"I like the idea of repurposing the same footage; having it seen in a different setting."

So says filmer/muso/young-go-getter James Kates when I chat to him about his latest project, Aural Canyon.

Even if you don't know the name, who will have seen Katesy's handiwork. As a filmer, he's been a gun for hire for Craig Anderson, Shaun Manners, and Noa Deane, who featured a solid whack of Katesy's footage in Noz Vid. When it comes to the notion of content marketing - i.e surf footage used to sell stuff - the man is a pragmatist. Ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

Katesy's worldview, however, extends far beyond the mercantile. He's a happy traveller in the world of ideas, digs his photography, and plays in both the Pinheads and Shining Bird. Thus he's incorporating a mix of surf footage - some seen, some not - into a live show by good mates The M1 (the band not the black top).

More accurately, The M1 will use the footage as musical cues to start up their sometimes psychedelic, sometimes rambunctious strain of chamber music.

"I think it's a good way of mirroring the experience of being in the ocean," says Kates by way of explanation. "At least it's a lot better than staring at the footage on a phone."

They gave the idea a run back in December and everyone had a blast, so Katesy's cutting more footage to conduct another gig. This one on January 14th at The Servo, Port Kembla.

Ever bubbling with ideas, Katesy can see the concept worked around just one session, or perhaps taking regional footage and playing toons to it at the local pub, but already he's getting ahead of himself.

For now, anyone who lives between Sydney and Ulladulla and doesn't mind a slab of loud improv art should grab tix and get themselves to Port Kembla.