LOUD
Vancouver 49° 15' 39.14" N, 123° 6' 50.23" W Arts Music Group
One day Elaine Stef was walking along Commercial Drive in Vancouver and bumped into Eileen Kage. The two struck up a conversation and decided to jam together. They had seen each other play at different events, and were enthusiastic to do some musical experimentation. The sessions included pulling out pots and pans, power tools, anything to make music. After months of musical experimentation, they took their stylings out to the public, playing at a benefit for Kinesis, a women's newspaper.
They were asked to play at Prisoners Justice Day. They decided to ask Leslie, who has been playing Taiko with Eileen since 1982, to join them. In a space to two weeks, the three whipped up two songs. The Powell Street Festival was actually their first gig. They presented a ten minute set in the Japanese Language Hall in the summer of 1996.
The three of them thought this was too good just to be a two shot gig so they decided to develop more songs and play more gigs. They called the group LOUD and have been experimenting, jamming, hanging out on the stoop, discussing the significance of art, politics and life, ever since.
Bios
Eileen Kage's musical and movement chronology:
- Born in Japan '65, persuaded by mother to study Aikido at age 9
- moved to Vancouver B.C. in 1975
- Studied Judo and learned to fall with the Sunset Judo Club 1975-1980
- Trombonist for the Winston Churchill high school band 1978-1980 (met Leslie)
- Started learning Taiko with Katari Taiko 1982-1992 and was introduced to Asian Canadians who were interested in breaking stereotypes of us as demure, passive etc., learned to work in a collective, met Leslie again
- One time guest taiko player with bands Roots Round-up and Animal Slaves 1987
- Studied Tai Chi 1987-1989
- Taiko and butoh with Kokoro Dance 1987-1993 (shaved head 1992-1993)
- Taiko with Uzume Taiko 1988-1991
- Taiko with Sawagi Taiko 1990-1999 (met Elaine at Michigan Womyn's Music Festival 1990)
- Taiko with Reijingu Horumonzu 1991-1992
- Began building taiko drums currently used by LOUD, N&K Duo and Sawagi Taiko 1992
- Worked with Shinobu Homma on piece utilizing Taiko making tools 1994-1995 & 2003
- LOUD happened 1996-present
- Began work on taiko building audio music project 2000
- Practiced femme drag with the Draggin' Angels, 2000-2003
- Formed the Nishihara & Kage Duo with pianist Alison Nishihara 2001-present
- Knee reconstruction surgery 2002
- Continuing with tai chi, yoga, taiko and preparing to enter my 40's 2004
Elaine Stef's musical and performance chronology:
- Studied classical piano and music theory for ten years..really enjoyed it for the first five
- Started teaching herself guitar at age 16, began writing music
- Played some flute, played some mandolin, stopped playing flute, smoked too much
- Left Calgary, moved to Vancouver, got an electric guitar, joined a really terrible band for a few months
- Studied aikido, kung-fu, tai-chi, and karate-do
- Joined a really good all womens band, Moral Lepers
- Played guitar with Junco Run
- Played guitar and recorded with Animal Slaves
- Heard Eileen and Leslie play with Katari Taiko a few times (didn't meet them yet)
- Moved to Toronto - Played guitar and bass, recorded with Warfare vs. Welfare
- Performed and recorded with all womens band Demi/Monde
- Played guitar and recorded with Lillian Allen Band (shaved part of head)
- Started composing music for video and film
- Worked with artist Rita McKeough on music for "In Bocca Al Lupo",
a performance/installation in Halifax, Toronto, and Vancouver
- Played lap steel guitar, played some percussion
- Moved to Montreal, kept doing music for multimedia, film and video
- Worked again with Rita McKeough on music for performance/installation "Take it to the Teeth", at the Glenbow Museum in Calgary
- Played drums, accordion, percussion, keyboard and xylophone with Rhythm Activism
- Heard Sawagi Taiko and met Eileen at Michigan Womyns Music Festival
- Moved back to Vancouver, kept doing music for multimedia, film and video
- Ran into Eileen on the street, started jamming and had a wonderful time
- Got some gigs, asked Leslie to play with us and had a wonderful time
- LOUD 1996 - until we run out of ideas (which doesn't seem likely)