The Epic of Gilgamesh

Wed 31st Dec, 2008 in Gig Reviews

Nine drummers, a collection of synths and electro toys, one enormous mixing desk, an imac, two guitars, a bass and a couple of microphones; Sixteen musical geniuses squashed into one long, small store room on a 35 degree day with two cartons of beer, a video camera and an SLR camera; A tour grant and a gig date for not too far in the future: Amazingly, this is neither overkill, a disaster or regimented in any way; this is The Epic of Gilgamesh.

In a departure from the norm, this is a review of a jam, or a preview if you like, and is the result of being in the right place at the right time, and using a professional looking camera as a thinly veiled excuse for being allowed to stay and listen. You can have a look at some of the pictures from the day here

At least one member of the collective was reading the Penguin classic The Epic of Gilgamesh, so here’s a bit of philosophical musing on the appropriateness of the name; The story is of the relationship between the hero-king Gilgamesh who is bored being so almighty and the half wild Enkidu. Together they drink beer, go on dangerous quests, and humanise the extremes of the other’s personality. After Enkidu’s death, the rest of the story focuses on loss and immortality.

The other Epic of Gilgamesh is a collective of almighty musicians on a dangerous quest of experimental music. They are a mixture of chaos and control, and the result was a jam of epic scope, that no one wanted to end, but the need to replenish beer finally won out over the pending immortality of the song.

And so to the musicians: TEoG is comprised of anyone available from the musical pool of Injured Ninja, Mile End, French Rockets, Pacific by Rail , and whomever else they have met since the last time they jammed. The rule seemed to be that anyone who made it just fit themselves in wherever there was a niche. The drummers had to discard some parts of their kits and share with someone standing in the gap between kits drumming on several different kits at once.

They jammed their way through a selection of Injured Ninja songs, barely recognisable, but infinitely danceable. IDDQD (yes, that’s the god-mode cheat in Doom) is guaranteed to slay you when you hear it. Everyone joined in on the refrain, (although there was no space for extra mics in the room) and every part added to the intensity of the track. Injured Ninja’s Dom Pearce lead the drummers, and seemed to become god-like himself as he lost himself to the beat. The rest of the collective followed his lead, and as his passion infected them all, each musician became powerful gods as the masculine humidity in the room rose to an alarming level.

Gilgamesh plays on 10th January as part of an experimental noise jam at the Bakery as a fund-raiser for Injured Ninja’s upcoming Japanese tour. Also on the bill are These Ship Wrecks, Blac Blocs, Brown, The Many Guises (of Rod Stewart) and Abe Sada -a band with 4 bassists who make music that literally makes you move. (Named after a Japanese woman who – œerotically asphyxiated’ her husband before carving her name into his skin and carrying his genitals around in her purse.)

If you have never heard The Epic of Gilgamesh before, you have never experienced anything like it, and owing to the fluidity of the band members, chances are that even if you have, you have never experienced anything like it either.