Orchestra or Band | This Is The Kit (Kate Stables, Rozi Plain, Neil Smith, Jamie Whitby-Coles) |
Set List | Vocal and Guitar Workshops, Performance (This Is The Kit), Q&A |
Performance Notes | The day before their debut concert on the main stage of the Royal Albert Hall, alt-folk band This is the Kit spents a day working with sicth form students from around London and the surrounding areas at The Rhythm Studio in London.
The day began with a choral workshop and some vocal warm-ups, where students were encouraged to use different sounds and sing notes unrelated to one another, in order to experiment with discordant harmonies.
Following a break for lunch, Kate and co. held a guitar workshop focusing once more on the theme of harmonious discord. The aim of this session was, in the words of band member Neil, to make the guitar not sound like a guitar.While the rest of the band accompanied on drums, guitars and bass, Kate and Neil worked with the now-amplified sixth-formers to create a sonic wall of reverb-heavy, swelling noise, using experimental techniques such as loosening guitar strings, strumming with paintbrushes, sliding a screwdriver up and down the fretboard, and placing the guitar up close to the amp in order to create feedback distortion.
The two workshops culminated in a live performance that brought together the choir and guitar students into one big collective, collaborating with the band on epic-sounding, distortion-laden renditions of Bashed Out and Earthquake, and bringing together all the various techniques learnt that day.
This event was part of the Halls Albert Sessions, which provides up-and-coming acts with the opportunity to play the venue, attracts younger audiences and features unique masterclasses. Through these events, headline acts share their expertise with young people from schools across London. |
Related Archival Material | Digital Photographs |