TOUGH SELL have committed to the bit to bring you a piping hot, uber-eclectic programme of pipe performance of various moods and methods.

There'll be foot-stomping tunes on the Uilleann pipes from folk musicians par excellence Paddi Benson and Grace Lemon. You'll have to pipe down to appreciate Sholto Dobie and Alanas Gurinas's exquisite, delicate experimentation via self-built tubes, valves, and vibrating paper. Bristol's premier plumbing-themed drag king Pipe Bender will be laying pipe (for real, features actual plumbing). And a one-night-only gathering of players form a drone orchestra of 28 recorders reclaimed from a local school. Plus Benny Dart piping out pipe records in the bar all night long.

Come along to hear this unique set of artists pipe up and show you what some compressed air in a tube can do. It'll be totally tubular.

SHOLTO DOBIE + ALANAS GURINAS (Vilnius)

Alanas Gurinas and Sholto Dobie present a collaborative performance in celebration of their new album A Hiss of Light out on Infant Tree in May. Both artists work with acoustic sound sculptures and self-made instruments made with everyday materials. In the case of Gurinas, vibrating and taught paper objects emit pulsing sine tones, organic chirps and shimmering noise that drift like weather fronts whilst in Dobie’s work, air is the main material, compressed and channeled through a set of valves, tubes and timers, into pipes of various origins.

In these pieces, assembled and recorded at the artist-run space Studium P in Vilnius, Lithuania, their sonic worlds combine and fold into an embrace with each other, forming invisible landscapes and channels in which the listener, with an ear to the ground, moves through.

https://sholtodobie.bandcamp.com/album/23
https://www.instagram.com/alanyla/

PADDI BENSON + GRACE LEMON (London)

Grace Lemon and Paddi Benson - two highly-accomplished Uilleann pipers - have joined forces to explore the interlocking sounds of two pipes and write new music underpinned by narrative threads. Their debut project, ‘volume one – a curious dance’ was released in 2023, and is a conceptual retelling of the patient ballroom dances that took place at Bethlem Hospital (Bedlam) throughout the 19th century. Two sets of pipes speak to and layer upon one another almost like the right and left hand of a piano, rather than two distinct instruments.

A fascinating aspect of the Uilleann pipes is that the pitch and tone of each note on each chanter will differ; it is both a curious and incorrigible instrument to compose on. The result of the duo's interest in the instrument itself – from idiosyncratic harmonics to the material resonance of wood and reeds – is a rich and unique sound that draws from both traditional and contemporary influences, moving between experimental minimalism and excerpts of self-penned reels and jigs.

https://www.paddiandgracemusic.com/

PIPE BENDER (Bristol)

Join resident handyman Pipe Bender (aka Rachael Clerke) for a live recording of his much-loved DIY plumbing youtube channel Tubes. Who knows, you might even learn something. All tools provided.

https://rachaelclerke.com/


THE RECORDER RESCUE ORCHESTRA (Bristol)

The weapon of choice of Key Stage 1 classes across the country (our finest noise musicians), the recorder is an unfairly maligned instrument. A one-night-only ensemble of performers, led by Jo Hellier and Tough Sell, will seek to rescue the recorder - literally (a local school was getting rid of 28 of them), and reputationally. An improvised, score-based performance: minimal rehearsal, maximum recorder.

https://johellier.co.uk/About-1

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£12 standard / £9 concessions (NOTAFLOF - please email toughsellzine@gmail.com if money is a barrier)