Lucas Abela (Justice Yeldham) will be completing an artist residency at The Lock-Up while in Newcastle performing as part of his SAME BUT DIFFERENT TOUR. Abela’s monumental work Fort Thunder 2018 will also feature in The Lock-Up’s upcoming exhibition PLAYGROUND opening in October 2022.

“One moment you hear John Coltrane playing a volcano, the next you hear a string section being squeezed through a toothpaste tube” – The New York Times

“Lucas is just captivating. It’s incredible how he can flip the feeling of a room upside down & sonically there’s just no other sound like this” – Zach Hill, Death Grips

ABOUT LUCAS ABELA

Initially classed as a turntablist, Lucas Abela’s work has rarely resembled anything in the field, early feats saw him stab vinyl with Kruger style stylus gloves, bound on electro acoustic trampolines, drag race the pope across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, perform deaf defying duet duels with amplified samurai swords, hospitalised by high powered turntables constructed from sewing machine motors, record chance John Peel sessions with the Flaming Lips, get pole position on Otomo Yoshihides’ Ground Zero remix compilation; ‘Consummation’ by destroying the disc with amplified skewers rather than bothering to sampling it.

Today these turntable roots have become almost unrecognisable, evolving into his infamous glass instrument, the shards being nothing more than a giant diamond tipped stylus vibrated vocally. He has been perfecting the instrument since it’s invention in 2003, performing internationally as Justice Yeldham.

After a long performance career his ideas have morphed into participatory sound installations, or more accurately large-scale instruments for musical play devised to switch roles between audience and performer in line with his philosophy that experimental music is more rewarding to play than to observe.