The Tapeworm presents Memorex an evening of misremembering. Words, pictures, music and magnetic reels with The Pathfinders, Cathi Unsworth and Opal X hosted by Travis Elborough
Illustration © SavX
Doors: 7pm
Tickets: £10
In conversation and alive: The Pathfinders’ Roger Cleghorn and Malcolm Garrett. In her own words: Cathi Unsworth. Into the future: Opal X.
Hosted by Travis Elborough
The Pathfinders’ Roger Cleghorn and Malcolm Garrett met in the late 70s when studying art and design at Manchester Polytechnic. Moving to London they shared a flat on the 15th floor of a tower block in the Isle of Dogs. Here they recorded a series of experiments, captured directly on a reel-to-reel tape recorder. The Pathfinders could hardly be described as being musicians who jammed together and with almost 40 years having elapsed since recording, memories are sketchy with regard to who made what noise where. Travis Elborough will interview Cleghorn and Garrett to see what can be recalled and The Pathfinders will share unheard archive material in their live debut.
Cathi Unsworth’s Johnny Remember Me was originally commissioned by Brighton's Literary Loogster Jay Clifton for his Peripheral Vision series of live screen talks, in which authors were requested to pick a movie and spin off a character or situation from the film into an original short story. Cathi writes:
“I have always been somewhat obsessed with the John Leyton song, and while researching the life and times of its producer and co-writer Joe Meek for Bad Penny Blues, had pause to wonder why it was that he ended up with Johnny Kidd's band as The Tornados – but without Johnny. The song being so evocative of curses and ghosts, I wove a little urban myth of my own.“
To close the evening, to shoot us into the future: a live performance by Opal X.
Opal X is the latest project of London based electronic musician Astrud Steehouder, fusing a sound that is equally inspired by early Mute, Sähkö & American noise metal. Recent projects include the Twister album for The Tapeworm described by Boomkat as "a sort of dank hypnagogic sound mulched from zonked electronics, gynoid vox and graveyard atmospheres" & as one third of the NONEXISTENT drone project released by legendary UK industrial label Downwards in 2020. The show at The Horse Hospital will be the London live debut of the Opal X project and promises to engulf the evening in a crushing cold wave of Goth ASMR Hardcore.
Remember, remember – the 4th of November…
