The Big Mess: Busking in Nanaimo

Posted on August 2, 2012 by Marty

Who is having a blast busking in Nanaimo?
WE ARE!!! WE ARE!!!

The VoxMan and I got frustrated with having to make sure that our “case was closed”… so we purchased a group and individual busking licenses. Oh my god, we’ve unleashed a Monster!!

We’re having so much fun making music down at the waterfront. I mean REAL FUN. Dusk has never been the same!

The city of Nanaimo is very strict on what you can and can not do, so we purchased a small battery-operated but beautiful sounding system. Kyle recently purchased a cahon and the rest is history.

Last night, while we were in the middle of a song, our good buddy Mikaila Tombe appeared in the waterfront audience. As soon as I saw her, I had an idea… but it took all of us to play along… and it worked PERFECTLY. When we finished the song, I told Kyle to maybe ask someone in the audience if they might want to sing along with us. Kyle was on to where I was going with this, so he pointed to someone who he knew for sure wouldn’t join us. When they refused, he then pointed to Mikaila, who shyly played along… and then totally blew away everyone with “At Last”. I don’t think that anyone was on to our spontaneous little theatre act… even though Mikaila did a few more songs with us. Oh god, that was so fun!!

Another delightful show at our favorite place

Posted on February 22, 2011 by VoxMan Kyle

Big thanks goes out to Acme Food Co. for being our close friends and most comfy performance space. We had a truly delightful show there last Saturday. Delightful not only because were there at least two tables of folks who came because they saw our newspaper advert and youtube videos (marketing really works!!!), but also because we were using some new gear that reallllllly improved the quality of our sound.

I am now using a TC-Helicon VoiceTone for something called Adaptive Compression and Shape modelling, and a new microphone: the Shure Beta 87. And let me tell YOU, a $300 mic can definitely be a delicious improvement over a $100 mic. The sound of my voice is now crisp and present, and I don’t have to make-out with the mic in order to make my beatboxing audible. The inspiration from the nice new sound and the very appreciative, happy audience led me to surprise Marty with an encore tune that he didn’t expect…. mwa ha ha ha ha!

Now we are looking forward to our upcoming concerts in April! Which I’ll post about in a few minutes once the posters are ready!

Ciao for now, friendly fans and secret admirers.

– VoxMan

Primeval moaning and wicked beat drops

Posted on October 26, 2010 by VoxMan Kyle

This is VoxMan Kyle and Comox Valley’s Mantrakid voice-jam on aire during his Creamreefer show.

I am accompanying most of the tracks being played on this show. See if you can pick me out in there. As well as jamming, we get into some nicely deep philisopho-musical discussion about the use of the voice in music, community, and evolution.