The Futurist

The Futurist, ah The Futurist...

The ones who have seen them are blessed, the ones who didn't are unfortunate.

Here are two live recordings from Flying Scotsman (10 March 2006 - recorded by myself) and RTR FM (18 March 2006).

I was lucky to do a regular DJ gig on Fridays in first half of 2006 at Scotto. I think we played together (meaning I DJ-ed before their set) at least 10 times. Often they were OK, sometimes good, but sometimes, when everything clicked, they would be the best live act around. The best!

Crazy Steve on Rhodes

First time I played with them was in early 2006, when I got a DJ-ing gig at Scotty, spinning mostly jazzy stuff. I was told there is band that will play after my set, around 10pm. They were called the Futurist. I never heard of them and din't know hat to expect, so I expected nothing.

They rocked up just before 10pm and started setting up on the floor - two Rhodes and old amps and a drumkit. Soon they started playing. I was in the corner with some friends, having a beer, but a couple of minutes later I had to get up and get closer, as the band was amazing. Kind of reminded me of Medeski, Martin & Wood, but a lot rawer and heaps more interesting.

As I said, we played many show together and then Kim Williams and me got them support for Damo Suzuki when we brought him over here. The Futurist haven't played many shows outside of Scotto and they played a couple there with guests. One was with some guy on guitar and it just didn't work at all. The other was with Joe 19 on keys/melodica, which was better, but still not so great. They were the best when they were just a three-piece.

I don't know what happened, but some months later they slowly stopped playing and broke up...

Steve is in Intenso 33 these days. I played one show with them a few weeks back and was the worst musician in band by far. But I hope to play some shows with them again...