Los Minstrels Del Diablo was not a band with a video backdrop. It was a live performance system in which audio and video were played simultaneously as a single integrated instrument.
As one half of the duo, I performed 32 tracks of synchronized audio and video live, MIDI-locked, with layered effects and real-time video compositing running simultaneously. The technical foundation was VJam, software developed by Cold Cut and Ninja Tune for exactly this purpose. We were beta testers with a direct line to the development team, shaping the software's behavior based on what live performance actually required. Most VJs at the time were using the software to generate visuals behind a DJ. We were using it the way it was designed to be used, as a full audio and video performance instrument, and feeding that experience directly back into its development.
The result was a performance in which sound and image were composed together, triggered together, and experienced as one thing. Los Minstrels performed at Fringe Festival, headlined the Hamtramck Blowout, and built a significant following in Detroit's industrial and underground electronic scene.
We were also commissioned by Detroit techno pioneer Kevin Saunderson to create all background video and VJ animation content for his Elevator World Tour. The project produced three separate DVD packages of custom visual elements for use by his crew across the tour, designed to be performed live against his sets.
Alongside Los Minstrels, we produced and headlined four years of the Stolen Media Festival, a curated media screening event that predated YouTube and the era of on-demand internet video. At a time when finding interesting media online required knowing exactly where to look, the Stolen Media Festival was a curated program of the most compelling material we had collected from the early internet, presented as a live event with other musical acts and Los Minstrels as the headlining AV performance. Four years of programming, four years of curation, four years of Los Minstrels closing the night.
The archive below documents performances, production materials, and visual work from all three projects.
