Jena Jang (KOR) + Simon Paton (UK)

Name: Jena Jang (KOR) + Simon Paton (UK)
Start: 2024-09-18T20:00:00+02:00
End: 2024-09-18T23:00:00+02:00
Location: Hanse 3

Schedule

Wed Sep 18 2024 at 08:00 pm to 11:00 pm

UTC+02:00

Location

Hanse 3 | Dresden, SN

Jena Jang - vocals, electronics
Simon Paton - bass, electronics

Influenced by punk, nu-metal, fluxus, and rock music, we're
constantly exploring creative (and perhaps disturbing?) ways of
captivating our audience on stage.
Jena Jang is an extended vocalist and experimental noise improviser from South Korea, currently based in Prague, Czechia. They focus on power electronics and harsh noise, using vocal improvisation, extreme screaming, high-pitched frequencies from their DIY synth modular, and exploring somatic singing techniques. Their vocal style is inspired by chanting, yogic breathing practice, throat singing, and Korean traditional singing techniques from Pansori, Samulnori, and Shamanic rituals, along with vocal warmups. Jena incorporates movements like head banging, crawling like a baby, performing crying scenes, and moving their hair in the air as visual performances to release stress. Their work aims to transform negative memories and old traumas into feelings of lightness, turning negativity into positive energy. Their practice centres on transforming energy through time and space, pushing the boundaries of sound and healing to offer an authentic and transformative experience.
Si Paton performs solo prepared bass guitar. Armed with multiple distortion pedals, screwdrivers, drumsticks, pencils, and anything that the other bands left onstage, he has crafted compelling performances that consist of virtuosic free jazz one minute, dense walls of harsh noise the next, and utilising performance art the next, dealing with the kind of chaotic energy that Andy Kaufman made famous. He has been known to play whilst climbing on tables, engage in staring contests with unsuspecting audience members, recite wrestling promos, and generally disregarding his own safety.
His influence of free jazz, harsh noise, metal, hardcore punk, 20th century classical, and Fluxus performance practices are very much on display. The skill is how he utilises his different influences within the set, combining them in very unpredictable ways. For instance, he could invite audiences in by playing as sparse as possible, before blowing it away with an intense wall-of-sound, blasting feedback with blood coming from his fingers. He has opened for likeminded individuals including the likes of Ryosuke Kiyasu, Dushume and Rhodri Davies. Whilst never quite completely fitting neatly onto any lineup he is a part of, he has nethertheless impressed audiences with his musical risk taking, off-beat showmanship, and sheer intensity.
Si Paton is a composer, improviser, bassist, academic, event curator, noisemaker, smart mouth and general antagonist. He has completed his PhD at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and previously studied electric bass and jazz composition at University of West London. As an improviser, he has played with many well known figures, and was previously the bassist and bandleader in the math-jazz group Selectric. His solo performances, the trans-Atlantic no wave duo Phame, as well as a duo with drummer Rob Nettleship are currently his most prominent projects. He was previously the founder and curator of Thinking/Not Thinking Fest, and currently runs the concert series Don't Mind Control.