Metal Chaos Ensemble
Narration Performances
A Savage Journey to the
Heart of the American Dream
Excerpt From Liner Notes by PEK
“…Each session at Evil Clown Headquarters poses an aesthetic problem for the ensemble to solve which is: How to structure a concert length improvisation with the particular section through the Evil Clown Resources available to that set. Despite a longer than usual break (5 months) since the last MCE set in November 2023 due to difficulty with the scheduling, the sextet really comes out swinging… We are hungry for these sets and when they occur, the result is always special…“
A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream:
Metal Chaos Ensemble
Evil Clown Headquarters, Waltham MA – 1 April 2024
1) A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream – 1:10:05
2) Savage Henry – 5:15
PEK – contralto & contrabass clarinets, alto & tenor saxophones, English horn, [d]ronin, 17 string bass, theremin with moogerfooger, LFO perculator, moog subsequent, Linnstrument controllers, ms-20, arp odyssey, novation peak, soma pipe, spiny norman, spring and chime rod boxes, array mbira, Tibetan bowls, bells & chimes, gongs, plate gong, almglocken, crotales, glockenspiel, orchestral chimes, Englephone, danmo, brontosaurus & tank bells, log drums, wood & temple blocks, recitation
Michael Caglianone – soprano, alto & tenor saxophones, clarinet, flute, novation peak, moog subsequent, Linnstrument controllers, lfo percolator, log drums, wood & temple blocks, cow bells, brontosaurus & tank bells, balafon, xylophone, almglocken, ratchet, seed pod rattles, orchestral castanets, water bottle
Bob Moores – – electric trumpet with effects, electric guitar played thru Ampkit on an iPad with a wah pedal, carry-on digital wind instrument and midi controller, Moog Mariana emulator on MacBook Pro, signal generator, drone generator with effects, VauxFlores Eyetron pocket synthesizer, nord stage 3, 17 string bass, log drums, wood and temple blocks, cowbells, chimes, crotales, glockenspiel, orchestral chimes, crank siren
Eric Woods – analog synthesis, nord stage 3, moog subsequent, novation peak, Linnstrument contollers, lfo percolator, Tibetan bowls, almglocken
Mike Gruen – six string electric bass, signal processing
Steve Niemitz – drums
Joel Simches – real time signal processing and live to 2-track mix
Full Video
Video Shorties
Liner Notes by PEK
Metal Chaos Ensemble was formed in early 2015 by PEK and Yuri Zbitnov as a working project to explore chaotic rhythms on metallic instruments. I had started to amass the Evil Clown Arsenal of percussion, electronic and wind instruments and we needed a workshop to develop this universe of sounds for the Leap of Faith Orchestra. It was immediately obvious that Metal Chaos Ensemble had a sound to itself and over the last nine years has been one of the most prolific Evil Clown ensembles. We have produced over 50 albums covering a wide range of sonority sets, but always with the presence of gongs, chimes, glockenspiel, Tibetan bowls and many other metallic sounds and the horns of PEK.
More recently, MCE has been a recurring sextet unit with most of the sessions having exactly the same six performers. With drums and electric bass and electronics, this unit contains the most rock elements of any of the Evil Clown ensembles. Since Yuri retired from Evil Clown, drummer Steve Niemitz has been holding down the drum chair. He drives into Boston from Western Mass, so we don’t do quite as many sets as we did back in the day, but it tends to make them a bit special.
Each session at Evil Clown Headquarters poses an aesthetic problem for the ensemble to solve which is: How to structure a concert length improvisation with the particular section through the Evil Clown Resources available to that set. Despite a longer than usual break (5 months) since the last MCE set in November 2023 due to difficulty with the scheduling, the sextet really comes out swinging… We are hungry for these sets and when they occur, the result is always special.
I’m super happy with this album and I bet you like it too…
PEK – 11/3/2023
Paul Brennan Photos & Video Grabs
