Perturbations
Disruptions
Excerpt From Liner Notes by PEK
“… Michael, John and I have played together many times in the last 3 or 4 years since John appeared again following his long absence. We have appeared together in many different Evil Clown settings from Leap of Faith to Turbulence to the more electronic leaning projects – essentially all the various Contemporary Ensembles. In fact, we just did an acoustic trio set with just horns and some triangle chimes at Bonnie Kane’s Masters of Sonic Liberation Series in Holyoke MA. It’s interesting to compare that set which is constrained to a very tight palette compared to what we use at Evil Clown Headquarters for LIVESTREAMS. Disruptions utilizes a comparatively huge palette, and is perhaps one of the best examples in the catalog of small unit broad palette improvisation.…”
Perturbations
Evil Clown Headquarters – Waltham MA
12 August 2025
Alternative States – 5:22
Disruptions – 1:10:10
PEK – clarinet, contralto & contrabass clarinets, alto & tenor saxophones, guanzi, shenai, piccolo oboe, English horn, contrabassoon, bass flute, Russian wood flute, slide whistle, accordion, sheng, melodica, novation peak, moog subsequent, Linnstrument controllers, gravichord, daxophone, noise tower, theremin with moogerfooger, [d]ronin, 17 string bass, zithers, spring & chime rod boxes, Englephone, danmo, crotales, glockenspiel, gongs, plate gong, brontosaurus & tank bells, cow bells, orchestral chimes & anvils, chimes, almglocken, temple & wood blocks, log drums, balafon, xylophone, taxi horn, Tibetan bells & bowls, cuica, pipe xylo, orchestral castanets, ratchet, zithers, tank cello, spiny norman, rubber chickens
Michael Caglianone – soprano, alto, tenor & baritone saxophones, clarinet, flute, melodica, slide whistle, cow bells, wood & temple blocks, crotales, glockenspiel, almglocken, orchestral anvils, bell tree, temple bells, Tibetan bells & bowls, noise tower, gravichord, gongs, plate gong, seed pod rattle, novation peak, Linnstrument controller, talking drum
John Fugarino – trumpets, flugelhorn, trombone, valve trombone, French horn, melodica, slide whistle, clown hammers, nord stage 3, prophet, wood & temple blocks, brontosaurus & tank bells, Tibetan bells, chimes & bowls, flex-a-tone, bells, array mbira, spring & chime rod boxes, balafon, xylophone, triangle chimes, shaker, orchestral castanets, chimes
Joel Simches – Live to 2-track recording, perturbations (ALESIS Wedge, BOSS DD-500, TC Helicon, Zoom V3 vocal processor, Digitech RDS900 Delay, Korg DD550, TC Electronic M300, VoiceLivePlay, D-Seed II, echoplex, Lexicon MPX500 & vortex, Roland SDE3000, Sony DPS-07, Electrix warpfactory)
Full Video
Video Shorties
Liner Notes by PEK
Every once in a while, a new Evil Clown Project emerges. Mostly, the new ensembles are based on a small core group and a basic aesthetic problem which we solve in performance. For example, Turbulence is the band with mostly horn players, but the ensemble makeup is different each performance.
Perturbations is one of the newer Evil Clown Ensemble, with the first session occurring in 2022. The core unit is PEK and Joel Simches… Joel is the Evil Clown house engineer who comes to nearly all the recording sessions at Evil Clown Headquarters. Some of the bands (for example, Metal Chaos Ensemble and Simulacrum) feature Joel’s real time signal processing in addition to his role as the recording engineer. Now that the Studio has been updated with new equipment (board and effects) Joel’s Perturbation options have increased and improved.
To help feature Joel’s electronic manipulations, we keep the instrumental unit to no more than 3 players. This set, Disruptions, is the tenth Perturbation Set, and the fourth to feature three of our strongest horn players, me (reeds), Michael Caglianone (reeds), and John Fugarino (brass), while the other 6 Perturbation sets have all had different lineups drawn from the Evil Clown Roster. All three of us also double the percussion, electronics, electro-acoustic and other instruments from the studio. The broad palate concept works best when all the players change instruments frequently through the performance, creating a steady flow of transformations across sonorities over the duration.
Michael, John and I have played together many times in the last 3 or 4 years since John appeared again following his long absence. We have appeared together in many different Evil Clown settings from Leap of Faith to Turbulence to the more electronic leaning projects – essentially all the various Contemporary Ensembles. In fact, we just did an acoustic trio set with just horns and some triangle chimes at Bonnie Kane’s Masters of Sonic Liberation Series in Holyoke MA. It’s interesting to compare that set which is constrained to a very tight palette compared to what we use at Evil Clown Headquarters for LIVESTREAMS. Disruptions utilizes a comparatively huge palette, and is perhaps one of the best examples in the catalog of small unit broad palette improvisation.
The combination of strong deeply connected improvisors with deep broad palette doubling and Joel’s perturbations resulted in an extraordinary improvisation. There is a bit more space than usual, and a lot of very interesting sounds from the auxiliary instruments. With Joel at the controls of the signal processing, we essentially have real-time decision making as a performance unit, and we get the full-time attention of a master engineer on the electronic Perturbations of the instrumental expressions. I really like this combination of live playing with over-the top signal processing. Now having addressed this particular aesthetic problem 10 times, I can see that this will be an ongoing Evil Clown project with at least several LIVESTREAM’s per year.
I really like this performance, and I bet you will too!! Check it out…
PEK, 8/13/2025
Paul Brennan Photos
and Video Screen Grabs
