Describing the Kicksville live show isn't so easy - it really is one of those "holy crap, you gotta see this!" kinda things. It's part concert, part theater, part live art performance, and part technical geekery, all rolled into a continuous multimedia experience. We'll give it our best shot though, so bear with us.....
The Music
The City Council is what we call the group of Kicksville citizens that make up the live show. There are other folks that join in when possible (there are a lot of us after all), but the core group is eight people give or take. If you haven't noticed already, our music is kinda all over the place. One song might be African trip-hop and the next an homage to Ministry. To make it work live means we all get to be mutli-instrumentalists - and that includes instruments like the drill-tar and a 1977 Buick hubcap.....
Live Art??!!
Most bands don't have an artist on stage. The ones that do, don't have Tone Deaf - an artist whose primary media include barbed wire, gaff tape, drum heads, and whatever else he can pull out of the trash. As you can see from the pictures, it ain't your usual watercolor hippie painting....
Tone's performance doesn't end there either - he's a key part of the show as a musician too and our not-so-humble narrator.
But wait - there's more art! In addition to Tone doing his thing on stage, we cover the walls of the venue with works from Tone and the other artists who have collaborated with Kicksville: Andy Ewen, Skinny Gaviar, and Kristie Lee. And then there's all the artwork used in the videos...
Video
There are 2 large projection screens. One gets a feed from a computer running in sync with Hal (the main audio computer), and the other gets a feed from a video switcher, also controlled by Hal. We have cheesy little security cameras all over the stage that feed into said video switcher, along with the main video feed. Then there are the LCD monitors we place along the front of the stage...some get one feed, some another, and then some get feeds directly from Hal so you, the audience, can see how wonderful Hal is. Hal never makes mistakes. He is programmed to be perfect.
But we digress.
Here's an example of one of the video pieces that runs on the big screens during the show:
The Tech The tech is as much a part of the Kicksville show as the musicians. Because many of us are techs as well as musicians, we were able to design and build a show ourselves that can stand side-by-side with major arena tours.
There are eight computers on stage with us, piles of instruments, two 9' by 12' projection screens, moving lights everywhere, and a LOT of cable to hold it all together ;-) What most shows hide off stage, we put right out front so everyone can see it. All the audio, video, and lighting is automated, and we have video monitors all around the stage showing the control screens so you can walk right up and see for yourself what's going on. We even put cameras on our onstage console so you can see the faders move by themselves! Now who woudln't want to see that? ;-)
