Dumpster Fire 2

rolling ryot presents:

Dumpster Fire 2

an immersive percussion ensemble performed on two dumpsters by humans and robots, with a power group of Austin-based percussionists:

featuring:

Lisa Cameron

King Coffey

Kyle Evans

Peggy Ghorbani

Lyman Hardy

Thor Harris

Jeff Hoskins

Alton Jenkins

Lacey Lewis

Thom Washburn 

4 performances total –

Saturday, Nov 5: 7p and 8:30p

Sunday, Nov 6: 6p and 7:30p

Rolling Ryot and dadaLab present the second installation of Dumpster Fire in Austin, right before the mid-term election. 

The 2020 edition garnered national attention on NPR’s Weekend Edition.


“A much-needed purification ritual” (Kevin Curtin, Austin Chronicle)

There will be event parking available, though we always recommend biking or taking a ride share. The parking lot at dadaLab will be occupied by two large flaming dumpsters so you cannot park there. Event parking is available at the theater directly adjacent to dadaLab. Look for signs. Free street parking is also available along Real St., Miriam Ave., and Alexander Ave.

Plenty of space for standing room but seating will be limited. We recommend bringing a lawn chair or blanket. Additional artwork on display by dadaLab and dadageek artists.

Experiential art collective Rolling Ryot reinstalls their 2020 work Dumpster Fire with four performances at the dadaLab space in East Austin on November 5th and 6th (Saturday-Sunday). A gut-wrenching, visceral experience that is part outdoor installation and part concert, Dumpster Fire is a 45-minute sonic spectacle that features multi-instrumentalist percussion wizards ​Austin has ever seen: Lisa Cameron, Jeffrey King Coffey, Peggy Ghorbani, Alton Jenkins, Lyman Hardy, Thor Harris, Jeff Hoskins, Lacy Lewis and Thom Washburn

Using an arsenal of modified and handmade instruments, the percussionists articulate assorted aural textures by tapping, striking, scratching, and slamming their implements against the resonant metal bodies of dumpsters. Their urgent and timely score produces moments of hypnotic call-and-response that move effortlessly from synchronicity to chaotic cacophony. This is music with the power of dynamite.

Staged between the massive dumpsters, sound and light artist Kyle Evans paint a smoldering backdrop of tension and release as he triggers pre-programmed, robotic percussion elements that help carry the performance and facilitate the dialog between the percussionists. Their foundation of stark, emotive lighting is augmented by a number of visual cues and surprises that move the piece forward in exciting ways.

Years in development, the work stems from the Ryots’ experimentation with large commercial roll-off dumpsters as musical instruments. In this case, they have doubled them up to create a larger sound field and to use their resonant low-frequencies to provoke a truly palpable reaction.

Thematically, Dumpster Fire speaks to the current ungovernability of our country. The piece is a direct response to the nearly irreparable harm the creative ecosystem has suffered after CoVid. Economic devastation notwithstanding, artists have been robbed of the vital exchange of ideas that actual venues and live audiences provide. And while there is much work to be done, there is a light – perhaps even, a beautiful conflagration – at the end of this tunnel.

“This work is a unique way to create big, unamplified sound while holding onto the belief that despite the circumstances, we can (and must) continue to create meaningful work,” says Barna Kantor, co-founder of Rolling Ryot. “Now more than ever, we must push artistic limits and the limits of our audiences as we create new opportunities for live performance to thrive and to connect.”

ABOUT ROLLING RYOT

Rolling Ryot is a nonprofit collective that specializes in immersive sound art. Their original works were grounded in mobile soundscapes moved through residential neighborhoods. Their massive 32-speaker Rainforest Reverb (2019) project closed Fusebox Festival of that year. They are also preparing for Ghost Line X (November 19, 2022) an equally ambitious vector-sound project for a 400-feet stretch of speakers at Austin’s historic Rosewood Park.

ABOUT DADALAB

dadaLab offers flexible spaces to an interdisciplinary mix of artists, designers, technologists, futurists, and creative entrepreneurs. People at dadaLab are working on everything from new businesses to ambitious art installations, to provocative experiments in architecture, social ventures, and urban design. Founders Kyle Evans and Barna Kantor created dadaLab in 2019 and have used the space to develop immersive artworks and provide collaborative studio space for local artists.   

ABOUT THE PERFORMERS

Lisa Cameron

plays drums with various rock bands: ST37, Suspirians, percussion with Future Blondes, and Three Day Stubble, and played guitar in The Devil Bat and Devil Bat's Daughter. Lisa Cameron has improvised live with Jandek, Mani Neumier, Eugene Chadbourne, Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten, Damon Smith, Rick Eye, Faust, Mette Rasmussen, Ernesto Diaz-Infante, Raquel Bell, Claire Rousay, Sarah Ruth, Aaron Gonzalez, Alex Cunningham, Tom Carter, Nathan Bowles, Fritz Welch, Sharkiface, Dromez, Sandy Ewen, Thor Harris, Leslie Keffer, Jonathan Horne, Steve McKay, Rat Bastard, Raub Roy, and others.

Jeffrey King Coffey

is best known for playing drums in the Butthole Surfers. Before that, his parents gave him a toy drum kit in kindergarten and there was no turning back. So, he’ll hit a dumpster when asked. He honestly has no choice. Always consider the consequences when giving your child toys. 

Kyle Evans

Kyle Evans is a new media artist, sound designer, educator, and performer. He has produced and presented a wide range of performance and new media installation work throughout North America and Europe at venues such as MUTEK San Francisco and Transmediale in Berlin. He is the Managing Director of the tech-art educational non-profit dadageek, board member and composer of the sound-art collective Rolling Ryot, co-founder of the immersive art studio dadaLab, and instructor in the Department of Arts and Entertainment Technologies at the University of Texas in Austin.

Peggy Ghorbani

is a multi-instrumental percussionist who doesn’t let crippling stage fright prevent her from playing drums in CATS (the punk band, not the Broadway show or the weird off-putting movie from 2019) and marimba in the minimalist experimental band Thor&Friends. She lives happily in East Austin with 5 geriatric dogs & approximately 8 cats.

  

Lyman Hardy

is an Emmy nominated sound designer and musician living in Austin, TX. His work ranges from spatial sound installations, feature films and documentaries to modular synth compositions, drums and percussion. He is a founding member of Rolling Ryot sound collective, as well as Austin based post house Stuck On On, and has played with numerous Austin bands including Hardy Harris Henley, Thor and Friends, Ed Hall, Pong, and Total Unicorn.

Thor Harris

Is a classically trained percussionist and in-demand Austin mainstay. Thor Harris has toured the world with artists as varied and accomplished as Shearwater, Swans, Bill Callahan, Amanda Palmer and many others. He has lived in Austin since 1985. He now has a collective called Thor & Friends that does modern classical minimalism.

Jeff Hoskins

has been a part of the Austin music scene since 1983, drumming with many bands, from Blitzhakker to NSA, from Foot Patrol to Flying Saucers.  You may have seen him pushing buttons and turning knobs at some point.

Alton Jenkins,

is a drummer of the band FUCK MONEY, has built his reputation as a thrashing, melodic and hard hitting player. Over the past decade his style is displayed through various music projects centered around punk, industrial, math rock and various expansive styles of music. His previous band Future Death set the foundation for listeners to expect visceral and oft-astonishing stick work frequently compared to Zach Hill, Brian Chippendale & Greg Saunier and other unorthodox drummers alike that are uniquely identified by their unconventional percussive styles.

Lacey Lewis

is a local musician and music educator at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired. She has a bachelor's degree in percussion and has been performing and teaching in Austin for the last 13 years. She plays drums in bands and mallet percussion in Thor and Friends, but most often can be seen performing her ambient electronic solo project as Heavy Stars. She is currently studying music therapy. 

Thom Whashburn

has been playing live music and recording in Austin since he was 10 years old, and is currently pursuing music production both at home and in Los Angeles. He also tours worldwide as the drummer for Molly Burch and is a professional bicycle mechanic when not on the road.