Creating a unique and all-immersive sensory trip, the new series of gigs entitled 'Blackout' from those behind Eat Your Own Ears and Sam Potter of Late of the Pier, will be bringing together anonymous acts to perform in health & safety-sneering pitch black. The idea is that total darkness will allow both the audience and performer to experience music in its full focus without distractions, whilst anonymity will allow the bands to perform and experiment sans preconceptions. We speak to one of the bands playing (remaining unnamed) about what's to come...

Dazed Digital: How do you think your music will be received anonymously?
XXXX: We've always wanted our music to be played in an environment where the band isn't being watched and everyone is just getting lost in it and dancing to it. Hopefully people will really let go of themselves. We always communicate ideas for our tracks to each other in a visual sense, certain sounds = shapes etc so playing in Blackout might reveal this even more. Not just to us but to the audience too.
 
DD: What do you think you'll draw from the experience of playing this way?  
XXXX: Experience in communicating with the audience through just sound alone is going to be really interesting for us. So many bands just rely on their visual performance and often the music becomes secondary and diluted. The intensity of our rehearsals and 'normal' live shows is brought by the small space we rehearse in and the fact we keep close on stage  so this is going to be even more intense! The audience is going to be so concentrated and reactionary to the sound alone that we can draw on a very pure reaction to music and sound.
 
DD: What was the weirdest gig experience you've ever had?
XXXX: You want us to remain anonymous right? 

Blackout, Thursday May 12, 7PM, The Apiary, 458 Hackney Road, London E2 9EG