Music Associated with Loose Flanges

As well as the hundreds of guitar bands and singer songwriters out there in the music world, there is always those who choose to go down the road less travelled. Steel is used by some experimental and industrial musicians in bands and ensembles around the world. There is also a tradition of steel bands that originates from Trinidad and Tobago, based around steelpans or steeldrums. It is interesting to note the links between industrialisation and the effect that it has had on the music world. 

Steel bands that play steel drums are the most well known examples of the use of steel in music. A steel drum or pan is a pitched percussion instrument that is made from 55 gallon drums and is tuned chromatically. This type of drum falls into the idiophone family of instruments, and is not technically regarded as a drum as it is not a membranophone. While a pan may be a more technically accurate description of these instruments, all around the world they are referred to as steel drums. The steel drum or pan came out of Trinidad and is one of the most well known examples of Caribbean Music. Steelbands can be heard all over the caribbean and are also popular at Weddings and as entertainment during marches and festivals.

The other main use of steel in music lies on the fringes of contemporary music practices.  In the 1970s a number of experimental and industrial bands began to use different instruments as a means to broaden their sound. Steel plates and industrial parts were used as percussion instruments by industrial bands such as Einsturzende Neubauten in the 1980s. This use of industrial parts such as Loose Flange (Lose-Flansche) components and power tools gave the band a unique and raucous sound that had never been heard before. Steel plates had been used for years as a reverberation device, creating the famous plate reverb that is still modelled in many digital instruments today.

While a traditional Carabbean steel band and an experimental industrial act may seem to have very little in common, the very use of steel in their productions does tie them together in some way. The 55 gallon drum was used to make steelpans from about 1947, as these drums were readily available left overs from the cheap production and industrialisation of steel. In a similar way, industrial bands used left over and recycled steel as instruments as well. When a process such as steel manufacture becomes an inexpensive way to drive industry and infrastructure, there will always be left overs. As a creative person, it makes sense to go down to your local steel shop - ROFI, and turn an inexpensive steel component into a part of a new musical tradition.