That 1 Guy

Ok, imagine a Mad Max type scene, there's nothing left, you're in the desert. Then out of nowhere comes a man, a man who reminds you of Les Claypool, but in some way more welcoming. He says to you, "Hey there, come with me if you want to dance." and then howls like a dingo.. even though his accent clearly tells you that he is from the US of A. You think, why the hell not? You follow him, and he stops next to this strange pile of pipes and boxes and foot pedal things. All of a sudden he runs his hands up and down a wire attached to one of the pipes standing up right and a wonderful sound emerges from who knows where. Then he starts hitting other parts of the pipes, and working the foot pedals, your arse starts to shake, your foot to tap, and the next thing you know your raving on like it's the Burning Man Festival and you ain't comin down for days!

That 1 Guy goes to show that in modern music there are no rules. You don't have to play an instrument that anyone's seen before, you don't have to have some crazy stage show and you can do say and play whatever you like on stage and you can still pack out a venue on the other side of the world and have people howling back at you. Though he does follow one rule, as far as I could see; entertain the crowd. If the crowds laughs when you lift your hat and reveal a second hat (Cat in the Hat style) this is a good thing.

That 1 Guy plays the magic pipe, or is it magic pipes; there are sort of two of them. Which is a home made instrument with all sorts of triggers and samplers and some double bass or possibly piano strings attached. Trying to explain his rig of foot pedal triggers, effects and contact mic trickery would be a whole other article and one for only the geeks. personally I'd love to spend hours working out how it all works. I spent enough time to tell you that even though it sounds like a full band on stage or at least like there's a backing track, everything coming out of the speakers was being controlled live by That 1 Guy. His music is very dance and being a non cliché dance music fan I'd almost say doof doof at times. It's so damn hard to explain, YouTube is our friend here.

You'd think that one guy on a stage by himself, stuck in one spot, it's not like he can move around stage too much, but with some wonderful lighting and background projections ones visual experience was just as entertaining as ones sonic experience. I haven't read any reviews or articles that fully explained That 1 Guy, or gave me a better understanding of seeing him live. I highly doubt that I have gone any step further with this review, all I can say is that he comes to our fair shores fairly regularly, so go see him, especially if you like some dancing, some laughing and some "How the hell is he doing that?"

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