Toy Rokit - Immersive and experimental

Mark Rose

The first rule of Toy Rokit is........you don't talk about Toy Rokit.

Well, I'm going to take my life in my hands and write about this unusual trio of musicians. I have sketched all three before as individuals but not in their current manifestation as an improvising unit new to London's scene. Formed in 2013 by Bill Mudge, Chris Nickolls and Mark Rose their musical patter has developed in this last year with 4 Missions (recorded gigs) and 6 Test Flights (closed door recording sessions).

Each session is meticulously recorded because of the organic nature of their music, its 'Carpe Diem' ethos means that what isn't captured then and there is lost to future generations and quite possibly the musicians themselves. Such was the levels of concentration and plundering of inner reserves that the 3 musicians are unaware of their surroundings whilst playing. I by contrast was very conscious of where I was, and that was at the Troyganic Cafe on the 28th May 2014.

Chris Nickolls

Toy Rokit played two 1 hour sets at this charming venue in downtown Hoxton, it was a sparse but loyal following that witnessed the event. Before playing no one talks of what they will be doing, no one hatches a plan and there is little interaction between the trio whilst in mid flight. There is a touch, a sense of the music shifting and spinning, often within their control but sometimes cascading away from them. Each set consisted of just one tune, yet the chapters within evoked a rich emotive response. In fact it was easier to let the mind wander, turning your back on the trio and watch life outside develop on the streets of London at 10pm on a Wednesday night.

Thodoris Ziarkis

This session is a regular from the Contrapunto Collective who present a night of emerging young artists from the field of jazz and improvised music on the last Wednesday of every month at the Troyganic Café. Tonight the man in charge of the door and overseeing proceedings was Thodoris Ziarkis, who is an impressive bass player in his own right.

Although all three players had conventional instruments at their disposal (Mudge/keyboard, Nicholls/drums, Rose/bass) they also had an array of circuit boards, pedals and technological breakthroughs I was not familiar with. Below I have written a brief impression of the first and most successful set but first let me say how impressive and enveloping it was. It was meandering and inspirational, they unearthed long forgotten sentiments and made you want to come back for more. It was as close to gambling as you can get musically and Toy Rokit's live performances could become equally addictive.

Bill Mudge - Keys

Set 1
Mark Rose digs in, you become aware immediately of your surroundings, the lights spilling in from the roads that line two sides of Troyganic. A late night train rumbles over the bridge from the nearby Hoxton overground. Chris Nicholls punches in his co-ordinates and words tumble out. Snatches of mission control patter is almost tangible and we can distinguish just two brief words "line up". As the monologue pulses and vibrates you cannot avoid comparisons with obscure B-Movies from faraway planets. Nickolls gives our feeble minds something to cling onto with the conventional drums, his head often in his chest, eyes closed, he looks more at peace than I have ever seen him before. Bill Mudge slips in just moments of ragtime motifs like a lone merry-go-round. The music creeps up on you like a Rothko painting, it becomes overwhelming as they reach a total assault after 45 minutes of continuous playing. You think it is coming to a close but Rose flips open his lap-top and he squeezes out a pulsating, groping green ooze which snares us before the final descent.

NB. The whole set was recorded, so follow this link to Bandcamp to check it out.
http://toyrokit.bandcamp.com/album/mission-4-troyganic-28-05-2014

Still from Ping Pong Paranoia

It is with pleasure I have to lay some of my cards onto the table here. Although this was my first live experience of Toy Rokit it isn't my first encounter with them. On the 13th February 2014 they improvised to the film, 'Ping Pong Paranoia' whilst it was projected onto a screen at the Survival Studios in Acton. The film was made during my Art residency at the simulated mental health ward at Kingston University and St George's University London and uses the voice of Lindsay Shepherd as well as Toy Rokit's propelling music.

The film will be receiving its first outing at the MORPHOS Immersive Video Dome Art festival, Los Angeles, California on the 27th June 2014. MORPHOS is a one night immersive video experience featuring the world premiere of new experimental immersive and interactive video art in the Vortex LA Dome.

If you can't make it to LA then catch Toy Rokit somewhere more local and let yourself be enveloped by the ebb and flow of their improvised music.

AL.

The Corridor - St George's University London

Tadhg Caffrey

Earlier this month I was invited along to St George's University London by Tadhg Caffrey who is the Public Engagement officer on the Tooting campus. Since becoming artist-in-residence on their Simulated Mental Health ward at Kingston I had not visited the Tooting site and imagined it would also yield its stories under a close inspection. Psychotherapist Harvey Wells told me that I should embed myself in the corridor that links the University with its neighbour St George's Hospital and just watch what unfolds.

Tadhg Caffrey is on a mission to engage the public and spread the word wider afield, his raison d'etre is not only to ensure the most appealing and creative side of SGUL's work is accessible to the wider public and specifically our local community but also to do it with a certain joie de vivre.

Waiting to be taken home

Next month he showcases his 'Spotlight on Science' public event on 26th March where Professor Sanjay Sharma and St George's researchers will be discussing sudden death in sport. Although this sounds an emotive subject it was the ideas and ambition that bubbled on Caffrey's back burner that piqued my interest. His idea for a Health Comic Convention is a crackerjack, based around the award winning artist Emily Hayworth Booth. I can see this being a fascinating way to help patients explore the narratives of being ill, in hospital or even as a visitor or carer.



Before I settled down to my sketching I explored the inner sanctum of the University and hospital. In the library the hide of Blossom the cow, draped seductively over a vaulting horse greeted me like an experiment in crossbreeding tannered species. Then down into the dungeon to sweep past the morgue and into the Museum of Pathology, where rows of glass containers trapped their brains, intestines and deformed livers in a wonderland of inspiration for any artist. I was in heaven.

Corridor Life

How I wish I could have sluiced down a tanker's worth of formaldehyde into the corridor that links St George's hospital and the university. It represents the perfect cross section of life in these two

establishments. At the corridor's furthest tip, deep in hospital territory the sun streams in through huge plate glass windows. Patients in wheelchairs sun themselves like lizards, capturing the rays as if they possessed life imbuing powers. A few mobile phone conversations ending in huffy silences and on more than one occasion I watched a telephone listener descend into an unscheduled siesta.

 

Everyone moved at different speeds along the corridor, a granny ambled in her purple velour tracksuit while a patients in blue robe, limped a little quicker, one arm dangling helplessly from under his hoody. Plenty of couples walked arm in arm, it was hard to tell who supported who, emotionally and physically. Two girls defied the hubbub, by using sign language to communicate in their own silent fishbowl world. There were regular visits to the ever cheerful receptionists who wielded their advice from deep within the belly of the corridor. After sitting next to them for 30 minutes you start to notice that their visitors either arrived undressing themselves or dripping long wet trails like slugs on Speed.

There were lulls of course before the lifts spewed out blue gowned troglodytes and I though in those

moments about how you could represent these narratives in one piece of artwork. I've already been working hard to do this since visiting the Simulated Mental Health ward in January, and new works are emerging on a weekly basis. We'll be presenting some of our recent creations at St George's University London on Wednesday 16th April at 6pm as part of the 'Art of Medicine' series of lectures and exhibitions. Please come and join us, it's open to all but you'll need to register before the 10th April. Details at www.sgul.ac.uk/research/public-engagement/

Its with great pleasure that I share the first short film to emerge from the residency, called 'Ping Pong Paranoia' (below). Harvey Wells and I recorded the 'patient's' monologues whilst on the Simulated Mental Health Ward and this has proved to be a springboard for creativity. The voice you hear is of  'Sandra' who is agitated and feels trapped in this ward environment. The excellent score is by Toy Rokit, who we will be collaborating with throughout the year.

Toy Rokit are
Bill Mudge - Keys/FX/Samples/Loops
Mark Rose - Bass/FX/Samples/Loops
Chris Nickolls - Drums/FX/Samples/Loops





At the event on the 16th April we will be screening 'Ping Pong Paranoia' and also our first film with poet Robin Vaughan-Williams.

AL.