In One man band x n a group of performers don MP3 players and, through headphones, play along to tracks picked at random from favourite song playlists, whilst their instrumental outputs pass freely out into the venue. There is no restriction on song style and instrumentation and the maximum duration for any single playing of One man band x n is five minutes.
The fundamental technique of separating a performer from performance environment via headphones is by no means original: Gavin Bryars’ 1, 2, 1 2 3 4 takes a very similar approach and although on the surface the two pieces are spookily alike, they in fact explore different pastures. Stockhausen and Lutoslawski have also utilised variants of this technique.
One man band x n employs this technique of performer separation to comment on ways in which technology has impacted our use of music, from a social perspective. Also of interest is the use of a fixed recording to create something the performer can call their own. It was premiered at ii Gig #1 in Sleepers Bar, Huddersfield in October 2009, featuring Pat Allison, Johnny Herbert, James Williamson and Adam Jansch as performers.
Click this link to download the guidelines for One man band x n (1MB).