Earth Ball at Arnold Circus Bandstand, East London, May 2024 – So the word was quietly leaked out, end of tour show or semi-secret guerilla gig or unofficial takeover of the beautiful bandstand at Arnold Circus over in Shoreditch here in East London before Earth Ball fly home to North America after what seems to have been a rather positive tour. This was always going to be good just as long as the flyers didn’t fall into the wrong hands and Dibble turned up. Do we have Dibble in London or are they the Plod down here? Just as long as the Filth didn’t get wind, the Rozzers, the Fuzz, Laura Norder, is Dibble just a Manc thing? Earth Ball were excellent over at Cafe Oto a couple of weeks back, since then they been off around the country, surely they couldn’t be as loud as they were at Oto? Surely they couldn’t be as wired, as locked in, this was going to be interesting, this was always going to be good just as long as no one had told the bleedin’ Law! 

Arnold Circus is a beautiful place, the bandstand is at the centre of it all, built on the site of the Old Nichol, a notorious slum back in the 19th century, and called the ‘blackest street’ by historian Sarah Wise, Arnold Circus has undergone transformations. Its legacy as the first social housing, an early council estate, designed to “remedy the desperate poverty of slums that were cleared to provide the space for it. But the rents of this first council housing estate were too high for the displaced residents”, that’s a rather familiar East London story, nothing changes! The big mound that the bandstand sits on is the mound of rubble from those bulldozed slums but hey, as beautiful as the bandstand, the gardens and the building that circle it now look a hundred and a chunk of years on, we’re not here for a history lecture, we’re here for some wired up raw experimental jazz-flavoured avant noise. What are they going to make of this in the surrounding buildings?  

6pm at the bandstand said the beautifully drawn flyer,  yet another rush along the Hackney Road and a cut through Columbia Road is required, can’t stop to talk, band on in a minute, follow me, you won’t want to miss this. Will they be there? is this really going to happen? This is surely a throwback, these things don’t tend to happen any more. Can we hear the band setting up? Is that a distorted saxophone in the wind or just wishful thinking? No, there they are, we can hear them now, ten minutes to six and there they are setting up, climb the steps to that gorgeous bandstand and yes, they really are here along with a handful of waiting people. Drums, electric guitars, amps cranked, they’re getting ready to go for it. The last of the very hand-printed tour shirts are spread out on the ground along with a handmade sign saying “have them”, I guess they can’t take them home through customs and well, thank you! More people trickle in, most are here for the event, others just passing and curious, the pigeons are leaving, the dogs look on, more people arriving, all the shirts have gone, looks like a hundred or so by the time the band kick off and as we asked about the Oto show last week, “what can be said about something like this? This being exceptionally intense challengingly rewarding improvisational avant-psychedelic noise from the Pacific Northwest, from Canada actually”.   

Isabel Ford is still all in red, red coat, red boots, red, red, paint it red, she’s armed with megaphones, things to hit, things that offer all kind of possibilities, is that a garden fork wired up to an amp slung over her back that she dragging along the floor as the rest of the band, Jeremy Van Wyck, John Brennan, Kellan McLaughlin, Liam Murphy play guitars, drums, bass and sax (although probably not in that order, haven’t worked out who does what yet). There one of those big cooking oil cans being used, guess they picked up along the way as you do – there’s bells being passed out to the crowd, whistles, there’s more people arriving, they look like they know, one or two might have come out of the houses or just might have been passing, I guess you can hear this from a few streets away at least, the band are not holding back here! Is that a Police siren? Yes but there’s always Police sirens, this is East London, they pass on by, there’s quite a healthy crowd now, even if it is hands in pockets coats done up weather (no need to cool down here!). Earth Ball are really in the zone again, this is serious improv no-wave jazz (hey if they can do it why aren’t more bands turning up here, last time we caught one it was a sweat little Klezmer band towards the end of lockdown on a sunny Sunday afternoon, they were mostly just playing to themselves. Hang on was that really a police siren or was it the band themselves?

A particularly wired piece of experimental noise comes to a rather fine climax as a head pops out of one of the buildings maybe four flours up, impeccable timing, “that’s not f**king music”” he yells, “If you lot don’t shut the f**k up I’m coming down there with a baseball bat!”, on he goes, “I hope you don’t get paid for it, f**king ‘ell, i could do better than that!”, “come on then” someone shouts back as the diatribe goes on before the answer from the band come in the shape of a blast on the sax, “we better do a something a little more mellow” says Isabel to the rest of the musicians, “that’s an ‘orrible noise” he yells out the window, “we love it” shouts someone back at him, “f**k off all of you he yells back.. And off they go again, small bells handed out to the crowd, sax replaced by a trumpet, electric guitar put aside for more percussion and the kicking round of the now rather dented oil can, it is all rather beautifully serine now, well beside the throwing of bits of metal and the rather tall guitarist is now wondering around shouting and the bells in the crowd are almost leading, this is excellent, heckling man has shut up, is he getting into it? Babies wearing protective headphones are brought out to see, this really is good, great chemistry, they really do lock together so so well, it isn’t as extreme as they were at Oto but then how could they be out here in the late afternoon open air of East London, this a slightly different vibe, a different shade of enjoyment and a rather fine way to end what apparently has been a well received tour, they more than pulled off this last semi gig, what a treat. 

And that’s it, end of gig, end of tour (save for a radio session tomorrow on Resonance FM of course). We all stand around, we call for more, “we gotta go home” they respond, people reluctantly drift away, others hang around to chat, to plot their return. “How did you find out?” “Weren’t they great”, smiles on cold faces, goodbyes to the band, a fine way to end a Friday afternoon, if you haven’t checked out Earth Ball yet then you really should, that new album is more than tasty, and live they really have “it”, thank you Earth Ball, it has been a colourful blast, do hurry on back, we want more of this… (sw)     

Previously…

ORGAN THING: Earth Ball and Chris Corsano kick off a tour at Cafe Oto, London in impressive style – that was intense, that was good, that was avant jazz no wave noise intense, that was serious commitment…

ORGAN THING: Earth Ball’s new album, what can be said about something like this? This being exceptionally intense challengingly rewarding improvisational avant-psychedelic noise from…

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