Early 2018 and I’m resting up in the Boneyard with a broken leg and broken shoulder. Looking for creative things to do whilst the bony splitters slowly glue themselves back together I re-visited an old design from years ago – an Osteoscope – a device designed to send artistic probes deep into a broken bone… Well, we turned it on, cranked up the Ossilator, primed the mythic confungulator and fired a series of Ortho-Sonic probes into the fractures before they fully healed.

We have the audio readings in & are now in a position to reveal some of the results. Specialists we consulted likened the recordings to:

1. The radio station playing on a fossilized car stereo half buried in a bone littered beach on the sea of dreams
2. The soundtrack to an imaginary film about phantom scientists driving dodgems on a giddy carousel
3. A plea for help from a submerged mythical village as it rises out of the mist once a year.

Well, another year and February has it’s cold damp filaments lurking around your extremities, the Accountants of Gloom are clattering away at their spreadsheets, there is a surplus of Grey and even the windows look like they want to pack up and go home early. The instinct to hibernate inside the Boneyard is strong; curl up under a pile of old rags and nestle in to the rusty treasure, pull a bin lid onto your head and style it out like a sleeping Clanger. While we’re here we’ll tidy up the Boneyard a little, throw out the rotting unidentified bits and buff up the precious things. You never know, if we save up enough old screws and nuts and bolts for the Iron Chicken, she might lay an egg for us in the Spring…

Below: Design for a Machine to Ward Off the Accountants of Gloom

Tatterdemalion Grove is a world to wander in day and night, a wasteland garden of kinetic sculptures and animated detritus, for green or empty spaces, festival sites, abandoned car parks and urban wastelands. The installation features the Umbrella Tree, an absurd mechanical contraption of motor driven umbrellas and the Hurly Burly, a mobile sound sculpture, sonic amusement and junkyard delirium.

Inside the grove we will be a menagerie of small synthesizer and sound making devices; a collaboration with Farmer Glitch, creator of bespoke hand held electronic instruments. These will be hanging from carousels & structures and with both portable & static speakers we will create an ever changing live soundtrack & audio playground. The Grove will involve workshop and interactive elements, for example culminating in a noisy Wassail and communal performance every evening.

Contact us for more details, pricing & tech specs.

Short video of our new mechanical sculpture/installation – The Umbrella Tree, available to hire now for festivals and events, in urban or landscape settings. Email us for more details.

UmbrellaTree from Rag and Bone on Vimeo.

Welcome to the Isle of Noise: Tim Hill’s ongoing investigations into the history of noise, celebration, protest and outdoor music making.

The Hurly Burly and Hullabaloo of work and life has meant we’ve been sorely neglecting the blog of late. Well we got the plumbers in, removed the blockage from the blog and it should be running freely now….

Some video footage and photos of some of the shenanigans we’ve been up to is available

Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtxKbUprFZA

Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WojH0beKXoI

and Here: http://www.examiner.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/thousands-jazz-fans-flock-norths-7921836

Since then we’ve also been working with our friends Macnas in Galway and Dublin – we’ll post more about our adventures there soon…

Having finally clawed and crawled our way out of Hibernation in the Boneyard, we’re unleashing a raft of fantastic new business ventures on the unsuspecting year.
We’re starting off with our new  Dental and Oral Hygiene service for Processional Beasts, Giants and Creatures (see below)

Coming soon:

* Bespoke Ark design, build and consultancy services – with a special emphasis on the locating, saving and safe keeping of mythical creatures

*Bonsai Fireshows – in an Age of Austerity, miniature is the new Big

*Bone-Heads – a new concept in hats

Roar! or the Dragons Tale

Roar! is a new show we’re developing, a light on it’s feet, fun and furious offshoot of Bone Yard Tales.

Roar is a promenade performance for urban spaces and festival sites about a 16ft scrap-yard beast and George, who is obsessed with dragons. Self-contained and battery powered, Roar features live music, performers, puppets and props, is for all ages and can take place day and night. Roar delights in stories of dragons and beasts, and includes songs, ballads, chases, encounters, diversions, dances, battles & bun fights.

Contact us for further information.