For the finalé of the soundtrack, Antony whipped the crew up into a bit of a frenzy whereupon we were all asked to participate in a Manson family-like chant to the Japanese sun goddess Amaterasu. Not wishing to be a party-pooper, I held the bell, of course, but if you listen closely, you might hear a certain Mr Chalayan on vocals, responding to Antony's prompts. Here's a little snippet...
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This is one for the SHOW studio, really. Look who it is, team - former SHOWstudio intern, little Helen Cooper!! Now all grown up and assistant to the talented Jane How, Antony has enlisted Helen and other members of the crew in a little penny whistle-tootling.
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Antony warms up on the piano, the assistants give the turntable a bit of a polish and Anna Whiting rids the black-draped set of all white specks before Hussein lets rip with a new piece of technology he's never tried before in his designs...
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There are times when I curse this picture phone for preventing me from actually experiencing the thing I'm struggling to document. There are other times -like now- that I bless it for recording something nobody would ever believe were there not pictorial evidence. Imagine the call:
"What were you doing this week, Penny?"
"Well, Mum. I stood in a studio videoing a microphone whilst Antony from Antony and the Johnsons threw plates over my shoulder in time with a vocal recording he'd just made when I was texting in a blog entry, smashing them over the mic. Meanwhile, Nick Knight and Hussein Chalayan made a fashion film in the background."
"Goodness, Penny-pet (that's how she talks), I hope that Mr Johnsons told you to close your eyes when the shards were flying!"
"He did, as a matter of fact. Very polite man".
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Duffy lets go with the windmachine whilst the 'table keeps on turnin'!
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As Antony and Chris get right on it with those beaters, let me regale you with the rich musical history of the studio we're working in. Admittedly, the 'purple haze' quality of my blogs is far from intentional (it's dark in there) but conincidentally, Jimi Hendrix's 1967 track of the same title was recorded in this very room! The sound technicians assure me that The Beatles 'All You Near Is Love' was also filmed here, whilst Led Zepplin, Björk, The Rolling Stones, Madonna, Kylie and Britney have all made good use of the facilities.
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Colin keeps at it on the gong whilst Antony plunder the contents of the extraordinary sound library on his Mac. So far, we've had Boy George discussing love and Marilyn, a religious zealot denouncing the depraved and now this thunderous jungle music. I'll leave it to you to imagine the Hussein Chalayan S/S '08 outfit that inspired it!
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For the first outfit, Antony is experimenting with an 'E'-pitched bell, ringing it to create soundback via a megaphone. His assistant Colin Whitaker plays away on the piano regardless.
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The shoot is about to begin and I feel a bit like I'm backstage in A Star is Born: cymbals are crashing and bells are ringing, a crazy soundtrack of heraldic flute music is playing over some Eastern chanteuse on the PA, whilst Antony is improvising in the middle of the studio on a grand piano.
The singer has emptied his record box to reveal a preposterous range of esoteric stuff, whilst the props people are dilligently laying out all the instruments and objects mentioned in your audio suggestions. So far, I have managed to identify a conch, water-filled wine glasses, a xylophone, a hairdryer, a gong, a bell, something to make the sound of icon-workshipping, a flute and some bones. But who ordered the dog chew?
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