Gnostic Rocket - ProfilesArchive

About Me

Here are some live tunes, recorded at Toronto's infamous Ambient Ping with special guest Sean Beresford on guitar.

Ambient Ping - Dec. 13/05 - Track 1
Ambient Ping - Dec. 13/05 - Track 2
Ambient Ping - Dec. 13/05 - Track 3
Ambient Ping - Dec. 13/05 - Track 4
Ambient Ping - Dec. 13/05 - Track 5
Ambient Ping - Dec. 13/05 - Track 6

Gnostic Rocket is an experiment in rhythm, repetition and controlled chaos. It is built on a foundation of dub and experimental music. Intensive delay and unpredictable analog sound generators with unusual control features allow a unique improvisation between human and machine, each feeding into and leading the other.

An attempt to dethrone the tyranny of the mind and reify the body, Gnostic Rocket is a one-man project of Toronto-based Steve Barber, who has performed with a diverse roster of artists including: Keyop , The Weights , Syntonics , Bodega , Alvy , The Re-Evolutionary Day Orchestra , and most recently, Evil Doers

Gnostic Rocket has appeared on stage with both dub and experimental acts, including PHHK! , I Dub New York , and Paydirt (featuring Dave Clark ), and has been a Denise Benson Best Bet in Eye Magazine.

Gear List - Live set-up

Yamaha CS-01 analog synth with breath controller
Theremin fed through a Korg x911 analog guitar synth
1957 Magnatone lap steel guitar with matching 4-watt tube amp
Kork Electribe ER1 drum machine
Boss SP303 sampler (all samples are self-generated in my home studio)
Springboard Dub - a custom built delay unit by Arius Blaze
Maestro Phase Shifter phaser pedal
Electro-Harmonix English Muffin tube pedal
Danelectro Spring King spring reverb pedal
Danelectro Reel Deal delay pedal
1963 Gibson Hawk tube-amp
Mackie 1202-VLZ Pro 12 Channel Compact Analog Mixer
Studio set-up
Sequential Circuits Prophet 600 analog synth
ARP 16-voice electric piano
Ensoniq ZR76 digital synth/sequencer
Sequential Circuits Drumtrax analog drum machine
Simmons SDS-1000 analog drum rack unit
Boss DR-55 Analog drum machine
Korg Electribe EMX digital synth/sequencer
Freeform Analog Technologies Freebass FB383 analog bass unit
3/4-scale Engelhardt Upright Bass
Aria Electro-Acoustic Upright Bass
1958 Kay Speed Demon guitar
Torino Acoustic Guitar
Jay Turser JTB-2B Hofner-clone electric bass guitar
Circuit-Bent Speak and Math by FastMatt
Circuit-Bent Radio Shack Toy Keyboard by jamforthelamb
Nanoloop 1.2 gameboy synthesizer cartridge
Boss BR8 8-track digital recorder
Audio Technica ATM27HE microphone

My Interests

music, unusual musical gear, international politics, queer culture, literature

I'd like to meet:

I am looking to meet other folks interested in experimental and dub music and old analog gear.

Music:

The Books, AC/DC, Scientist, King Tubby, Elliot Sharp, Daniel Lanois, Black Sabbbath, Motorhead, Can, Brian Eno, Cluster, brokeback, Neil Young, The Hoa Hoa's, Debaser

Movies:

The Fisher King, Donnie Darko, Mr Death, The Princess and the Warrior, The Warriors, Halloween

Books:

Jeanette Winterson - The Passion, Art & Lies, Written on the Body
Henry Miller - Nexus, Sexus, Plexus, The Air-Conditioned Nightmare
Tom Robbins - Still Life with Woodpecker, Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates
Dostoevsky - Notes from Underground
Virginia Woolf - The Waves, Mrs. Dalloway
Paul Bowles - Collected Short Stories
Kathy Acker - Empire of the Senseless
J.G. Ballard - Crash

Heroes:

Carolyn Parrish, Carl Sagan, Ghandi, Martin Luther King Jr., Bob Black, Jeanette Winterson, Cindy Sheehan, Olivia Chow

My Blog

new blog

For those that are interested, I've started a full on blog at: blogger.com Come over and check it out. Love you all, Gnostic Rocket...
Posted by Gnostic Rocket on Fri, 24 Feb 2006 06:38:00 PST

Ambient Ping gig booked for May 30th

This is some seriously advance notice I know, but I have just confirmed a gig at Toronto's infamous Ambient Ping for Tuesday, May 30th.For those of you who have never been, Ambient Ping is a weekly ex...
Posted by Gnostic Rocket on Thu, 09 Feb 2006 12:03:00 PST

On Monday, February 13th Gnostic Rocket joins Roger Sader on lap steel guitar

Hey Everybody, This coming Monday, Feb. 13th, I'll be joining my friend Roger Sader at Mitzi's Sister (1554 Queen St. W., Toronto) for a night of improv music. This is not a full Gnostic Rocket gig,&...
Posted by Gnostic Rocket on Mon, 06 Feb 2006 08:00:00 PST

Tunes are up.

So I've finally managed to figure out how to get some songs up on the site. These are live tracks recorded on December 13th at Toronto's infamous Ambient Ping with my friend Sean Beresford on Guitar a...
Posted by Gnostic Rocket on Sat, 04 Feb 2006 02:09:00 PST

Review

Here is a review of my first show ever, at the awesome Ambient Ping: "Tuesday, July 19th was a feast of "untouchable" music at the PiNG as the audience was treated to two different sets of musi...
Posted by Gnostic Rocket on Fri, 03 Feb 2006 02:04:00 PST

Finally, Gnostic Rocket joins myspace!!

Greetings all!!So I've finally started my own myspace for Gnostic Rocket. I'll be posting tunes here in the next few days. In the meantime, you can check out the myspace for my other musical project E...
Posted by Gnostic Rocket on Fri, 03 Feb 2006 09:44:00 PST