GIG: BARDO POND
“It seemed unbelievable, unimaginable,” says Bardo Pond’s Michael Gibbons of the invitation from Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson to join the Vivid Live line up. Although their paths have not crossed, Gibbons has, “Been a big fan, for you know, ever!” Lou played Bardo Pond on his radio show and liked them – enough to add their drone-drenched sound to his pet project, the Noise Night (they will be joined by Japanese thrash-glitch maestros Melt-Banana and Boris). Bardo Pond was formed in 1989 by the two Gibbons brothers in Philadelphia – and in the intervening decades, has been dubbed the ‘flagship’ for the Pyschedelphia movement. Gibbons laughs off the title, “There was a Pyschedelphia record released, and we weren’t on it!” If that’s not quite right, what is when describing Bardo Pond? “It’s music that loosens someone’s mind, some sort of chemicals in your brain – it will make you react mentally,” says Gibbons – something that is quite obvious if you glance at any of their albums or songs, with trippy titles like, Dilate, Ticket Crystals, Tantric Porno and This Time (So Fucked). “A lot of what we do, is improvisation,” says Gibbons. It’s a free-form style of sound that meant when they first picked up their instruments they were highly unskilled – and that was the point. They’ve come some ways but the ethos remains the same. “We can be real noisy!” laughs Gibbons. Lou Reed agrees, saying elsewhere, “Someone there has been listening to some really interesting stuff. The guitar sounds … they’ve got it.”
May 31 & Jun 1, Sydney Opera House, from $35, 9250 7777, sydneyoperahouse.com
