Imps to go avant garde

Yorkshire Imps are set to thrill the doyens of the avant garde over the next few months — thanks to a Mosquito hoodie repelent..

Tuesday, 10 February 2009

The Yorkshire Imperial (Urquart Travel) Band will be taking brass band music to the doyens of the avante garde art world over the next few months thanks to a collaborative project which Imps’ Musical Director David Lancaster and the internationally renowned artist Rory Macbeth have undertaken in recent weeks.

Key element

Macbeth’s work is to form a key element in an exhibition called 'Rank: Picturing the Social Order' which is to open this week in Leeds City Art Gallery before moving on to Leipzig and Weisbarten in Germany.

Front row

Listeners to Radio 4’s arts programme 'Front Row' may hear a review of the exhibition in the coming days and since the band is the only sonic event in the exhibition, Imps’ players are hoping their music gets used on air.

It is so good for the band members to be taken outside their comfort zone from time to time, and so important for us to dismantle the barriers which keep band music separate from the other artsDavid Lancaster

Hoodies

David explained to 4BR: "The music is compiled from many sources, including several marches, some improvised sounds and a transcription I have made of the sound produced by the Mosquito device – a rather nasty piece of kit which emits very high pitched noises to keep hoodies from congregating in shopping centres!’"

The sound elements were recorded in Imps’ bandroom a few weeks ago in the presence of Rory who was clearly highly delighted about the band’s contribution and was enthusiastic about hearing the band in action.

Amazing sound

Rory added: "The band sounded amazing – I’m so excited about it all now!"

According to David Lancaster, Rory wanted to be involved in this project in order to take the sound of the band in front of new audiences and into new and very different settings, and he is hoping to develop other artistic collaborative projects in future.

Comfort zone

David concluded: "It is so good for the band members to be taken outside their comfort zone from time to time, and so important for us to dismantle the barriers which keep band music separate from the other arts."

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