The Mechanisms

TRANSMISSION//AURORA//890::E6::FREQ–GK10//–./../…-/.//..-/…//–/—/-././-.–//SEND

Stowaways!

We’ve got a couple of nice goodies for y’all this month, so finish off your hostages, evade the authorities and relax.

Fan-made Old King Cole Music Video

A while ago we were contacted by a particularly fanciful rogue by the name of Emily, who asked to cut a deal. After the bullets and explosions subsided, it became apparent she was interested in using our music as the basis of a documentation of the life of Old King Cole for some academic course (Mad Science 101 or somesuch). As our philosophy is very much “Here are the stories, do with them as thou wilt”, we naturally said yes.

A few days ago we received this message:

To The Mechanisms, Control deck, The Aurora, A star system, A galaxy, The universe.
I am sending this message to the crew though a small and rather ancient computer system I have located within the depths of your ship, a part which I think has probably been forgotten about for many a century. By the majority of you at least, though it is still functional enough for me to be able to send this. I appear to have found myself stuck in this labyrinth of old wires and technology, with enough space to stand at intervals. I never intended to stay but, uh. Well. I never intended to enter either, but I shan’t bore you with the details of that… Embarrassing event.
The humming lights of the electronics are not the only things blinking at me in the dark here. There are things mewling and bubbling in the shadows, and one or two has occasionally found its way onto my legs or shoulder when they drop from pipes. I cannot tell if they are sweet or horrific but I’m not dead yet.
Whilst being stuck in this labyrinth, I have overheard a few things by chance, and discovered others. I now know where the Tin Soldier put all those cakes for starters. It is in fact MORE than four tens. (And now less as they are all I have had to live off.) For another, I discovered old logs, old parts of the Aurora’s memory on cracked screens in rooms which I wonder if you have built over.
To keep myself sane whilst failing to be able to contact you despite best efforts, I listened to your tales and drew for a time. I used the remaining paper I had within my possession. When I ran out this, I moved the images to the old computers and began to compose more images within them, occasionally stopping to venture further and find an old system able to contact your current ones. After about six weeks and over a thousand pictures later, I had composed a visual accompaniment and imagining to your tale of the infamous Old King Cole.
And now, I have managed to reach you. I ask of you not to shoot me on the spot when I’m found, nor disintegrate me, or stab me or – Alright. Just please don’t kill me. I shall leave my artwork with you. Though it can hardly replace stale cake hoards, it may amuse you. Would be much obliged and forever indebted to you if you would eject me upon the next planet with an atmosphere preferably containing oxygen.
My fellow crew-mate should be able to locate me from there.
I thank you for the stories, and here is my gift to you.
From Emily Leistiko, of The Stoppable Unforce

It seems only fitting that we share this gift with you all:

Old King Cole (Animated Music Video by Emily Leistiko)

If anyone’s interested, we ejected her on a planet somewhere around the Jehosephat Sector. Who knows, there might have been some oxygen, we didn’t check.

One-Eyed Jacks

We’ve decided that the live recordings of some of the band’s songs, recorded well over a year ago now, no longer really pass muster. We have therefore undertaken to begin recording some of the songs that are separate from our album story-cycles. While we hope to eventually record them in full studio quality, we are for now limited to what is available onboard ship, but we hope you will agree it doesn’t sound to bad.

First up is the origin story of our erstwhile First Mate – Jonny d’Ville – and it’s available for listening and download.

Gigs

We have two gigs coming up in the next couple of months. The first is this Saturday (11th May) and is a very informal performance at Merton College in Oxford. It’ll be a free semi-acoustic show, with the Mechanisms doing about a half-hour sans Mssr. d’Ville. Feel free to join us if you’re in the area.

And come the 18th of June, also in Oxford, we are supporting our as-yet-unmurdered friends The Indelicates at the Cellar. It should be a good time for all save those that look at us funny, so keep your weather eye open for tickets when they go on sale.

That’s your portion for this month! Go in peace, before we change our minds.

~The Mechanisms