The story of Tiatto begins in a Brixton garret opposite a crackhouse in 2001, with Benwah and Max Devere installing every software synth that bubbazanetti.com had to offer while they ripped off the collected B-sides of Steely Dan. In London, Tiatto played a number of private exclusive house parties – which means they got stoned and jammed a lot with tape players and speak’n’spells. On the advice of a senior Radio 1 staffer, Tiatto “got the fuck out of [his] office”.
Tiatto relocated to Melbourne with a laptop full of tunes and were joined by Nick Fakeman, the notorious twin-handed keyboard demon of Clifton Hill. Some money was wasted in a studio botching the first four cuts for a projected album. It all went pear shaped when Dave Graney volunteered his time for vocal duties for the final track of this impending vanity release. Tiatto realised that, unfortunately, influential people took them seriously and it was time to act their collective ages.
After a number of low key events where they accidentally set fire to their equipment, Tiatto somehow played Freebase’s 3rd Birthday event at Seven to considerable acclaim (much to the surprise of Devere who wasn’t awake or even there). In the next chapter, Fakeman turned up to disturb Tiatto’s music with some knobbage, voltage and circuitry at a First Floor gig with Steve Law.
So, with that in mind, Tiatto headed back into the studio with Melbourne producer extraordinaire Simon Grounds (Underground Lovers, God, Shower Scene from Psycho, heaps others). Local rock chick Sam Wareing took some time out from her Bar Open responsibilities to lay down a few vocalisations before vanishing to Berlin, while Gentleman of Fortune Graeme Cameron and Oneironaut’s Nick Pledge popped in and turned their amps up to 11. Jazz legend Adam Simmonds was forced at gunpoint to play saxophone solos for hours and Penny Ikinger made some earsplitting noises. Monique Brumby dropped around looking for her lost canary and found herself conscripted into singing, something she hadn’t done since the night before. Sunwrae’s Rae Howell gave a few blasts on her trumpet while Penrith hip-hop act The Kumpnee sold their washing machine and jumped on a plane to join in the fun. The sessions descended into chaos, forcing Benwah to seek refuge in academia.
At this stage Canadian producer and all-rounder Ganz Enfarben turned up and attempted to impose some order on proceedings. His first act was to play some La Monte Young-influenced keyboard drones. However immigration authorities weren’t convinced his business interests were genuine, so after a few sessions he was put on a plane back to where he came from, leaving nothing behind but a couple of broken-down synthesizers and a hard drive full of grooves.
Would Benwah ever descend from his ivory tower to rock once more? Could Devere escape from the health farm where his case manager had exiled him? Would Enfarben succeed in raising the cash to buy Abbey Road? Would Fakeman ever get back on stage to don his cloak and jumpsuit again? Whatever the answer, Tiatto were on the way to meet their destiny…
RELEASES ON CLAN ANALOGUE RECORDINGS:
CA046: Analogue Redux | Various Artists
CA042T: Tiatto | Full Moon
CA039T: Tiatto | Theme From Tiatto
CAM05: Sampled Synthesis 5 | Various Artists