Programme Two

This week the rock lab got their vote.

Watch a clip here

This is what the guys had to say about it ...

Note to reader: this sounds best if read in a Mexican accent.

Since time immemorial, well, mostly in the 70s, rock bands searched for the ultimate new sound, seeking inspiration from nature, from literature and from strange states of consciousness. For the Beatles, this meant hanging out with a beardy guru. Whilst Led Zeppelin read Tolkien and Ozzy ate flying rodents, the rest of us took off in VW camper vans filled with hallucinogenic drugs. Presumably Coldplay were the exception, coming up with their inspired dirge whilst filling out their tax returns.

No-one ever turned to scientists to find the new sound. Until now.

Our rock god Rob, tired of churning out the same old boring rock anthems, turned to the MiW for something original. We gave him the new sound, yes sir.

Basil, a drummer, took the brain from an electronic drum machine and wired it into a 10-instrument metal cage. Each sound was generated by breaking a laser beam and had the advantage of making Bas look like a demented Captain Scarlet.

Adam, guitarist and violin player, learnt to play an arm-mounted robotic frame with preset lead sounds, making him look like a sort of gay Robocop (he'd like to think anyway!).

And Jem, who is about as musical as yeah but no but yeah, Vicky Pollard, designed and built the Wheel of Steel (in fact made of aluminium, but that doesn't rhyme). This was a laser-cut metal disc, rotating at a 1000rpm, with finely tuned holes, blown through by a pneumatic pump, providing the ever important bass section.

With Rob on vocals, we performed a live gig, pumped up to 11, to a baying audience of screaming, knicker-throwing groupies!

What was your fave challenge of the week?

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