artist Gravity Wave

Mike Landry of The Coast catches Ken in an unusually honest mood after the lovin'...

 

http://www.thecoast.ca/SceneAndHeard/archives/2009/10/25/hpx-night-five-part-quatre

 

 

Howdy Gambolers-

Are your ears burning?

herohill - http://www.herohill.com/2009/10/five-funky-stories-gravity-wave.htm

indyish - http://www.indyish.com/gravity-wave-free-indie-electro-pop-mp3s/

eye weekly - http://www.eyeweekly.com/music/totallywired/article/74947

Ours are.

More soon,

Party Leader

Watch Gravity Wave's Aux TV Profile and Live Performance from August 22, 2009:

 http://www.aux.tv/video/TARASecretSessions_AriettaGravityWave/

twowaymonologues.com
It's bike season out there and although I'm very n...
It's bike season out there and although I'm very new to it, it excites me.  I can ride my bike around everywhere, not worry about parking a car and not wait around for the next streetcar.  NXNE starts today and I got started early last night at The Boat.  If you want to know who I am, I was the guy with the bright white LED flashing light clipped to the back of my shorts walking around the bar.  Again, I'm new to the bike thing, so to the guy that pointed out to me "you're blinking" I thank you.


I went to see the Quantum Physique but it appeared as though they were a no show and so I ended up watching the tail end of "Vesper Hours".  A typical 4 piece pop rock sound and nothing too interesting.  They list their influences as Weezer, Pearl Jam, Sloan and Radiohead and the music reflects that especially when they ended with (I believe) a cover of Radiohead's "Jigsaw Falling into Place"

They looked bored and ready to get off the stage.


I was ready to leave and out of the blue saw Finlay, Dwight and Ken of Gravity Wave.  I told them I'd stick around to see them thinking they were next.  Dwight then pointed out how fun it was the banjo guitar on stage was covered in coloured lights.  I knew then that Aleks and the Ramps were up next and I'd walked in to a late night.


A long set up time was worth the wait.  A simple key punch on the keyboard kicked things off.  All five members of the band stood beside each other sidestepping left and right.  They copied each other with synchronous dance moves including laughter, drying tears and taps on the head movements.  Aleks started singing and the rest of the band ran out in to the busy audience, dancing, jumping, laughing and hitting a musical instrument.  They rejoined back on stage, grabbed hold of their instruments and with the fury of a band destined for great things started rocking out with joyous melodies and a youthful exuberance.  They continued dancing, they continued jumping and they swapped instruments a few times.  They had mini stage shows to end different songs; they meowed their way through their finale and at the end, a raucous applause, cd and t shirt sales and a happy night for the family of musicians.  Their story must be an interesting one and I plan to get it out of them.  They traveled all the way from Melbourne, Australia to play southern Ontario a few times is it really all for NXNE?

Last up to play was The Gravity Wave.  This Ken Farrell project played for the last time in their current incarnation as a full band. It was sad to see since It was a Wednesday and the band has garnered some serious attention and the place should've been packed. Ultramodern electro pop with a strong groove provided by Finlay Brathwaite on the bass.  It seemed every time I turned around Dwight Schenk had a new instrument in his hand ranging from a mean cowbell, a kazoo, something that was neon green and a drum machine of sorts he had to lay on the ground.  Kevin Sasaki played a drum machine with sticks and would lunge his body between it and a microphone to provide back up vocals.  Ken is one of a rare breed of singers that finds things to do if he's not playing an instrument including throwing fireballs into the audience and cutting through the air with a kind of karate chop.  I'm glad I was there.  The fun they were having on stage transferred to the audience and me.  I understand Ken's got his next plans already in motion including back up synchronized dancing vocalists - can't wait for that incarnation to come to life.

NOTE: The Quantum Physique's van broke down.  This is why they didn't show.

PanicManual.com
(Toronto) For those who don't know, every few mont...
(Toronto) For those who don't know, every few months the Steam Whistle Brewery hosts a concert series called Unsigned, where, you guessed it, bands who are not signed entertain the Pilsner happy beer crowds that gather. Although the location of the show (The Steam Whistle Brewery, right beside the CN Tower and SkyDome) is a bit out of my typical Annex walking show radius, I decided to make the hike downtown to check it out. A couple of things I learned about this Unsigned series:
1. It is only $5, and that one payment at the door goes to charity, gets you a drink ticket and if you are fast enough, a free slice of pizza. Plus, additional drinks are only $4. Those are east coast booze prices.
2. The charity is the Artists' Health Centre Foundation(AHCF). This foundation helps artists who have been injured and who might not be covered by OHIP. Since most artists are self employed, they don't have health plans. For example if you make your money as a dancer and some jack ass runs into the back of your foot with their cart at Loblaws and injures you so that you can't dance, the AHCF will help you out. By dancer, I don't mean stripper, but I suppose even they could get help from the AHCF.
First up on the bill was Hexes & Ohs from Montreal. A pretty impressive looping, drum playing, girl bass busting two piece outfit from Montreal. They cranked out Whadaya Know?, which I was really looking forward to. I was familiar with this track since it has gotten some recent CBC3 airplay over the past couple of years. It rocked and left me with warm fuzzies. The rest of their set was tight with Edmund switching between instruments and Heidi sticking with the solid bass lines.
Next up was Bocce. I missed most of them. I was busy getting beer and more ice.
Headlining the show was Gravity Wave (The). I first heard of Gravity Wave about a year ago when he played at Sneaky Dee's. A friend of a friend had told me that Gravity Wave (Ken Farrell) teaches little kids how to play hockey and that he makes music with his Nintendo. Cool. Ken started his set off this night with an interactive video rap-off which didn't really hit with the crowd. It required people to shut the fuck up and actually pay attention for more than 5 seconds. Which they didn't.
The Gravity Wave stage show and sound has definitely changed over the last year. The most obvious difference would be that Mr. Wave has added a full band to back him. Even a trombone. This has given him a bigger sound. Although bigger, I feel like the subtleties of his sort of electronic music were lost in the shuffle. Songs like Princess where you are waiting for the Jump, Fireball sequence lost their catchy, cutesy, admiration. Even Footprints seemed to blend into the other songs, where on his Maytr's Brrigade CD (available for download on his site) is a stand out track. Ken has a great unique voice and a stand out rock star confidence about him when he performs, rubber boots and all.
The night was caped off by a couple of Steam Whistle yahoos who introduced the bands and hosted the evening. At one point I think they threw T-Shirts into the crowd as if it was the seventh inning stretch at a J's game. Whatever. Still a good night and worth the trip downtown.

Gravity Wave
WL 352
Sunday, February 25 -- 11pm
Purveyor of: failed folk

Armed with MTV Music Generator for the original Playstation (the same program Jim Guthrie used), Ken Farrell quickly created Gravity Wave's first record Martyr's Bridge. The result was an electro-pop creation with lyrics like "Jump/ Fireball/ Jump/ Fireball/ Wait/ Run" from "Princess," the song that probably runs through Mario's head while he tries to beat level 4 in Mario 3. But according to Ken, Martyr's Bridge was supposed to be a folk record. In order to get to the bottom of this, Miles Baker called Ken at Varsity Hockey where he helps train the next generation of hockey hopefuls.

First of all, I'm impressed that you went to school on a hockey scholarship. That's pretty awesome!

Yeah. You know, I'm not the only one to ever do it but I'm probably the only one in Toronto indie rock.

When you were younger, was there a battle between being a rock star or an NHLer?

Totally. Just that when I thought about it long and hard I thought I'd be able to write songs forever and I knew that hockey's a game for young guys. So I played until my body gave out and then went back to rock.

You said in your email that "there was no gimmick I wouldn't try. But there's a couple I haven't got around to yet." I was wondering what gimmicks you might be planning for Wavelength?

Oh, no way. There's no way I'm going to give you the inside scoop on what I'm planning-it's spectacle and surprise. If people knew what was coming it wouldn't be any fun. The show's a gimmick from the start, right? It's like a karaoke rock show with a four-track cassette tape that I'm singing along to.

At last week's show there is this guy named Tom, a twelve-year old, he started out as just a fan, then he started to coming to the show. He shakes tambourine with a lot of bands, so he shakes tambourine with me a little bit now. So last show, I just left him on stage. I walked off in the middle and I went to the sound booth in the back and had Tom step up to the mic. From the booth I said what I wanted him to say and he acted it out.

Okay. For Wavelength we have a script for this one, there's dancers, there's actors, there's guest musicians. It's going to be silly on Sunday night.

That sounds amazing.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. Wavelength is one of those shows I've been waiting for, looking forward to and finally got asked to play, so I'm not holding anything back.

You said that Martyr's Bridge was supposed to be a folk record.

Yeah. I got really upset when Neil Young came out and said "I released my anti-war protest record because I waited so long and no one else did it." The point is that none of us have a major label record deal or distribution like that he has. So even if we are sitting in our bedrooms writing folk songs-and protest songs-doesn't mean that Neil Young is going to hear them.

I'm a social justice guy-anarchy and the whole thing-but I didn't want to go to a live show and play an acoustic guitar and a folk set: sit around and have the audience interested but whispering quietly at candle lit tables, stroking their goatees. I still try to weave social consciousness in there, but we have to have fun. If we're going to protest, I don't want to spend the rest of my days protesting upset. I'll protest, but we got to party.

Is that why you turned to the MTV Generator as your main backup?

I tuned to that out of frustration, I guess. I had a rock and roll band I was in-I was writing most of the songs for them. With four other people in the band it was hard to coordinate rehearsal time, shows, tours and finances. It got to the point where we weren't able to update our set. So I had this videogame and I started out saying "I'll just make a demo for the band. That'll save us some time at rehearsal-we can learn a song quicker." But the demo was better than the song. So I tried it again and I got to the point where that's all I wanted to do.

Now it just takes a couple of hours and the song is done. If it is no good, fuck, I'll write another one tomorrow. If it is good it's done and I can move on. It's just efficient.

Do you think you'll go back to working with musicians at a different time?

Yeah, I will. I'm planning a show with a 35-piece band in Montreal sometime in early 2008. That's one of my big goals.

I sat around watching Lawrence Welk reruns on public television for about six months. Then when I found out it was on twice a day on Sunday I was just done. It's just a bunch of people playing little parts-so unlike the rock and roll bands I see where everyone has to play all the way through every song. I wanted to hear what rock and roll would sound like if Lawrence Welk was getting his orchestra to play it. Everyone plays their one little bit, the rest of the time they sit there in the uniform, look good, and smile the whole time. The Playstation band never complains about not getting laid, or that their part is two seconds long in a four minute song.

Speaking of getting laid, which has better groupies: rock and roll or hockey?

Wow. There's no way not to incriminate myself here. I gotta tell you, the rock and roll groupies dress so much better. They look good, they listen to good stuff, and they have interesting conversations. The Hockey groupies? Well, I'm not going to tell you they don't have their perks, but the perks were not intellectual or aesthetic.

May 30, 2008
Steam Whistle Brewery
Toronto, ON
By Evan Dickson

There's a lot I want to say about Gravity Wave's foray into animation, Steam Whistle's security, and Hexes And Ohs, but all that has to wait. Enthusiasm must supersede chronology here, because I can't wait to blow my wad and tell you how sen-fucking-sational Bocce are.

There are a lot of bands these days compressing dance music into three-minute pop songs and Bocce are one of the best. It's interesting to note that Woodhands, who were originally scheduled to DJ, had to cancel because they were playing a show in Beijing, China. Meanwhile, Bocce, who can easily equal Woodhands' musicianship and stage presence, got the middle slot on the bill. It's time to start paying attention to the four-piece rave band from Waterloo, Ont. because they know how to bring the party.

The sensitive synth-pop of Montreal's Hexes And Ohs preceded Bocce's cowbell-fuelled throwdown. The boy/girl duo played a lot of wistful bedroom songs with nice harmonies. It was a quiet, underwhelming start to the evening. Listening to Hexes And Ohs was a mildly pleasant experience, like hugging an acquaintance. The highlight of their set was when Edmund Lam suddenly tore into a psychedelic guitar solo, looped it, and then sat down at the drum kit to pound the song home. It was an energetic peak in a set full of soft valleys.

By the time Gravity Wave came on for the last set, the beer had been flowing liberally for quite some time. This show was at a brewery, after all. Unfortunately, the rising blood alcohol level in the room may have encouraged some show-goers to voice their impatience with Gravity Wave's drawn-out theatrical opening. Picture a bald drunk in a leather jacket booing an animated character projected on a screen behind the stage. Ken Farrell argued with this doodle in a doomed attempt at audience engagement. It was an interesting idea that might have gone over well with a more generous crowd.

I've been lukewarm to Gravity Wave as a high-concept solo art project. Farrell's shows have always made creative use of theatrical elements like video, costumes and dancers. The attention he paid to presentation often made me wish he'd work a little harder on his simplistic pre-recorded computer music. To my delight, he was backed by a full live band including sax and trombone. The musicians brought Gravity Wave's songs to life and helped recover the performance after its shaky start.

Big kudos to Steam Whistle for their Unsigned concert series. This show was thoughtfully booked and well-organized. Judging by the suited security crew and the extravagant video and lighting systems on stage, it clearly had dough behind it, too. I could have done without the red velvet rope holding me back from the stage, though. Music is for ears, not cameras.

torontoindie.com
As stated in your bio, Gravity Wave is an excuse t...
As stated in your bio, Gravity Wave is an excuse to do what you want - meaning, before you weren't?

Meaning: It's the only part of my day where I'm free to make whatever I want without judgment or compromise. It's just me and whatever I create when I'm dreaming up new songs, new shows, new t-shirts, new hustles, new angles... It's an addictive state at times, and it can make the quotidienne of my life a little harder to watch as it passes by with little or no input from me.


How do you feel being a solo musician having played with others (Clementine xo; Sunday League Records) for so long?

I felt lonely at first and then Tom started showing up, and then I did a show here and there with some hodge-podge backing bands and now I've assembled a stage band to play some shows with me. I like performing with other people and more and more, it seems people like performing with me. Maybe I'll look back at the early Gravity Wave shows as my bachelor days, but I don't think I've played my last show a solo act singing and dancing to pre-recorded tracks.

Having gone to the University of Massachusetts-Lowell on a hockey scholarship and returning to Canada due to your injury, would you still consider a career in hockey? Is there a place for it in your life?

The game has been great to me and I continue to make money working part time as a coach. I don't tell the kids what I do when I'm not at the rink and they don't ask, so at least for now, I've been able to avoid any questions from parents as to my validity as a role model in the lives of their young athletes. I'm not sure how they'd react, but there's been a few times where I'm glad that I've been able to keep the two worlds apart. Some people like it when I show them how to take a wrist shot, others like to see my preposterously bad ass dance moves, but I've yet to meet the one who wanted both.

Your tambourine player Tom is described as having confused and delighted crowds, what is it that you think merits such behaviour?

C'mon! He's a 13 year-old androgynous boy who hangs out in bars under the supervision of his mother. We wear matching pilot's jackets and pretend to be a boyband as we sing and dance to songs about partying and politics that I made with a video game. I'd say that people are delighted or confused because they have to be. I've seen too many shows where the crowd didn't even care about the show. I'll take delighted or confused any day.

Did you actually get to perform with a 35 piece band?

Not yet... but note that I said "yet".

What can we expect next?

You can expect a feature film called Seizin' The Reigns. It's a musical, and a tribute to Singin' In The Rain, about art and anarchy. You can expect a new EP, titled "The Twin Prime Conjecture". It's collaboration with Clementine's original bass player. It's hard, heavy and haunting. You can expect a new full-length called "The Federal Reserve", a collection of new songs loosely inspired by usury. You can expect the Gravity Wave Stage Band to debut in matching outfits and seated behind those music stands with little lights on them and a ‘GW' on the front, like on the Lawrence Welk show. The craziest part of all of this? You can expect it all to be rolled together and revealed simultneously, at the greatest Gravity Wave show there's ever been, and I'm serious about the date when I say: April 1, 2008.