The Necks Australian Tour 2014 has been announced.
Having just finished one of their most successful UK and European tours ever, The Necks have also had their 17th album Open hailed internationally as one of their best.
Now acclaimed improvising trio The Necks are set return home for their annual pilgrimage around Australia in Feb/March 2014 with a tour that takes in capital cities including Perth, much to the delight of West Australian fans, and a return show at the Sydney Opera House.
The Necks have been playing together for over 25 years and are celebrated world-wide for creating immersive, hypnotic concert experiences over two one-hour sets, with acoustic piano (Chris Abrahams), acoustic bass (Lloyd Swanton) and drums (Tony Buck) slowly conjuring sound mountains out of thin air.
“To follow the process by which they found their way out of the maelstrom and wound down to closure was an education in itself, followed by perhaps 10 seconds of transfixed silence in which every member of the audience was thinking, “Did I really just hear what I think I heard?” Then the applause came, and it didn’t want to stop.” said respected UK writer Richard Williams of a recent Necks concert in London.
From their beginnings as a private jamming project with an adamant intention not to perform publicly, The Necks now travel the world to play.
Their recent tour covered 12 countries – 19 shows on 19 consecutive nights – including sell-out shows in Paris, Gdansk, Warsaw, Aalst, and all three London shows. While in the UK they did a BBC studio recording with legendary improvising saxophonist, Evan Parker.
“To get to play music with someone of Evan’s stature, and to find common ground with his utterly unique approach to improvisation was a huge honour, and some wonderful music flowed,” said Lloyd Swanton.
Before stepping on stage for a Necks concert, nothing is planned or discussed between the trio. They walk on and they start playing. The trust that has developed over quarter of a century of playing together creates a unique musical symbiosis. Audience members often remark they heard additional instruments or electronic samples during a performance, but nothing of the sort is ever used live.
“On occasion what we’re playing sets up a weird resonance with the acoustics of the room. Not surprising, really, because Tony in particular is pretty good at sounding like three things at once. Sometimes on stage I don’t dare open my eyes because I’m sure I’d be freaked out if I saw what he was doing” says Swanton.
In contrast to their live performances, their studio albums are often intricately crafted and discussed in the mixing process. “With Open we talked about making a very sparse record,” says Tony Buck. “Our previous album Mindset was very dense and polymetric, so we wanted to make one that was more crystalline. We wanted to create a sense of suspended time and space”.
The Necks, Australia’s perennial favourite artists-in-resonance, are at the top of their game. Don’t miss them.
The Necks Australian Tour 2014
Fri 7 Feb – Byron Bay Community Centre, BYRON BAY NSW www.byroncentre.com.au
Sat 8 Feb – Brisbane Powerhouse, BRISBANE www.brisbanepowerhouse.org
Sun 9 Feb – The Governor Hindmarsh, ADELAIDE www.thegov.com.au
Mon 10 & Tue 11 Feb – The Ellington Jazz Club, PERTH www.ellingtonjazz.com.au
Mon 17 to Wed 19 Feb – Corner Hotel MELBOURNE www.cornerhotel.com
Thu 20 Feb – Lizottes, NEWCASTLE www.newcastle.lizottes.com.au
Sat 22 Feb – Street Theatre, CANBERRA www.thestreet.org.au
Mon 3 Mar – Sydney Opera House, SYDNEY www.sydneyoperahouse.com
Full details at www.thenecks.com
