Pete - When was free for all first started?
Spike - FREE FOR ALL was started in February 2002.

Pete - Who started it?
Spike - It was started by myself, my wife Lea, and our friend Barney Wakeford.

Pete - Why was it started?
Spike - The three of us had been having discussions about the lack of oppotunities in Sydney for totally improvised and spontaneous performance. We decided to create an environment that was free of the usual restrictions that performers would encounter at a gig or jam session. We wanted it to be safe, encouraging, unjudging, and honest.

Pete - What differentiates FFA from other improvised music gatherings?
Spike - Many things. Firstly, we have been able to create the experience in the way we desired because of the support of the CafeChurch community in Glebe. They saw the value in what we proposed to them, and they let us use their space ( a coverted cinema ) for free on Thursday nights. This has enabled us to eliminate all financial concerns from the night and allowed us to purely create music without having to worry about covering costs. This may sound like a small area of concern, but it is not, it has in fact given us much freedom.

Secondly, its not only about music - we allow anybody to play with us. We accept all honest offerings from all disciplines including music, dance, spoken word, song, drawing, craft, movement, poetry, visual art and anything else anyone can come up with. Our only restriction is that the offering is improvised. A performer cannot present a piece that has been performed before. People who wish to perform put their name in a chalice. The names are drawn out at random and small ensembles are given a few minutes to spontaneously create a performance piece. You never know what combination of people you will get - a poet with a saxophonist and a dancer, two guitarists and two visual artists etc. It's always different.

Thirdly, no skill level is required in any of these diciplines. Any performer can do whatever they want to do. Dancers can sing, Pianists can speak, Poets can dance. People who come may want to try the drums for the first time - that's OK. We dont judge the performances - we listen and accept them for what they are. We value creativity over skill, and expression over experience.

Fourthly, there are none of the usual performance guidlines in relation to such elements as style, tempo, instrumentation, harmony, balance, colour, form, etc. It is a free for all where anything goes. We use the term "honest offering" to suggest that performers work with each other and not against each other, or "bring the love" as we also put it. The only time there are "bad" performances is when someone trys to force a situation, and not simply trust their own or someone elses creativity to guide them.

Fifthly, we show a short film each week. Usually the performers bring something along thay have shot during the week. The purpose of the night is not to create a soundtrack for the films. The images simply add to the experience. Many people have donated their films to us.

Sixthly, we dont allow recording of the nights in any way. This can be difficult, as some of the performances I have witnessed or been a part of have been life changing, but we are committed to having them exist in the moment only.

Pete - Why do people come to FFA?
Spike - To play, to listen, to heal, to experiment, to grow, to strive, to sleep, to learn, to laugh, to feel, to purge, to teach, to cry, to find beauty.

Pete - What is the purpose of improvised art/music in general?
Spike - In my opinion it is about externalising the unknown from inside you. I have found that if I trust myself to be led by the ideas and emotions that come from inside me I am surprised and encouraged by the outcome. (Of course an enormous part of that is being in a safe space that encourages me to be honest, and then accepts my offerings.) If I try to force concepts or ideas and use my previously developed skills, I am often left feeling flat and unproductive.

For me it is also about finding beauty in all expression, accepting all things that people offer. At first it was difficult to listen to or watch what I percieved as irregular, atonal, disjuct, jarring, tentative, boring, uninspired, average performance, I thought there was something lacking. But over time I learnt to replace my preconcieved ideas about self expression and simply find joy and beauty in being able to experience a new expression - one that had never been seen or heard before, and one that will never be seen or heard again.

The strangest thing about my journey through this process has been that for me, in some ways, it has amplified a lacking in the usual premeditated self expressions.