ST DAVID’S AMBIENCE SOCIETY

March 1996 saw the first meeting of the St David’s Ambience Society at Exeter Community Centre on St David’s Hill. Taking its name from its location and a dreadful pun on the word ‘ambient’ the Society was formed as a space for the promotion of ambient, electronic and experimental music unlikely to be given a platform elsewhere. The Society met roughly once a month between 1996 and 1999 and put on 33 sessions at the Community Centre. An eclectic range of performers included musicians, DJs, poets and visual artists gathered in an environment bedecked with parachutes over which a range of ancient oil wheel projectors and other effects lights threw shapes through the haze of a smoke machine.

Acts who’ve appeared at St David’s Ambience Society sessions have included Luke Tindall, Lamentia, David Stanley, Jamie Sexby, Jerry Cahill, The Roland Stoves, Tongue & Groove, Vox Aeterna, Sensum and multi-media collaborative, Juice.

The Society also paid tribute to Frank Zappa with a four-hour Zappa mix by DJ Ambiessence as part of Exeter Summer Festival, with punters queuing at the door trying to come in and Freak Out!

In 1997 the St David’s Ambience Society secured a grant from the National Lottery and Arts Council England which funded the release of a compilation CD and an appeal for tracks from experimental artists from across the city resulted in the fourteen-track compilation album ‘The Future Sound of Exeter’ (at that point there were ‘Future Sound of’ project springing up everywhere, and we do, of course, love the Future Sound of London!). Sales of that initial release on SAS Records enabled the Society to purchase more lights and a new PA and mixing desk for its sessions.

It was later decided to use the ’Future Sound of Exeter’ name for some more dance-oriented nights at Exeter’s Cavern Club, and then for promotion of bigger acts at the new Exeter Phoenix Arts Centre, starting with Banco de Gaia.

The St David’s Ambience Society name is still used for appropriate events or projects, complete with its two threatening slogans: “chill or be chilled” and “you’ll be going home in an ambience”.