From what I remember, it was a heck of a party. Every year for... what was it... five or six years, I think... an organization called First Night invited me to curate a room at the Hynes Convention Center in downtown Boston as part of the city's official New Year's Eve celebration. I'd get a little bit of money and some hotel rooms, they would supply a fantastic PA system and a rather large room, and I'd program what I imagined to be an appropriately celebratory evening of noise to entertain the revelers. This particular concert, held on December 31 2006, was my favorite of all of them. Frans de Waard was visiting from the Netherlands. Patrick McGinley, aka Murmer, was in the area to visit his family on the south shore of Massachusetts. Richard Francis was up from New Zealand. The four of us, joined by Jay Sullivan, played some concerts around New England and Montreal in the days leading up to NYE. Then 12/31, Campbell Kneale arrived from NZ as well! The line-up for the First Night event turned out to be: Murmer, Frans de Waard & Keith Fullerton Whitman, Skeletons Out & Richard Francis, Birchville Cat Motel, and Brendan Murray.

The show was a doozy. Our sound system involved not only a top-of-the-line stereo PA, but also two HUGE sub-woofers. Believe me, we all exploited the gigantic amount of air we could move with those suckers. When Skeletons and Richard took the stage, we produced the sickening throb that you hear on this recording... but to get the full effect, I'm afraid you have to play it quite loud. And, like SO's full album (also available here on Bandcamp), please listen through real stereo speakers, not yr little computer speakers. Trust me. Being able to crank it and reproduce the full dynamic range will create new weather systems inside your home. Frans & Keith's set was condensed into a business-card CDR on Frans' MOLL label (also available on Bandcamp), and everyone else got in the spirit and produced some fabulous noise.

After our performances, we all taxi'd back to the fancy hotel and commenced an evening of carousing, revelry, and geekily intense conversation about records. By the night's end, I recall certain visiting artistes crashing a yuppie pool party in the hotel lobby. Good times.