeles, California, USA:
Bunny Knutson, Dominique Persi, Adam Stacey, Danny Shorago, Ozzy, Rani Sharone, Douglas Bierend
Urchin Lodge
Reno, Nevada, USA:
Jen Scaffidi (Lodge Head) Eric Foreman, Jon Cornell
Limey Lodge
Catfield / London, England, UK:
"Prog" Steve Inman(Blessed Overlord) Malcolm Gayner, Mike Friedman, Matt Glennie, Spike, Gemma Cummings, Oliver Lord
Sismeringa Lodge
Lorraine, France:
Eric Goubert (lodge head) Stephane Monbel, Hervé, * Florian Valoo, Vincent Thekalal, Emilie Salata.
Icono Lodge
Oakland, California, USA:
Val Esway, Linda Rao (aka Tara Linda) Denise Funari, Suki O'Kane, Sue Hutchinson, Lucio Menegon (Lodge Head) Jason Kleinburg, Camille Anderson, Bill Wolter, Jefferey Ruiz, Tony Remmington, Andrew Sano
Odyniros Lodge
Sebastopol, California, USA:
Loren Crotty, Zack Fisher, Karl Schoelles, Andrew Woodruff, Chris Woodruff
Mulch Lodge
Sudbury, Massachusetts, USA:
Mary Lodge
San Francisco, CA, USA:
Sardonic Lodge
Seattle, Washington, USA:
Adam Stacey and Mervin Dowels (lodge heads) John Delp, Ashley Ericsson. Eli Moore, Kevin Kmetz, Tyler Lingwall
Speakeasy Lodge
Orange County, CA, USA:
Lord Dyldo (Lodge Headed Professional Amorphus Lamb Sniffer)
Lazarus Lodge
(somewhere rural?) France
Veronica Lodge
Portland, Oregon, USA:
John Curtis (August Untitled Director of Activities) Steve Hale, Michael Jarmer, Rene Ormae-Jarmer, Myrrh Larsen, Curtis Settino, Mel Kubik, Gavin Bondy
Heater Lodge
somewhere in England UK:
Ben, Al, Martin, Jo...
The Leftover Lodge
El Sobrante, California CA
Beehive Lodge
Salt Lake City, Utah, USA:
Keinotodellinen Saunaloossi
somewhere in Finland:
Jukka Packalén (Lodge Alpha Whale) Fredrik Söderholm,
Eero Jaakkola
Eastside Lodge
New York, New York, USA:
John Dylan Keith (monkey [mind] king) Nick D'amico, Jenny Lynn Hyde, Kacy Wiggins, Adam Caine, Carter Thornton
Howutakit Lodge
Houston, Texas, USA:
the Dug (Keeper of the Nonsense, Heterophonic Badgers, and Penumbrous Foodstuffs)
the Luke, the Sonia
Liberty Hall Lodge
Boston, Massachusetts, USA:
Ben (lodge head) Jesus. Fraz
Heater Lodge
Tuscon Arizona:
The Roger Lodge
Houston, Texas, USA:
Derek Keller, Martin Simmons, Mlee Marie Suprean, Christopher Cascio, Joe Mathlete
Naxkohoman Lodge
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA:
Ostrakonus (Grandfather of the Intrepid Nose-Faucet)
Pantangelini, Quattlebaumakus, Andrew.
Zero Lodge
Dallas, Texas, USA
Beast Lodge
Oakland, California, USA:
Robert Cheifetz (Lodge Head) Will Norman
Capsicum Lodge
Oakland, California, USA
Kraken Lodge
Milwaukee/Waukesha, Wisconsin, USA:
Influences
Secret Societies. The Surrealists. Humanism that is not exclusively secular. Mania. Vertigo. Coffee. All that stuff about artificial extended families in the book 'Slapstick' by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. An enjoyment of snacks and intimate gatherings. Music of all kinds. Hyperventilation. Rain drops at great magnification. Dust motes. Stuff.
• The Immersion Composition Society is an extreme musical subculture spanning communities around the world. A system of fast-moving songwriting games, songwriter 'lodges', and secret listening parties, our 8-year experiment was born for one purpose; to point out and question the limits that creative people place on the things they permit themselves to try artistically. To develop and disseminate surprising new ways that 'tortured geniuses' everywhere might stop thinking and start doing whatever the hell they want all the time. Hopefully this in turn will stimulate a nerdy utopian conversation about creativity and community that will never end ever.
Ok, that was two reasons.
Various reaching attempts to describe the Society have yielded things like:
• "Fight Club for musicians."
• "Tortured Genius Anonymous."
• "Those guys who try to write 20 songs in one day."
• "The guys from that express article."
• "The guys who create randomized musicals using hat drawings and are influenced by the surrealists."
• "The guys who published a deceptively normal looking book on songwriting."
• Music
The following is a wildly eclectic compilation of the Society, tending to focus on the original "Oakland Elders", and all the friends we have made over the years. There is a bewildering variety of different types of music produced within the Society; rock, classical, country, electronic, comedic nonsense, singer-songwriter, metal, R&B, jazz, experimental chaos, etc. Explore! More information about the Society below the fold...
• O v e r v i e w...
An especially desperate attempt to explain everything about the ICS really fast might read like this...
Ready?
-------> Game
The one thing that ICS members are best known for is their central speed-songwriting game, which takes place over the course of a single day. The Society evolved out of this game.
It's called the "20-Song Game."
It works like this:
1) Everyone who is playing the game wakes up on the same day, and, while remaining split up for most of the day, all of the players individually attempt to write and record as many new songs as possible before the day is over. In theory, they are all aiming for twenty songs. In practice, absolute chaos generally ensues.
2) At the end of the day, all of the players put their session on a CD or cassette, and after pausing at a store to procure treats (very important), they all descend on a common location, where they have a lodge meeting; which is to say, a listening party where everyone listens to all of the music that everyone made, while braying in the manner of wild beasts.
3) The 20-Song Game is a springboard to a much larger system that invites the user to expand and modify it.
-------> Lodge
The ICS is a ring of songwriter lodges, which is sort of like a small, local secret society of musicians. The lodge exists as a way for all of the members to force themselves to write as much music as possible. The privacy and secrecy of a lodge are there so that while the lodge members are busy making as much music as possible, they can also feel especially free and uninhibited about it, in the manner of a person who knows that nobody is watching (except friends). The members of an ICS lodge have sworn to support and encourage each other completely. So, thats nice.
-------> More games
After a couple years of existence, an interesting thing happened to the Society. Lodges all over the continent started to evolve, announcing their own regional rules and variations on the 20 Song Game, creating day-themes like the "Day Musical," and multi-player sub-games like "One Start, Two Finishes." It was becoming a common practice for Society members to personalize the 20-Song Game over time, cycling through periods with higher and lower volume goals. As if all of this wasn't enough, the founders of the Society had gotten bored or something, and were now creating entirely NEW games, encouraging everyone in the Society to do the same. These new games had names like "Spooling," "The Opus Game," and "The 7-Day Game". The 20-Song Game remained as our central activity, but there was now a wide array of options for different moods and occasions...
So, uhhh...
-------> Book
Some years ago, ICS methodology gave birth to a book method for blocked songwriters (Immersion Music Method).The book is called "The Frustrated Songwriters Handbook." It was written by Karl Coryat and Nicholas Dobson, and you can buy it here.
You don't have to buy the book to join the Society. At all.
-------> Contact
First of all, we just created an ICS Forum, where lodgers and book readers can make friends, post stories, link to mp3s, share new games, and form virtual lodges online. Go to the ICS site for a link to the Forum.
Other than that, if you have a question, or really want to contact the founders of the Society, they can be reached here:
Nicholas Dobson,
Supreme Tiger of Origin Lodge, Oakland, CA, USA
A gross slag graduates past whatever feminist jerked the problem's bone. To wed symmetry would lighten the burn, though codes abide to the ambassador's eyelash. A salty innocence sands the rainbow across a contrary effort.
I just listened to Nicholas' Black Ship track, and I think it is indescribably awesome.
I had a horrific 20 song game today where I suffered for 11 hours and 55 minutes and for five minutes somewhere in the middle wrote the best thing I've ever done. Actually, I'm exaggerating for effect. Once I started to hate the game, I mostly just messed around on the internet looking for "inspiration" (ie porn).
I'd love to do a virtual lodge with anyone who's up for it.
Online Now!
