Psybrid Visuals

PSYBRID started 1999 by Yodhe

After deciding that there's a limit to the amount of mushroom munching, dancing, meditation, and such like that a single person can do in a lifetime, I decided to get involved with doing some computer graphics. At first I just wanted to paint some T-shirt, drops, and do a few small animations. A situation I am only now just getting back into.

Then a fortituous meeting with Graeme from Prognosis, and Pod and Amanda from Pleidian Promotoions, started to change the course for me. This combined with an old friend offering me his wj-ave 5 (vision mixer) for sale changed my direction from doing computer animations/design into VJ'ing.

After the disasterous, but at the same time highly enjoyable Planetary MayDay, at the now defunct legendary Mayfair in Newcastle with the Green Nuns of the Revolution, I was hooked. Perhaps it was just the party dust involved, the ideas of a better dance floor, or maybe a lurch into the unknown. Whatever the cause, the result was that I began to get more and more involved with the graphics, until talking with Andie I came up with the idea of Psybrid. A nonsense word, it doesn't really mean anything, that is to say in the dictionary. For me though, it is that sublime blend of mushroom, man (or woman), machine, and magick. Hell I needed something to call what I was doing.

This then followed an intense two year period, playing across the north of England, at psychedelic trance parties such as Kundalini, Psychedelic Circus, and Tsoma, as well as more commercial venues/gigs. However the highlight so far has to be playing to last night of Boom Festival 2000 (Portugal) infront of several thousand mad party goers on a huge thirty foot screen.

Since then I have added another vision mixer + titler to the set up, incorporated live computer generated effects, and the use of several video camera to provide live feeds of proceedings. I am also looking to add another vision mixer to the set up, to take the total to three interlocked vision mixers, as well as incorporating midi-event driven software, and another video projector.

This combined with faster, higher resolution original animations, interlaced with archived video footage, and many other tricks I have developed/learned on the way will hopefully keep PSYBRiD alive, and performing for another two years.

Yodhe - November 2001