I first caught Southampton band The Program Initiative performing a half-hour set opening for Maybeshewill last month. I was suitably impressed to check out their headline show, the opening date of their tour to promote the release of debut album 'Mercury [Phase 1]'. For the meagre sum of five pounds, the line-up looked an intriguing one throughout.
First up were A Ninja Slob Drew Me, an unusual two piece fronted by a man playing an eight-string bass guitar and sidekicked by the increasingly familiar laptop...operator (you'd hasten to say 'player') controlling the beats/electronics. (At least I think so, for all we know he could be having a bit of a dance while playing Minesweeper). The combination worked well; the bass guitar was exploited to the full limits of its potential and when combined with a range of pedals produced an array of clever sounds, allowing the band to explore typical loud/quiet/heavy (pleasingly heavy at times) dynamics expected in instrumental music. However, there is only so much variation possible in such a limited set-up, and at over thirty minutes the set dragged a little towards the end.
The Longest Day were your typical post-hardcore rock outfit - a surplus of hair and black clothing abounded while the four likely lads on show ploughed through a set of choppy riffs, thunderous drumming and off-kilter rhythms. File generally under 'nothing new to see here', although that is to do something of a disservice to the fact that they were a strong, technically tight band with some good ideas. As a pleasing bonus, the singer really could sing and never once resorted to the distortion-heavy screamo that so often permeates this type of music (not that that is necessarily a bad thing). For the last song, he even invited the crowd to possibly feel free to move around a bit. Sorry guys, this is a postrock show, we don't do that kind of thing here. He would have had far more success asking us to stare longinly at our shoes and scratch our collective chins thoughtfully.
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| The Longest Day |
And so, beyond 10pm, enter The Program Initiative. Now, some bands have toyed with the idea of a concept album. TPI are essentially a concept band, existing at the centre of a make-believe story centred around the fictional 'Kepler Corporation' and their attempts to investigate 'The Anomaly', a strange entity that engulfs our Sun. So far, so sci-fi. As a band, TPI play typically epic instrumental rock, glacial and powerful at its slowest times, punishing at others. They recall the usual influences in the genre, but also retain (appropriately) a space-rock feel to them, helped by the bright synth chords and driving rhythm section that occasionally brings to mind, say, Secret Machines, particularly on opener 'Beneath The Plume', which combined with the shuttle launch footage really sets the tone well and is an early highlight.
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| The Program Initiative broadcast to the Joiners |
What sets them apart is the fact that this takes place in the midst of a 60-minute film based around the storyline of the Kepler Corporation and projected onto a canvas screen placed in front of the stage (such that we do not see the band behind). There is no band introduction, no between song banter, the foursome are there solely to provide the music to the production. At its core, then, the TPI project is the ultimate music video, where the live music is intertwined with the visuals - mesmerising, occasionally stunning as they are.- to create a single piece of art. Songs come to a conclusion; but there is no applause. Instead the audience is held captive by the advancement of the (admittedly quite thin) storyline, where mock interviews, press conferences, news reports and the like put flesh on the otherwise quite abstract flashes of film to which the band soundtrack. A small technical hitch midway through spoilt the illusion somewhat (featuring the unwanted appearance of a Mac drop-down menu) and some of the rear-most audience members annoyingly insisted on talking through the quiet parts. If this was a proper cinema they'd have surely been dragged out quite quickly. The band make a brief 'appearance' towards the end, where the stage is lit behind the screen for a final flourish (ironically, to play album opener 'Commencement') before one final surprise to truly bring the experience of the previous hour to life.
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| Film ends, lights up on stage and we see the band for the first time. |
The Program Initiative are nothing short of fascinating. The experience is occasionally slightly overwhelming; that is to say that it is sometimes easy to forget in the midst of all that is going on that one is at a (post) rock gig at heart. Plus, nothing screams 'nerd' quite like a combination of instrumental rock and science fiction. But choose to buy into it and prepare for a special, and pretty unique, experience.
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