Take Me Somewhere Commission
FK ALEXANDER
(Scotland)
THE PROBLEM WITH MUSIC (TPM)
SAT 14 OCTOBER 2023
15:00 - 18:00 (Durational
£8 - £5 (Concessions)
Queen Margaret Union (Directions)
What To Expect: Loud music and destruction of objects. Audiences can come and go as they like. 18+ or 16+ with an adult.
ACCESS: V | S | SP (Festival Access Page).
The work is highly visual with no text. It will have two live bands playing simultaneously. 3 Woojer Straps are available; wearable belts that convert sound to vibrations. Ask for them at box office.
‘’The basic processes involved in manufacturing a record have hardly altered from the fifties to the present day''. (1) The History Of Rock, issue 14, Volume 2 page 128.
FK Alexander and two Scottish Hardcore bands (Coffin Mulch and Endless Swarm) meet in Glasgow’s Queen Margaret Union to duke it out in a heavy metal technology demolition sound clash death match over 3 hours, where pointless resentment, pink smoke and the faces of your favourite rock stars ’n' rapists fill the air!!!
destruction as a way of holding resentment
waste as a way of celebrating regret
volume as a means of cherishing violence
Decay is the light in the tunnel
Drilling down and out
Beginning its thinking with the 30 year old essay 'The Problem With Music' by record producer Steve Albini, this work is upset by the industrial disintegration of a disintegrating industry, The History Of Rock (tm) and the systems and stories it has sold. Crossing this reference with Mathew Barney's 'The Order' and situating it all in the artistic market place in 2023, FK is tasked with an existential end-game, destined to lose but compelled to play.
CDs, TVS, computers, trophies, pristine music encyclopaedias and more will meet the guillotine, the hammer or the wall, while old school death metal serenades.
NOTE: A previous version of this performance was created for the cancelled Take Me somewhere Festival in 2020. This version takes that one into account, and is powered by, the wider global and personal traumas that have been endured in that time. Be they visible, neurological or otherwise.
Scotland’s Premier Destructavist, FK Alexander’s deathwork attempts to force feed mania influenced visions and aural hallucinations upon groups of civilians, across various dimensions, with varying outcomes. This work has been made for graveyards, nightclubs, cassette tapes and car parks, as well as theatres, music venues and galleries. This work is activated by a 30-year existential crisis, a history of bad men and obsessions with flowers, dead rock stars and the decline of western civilisation (the heavy metal years). This work is incredibly profound and entirely meaningless. FK has gratefully received a Total Theatre Award, An Autopsy Award and the 2021 Offies Award for experimental performance. 2023 album - FK ALEXANDER IS A STUPID BITCH - limited edition hand bejewelled cassette and digital download.
‘’A vitally important artist’’ - Dorothy Max Prior, Total Theatre Magazine
Show Credits:
Concept and lead Artist: FK Alexander
Bands: 2 local hardcore bands, Coffin Mulch and Endless Swarm
Producers: Feral (Jill Smith & Kathryn Boyle)
Production Manager: Sarah Wilson
Soundtrack: FK Alexander & Andy Brown
Costume and Headpiece: Sarah Green
Thank you to: Laura Bradshaw, Iain Findlay Walsh, Lauren Barrie Holstien, Jen Smethhurst and Louise Orwin.
Production credits: Produced by Feral. Funded by Creative Scotland. Commissioned by Take Me Somewhere and supported by Summerhall.
Photos: © Joana Stawnicka
