Vocal: Fiddian Warman drums: Chris Bashford (also Chelsea drummer) Bass: Rob Bartram (also of Chester) Guitar: Andrew Tweedie (ex-Menace) Punk Voice Choir: from members of the support acts
Influences
Wagner, Magazine, Brahms (just try it), ATV, Chelsea, Stockhausen, Adam Ant, Woolrich, Sex Pistols, Buzzcocks, Penetration, Slits, Little Feat (look - don't have a downer about country rock - just listen to Little Feat ... great songs), The Damned, UK Subs, Pere Ubu, Ramones, Johnny THunders and the Heartbreakers, Generation X, The Vibrators, Souixsie (great new album), Kilburn and the Highroads, New York Dolls, Undertones, PIL, The RUts, Devo, ... and the rest
Sounds Like
Menace, Chelsea, Clash, Slits, Magazine, Buzzcocks, Little Feat
Fiddian Warman’s installation Neurotic was performed, as 3 punk gigs, at London's Institute for Contemporary Arts on 3rd, 4th and 5th July. His simple but imposing robots attended the gigs and, as expected although not guaranteed, pogo-ed to songs that they identified as punk music. The robots had been 'listening' to a range of music including punk from Fiddian's record collection and developed a 'preference' for punk music.
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I (Andrew here) apologise for the constant quotation marks but the language of human responses to music has been used throughout the development of the robots' 'brains' (there I go again): but, real neurological investigation and the modelling of computational biology, which is then programmed into a computer, may create industrially produced processors that show the same qualities of a 'brain'. Perhaps the terms here should be 'mechanical processor' and 'bio-mechanical processor' - the mechanical and biological equally fitting into the frame of 'brain'. I'll stop the quotation marks now.
(Mechanic processors are already being developed as neural prosthetics (see: http://www.changesurfer.com/Hlth/BD/Brain.htmlRTFToC11 which is readable if already dated.)
So, Neurotic questions how learning develops through the empathetic responses of the brain (bio-mechanical processor) which are modelled into the robots' own processors (mechanical processors) as neural networks based on recently discovered mirror neurons which stimulate mimicry (an empathetic response). Each robot is exposed to punk records that Fiddian collected as a youth. The robots develop their neural connectivity through listening.
Are the robots' processors actually developing taste for punk music as they are exposed to more of it?
Could professor Peter McOwan's neural models, developed for Fiddian's robots and coded by Jons Jones Morris, be used to repair, replace or enhance people's aesthetic sensibility?
Neurotic and the Punk Voice Choir
At the ICA gigs, Fiddian fronted the band Neurotic and the PVCs (Punk Voice Choir). The band also included punk guitarist Andrew Tweedie (Menace, that's me)), drummer Chris Bashford (Chelsea) and bass player Rob Bartram (Chester). Fiddian sang tracks written especially for Neurotic to test the robots' acquired taste. Each night, Neurotic and the PVCs and the support bands aimed to excite a mechanical and human audience to the point of synaptic dancing delight. Mostly they did dance but you could see some reluctance to pogo to unfamiliar songs until they had heard a verse or two. This illustrated the response to new songs.
More about Neurotic ...
Fiddian's website contains more about Neurotic: http://www.fiddian.com/neurotic.html
The BBC Online article and video about the ICA gigs covering the science can be seen here ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7487645.stm
ICA gigs and more ...
The support bands for the ICA gigs were:
Fumadores Gertrude Red Eyes Viva Las Vegas Scrotum Clamp The Devil's Hotpants.
A big thanks to them for playing and being open to the possibility that the robots would not recognise their music as punk and, consequently, be bored and not dance.
Neurotic will be touring later this year. We hope to get our robots to Newcastle, Liverpool, Glasgow, Cardiff and Bristol. Keep your eyes open for news ...
Thanks for accepting my add request - I really appreciate this. Well you can read a bunch of reviews of my new CD release in my blog (I'm afraid there are only german reviews available up to now) - and of course you can listen to the songs on the profile. And only if you really, really like what you hear, you know the easiest way to get the CDs is directly from us! :-) I'd love to hear from you soon! -- Beat / BBTD
Is it true that Andrew Tweedie drinks 14 pints of chocolate milk before each live performance and carries a marshmallow at all times in each of his pockets for luck?
