We warmed up the evening with short films curated by onedotzero exploring the theme of corruption through mind-blowing illustrations, and thought-provoking storylines (which can still be seen at Lazarides gallery until November 28, along with the Ctrl.Alt.Shift Unmasks Corruption original comic pieces).

Then the live music kick-started with the first band, Erland & The Carnival. They came on stage quite timidly, but their sound was far from it, with the lead singer and guitarist thrashing about his guitar. Their sound is hard to describe, but I’ll try anyway - it’s like rock meets folk with a little spicing of the 80s. And after listening to the set I couldn’t stop thinking about how clean their sound was, as if they’d practiced 24 hours, seven days a week… then I found out that they were formed by multi-instrumentalist Simon Tong (formerly of The Verve / Blur / The Good, the Bad & the Queen), now it all makes sense…

Diamonds On A Boat from Nicholas Audsley on Vimeo.

Next up was Samuel & The Dragon, like something out of a dark, beautiful illustration book… I was mesmerized. It’s no surprise that this electronic duo come from a long history of musical theatre. I felt as if I was watching a live art performance (I’m still taken by it all, can you tell?). All I can say is, you have to hear, see and feel it, to understand.

And of course, the night would not have been complete without Blood Orange aka Lightspeed Champion, our Ctrl.Alt.Shift comic ambassador. He took the meaning of doing-it-for-yourself to another level, as he got on stage alone (his laptop and guitar as his band members) and got the crowd to follow his every move, even craning our necks to see him bent over his guitar, two-hand tapping on the stage floor (running his fingers down the strings reminiscent of an in-the-zone pianist).

All in all I had a really good night, discovering new bands and chatting to people who were all really interested and passionate about Ctrl.Alt.Shift. 
 

Photographs: Man-Ray Powell