THE BAYS @ THE OLD MARKET, HOVE U.K.

DATE : 6th August, 2004 (Sat)
PHOTOGRAPHER : Matt Cheetham www.watchlooksee.com

'For those of you who don't know what we do, we never rehearse, we improvise every note and we never release any records. The reason we do this is so we can bring music to you the listener in the purest possible form. Not being sidetracked by any marketing agenda or record company pressure, we give music to you, the listener, at its creation.
We don't release any records because how it usually works is an artist records an album, tours it, promotes it. We've never recorded an album so why we tour and why we do gig is not to sell anything, we do not sell anything, we tour for the sake of playing music.' Chris Taylor - A typical introduction given to an audience before a live performance of The Bays.
One of the most talked about live acts currently performing on the live circuit, The Bays have managed to achieve this status despite their rejection of the music industry machine, focusing their efforts on creating, rather than releasing and promoting their music. With no record company to push the band and their music into popular culture the band are instead relying on the reputation they build from their live performances to raise their profile and popularity. It seems to be working. They have worked with some of the worlds best known electronic musicians, become the first unsigned band to perform more than once on Radio 1's legendary Peel Sessions, and toured the world receiving applause and praise wherever they go their unique live improvised formula winning them fans wherever they go.
Tonight's event at the old market in Brighton is special for the band as it's the first public showing of a film The Bays recorded during a British Council sponsored visit to Mexico last year. Selected by the organization to show the best of British music and culture to Mexican music fans, the band worked with local musicians incorporating them into a live performance after 3 days of rehearsal. Showing the versatility and musical talent of the band individually as well as together as a unit, they blend a range of local talent into what looked like a hugely successful final show, all making for a very enjoyable 30-minute introduction into what to expect from the live performance that will follow. The venue is pretty much full by the time the four band members step unassumingly step up for tonight's performance. With all members of the group at the front of the stage there is no leader of the group, no front man, just a unit working together to produce their unique sound. The band starts slowly, atmospheric samples overlayed onto downtempo beats and keyboard melodies building up their sound as they progress through their performance. It's hard to describe individual tracks with this group as there aren't any, just one continuous performance. With every note performed on the night being original, unique, the band don't pause until the show is finished. Constantly watching the crowd, responding, adjusting, changing their sound the band wind the (hard) core of fans gathered tonight into a frenzy, seamlessly working up from ambient breakbeat to aggressive drum and bass. By the time the time the band leave the stage to thunderous applause and shouts for an encore I begin to understand what this group are all about. They're actually doing this because they believe in it passionately. It's not about money or fame, because if it was they'd take up one of the offers they get from the major labels queing up to sign them. For the band it's just about the performance, the music and taking it to their fans. To read more about The Bays and to get a taste of what to expect from a live performance check out these links: Related Link www.thebays.com www.bbc.co.uk/ www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/nottingham www.samurai.fm/