The Hampshire Jam 'Jam' 2007

For 2007 the Village hall was double-booked, so after much searching for an alternative venue the HJJ moved to the same venue as the main HJ, the much larger and more expensive Millennium Hall. This year there were more people wanting to play, so the rota was extended to include 9 performers. As before performers changed over at regular intervals, but these were reduced to 20 minute slots to fit everyone in.

After feedback from 2006 that one long session was too much for people we decided to have a short interval at the halfway point to give people time to peruse the CD stalls and avail themselves of refreshments from the bar.

We also had the Electric Egg lightshow aka Hashtronaut providing some fantastic lighting FX, which were mixed with some excellent projections courtesy of Dave Gurr.

There was also a special guest slot for Ben aka Gliese 614 who made his live debut performing during the intro section of the Xan/Jez/Brendan slot.

Overall feedback from attendees was very good and we managed to sell enough to tickets to cover the increased costs. Big thanks to all the performers, Hashy for the lights, Dave Gurr for projections and Phil for the photos.

Unfortunately there were some problems with the mix levels for the recordings so the set was not made available for release, however, you can listen to streaming audio of some of the 2007 event at the Hampshire Jam 'Jam Virb site and the first slot, featuring Messrs Gurr, Sherwood and Alexander has been released on the Omega Syndicate album 'Riding The Revelations'.

Some feedback from attendees

First came the pre-Jam Jam on the previous evening. Nine musicians playing non-stop improv (my idea of heaven) in 'batches' of three, each batch different from the ones before. (Superb organisation by Jez Creek.) They were, in no particular order, Jez himself (Modulator ESP), Xan Alexander and Dave Gurr (Omega Syndicate), Steve Humphries (Create), John Sherwood (4m 33s), Norman Phay (Vietgrove), Stuart Judd ( Chromengel), Brendan Pollard (Rogue Element), and Stephan Whitlan (K2 Project). 

Stand-out moment #1 for me was the first set involving Stuart, which was so spacy that I had to go out for a breath of air and to get my head straight afterwards. #2 was the moment towards the end when Xan stepped right out of character and laid down a thumping dance sequence. (A similar piece was played at the Starhenge official opening, and appears on the limited edition CDR of that event: it may also appear on a future Omega Syndicate release - if it does, rush out and buy it!) The remainder of the evening is something of a (very happy) blur, which I swear has nothing to do with the fact that there was a bar on the premises! It was also great to catch up with so many friends that we haven't seen this year, due to the moving thing.
(Marion Horrod)

Flt Lt Endorphin reporting back to the Officer's mess after one of the best weekends ever. Flying helmet is well and truly doffed to all you fine chaps on here for the excellent company (yes, even you Dave "Atom Bottom" Gurr whose voracious appetite has caused a shortage of farm animals in the Hampshire area!) and of course the excellent music.

Whilst I enjoyed Volt and Free System Projekt on Saturday - I still can't choose between them as to who was the best, Friday was, for me, the highlight. Such a good vibe and the music really hit the spot. Hashy - you done everyone proud with the lighting, it was absolutely outstanding and, combined with the DVD projections, has to be the best light show I've ever seen at an EM gig and it certainly put Saturday's lighting to shame! 
(Endorphin)

The HJJ was bloody brilliant. Sounded great all the way through to my ears and given the amount of work before hand, the piles of wires and equipment on stage and the added ambient sounds such as the fire alarm you should all feel pleased with the result. A real achievement, especially as you had not practiced it together before the night!!!
Light show was stunning - my eyes took a little time to adjust to normal lighting at the end. Was also nice to meet people and put faces to names/avatars. You made me feel very welcome.
(Seren)

The Hampshire Jam 'Jam' 2006

The idea for a jam

The seeds of idea for the pre-jam were sown back in 2004 when I first attended Hampshire Jam 3 and was mildly disappointed to discover it wasn't really a jam at all. It was a great festival though and one which I would really like to play at. So when it was announced that this year was most likely going to be the last one, Steve Humphries and I tried to get on the bill (as Astrogator), so when the final bill was announced and we weren't on it I decided to organise something myself. The hardest part was finding a venue, but luckily with a bit of help from Steve Jenkins (HJ organiser), I got in touch with Liphook village hall and managed to book it for the Friday prior to the main Hampshire Jam. After that it was just a matter of finding willing participants, making sure that they didn't bring too much equipment and deciding on a bit of structure, to prevent it descending into total chaos.

My account

Well, I've just had a great weekend, possibly the best 2 days of live EM so far, with the Hampshire Jam and the preceding Hampshire Jam 'Jam', or 'pre-Jam' or whatever.

Steve Humphries arrived at my house around 9 am, we had a bit of breakfast and a nice cup of tea, packed his gear into my car and headed off to Liphook at about 10:15

Steve and I made good time down to Liphook, arriving about 1:15, got some lunch, did a bit of shopping and went to pick the keys up early at 2:45.

I had a minor panic when I realised that I had forgotten to bring my cheque book to leave the damages deposit. Luckily there was a cash point nearby so I could get cash instead.

The village hall was excellent, perfect for what we wanted to do.

Everyone one got set-up roughly on schedule and we were ready to go at 6:30, but waited 5 minutes for one of the audience, who'd nipped out to get some booze.

Steve got to be MC and did the introductions and we got started at 6:35 with John, Dave and Xan, who produced a most excellent start to the proceedings.

There was another moment of panic when it became apparent that in the rush I hadn't actually made sure everyone knew how things were supposed to go, which was as one continuous set, with the people on for an hour being the 'bridges' as the others changed, so there was a bit off running around letting everyone know. after this it all went pretty much to plan, which was pretty amazing, so thanks to everyone for helping.

As I was on the door or organising most of the time I wasn't playing the rest of the evening turned into a bit of a blur, but wherever I was in the building I could still hear the music, thanks to John's excellent PA, and I don't remember any bad bits. Things faltered occasionally at the bridges as people worked out what to play, but apart from that I thought it went very well, and certainly exceeded my expectations.

We finished just before 10 and Stephan and Dave did Stephan's infamous SF medley for an encore, which was very entertaining

Audience-wise we had about 15 and I all but made back the money for the hall hire.

I guess a lot of people couldn't get away from work in time, or only got a 'pass' for one night, or weren't sure about travelling for what might be a bit of an unknown quantity.

Those that did come seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves and included HJ organiser Steve Jenkins, Grant Middleton, a group of Poles, an American, a Belgian and super EM fans Trevor, Dave and Marion.

I'd be happy to do it all again next year if there is a HJ6, or even somewhere else if there isn't, if enough other people are interested.

At the main jam on Saturday there was quite a lot of interest in the 'fringe' event as everyone seemed to be calling it, so hopefully it could attract more people if there's a next time.

the infamous rota

This is the glue that held everything together:

The rota was setup so that everyone got to play with everyone else, without everyone being on all the time. Everyone got an hour slot and a half hour slot (except one) and it was the person doing the hour slot who attempted to hold it all together at the changeover.

In the end Norman couldn't make it due to family commitments and his slots were filled by Stephan Whitlan.

Listen to streaming audio of the whole 2006 event at the Hampshire Jam 'Jam Virb site