Pygmy Beat

From the ashes of the Naked Igwanaz came Pygmy Beat to bother the neighbours: PYGMY BEAT Pygmy Beat is a musical collaboration between Terry Berman and Ray Cochrane that began in the mid 80’s after their departure from Sydney power pop band The Naked Igwanaz. ............................................................ .................................................... The collective began life as a trio with John Toomey. Terry & Ray began recording drafts of their songs on a Yamaha MT100 4 track. Terry plays flute, saxophone, Rhodes piano and performs the vocals. Ray plays bass, guitar and pushes buttons. Their sound is defined by the oddly modified pickups on Ray’s Bruno Royal Artist semi acoustic guitar and Terry’s vocals. ............................................................ .......................................... Lyrically the songs reflect trade unionist and humanist themes: So Long Shuffle - the US’s leaving of Vietnam; Revolution Blues - the upheaval in Laos; Softdance - the life of Jim Morrison; Mercedes 1- the changes experienced by the child refugees of Pol Pot; A Patch Of Ground – life under Marcos; Full Circle – the difficulties experienced by indigenous Australians & Workers’ Playtime – the conservative's attacks on working people’s rights. Though Gimli's Lament is about the love of Gimli for Galadriel and Lost Letters is about the disquiet of finding the tatters of an old relationship. ............................................................ .......................................... MIRIAM & I:In 2004 Ray started taking ‘cello lessons with Miriam Webb. Miriam, from a very musical family, focused on projects and soon Ray began to record these. One of the 1st tasks was for the solo section of Revolution Blues. Ray & Miriam began record as Miriam & I, putting together Sandpaper Castles 1811, Sandpaper Reggae, Silent Waltz and the instrumental of Gimli’s Lament all of the above using Miriam’s melodies. ray pulled out a song he’d written with Eric Drabwell in 1976 to record with Miriam’s vocal which is, interestingly, quite close to that of the original vocalist: Mary-Anne Flood. Miriam's lovely ‘cello work is a foil for Ray’s poor ‘cello playing and minor chord obsessions. ............................................................ ......................................... Ray posts songs on the MP3 Mixing Clinic of Homerecording BBS to "workshop" the mixes. It was through this forum that real drums were added to one old and one new track. Canadian musician/producer/songwriter RAMI recorded excellent drum tracks for Patch of Ground and Wah Wow (But Is It Art?). ............................................................ ........................................... Newer tracks have been recorded with Lost Letters (resurrected by faderbug) and an alternative/male vocal version of GIMLI'S LAMENT completed as well as CAFE' OCEANIC (with a surprise solo) & WAH WOW (But Is It Art?). AFTER THE BURNING is now complete with RAMI drumming yet again and Gerald Steele, another very talented Canadian adding an excellent solo. - check them out & offer a suggestion or two......................................................... .................. SEWER/NIGHT OUT was greatly improved by Marc who provided the distorted & "eastern" guitar lines as well as the synths. A drum track has been added care of Greg L and the mix is pretty well sorted pre mastering with a stinging solo from Gerry. JANGLEYTHING/EYES WIRED OPEN is just that; a folkier peice that essays the perspective of a bipolar sufferer. Terry has done a draft vocal. .................... SHE DIED ON ME is the working title for a track that is a stylistic dreturn to SEWER/NIGHT OUT. The lyrics are actually about the JFK myths and the title has changed to reflect that - it's now called KENNEDY AVALON. There's a video to accompany it. Musically its built on bass and rhythm guitars by ray with keyboard & processed guitars by Marc once again. Greg L provides the superb percussion and Gerry Steele dropped in a brilliant solo. Terry has cooked up the melody and the vocal track is done........................................................ . Videos have been done & posted for SOLONG SHUFFLE as well as MERCEDES No 1, SOFTDANCE, KENNEDY AVALON, SEWER/NIGHT OUT and EYES WIRED OPEN. All are on this page and can be found on Youtube. There's also a vid of a MIRIAM & I song - SANDPAPER CASTLES. Terrific news - collaborator from the 70's, Eric Drabwell, has bought himself a new guitar and is enthused about revisiting the primitive recordings we made in '76 & '77. I look forward to some fun. Terry & I have a couple of new ones in the works so stay close. I edited my profile with Thomas' Myspace Editor V4.4