basement orchestra talk

‘We are an orchestra.
We sometimes play music written by living humans.
We think basements have great acoustics.
We clap when we want.’

So say Basement Orchestra, a great ensemble who will be bringing their subterannean stomp to Book Slam (F)East this Saturday… Read on for their sage words on Zappa, posh pubs and noodles…

If you could play anywhere, where would your fantasy place be? It’s a tie between Studio 54 c.1975, and the entrance to Mordor.

Favorite piece to play by someone dead? And someone living? Dead is easy – Frank Zappa’s Yellow Shark Suite. And from the world of the living the dream would have to be George Benjamin’s ‘At First Light’.

Most unusual place you have played in? We recently rehearsed directly on top of Hot Chip, which they didn’t seem to mind too much. 

How long have you been playing together? Were just coming up to our first birthday, so were pretty nouveau in the grand orchestral landscape.

For this (F)east of epic proportions Book Slam are bringing together Will Self, Piff the Magic Dragon and of course yourselves. If you summarize Will Self in a sound what would it be? And Piff? Piff definitely evokes the statuesque melodies of Borodin’s Polovetsian Dances. Will has more of the sensory deprivation chamber about him.

Have you got any secret favorite spots in Hackney?

 It’s not a big secret, but we do like to reward ourselves with a well-chosen pint at the Marksman after a hard day’s rehearsing. It’s right near to another interesting haunt, 259 Hackney Road, a lovely little independent wine shop. We’re classy like that.

Favorite thing to Feast upon pre-show (or post show)? Were big on fuelling up before a show. At the minute our carb of choice is the noodle. There are many excellent noodles near our Hackney Road homeland. We have some keen pastry chefs in our ranks, who make sure we are well-supplied with banana cookies throughout a long rehearsal too. Oh AND we really like The Bream Team too – they cooked us all a pretty fine supper last night.

The Basement Orchestra play Book Slam (F)East this Saturday alongside Will Self, Piff The Magic Dragon and more. Buy tickets and gleen further info here.