Secret Corner

Here in the secret corner can be found what I can only describe as 'curiosities.' Things here will probably come and go.

Exhibit A - a miserable Christmas song, for which Innerstrings Psychedelic Lightshow made this video:

 


Exhibit B - a new tune in progress at home, with a bit chopped out, shot on phone 22/12/13:




Exhibit C - my "other" blog

crayollaborations

Updated 2nd July 2016

Human beings who have played in Crayola Lectern bands

Random Jon Poole: Core member, plays keys on the album (and the upcoming second one) and played at many of the early gigs.
Alistair Strachan: Core member, plays brass, percussion, keyboards. Also member of Hamilton Yarns, Mary Hampton Cotillion, Oddfellows Casino, Sons Of Noel And Adrian, and ZOFFF
Damo Waters (aka Muddy Suzuki): Core member, On Feb 9th 2014 started playing with Crayola Lectern on keyboards at live shows. He also drums on a couple of tracks on the forthcoming second album and plays with Crayola in ZOFFF

Andrew Jarvis: Played drums on Trip In D recording and associated concerts
Joss Cope: Has played emergency casiotone with Crayola Lectern at gigs in London and Liverpool
Noah Taylor: Played guitar at a Trip In D gig and a wobbly stick which made a whirring sound at another gig once
Wendy Rae Fowler: Played bass at a couple of the bigger band Trip In 'D' gigs
Rachel Simpson: Played her flugelhorn very magnificently at one of the Komedia gigs
Tim Keegan: Played guitar at a Trip In D gig
Jo Spratley: Sang at a couple of gigs on Billennia and Old Magick
Bic Hayes: Played guitar at the jolly big Trip In D gig, plays on the album track I Just Forgot My Big Idea. Various electric guitar parts on the forthcoming second album and plays with Crayola in ZOFFF
Bob Leith: Plays drums on the album and has and will grace(d) the stage with Crayola Lectern
Richard Gorbutt: A man who built an astounding modular video synth which was used at the jolly big Trip In D gig
E-Da Kazuhiza: Boredoms, Seefeel, Drum Eyes thunder man played at the jolly big Trip In D gig
Étienne Rodes: Played the Fender Six rather fabulously at a Trip In D gig which can be watched right here
Adrien Rodes: Played his Farfisa with much aplomb at the same Trip In D gig above
Chris Tomsett: Anyone who has seen Crayola will have noticed all sorts of incredible visuals going on - oil slide wheels and digital manipulations combined, thanks to Innerstrings
 

Thee Faction
Crucially important socialist R'n'B band whose songs serve to remind y'all of the importance of taking a comradely stance in times of Tory oppression and actively engaging in the war of position in a hugely entertaining and danceable way

LSD-25
Psychedelic kosmische rock maschine to help Bic Hayes, E-Da, Alistair Strachan, Richard Gorbutt and CL let their hair down

Mind Magma Modulation
E-Da, Alistair Strachan, CL and others playing improvised psych explosions mit ambience

Damo Suzuki
Crayola has been a regular 'sound carrier' for the former Can singer, having provided effected alto sax, oboe, guitar, keyboards and bass at gigs alongside (variously) E-da from The Boredoms as well as DJ Scotch Egg, Terry Bickers (House of Love, Levitation), Jon Poole (Cardiacs, Wildhearts), Iain Laws (Coin-Op, Shark), Easy Pete (Shark), Heidi Heelz (Shark, Black Violets, The Priscillas), Maff and Ned (The Egg), Alistair Strachan (Hamilton Yarns), Bic Hayes (Cardiacs, Levitation, Dark Star, Mikrokosmos), Damo Waters (Muddy Suzuki, Slug, Field Music, Electric Soft Parade), Rich Gorbutt (ZOFFF) and David Davis on analogue synths. Shows together have been at Brighton's Pressure Point, Freebutt, Engine Rooms, West Hill Hall, The Con Club in Lewes, Bohemia Arts Festival in Kent, Offset Festival, The Spitz in London.

La Mômo 
 See bands section below

MAP
See Bands section below

Tim Keegan
This enduring musical partnership began during the days of Tim Keegan and The Homer Lounge and through Departure Lounge's advenures up to today with Tim's solo albums and sometimes performances. Crayola played on Tim's solo albums, Foreign Domestic and The Long Game. One ditty on The Long Game for which Crayola penned the chords can be watched right here.
Tim's The Living Room residency at Brighton's Marlborough Theatre included Crayola on keys, sax, guitar alongside Noah Taylor on various instruments, Rob Mullender (laptop), Simon Edwards (bass, percussion), Alistair Strachan (trumpet, cornet), Jon Poole (guitar, percussion), Josh Thomson (guitar) and Warren Ellis (violin, mandolin). Tim continues to do a popular monthly residency right up to this very day at The Beach House on Worthing's lovely seafront.

Drum Eyes
Started off as keyboard player to add some sparkles to DJ Scotch Egg, Kai and E-Da's thundersome krautrock. Ended up as the sax player and contributed some sax and oboe to the terrific and acclaimed album, Gira Gira.

Departure Lounge
See bands section below

Ray Dickaty/Spiritualized
Recorded some duos at Metway Studios in Brighton. One saxophone (Ray - Spiritualized, Moonshake, Skree, Gallon Drunk, Solar Fire Trio, Dr John, Cornershop, Stereolab) and one piano (Crayola Lectern) improvising some emotionally charged sounds. They also collaborated on ethereal drone pieces in a catacomb in Worthing. Also an interesting day spent with Crayola playing bass in Spiritualized.

Mark Eitzel
Crayola played piano with Mark Eitzel singing some of his songs in the stage play Marine Parade when it first came to Brighton.

Rocket Horsehead Nebula
Kosmische space adventurerers Wolsey White and Crayola Lectern have nearly completed their forthcoming album 10,500 B.C. Atlantis which sees the intrepid duo take their sound past Orion to the Horsehead Nebula from which they may never return. Strangely emotional music. Orchestras of robots weeping in the extremes of space adventure music, anyone?

Emötikon
Occasional band featuring Crayola Lectern, Tim Leopard and Noah Taylor. Rock-outs with splintering geedars, drones, mighty organs, triple drumming, noise-making way gone sounds.

The Rhinestoned Immaculates
CL has played sax and bass with Noah Taylor's UK unit who have had various contributions from such talented geezers as Tim Leopard and Warren Ellis amongst others.

The Bad Black Dots
Crayola's ever evolving collective of psych merchants. Formerly available for emergency freekout gigs.

Electric Temple/The Vibration Society
Ray Dickaty's project featured members of Spiritualized, Julian Cope's band, Echoboy, Cinematic Orchestra and more. Crayola played some keyboards on the recordings and guitar live.

Supermodel / Supermodel GT
Original purveyors of lo-fi scuzz rockers with a pop bone who under the auspices of Triani's muse made three acclaimed albums. Crayola Lectern played bass, sang bv's and called himself Chris for goddsakes!

Museum
Installation by Sadie Fredericks (La Mômo) and CL improvised over drones and loops with Casios and drum machines which were set against photographs of buildings which had become disused or abandoned.

Salter Cane
2012 saw Crayola Lectern adding some piano and organ colours to Salter Cane's fine, dark canon of top songs.

The Legend!
CL started playing with The Legend! covering Dan Treacy songs before returning to playing the raw improvised gigs of yore.  Artrocker magazine contains a good live review of one of them, describing the show as brutal minimalism meets dreamy semi-improv. CL's psycho-blast keyboards get a mention too. The live recordings of The Legend! performing songs by Dan Treacy, accompanied by Crayola Lectern on Omnichord and Casiotone is (possibly) still available on 7" vinyl on Unpopular Records.

Friends Of The Bride
CL has provided some saxophonic horndom to Sitcom Theme by the well dapper FoTB. Recorded at Maida Vale studio 3 no less. Follow the link to hear it.

The Flying Rabbits
Written in a caravan in Blakeney in Norfolk with daughter and wife, recorded at home in Hove. Three perfectly excellent new wave pop gems were made.

Jon Poole/God Damn Whores
Jon Poole (Cardiacs/Wildhearts), one of the most versatile and creative musicians alive had CL stick a bit of alto sax and oboe on some recordings of his. Jon also being one of the three original core members of Crayola Lectern.

The Billy Reeves Experimental Soul Band
Former Theaudience founder, Billy Reeves, having survived and overcome injuries from a harrowing car accident, wrote and sang a collection of top pop nuggets at the sadly gone Blah Street Studios in Hampshire, with the help of CL.

The Cryptonics
Jake Rousham from Metway Studios and CL pump out some real classic surf. Wouldn't sound out of place in a Fifties dance hall although it has been gobbled up by Cbeebies somewhere which is good news for the (little) kidz. More recently a more psych-flavoured track has been recorded. Also Jake has his own collection of music out - Jake's Magic Sound-About

Heidi Berry
Much respected singer/songwriter, Heidi Berry played a couple of shows in Brighton accompanied by Crayola Lectern on piano.

Robyn Hitchcock
The godhead living figure of English psychedelic surrealism and wit extraordinaire did a US tour in Nov '99 with Departure Lounge. CL played oboe and some backing vocals on a couple of numbers in his big group which included another great former Soft Boy, Kimberley Rew. He also features with Crayola on a number of Departure Lounge's and Tim Keegan's solo recordings.

Joss Cope
With a most curious musical history which includes having been signed to Creation in the early days, Joss wrote some rather fine and beautiful psychedelically flavoured songs, sometimes reminiscent of Love. Crayola accompanied him once or twice live on Casiotone as Joss had similarly accompanied Crayola Lectern on his own casiotone and electrophonic guitar at a gig or two. Joss had his album, Unrequited Lullabies released in 2017 and can be sought out here.

Celebricide
See bands section below

Caramel Jack
Crayola provided a little saxophonic hornitude to the 2008 Caramel Jack album, 1900 alongside such luminaries as BJ Cole (pedal steel), Ashley Slater (trombone) and Bela Emerson (cello).

Comrade
Comrade were Tracey Godding (formerly of Bandit Queen) and Louisa Hernandez. Beautiful songs which bring to mind somehow a female Sparklehorse or Coco Rosie. They rented an ancient cottage on the South Downs where they recorded some songs. Mrs Lectern played some drums on a couple of numbers and Crayola sang a duet and played some keyboards on another song.

Noah Taylor
Noah Taylor (a.k.a. Cardboardbox Man, a.k.a. Nervous Breakdown) is a prolific music-maker and sound manipulator. Whether it be firing up a storm on unusual stringed instruments or singing his outer-spaced-out tone poems over repetitive kraut beats, he has often been joined by CL on sax or bass live and together they have played in other permutations (Emotikon, The Rhinestoned Immanculates, Tim Keegan and Crayola Lectern.) He also is quite a good actor apparently.

bands

MAP

"Map - the beautifully glowing post-rock adventurists from Brighton." Rock Sound

Genetic Malfunctions Triggered By Events is the name of the awesome Map album whose release was prevented by thieves. 5 years were spent recording it and it was the most special thing, a culmination of a very creative musical partnership.

CELEBRICIDE

The album "See The Bad Nurse Make Disease," a reverse speech quote from George Bush released by Bad Nurse records.

 "Brighton’s Celebricide sing about child abuse, contract killings and self-immolation in a way that forces the listener to address their own complicity in a culture where such things seem increasingly ordinary. As their name suggests, they’re on a mission; using shock tactics to break the habit of vicarious living, sleepwalking through life and the dream of fame that’s really the ultimate consumer ambition: to finally become a product yourself.

“…In the future, everyone will be anonymous for fifteen minutes…”
A 5-piece (plus, tonight, Sadie of La Momo on backing vocals), Celebricide musically recall Pulp, The Fall, or Magazine; guitars and keyboards churning up a relentless but darkly melodic groove over which frontman Tim Leopard recites his nasty little tales of blasphemous reality. Looking more like the pub bouncer than the lead singer, Tim is a frightening and compelling presence. Speaking calmly, but carrying a metaphorical big stick, he spits out his words like they disgust him, falls to the floor repeatedly like a string-cut puppet, or stands blankly catatonic at the side of the stage. There’s something of Chris Morris about both his performance style and his twisted yet strangely moral worldview. Did I mention that Celebricide have a sense of humour?
“They’ll. Never. Stop. Us.”
...No-one since The Birthday Party has sliced through to the heart of darkness with such gleefully unflinching zeal. Tonight, truly, this ain’t rock n’ roll; this is Celebricide.
Ben Graham Stool Pigeon Magazine

La Mômo

Crayola still performs with La Mômo, now a duo.  Click here for more

La Momo have worked with Gordon Raphael (The Strokes) on some songs as well as Kid Loco who did some mixes. There's another one he's done on his site. (go to mix no. 3.) Cristian Vogel was also rumoured to be doing some mixes for the band.
Here's a La Mômo gig reviewed by Joyzine.
  Everett True helped bring the band to the attention of the people in his magazines, Plan B and Careless Talk Costs Lives and wrote this piece on his website, Collapse Board.
La Momo received airplay on various radio stations including Xfm as well as the late, great John Peel on Radio One despite never releasing any CDs.

Departure Lounge

Multiple tours across USA and Europe. Fans included members of Lambchop, Robyn Hitchcock who played on some tunes, Lee Hazlewood and Duane Eddy, Josh Rouse and many others.
The track Aloneagainand featured on the soundtrack to the movie, The Butterfly Effect.
Channel 4's "Teachers" comedy drama Christmas Special featured the Departure Lounge song, Christmas Downer.

What the press said...
Sunday Times"Some of the most wonderful, eclectic, optimistic pop music being created at the moment"
Magnet magazine "A top-to-bottom masterwork... Among the best English pop created in a decade.
Detroit Metro Times "this is, literally, the record of the year"
Q Magazine"****"
The Independent "****"