A live debut ashcloud adventure – the first ever on-stage outing by Momo:tempo turns into a little epic – May 2010.

Due to play their first ever live set – a demur world premier at the famous Troubadour in Earl's Court, London – the Momo:tempo Electro Pops Orchestra didn't know until the very last minute whether band leader Timo Peach would even be there. Thanks to the small matter of a volcano in Iceland.

 "It was crazy. We really shouldn't have made it" Momo says.

"The lovely first lady of Momo and I were in Mallorca on a quick break before the big day – the first ever live incarnation of the band. It should have been easy and restful. In the end, it was a little adventure."

As air traffic was grounded across Europe in unprecedented travel distruption that week in April, Momo was left with the challenge of making it back to London. With available flights dwindling and trains and buses and boats under suddenly enormous pressure everywhere, the chances of making it back to the UK in time to join the band seemed rapidly more remote. Until the first of a series of lucky twists got them moving.

"Somehow, we blagged a flight off the island at the last minute to Madrid. We spent ages trying to work out how to piece together a journey back and every time we got to a new point, we thought that would be it. Stuck. Then something would happen." Momo says.

"Everywhere we went was chaos, travel-wise" he continues. "Madrid seemed to have few trains available. Then we found ourselves on a bus to Bilbao. Arriving their at dawn on the Sunday – the day before the gig – we had no idea if there was even a ferry sailing that day. I figured we'd have plenty of time to look around the Gugenheim if not" he grins.

But there was a ferry. And it was completely booked.

"Yep, it was. How we eventually ended up on it is another miracle – a stranger let us join their cabin. Hundreds of people were cramming the little terminal to try to get on board, so a huge thankyou to Pete for that, it was a lifesaver, and I think we made a new friend out of it too."

As surprisingly calm as the sail back towards Portsmouth may have been, the trip to make it to the Troubadour was still not to be plain sailing.

"No. It turned out to be a thirty hour trip! Which meant we were landing on the UK south coast, only an hour and a half before the Unofficial Book Fair Fringe Party was due to open its doors" Momo grimmaces. "Members of the band were brilliant, though – drummer Mark Adkins especially. He broke into the Momo studio for some gear and met the three horn guys up there – Dave on sax, Patrick on trombone and last-minute stand-in, Tom, on lead horn. Which meant I just had to get myself there."

When regular brass collaborator, John Herbison, couldn't make the gig, he encouraged Tom to take his place. "I'd never even met him!" Momo laughs. "He turned out to be as brilliant as the other guys and together they made their customary fantastic noise."

Momo's 50-hour odyssey finally delivered him to the Troubadour a couple of hours into the show – to rapturous applause.

"Our good friend, Sebastian Michael, who had invited us to his eclectic creative evening in the first place, had been reading out my Tweets – something I'd been doing the whole way. In the end, I think a lot of people had been following us!"

And the gig itself?"

"A kind of live soundcheck rehearsal really!" Momo laughs, "but it was a huge success. There's nothing better than making a crazy noise on stage with great musicians and then having strangers run up to you afterwards with big grins, saying they loved it."

"Momo:tempo's sound is a bit different," he adds, "mixing spoken word with big beats and horns and all kinds of influences. Live, it means a lot of theatrical fun. Can't wait to get up again. But it was good to finally make it to bed that night" he finishes with a grin.

Momo's debut single, Sweetseeker, is out in June, with accompanying album due out later in the summer.

To see some pictures from the night, visit the Momo:tempo Facebook page.

To read the blog of the trip, including an appendix of the live tweets, visit Momo:lingo, dated April 30.

To watch a cut from the set, click to the Video pages.

BACK TO PROMO >