John Richards started the Dirty Electronics project in 2003 to explore the ideas of shared experience, ritual, gesture, touch and social interaction. Process and performance are bound together as the participants first build their instruments from scratch on the workbench then collaborate to create large ensemble performances with their creations – often leading to improbable and ridiculous collisions of electronic sound and the technological unknown. The instruments themselves feature two sound generating circuits alongside feedback, distortion and filtering capabilities and can generate an amazing array of sounds just by touching the contact points in different ways.

Dirty Electronics Ensemble performances have been witnessed all over the world from Tokyo to Los Angeles and John has had many collaborators along the way including such luminaries as Japanese noise merchants Merzbow, Stockhausen’s contemporary Rolf Gehlhaar and Chris Carter from Throbbing Gristle. In 2011 Dirty Electronics created a specially commissioned synth for Mute Records – one of the most pre-eminent labels in cutting edge electronic music.

All the places for the workshop were snapped up in record time but you can still go along to Chamber East at 7.30pm on Thursday 10th November to witness the no-ticket-required full ensemble performance which promises to be a mind-blowing explosion of DIY-synthesized-collaborative-chaos – see you there!