That's What Friends Are For

RAINHAM, ESSEX, UK, 1987. Bow Gamelan Ensemble (Paul Burwell, Anne Bean and Richard Wilson) were invited to make a piece specifically for television by 'Alter Image' (Channel 4). They chose to work with the concrete barges near Rainham where they had previously explored sound on several of their many river trips into the estuary, recognising the huge differences in sound from low to high tide. They were filmed for over ten hours as the tide ebbed and flowed capturing the massive energy of this amount of incoming water and the ways one could harness this power to shift and shape sound. As the huge resonant chambers of the barges filled up, they deepened the sounds of the metal reinforcing bars sticking out as they were played with sticks and beaters. Passing vessels obliged by blasting their horns, adding to the Bow Gamelan’s own array of foghorns, sirens and hooters.

This video short from the creators of the BRUTE! pulp nasty, Malcolm Bennett and Aidan Hughes, was originally shown on Channel 4 (UK) in 1986 as part of production company After Image's Alter Image show, it was directed by Jane Thorburn and Mark Lucas and stars Bob Pugh, Valerie Leon and Crispin Letts (who later also starred in BRUTE!'s Adventures of Sizzler for Network 7). Written by Malcolm Bennett with art direction by Aidan Hughes