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Photo - Ric Bower

John Cale ambled on to a stage set with instruments (drums, guitar, keyboards, laptops and, perched under the microphone stand, an electric viola), and parked himself on a stool, set left of centre. A black and white photo of an old rural building flashed up above him, and Cale remarked that this was the local chapel near his house in Wales, where he grew up. And so, over the following hour or so, in his soft-but-deep Welsh accent and with the help of many more photos, Cale recounted his life and music career in what could be described as an illustrated lecture.

For the die-hard fan, I'm sure this would have been an absolute enthralling session, the perfect accompaniment to seeing Cale perform live in the Festival's Seven Songs To Leave Behind or the orchestral re-play of his own Paris 1919 album. For the more casual admirer or reasonably well informed pop and music fan (who's at least heard of The Velvet Underground, Andy Warhol and/or avant garde composers like John Cage), it was an engaging, informative and often amusing evening that thankfully ended on a real high.

Largely, Noises in My Head was a straight forward recollection of Cale's life and musical exploits, dwelling on his early musical education, up to his college days and initial activities as a composer. We moved from his introduction to music via piano lessons, to his decision to take up viola due to a shortage of violins in the school band (after a short-lived stint on timpani), through to his study at Goldsmith Music College in London. In time, Cale went on to mention Cage and New York, meeting Lou Reed, Nico, and Andy Warhol, and his brief but intense involvement with the formation of The Velvet Underground.

Within this timeline, though, he touched on some interesting ideas and anecdotes about music and performance. For example, an early BBC performance of one of his composed works forced him to improvise the piece, with a new ending, for the recording after they lost his hand-written score. Afterwards, he liked what he heard, and the experience proved to him that, although stressful, improvising and taking risks in performance were worth it. At one point he also went into considerable detail describing the musical notation and theory of his experiments in drone music, which lead me to realise that much of what I'm sure sound like very abstract and unmusical experimental compositions are actually deeply grounded in music theory and classical tradition. Then again, this detour into music theory started with Cale's throwaway remark that he used to tune his viola (equipped with 3 guitar strings and guitar pick-up) to the hum of his refrigerator!

As we approached the hour mark, at the point where I was beginning to wonder if all the instruments on stage were nothing more than props, or perhaps intended for a later performance, Cale rushed through the remaining handful of photos and then called his band onto stage. Announcing that the early experiments in drone sounded "something like this", they launched into a majestic rendition of Venus in Furs, to the obvious delight of the audience. This indeed was the ideal way to illustrate his potted history lecture, and I'm sure the audience would have lapped up much more of the same if it was offered. But it was not to be. Song over, the band departed. The enthusiastic clapping that followed only managed to call Cale out to the stage for another bow before he disappeared back behind the curtain.


2010 Melbourne International Arts Festival
Noises in my Head
John Cale

Venue: the Arts Centre, Fairfax Studio
Dates: Tue 19 Oct at 7.45pm
Duration: Approx 1hr no interval
Tickets: Full $40 / Groups (8+) $36.00 / Concession $30 / Student $25
Bookings: the Arts Centre 1300 182 183 / www.theartscentre.com.au / Ticketmaster 1300 723 038 / www.melbournefestival.com.au