Who said motorcycles are just noisy?

To raise awareness for the Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride, we created a unique symphony of loud motorbikes. Renowned musician Dominic Seldis conducted this special orchestra, paying tribute to men who suffer from cancer.

BRIEF

Rusty Gold Motorshop, the organizer for the Amsterdam edition of the Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride, wanted to ensure that people joined the fundraiser ride for the right reasons – to raise awareness and money for men’s health problems. In past years, many riders would participate without knowing the ultimate goal.

THINKING

Just loud bikes alone wouldn’t stress the importance of our cause, so we looked into translating the sound of bikes into something meaningful.

IDEA

In a musical homage to men suffering from cancer, we asked renowned musician Dominic Seldis (Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra) to conduct the world’s first orchestra of motorcycles. He rearranged Strauss’ symphony ‘Also Sprach Zarathustra’, and replaced the classical instruments with the tones of exhaust pipes, from high pitched racers to rumbling choppers. For each motorcycle we recorded a low, mid and highest note it could produce. The piece starts with single bikes, but the further it evolves, the more layers are added to make it sound as rich as a real orchestra. The expertise of arranger Hielke Praagman and the enthusiasm of conductor Dominic Seldis helped to turn the composition in a new masterpiece. Their participation made the individual motorcyclists change into an impassioned “classical” orchestra.

It made viewers immediately recognize the original piece by the first tones of the motorcycles, making it fun to share and keeping engagement until the end.