There was a shift
in Philly starting somewhere in late 96 and or early 97 where newer possibilities
seemed to open up suggesting there was room for different musical and performance
perspectives.
"It is very easy to be derivative
and it is easy to criticize and point fingers or worse become a slave to
your likes and dislikes".
With those thoughts and words
John Price & Kali Morgan began what eventually became AKASH.
"Lets not talk but lets become
what we would like to see and listen to in the local Philly Scene".
In the sense of modern music
and musical performance, music is no longer as essential or important as
it once was say approximately a generation ago.
It did not make sense for
us to start playing in venues that the majority of other local musicians
play en masse & then try to shout above the noise of all the others.
Our sound was decidedly softer
than most when AKASH began in early 98 & our interests were a little
more unique and not as widely held as others in the local Philly Arts Community.
We had a sense of what we
needed to receive musically and we knew exactly what we wanted to get from
a musical collaboration but we really wanted to structure a band that was
expressly and intently set up to play outside the areas/venues all of us
had been inside many times before.
We said to ourselves instead
of making the AKASH show just another performance by another local Philly
band, lets make an AKASH show an event where in many ways becomes a larger
scale event ( psychologically speaking ) where to actually have the initiative
to go see AKASH would become part of the experience of what AKASH could
yield to an audience.
The early AKASH shows began
with John Price doing solo space music improves at Fetishes boutique in
early 1998. AKASH was not even called AKASH back then but John and Kali
soon saw many areas of possibility in conjunction with Performance and
sexual expression. AKASH was born. Other shows were conducted in downtown
Philadelphia Adult Bookstores, ( the 25 cent jerk off rooms as one female
fan called them ).
And with so with that came
the actualization of That which was unquestionably AKASH.
We all enjoyed Visual representations
of Erotica & we found that working in areas where we could all be sincere
and relate to the performance environment without a lot of the pretenses
and constructions most people bring to regular clubs and bars, seriously
added new twists to the newly formed AKASH performances.
Most interestingly, we found
playing in Adult Bookstores and going on tour all over town from Philly
to NYC at a different Bookstore each week, totally pushed new areas in
audience and performer relationships in ways we never thought could happen.
From a strategic point of
view, it made more sense to define & position AKASH against a small
but very visible scene of constant movement in one direction than it did
to join it and try to play the along with the routine according to how
everyone else was supposed to be doing the local musician thing.
Our quest for world Domination
began to make serious strides forward - Grin !
When Ed Wilcox joined AKASH
things just went into cloud 9.
Ed's Background as an underground
musical colossus definitely helped the sound and rhythmic thunder of AKASH
and allowed us more textural and timbre areas of variation and intensity.
Ed Wilcox happened to be walking by us unloading for a show in an adult
bookstore and saw the guitars and mikes and said what type of gig are u
guys playing...we knew who he was and immediately asked if he would be
interested in joining and Ed said "sign me uP". ed has been with us ever
since then.
Ed is very musical and very
intuitive in his playing and personality which is extremely passionate,
charming, fun and psychologically intense.
Loralai came on board for
the Philly Fringe Fest We met her reading poetry in The basement of Fetishes
boutique and fell in Love with er style and delivery of erotic exhibitionism
and performance art blended with cutting edge spoken word dialog.
As a musical unit we are
determined to be as live and as in the moment as possible.
We want to be as organically
inorganic as possible - another paradox but we take it as a compliment
when Ed & john are playing together and people think that its a canned
CD or Tape they are hearing. The Stuff you will hear at any AKASH performance
is usually done live and right there on the spot.
The AKASH Approach involves
thinking like a DJ in a number of processes
AKASH starts from the premise
that the musicians already have the record collection in their heads and
they just need to do some remixing on the spot.
John & Ed are inventing
and traveling both forward and backward thorough shared musical imaginations
while expressly being "in the moment" & not having to lock in to any
particular time signature or MIDI time code, though they do sometimes )...cuz
we can groove and we stew our textures .( synth and Guitar Loops, samplers,
etc. )
In AKASH we have a polished
and very canned synthetic/textural sound that is at times either hokey,
ethereal and or heavy or hard boppin.
But while thinking like a
dj we are all trying to usually be as far outside the delivery of what
most DJ's/experimental and or Jam Band music can and does tend to sound
like most times and once again jump and dive into that which AKASH needs
to be.
AKASH: Sexual energy
is clearly universal...Sexual thoughts and sexual expression can be positive
and readily accessible without any need for shame or guilt on many healthy
& Adult levels.
But playing with and exploiting
the tension between "The Devil and Angel" and or poking fun at constructed
imagery and sexual misperceptions has and will always continue to make
great listening and viewing pleasure for an audience. ( Add in certain
elements of psychotic romance and humor matched against the above/aforementioned
& you start to get something that is close to what AKASH does. Also,
factor in a certain level of musical competence as AKASH is very interested
and committed to musicianship as long as it does not become routine or
reliable).
AKASH is unquestionably riveted
in erotic & spiritual imagery that is both revealing and redefining
but in ways beyond what you may see in front of you. ( AKASH Also has 2
scorpios in the Band so its definitely a combustible sexual platform we
shoot from - Guess who the Scorpios are :)
With AKASH, there are many
layers of the obvious and the subtle thrown together & given full &
equal velocity where at any given moment all "elementals" ( as we in AKASH
call them ), are allowed to contrast and be molded into the specific stew
we cook up inside our performances.
We are an ultra-modern sounding
and very sample oriented adaptation or a "next logical progression" of
where we feel popular musical performance for the 21st century will naturally
progress toward; specifically the experimental and avant garde and or ambient
becoming more and more of a common and popular mechanism for musical indulgence/experience.
Is it Art, Entertainment,
Pornographic, Ambient, Rock, Jazz, Immoral and or Gimmick ? Who cares.
In AKASH, we are all of that and lots , lots more but once again, we are
exactly the AKASH we need to be and we always intend to deliver the most
fun and the best performances we can muster.
