A bag of food to get in – what a bargain! The whole Greed set and with our new bass player, Phil Jones. It was in a barn (not refurbished or anything) and by the end our gear was covered in a fine layer of earth. And we were. Here’s some pictures taken by Julie Bell. She runs the Griffin and was organiser, projection screen mover, host and all round beautiful person.
There were over 20 bags of food donated in aid of Brecon Foodbank and £58 in cash.
Greed: Next gig – Griffin Felinfach, Sat Sept 12 – in aid of Brecon Foodbank – entry fee: A bag of food!
Glad you asked. It’s a live show about greed. The 1% who are in the lap of luxury and the 99% who are exploited and generally conned. It’s got a storyline and everything.
It’s also an album which you can download for free at http://www.scribbleman.bandcamp.com.
Great songs (well, I would say that) and a cast of 16 Brecon singers, actors and musicians. Greed isn’t a band playing in a pub. It’s not a Broadway show either. It’s kind of like nothing else really. Come see for yourself.
Next Show: Wow! The next show is in a barn behind the Felinfach Griffin on Saturday September 12. It’s in aid of Brecon Foodbank and entry fee is a bag of food. See what we did there? Contact julie@eatdrinksleep.ltd.uk and she will send you an e-ticket. (well there’s posh.) Incidentally, the Foodbank show will be a bit stripped back so it won’t be too loud. Nige
The Greed The Rock Opera-mobile rolled on over the weekend with an acoustic version at Alan McGee’s Tabernacle in Talgarth (it’s near Brecon in Mid Wales). The story goes that Alan ‘Creation Records’ McGee bought the 1837 chapel for his wife Kate Holmes and hey presto! – they turn it into a groovy live venue.
Our good friend Annie Dierikx from hot and happening local website fyi Talgarth showed up with a long lens and snapped some of the action. My favourite is the one below of The Scrachans (our lovely backing vocalists). It was taken after the show in one of the chapel’s spooky stairwells.
Hey, huge thanks to Geraint Brown who stepped in at the last moment to operate our projections!
The audience in the tiny venue was a chic 30 odd – appreciative and intent on following the story of small town revolution. It being unplugged and all, we broke the fourth wall for this outing and explained some of the goings on.
Most strange but true moment of the night was when Tim our drummer disappeared for ‘99%’. It turned out that he thought we were at ‘The Money Song’, where it’s just me and Jenni. And he does the set lists! God help us. On his return to the drumkit, he got the biggest cheer of the show.
Today Talgarth, tomorrow the world! Well, it looks like Aberystwyth is in the pipeline anyway. Nige
The Scrachans Only Really Happy
Jenni Davies as Elin Rotkin and Maxencala
Nicola Bickerton The Scrachans
Jenni
Greed writer Nigel Evans Ian Milton as Rotkin
The end of Rotkin? Only Really Happy
Jamie Huish
The next Greed show is at Alan McGee’s Tabernacle in Talgarth. It’s a special show for the converted chapel with an acoustic take on the Greed story. A full cast but unplugged. Anti-banker, anti-austerity, anti-corporate.
Tickets are an incredible £3 each, though space is limited to 65 lucky people. Pick one up from The Hours Cafe & Bookshop in Brecon or The Baker’s Table in Talgarth. You can also reserve a ticket by calling 07926 196714 or emailing maxencala@gmail.com.
Greed The Rock Opera was played out at Mallyfest 2015 at Baskerville Hall on June 20. The festival is in its second year and celebrates the life of legendary musician and singer Mally Powell.
Watch the Greed Trailer here:
Next show: Redhouse Merthyr Friday March 20. Call 01685 384111 for tickets.
Greed The Rock Opera hits the road in 2015 – live band, singers, choirs, a narrator and a couple of dancers!
Dates so far:
Friday February 27 – Theatr Brycheiniog, Brecon (Tickets 01874 611622 / http://www.brycheiniog.co.uk)
Friday March 20 – Redhouse, Merthyr Tydfil
Download the album for free at http://www.scribbleman.bandcamp.com
Watch Greed The Rockoperamentary here… https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Zl1T3V__SrI
Greed, the first ever activist rock opera, is a musical protest and a reaction to austerity, government cuts, bankers bonuses and big corporations – a theme that brought the Brecon performers together.
Ex-Stranglers manager, Dai Davies has called it the first ever ‘Facebook Opera’.
Writer Nigel Evans says: “I put a post on Facebook asking if anyone fancied helping me record a rock opera and a load of people messaged me. I knew most of them to be fair. Brecon’s a small town and there’s a ton of musicians.”
Greed features vocal performances from actor Ian Milton as the evil banker Rotkin, members of Aberhonddu Male Voice Choir, singer Jenni Davies, poet Huw Parsons, the Greed female choir featuring local bookshop owners Nicky Bickerton and Leigh Hendra, and artists Karin Mear and Hilda Benham, and local cab driver DL Jones as the story’s narrator.
Accordionist and flautist Jamie Thomas
Nigel says: “Greed is about the big bad world we live in but I’ve shrunk the world in Greed to make it easier to follow. It’s about hapless politicians in Abertaff and the evil bankers like Rotkin who control them.
“Greed is about the fake world we live in where 1% own 99% of the wealth. It’s about the debt controlled slavery system we’re manacled to called money. It’s a love story really.”
Narrator DL Jones
A scaled back version of Greed was roadtested on audiences during Brecon Fringe Festival in August. Festival goers were in turn, enthusiastic and shocked.
Nigel says: “We were sort of mobbed. It’s a multimedia show with guest singers and samples and projections. People were favourably comparing Greed to George Orwell’s 1984 and Jeff Wayne’s War Of The Worlds. Seems like it struck a chord with them.
“People are getting genned up about what’s going on in the world. The internet has opened up so many alternative ways of getting information and not just believing what they’re spoonfed by traditional media.
“It’s terrifying actually but quite exciting at the same time, when people like Owen Jones and Russell Brand talk about revolution. It’s inevitable though.”
Greed writer Scribble Man
Easy money
Jenni Davies as Elin
Ian Milton as Rotkin
Greed in rehearsals Dec 11 2014
Revolution
Billy Strangward in rehearsals Muse Dec 2014
Tim and sampler Nig’s studio Jan 2015
Welcome to Abertaff and welcome to Hell.
It’s a bugger but everything you think you know is a lie. Rotkin controls everything. That guy who presents breakfast tv every day: He’s a member of the Bullshit Club, he’s one of Rotkin’s puppet elite.
Don’t believe anything. Question everything. The radio station and the local newspaper is owned by the banker Rotkin. The internet is monitored by his puppets. Some of what you read might be the truth. For now – until Rotkin shuts the activists and alternative media down. And he will.
Control is the name of his game. And it’s powered by greed.
You won’t believe this but money doesn’t exist. It’s an invention. It’s a fantasy. You can work as much as you like but you’ll never get rich. That’s a fantasy too. You’ll have a giant tv and all the processed cheese you can eat. And all the time Rotkin is playing with you, feeding you lies and bad food. He calls it Bread And Circuses.
Keep you working. Keep you poor. You’re the 99%. Rotkin is the 1%. He must die.
Greed The Rock Opera 