Biography
The first (documented) recording alias of Chris Andrews – I.E. the creator of this website. In 2004 I compiled a 4-song EP of original recordings and got them pressed in the very limited capacity of 20 copies through Peter King, down in Mt. Somers (in a single day!, June 24th 2004), each with a unique cover and hand-numbered. The music contained within varies between low-key melodic trembling’s on the a side, to caustic, but carefully controlled feedback-entrenched drones and shards of sound (extracted with the help of Cubase’s many distortion tools – from a bass guitar) on the b of an 8″ lathe-cut.
This highly limited 8″ lathe comes to us from the beautiful islands of New Zealand, a place known for it’s exquisite experimental music. These four short compositions by Chris Andrews heavily feature bass as a predominant instrument. Their minimalistic structures and instrumentation give the four tracks on “a million lights” an open-air feeling. It’s like soaring through the night sky, breathing ice cold air into your lungs. I love how sparse these pieces are. Both “Build 2” and “Thumping Around” show off a sense of melody. While these tracks are all instrumental, these two have a catchiness to them that will lodge itself firmly inside your skull.
Brad Rose; Foxy Digitalis
This EP is actually an archival release, constructed from some of the most thematically aligned instrumental pieces in my recording archives, which date back to around 2000. playing primarily bass guitar, but also a little keyboard and rudimentary drumming, the ep is a work of studio-production, and differs quite markedly from my live band, the diana mckay led post-punk 4-piece Idols Of Eve.
The piece de resistance of “a million lights” is the opening to side b, “Error 404.” With shades of Roy Montgomery and Windy and Carl, this spacey guitar drone is mesmerizing. A heavy low-end gives this track depth, and Andrews’ melodic tendencies shine through again. It ascends and descends through the clouds like a soaring bird. It’s an excellent track and deserves repeated listens. He closes the album with “Rebel,” which is reminiscent of the previous track. It’s like a more stripped down, heavily processed version of it. It’s a solid ending to a very solid release. I hope to hear more of Andrews’ material in the future
Brad Rose; Foxy Digitalis
On January 14th, 2005 I made my live solo debut at the ‘Southern Oscillations‘ festival at Castle Hill, Central Canterbury. I performed a 40 minute set comprised of material from my simultaneously released debut full-length cd-r, coming on after kRkRkRk artist / co-founder K-Mz Robinson (of NoTV / TMA-1).
The performance went well, playing to a small crowd on the opening night of the festival, drawing a good response and prompting a make-shift encore. Significant about the live performance was that I had now taken to playing guitar in a live capacity, just 3 weeks after purchasing my first (non-bass) guitar. Using my PC for backing and live processing, the guitar is used primarily to spike the live sound with a higher register wave of sound, which can rise and fall between quite aggressive shards of noise to glacial waves.
After a single gig as a duo (with James Musgrave of A Flight To Blackout – we performed as 2 million lights) and a CD-r album release in 2006, plus a few further live solo performances, a million lights went on the back burner around 2007.
While still performing with The Palace of Wisdom, I joined new ‘DIY Pop’ group The Ruling Elite in 2015, picking up guitar again for the first time since the solo performances. With free-form drummer Rory Dalley (otherwise known as IRD), I got the opportunity again to perform in an improvised manner – filling in for Dave Imlay in Dalley’s instrumental duo No Exit for a show at Space Academy in mid 2017, this lead to further performances with Dalley during The Ruling Elite‘s North Island tour in August 2017 (using the group name No No Exit).
Members
- Chris Andrews (The Palace of Wisdom, Mysterioball, Idols of Eve, Pop Hits City, O’Lovely – Bass/Guitar/Vocals/Production, 2004 – 2006)
- James Musgrave (A Flight to Blackout, Valdera – Keyboards, 2006)
Discography
- a million lights EP (2004, Self-Released)
- Album (2005, Self-Released)