Jim and I had had so much pleasure from meeting up and working together on the new material we decided to continue in 2025 we set ourselves the goal of making an album of 12 songs. At the start we did not know what we were going to wanted create or what we capable of producing.
The first international festival of activist street bands, Honk UK held as part of Bradford City of Culture 2025 is a collaborative effort achieved with the help local street band Peace Artists and Ken Field of Honk USA.
Sophie Cooper’s composition Echoes of Reclamation, performed by the Milnrow Brass Band. Recycled speakers and brass band instruments were repurposed to create a bespoke sound system, splitting the instrumental sounds across different channels.
The rehearsals were intense, and challenging. I was impressed with the Conductor, Matthew Hardy’s enthusiasm to motivate and quickly identify problems in the music and tightening up all the parts.
The composer, Uri Agnon was present at each rehearsal, he seemed very calm and laid back about the progress being made towards the final performance which was to be aired on BBC Radio.
Elisabeth Gunawan was the solo narrator for the performance, she was constantly working through her lines throughout the rehearsal, and even in the breaks. In the performance she was the star of the show being front of stage delivering her lines with such power, conviction and emotion the effect was electrifying.
The DumbWaiters bassist, Ron was always seen in a leather motorbike jacket, several ears with piercings and short spikey hair flaunted his “Punk Rock” credentials, together with his “East-End” accent he was the genuine article epitomising the essence of genre. An uncompromising, controversial free thinker turning convention on its head.
Over 30 years had elapsed I had last met up with Jim and it was tragic loss of our mutual friend and band member Brian that brought us together to reunited to bring back his memory and the music we had created. It transpired as KTV3 progressed an increasing amount of construction and reconstruction was needed, so that the final product became a composite of old and new.
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