Royal Boil Alice is a music project inspired by brutalist architectural styles (known as brutalism) which Croydon became known for after its big regeneration in the 1960’s.
In 2017, Club Soda was commissioned by Drake Music and Southbank Centre to create a piece of music inspired by the brutalist architecture of the Queen Elizabeth Hall on London’s Southbank.
Club Soda invited a number of its musicians to join the project, including a large number of young people. The musicians spent time researching at the Southbank’s Archives Centre. They were fascinated by some of the early concerts that were staged at the venue, notably that of Pink Floyd in 1967, David Bowie in 1969 and some of the early Radiophonic workshops that took place there. After spending time researching the archives and exploring the the Southbank, the musicians recorded music on the site of the Southbank itself. Together they created a new composition entitled, Echoes Through Time. No postproduction was used on the recording, in order to capture the pure atmosphere and the acoustics of the site, the reflections and the reverbs of the spaces.
Echoes Through Time, was first performed live at a special event held at the ICA on the 17th March 2017, along with three other commissions by disabled musicians. It was an evening of audio visual delight, performances, films, improvisation and installations featuring up and coming artists from across London.
In 2018, Royal Boil Alice was invited to perform Echoes Through Time at London’s Southbank, as part of a festival called Concrete Dreams, which revealed the stories of Southbank Centre’s 1960’s building and their early artistic beginnings.