THOMAS TRUAX, THE VOODOO ROOMS, EDINBURGH
John Scott falls into Thomas Truax’s world. Things may never be the same again.
Thomas Truax wrong-foots us from the outset, appearing not on stage but in the doorway of the venue’s kitchen. Sporting illuminated spectacles and lofting a set of chimes above his head he processes around the room, moaning wordlessly into a metal tubelike a steampunk shaman conducting a purification ceremony. 
In suit and tie, Truax is wiry and urbane and wears an expression of mild bemusement; imagine David Byrne unable to remember where he left his car keys. He introduces us to two of his bandmates for the evening. Mother Superior is not so much a drum machine as a mechanical drummer, a percussive automaton fashioned from bicycle wheels, chains and levers. The Hornicator looks on from the other side of the stage patiently waiting to be tapped, strummed and serenaded, a conspiratorial echo chamber for Truax’s songs.
Truax recently recorded an album, Dream Catching Songs, with celebrated drummer Budgie (The Slits, The Creatures, Siouxsie and The Banshees). He was concerned that Budgie and Mother Superior might not get on then later worried that she, Budgie, and the Hornicator might form a trio and oust him from the ensemble.
In a live setting Truax, Mother Superior, and The Hornicator have no need of anyone but themselves. Truax’s electrified resonator guitar is filtered through a Roland guitar synthesiser and a loop pedal to provide complex layers of sound. Mother Superior sits out with admirable restraint when not required to play (try getting a human drummer to do that). The Hornicator, when called on to contribute, rests in Thomas’s arms like a languid dance partner, offering up its brazen body to the music.
Before we know it we are immersed In Thomas Truax’s world. His songs range from the serene to the surreal, philosophical to profound. If Twin Peaks’ Red Lodge had an open mic night, Truax would most likely be the warm-up guy. Everything’s Going To Be Alright insistently assures us that we will be okay, despite all evidence to the contrary. Truax breaks off one song to tell us that a bit of audience participation will be required, the sing-along couplet revealing itself to be a tongue twister of alarming intricacy. 
Each full moon, Truax releases snippets of songs and spoken narratives often chronicling the goings-on of the inhabitants of Wowtown. Thomas unplugs his guitar and jumps down from the stage to belt out Full Moon Over Wowtown, rushing through the audience to stand on a chair at the back of the room in a not entirely successful attempt to shine “moonlight” from the headstock of his guitar onto the ceiling.
Back on the stage, a portable hand fan of the type that invariably breaks or runs out of batteries within minutes of being taken on holiday is put to much better use in producing a mandolin effect on the lovely and poignant tale of The Butterfly & The Entomologist. The evening climaxes in a near cacophony of looped noise before Truax introduces The Stringaling which appears to be fashioned largely from a tumble dryer extractor hose for the epic Whistling In Your Sleep. We finish up with the frankly nuts Beehive Heart which features more novelty eyewear, deployed this time as much for its sonic qualities as its visual appeal (I don’t possess the descriptive powers to do this justice – just go Google Beehive Heart).
You know that you have seen something special when total strangers are falling over themselves at the end of the show to rave to each other about what they have just seen. Thomas Truax is still a bit of a well-kept secret but he’s the cult that everyone should join.
Words and Photography: John Scott
