Music Questionnaire No 25 - Liam Stefani

I can't quite remember the circumstances in which I met Liam Stefani, I think it started with a phone call some 13 or so years ago (before we used email and all that) when Liam contacted me to ask Ticklish to play a gig in Glasgow, which ended up being our first foray away from home turf. I've since met him a couple more times when I've been up to Glasgow to play. Then, as is the 21st century way, we remade contact via Facebook, where I've become aware of the extraordinary electronic music he's been making - editing and re-arranging field recordings and snippets of various instruments. As self-effacing as he is enthusiastic, I had a feeling Liam would come up with some interesting answers, both as a producer of music and a promoter....

Who are you?

An artist... particularly interested in sound. currently employed by Glasgow libraries
previously... vegan chef; concert promoter ('scatter' nights @13th Note basement & club; 'Baustelle' festival of new german experimental music @CCA 1999); 'scatter' record label.

Where are you based?

Glasgow, Scotland

What instruments do you play?

Sound recordings, stringed instruments, objects

What is your current musical project?

skitter

Name a record that had a big impact on you in your youth

Aside from cassettes made by listening to John Peel, Charles Fox (Jazz Today), Music in our Time & the 'Electronic Voice' series (radio3)...

The 7LP Deutsche Grammophon boxset of Stockhausen's "Aus den Seiben Tagen" (repeatedly borrowed from Newington library in Edinburgh during the late 1970s... transferred onto cassettes) was a definite influence and encouraged a curiosity in improvisation... which led to Incus Records and beyond via sections of "Music Outside: Contemporary Jazz in Britain" published 1973, by Latimer New Dimensions. ISBN 0-901539-25-2) by Ian Carr

What was the last music you bought?

there's always downloads, things in the post, exchanges, secondhand stuff but...

As purchases, most recently, a couple of cds picked up in paris; a harsh noise wall cd by french artist VOMIR (like examining a piece of slate, carefully, for 20+minutes) and a real joy of a 2CD compilation by David Toop called 'Not Necessarily "English Music"' which is a collection of (largely previously unreleased) experimental music from Great Britain 1960-1977...by post, a couple of discs of psycho-surreal, feral music featuring RITUALISTIC SCHOOL OF ERRORS which is a project by the fine chicago-based artist gregory jacobsen

List three records by artists we all should hear:

(selfishly), Derek Bailey "drop me off at 96th" is still, I think, my favourite Derek on cd.
It's a cd of two different sets of pieces; I fell in love with the first set (referencing a history in his playing, with personal tributes to past musicians) when i first heard them in the late 1980s; I always wanted to release them and was delighted when Derek said "yes", then proceeded to gift another set of pieces (minimal, elegant modernist; complete contrast) to complete the release.

I do have problems recommending music; it's normally a spontaneous response, often relating to a current conversation or particular interaction

There are lots of musicians i'd like to hear more of... (I guess that's why I wanted to run a label)

But, specific people are attracted to specific genres; I can't think of many records I think 'everyone' should hear.

Describe a live performance that had a big effect on you:

Many... hearing Andres Segovia, watching Pina Bausch in 'cafe muller', Beckett festival (films and plays), all at the Edinburgh Festival; the butoh performance which came annually during the 1980/90s Mayfests in Glasgow,..

alastair maclennan whenever I've seen him perform.

Your favourite live venue:

No real favourite. I think any venue can be good for someone... depends on space, sound, crowd, presentation...

I'd like to hear more music outside ...

What's the strangest place you have performed live?

A rubbish dump

Tell me about a great experience as a performer

I dislike my personal spectacle... my ideal would be a collision of sound and image without the physical presence (not achieved, as yet)

Is improvisation important to you?

Yes... in creating various artworks

I enjoy generating the setting, making oblique preparations, and being unable to predict what the end result will be...

Name three heroes/heroines:

There are many people whose work I admire... stuart brisley harold pinter, elfriede jelinek

Favourite city?

Paris

A couple of favourite books?

(recently), "Thelonious Monk, An american original" by R DG Kelley; "how late it was, how late" by James Kelman

A couple of favourite films?

(recently), "Read My Lips" ("sur mes levres" by Jacques Audiard), "Funny Games" (US version by Michael Haneke)

What makes you laugh?

My kids

Is there a pop song you feel sentimental about, and can you name it?

The Mekons "Where Were You" (Fast Product, 1978)

Thanks Liam!

The Music Questionnaires are an ongoing series

Music Questionnaire No 24 - Lee Noyes

OK, I've never actually met Lee Noyes, for the very good reason that he lives on the other side of the world. I encountered him online him at ImprovFriday where I found Lee's music far closer to my own personal take on improvised music than many of the other participants - I enjoyed the sometimes indefinable quality of his music, the fact that it wasn't always obvious what was going on sonically or what instruments were being used - coupled with a palpable sense of structure and a real appreciation of silence. Later, Lee, the French musician Jérôme Poirier and I collaborated on a release for Jérôme's label "Three Leg Duck" which I thnk is especially successful considering none of us has actually met! In the process I've discovered that Lee is a wise and witty musician with an appealingly idiosyncratic approach. He also enjoys folk music, so he's obviously one of the good guys...

Who are you?

Lee Noyes.

Where are you based?

Currently, in Dunedin NZ.

What instruments do you play?

Mainly drums & percussion, though my original instruments were & still are acoustic & electric guitar and feedback electronics.

What is your current musical project?

Most-recently, in duo with radiophonicist, Sally Ann McIntyre (who performs as Radio Cegeste) with whom I have been exploring textural and gestural playing in a reductionist vein. In the last few months I've also performed regularly in a piano/bass/drums trio, feeling our way around and trying to extend jazz-standards. I love to play and tend to adapt my playing to whomever I'm playing with, so Dunedin with its unassuming honesty and ethic of collectivity has been a healthy place for me to be these past years. I play in a few ad hoc improv/noise/rock bands on either drums or live sampling/electronics with artists based around the None Gallery as well as others linked to the long-standing Dunedin punk/noise-scene.

I also like to work compositionally using improvised material of my own and in combination with that of overseas artists thru postal/internet collaboration. This brand of activity has been ongoing and very rewarding. The picture wouldn't be complete, however, without mentioning the the level of energy that goes into my daily work as a class teacher, music teacher & gymnastics teacher at DRSS. One of the teaching-ideals we try to work with is staying with a class over their school journey - I've been living this ideal these past five years with my class of children allowing us to build incrementally and without hurry on everything we've done in that time. It's not a case of of empty words to say that I've learned as much from them as they have from me... our musical exploits are as serious and as genuine as any I've been involved in; and we've played a bit of everything - graphic scores, free-improvised, orchestral classical and folk music from all eras and corners of the globe.

Name a record that had a big impact on you in your youth

The first album to drag my attention away from the radio was 'Graceland' by Paul Simon. My parents bought the record on its release - I'd put it every day on arriving home from school and spin it until dinner time. I knew every lyric and every note by heart. I was thrilled to later get a cassette copy for Christmas and play it through my walkman wired up to car-speakers. Seeing him perform Graceland Live in Zimbabwe blew my mind wide open though - it was very different... basically, they were playing it wrong! When I got over my initial anger, I realised I'd learned something important about music.

What was the last music you bought?

My most recent purchase (and the first CD I have bought in a four-year dry-spell) is Keith Rowe/Radu Malfatti's "Φ" on Erstwhile. Imaoto by Malfatti and Klaus Filip from 2009 really grabbed me, and while I've never considered myself much of a Rowe/AMM fan, I felt my current listening interests would be served by this one. I have not been disappointed.

List three records by artists we all should hear:

"Saxophone Special" on emanem. Steve Lacy & the SME running through Lacy compositions was a game-changer for me.
"Eusa Kills" by Dead C on Xpressway/Flying Nun, includes a drop-dead rendition of Marc Bolan's 'Children (of the Revolution)'.
"Dumbala Dumba" by Taraf de Haïdouks. Impeccable. 'Nuff said, really.

Describe a live performance that had a big effect on you:

Seeing Michael Morley in '94, (performing as Gate) on a New Zealand tour with Vancouverites Mecca Normal and my former home-town-New Plymouth's Peter Jefferies (of Nocturnal Projections). Morley had been on stage for a good five minutes, apparently testing the guitar lead on various parts and surfaces of the guitar before I realised he wasn't a roadie, and yeah, actually... that was my foot tapping along. I was totally taken aback, and completely convinced. The album he was performing was 'The Dew Line' (Table Of The Elements) and can be added to the above list. Another positive effect was his willingness to hand me a copy of the release with the understanding I'd mail the cash to his home-address - a gracious gesture that left a mark on me.

Your favourite live venue:

None Gallery, Dunedin. Pubs are okay, sure - but the scratchedblack floor and whitewashed walls of the local DiY have been the site of too many incredible and incredibly understated performances, some of which I have been fortunate enough to have been part of.

What’s the strangest place you have performed live?

Possibly the Dunedin Town Hall, leading a troupe of 50-odd student guitar players through a rendition of Jack Johnson's 'Upside Down'. Hearing my voice reverberating though the cavernous space to an audience of several hundred parents and families was mildly surreal, given my usual performance parameters.

Tell me about a great experience as a performer.

Well, I love playing. I play with as many different people as I can, every gig is different and always look forward to those moments when it all simply comes together. It can be hit-and-miss at times, but that to me is what keeps live music relevant in our (saturated) era of recorded sound.

Is improvisation important to you?

Improvisation has always been at the core of what I do, though it's fair to say I value the role of compositional-thinking, especially whilst improvising. I believe composition is enlivened by improvisation; and similarly, I think it's fair to say that a consciousness of structure and a certain intentionality in playing tempers those aspects 'free-music' that can leave it most open to criticism. Goethe illustrated it best as seeking a breathing; the outbreath and inbreath.

Name three heroes/heroines:

My parents for raising me, and my wife for putting up with me. That's three.

Favourite city?

In New Zealand, I love living in Dunedin and I love to visit Wellington. While living in Gothenburg I used to enjoy my visits to Copenhagen.

A couple of favourite books?

Much of my reading is for my own kids or for my class-children. It's really quite impossible to overstate the mileage we've gotten from Brothers Grimm. Another favourite is Howard Pyle's version of Robin Hood, written in the mid-19th century, beautifully written for reading aloud.
Meanwhile, I've dipped into Thomas Pynchon and really enjoyed, but realistically, I'll likely have to wait until I have a less demanding day job before I can give him the attention he requires...

A couple of favourite films?

Martin McDonagh's "In Bruges"
Emir Kusturica's "Under Ground."

A favourite website?

A few, actually.

What makes you laugh?

Amphiboly. Especially if unintentional. And Stewart Lee's standup.

Is there a pop song you feel sentimental about, and can you name it?

No one in particular. I've really done quite a good job avoiding pop music since I was about nine years old... so perhaps if someone put on some Nik Kershaw or Level 42 the waves of nostalgia would flood over me...

Thanks Lee!

The Music Questionnaires are an ongoing series

Music Questionnaires No 23 - Helen McCookerybook

Back at the turn of the seventies, just as post-punk was turning into new pop, I used to hear a band called The Chefs on John Peel a lot, then in the early 80s I used to hear sessions and records by a group called "Helen and the Horns" who I really liked, they had an unusual (if accurately described) line-up of a girl on electric guitar and vocals, and a brass section. Helen was Helen McCookerybook who used to be in The Chefs. Fast foward about 6 years and I catch Helen and the Horns quite by chance in a London pub, after I moved down here to be a student...and I was entranced again. Then years later Steve Beresford put us in touch and I was able to give Helen a gig at Scaledown, and discovered she still writes beautiful, jazzy songs and still has a lovely guitar. Now it turns out she also collaborates with Jude Cowan, who I'm in a band with...isn't the world wonderful?
So why not listen to some of her music, read her splendid blog or check out her art?

Who are you?

I am Helen McCookerybook, musician and artist; Helen Reddington, academic and writer, and Helen McCallum, daughter of McMum and McDad.

Where are you based?

In High Barnet, flower of the north or weed of the south, whichever way you are looking at it.

What instruments do you play?

Guitar, Logic Audio and vocals. Some piano, some bass, some banjo; used to play 'Oh Susannah' on fiddle when drunk.

What is your current musical project?

Three of them: recording an album of songs with Martin Stephenson; preparing a compilation of back-catalogue of The Chefs' music for release; writing a song with a group of cleaners who have formed a complaints choir to express their frustration with their employers.

Name a record that had a big impact on you in your youth

Whipcrackaway by Doris Day. I remember my mum's friend Pam singing along to it on the radio at the top of her voice as she beat the eggs for scrambled eggs at breakfast time.

What was the last music you bought?

Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack

List three records by artists we all should hear:

Any compilation of 1960s Lover's Rock; "Lilac Tree" by Martin Stephenson; Phantasmagoria by Curved Air.

Describe a live performance that had a big effect on you:

The last Slits gig I saw in Islington in the summer of 2010. Just a few months later Ari was dead, but at that gig she was the most alive person in the Universe.

Your favourite live venue:

Of all time, the Moonlight Club in West Hampstead. Of now, the Cluny in Byker.

What’s the strangest place you have performed live?

An allotment in Stockport one freezing August, where Adrian the gardener had grown a stage from banana trees and pink and orange dahlias. It was breathtakingly beautiful, and the fee was jam, chutney and flowers.

Tell me about a great experience as a performer.

My punk band Joby and the Hooligans took our instruments up to Sussex University when Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers were playing, and begged their manager to let us play some songs at the start of the evening; we loved them so. He said no, so we got exceedingly drunk because we were so disappointed. He changed his mind, and when we got on stage I couldn't even see the neck of my guitar, let alone work out how to join in with the others, and nor could they work out how to join in with me.

They pulled the plugs on us.

Is improvisation important to you?

I wish it was. Because I can't do it (I lack the rudiments of musical knowledge to rebel against) I sit and draw the people playing, which helps me to enjoy what I hear even more.

Name three heroes/heroines:

Desmond Tutu, my now deceased and very badly-behaved cat Charlie who ate the family clothes, and my American Grandma who was a flapper and danced on the piano in the 1920s.

Favourite city?

San Francisco. I have never been there in real life but I have a lot in my imagination and I love it there.

A couple of favourite books?

My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell and The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

A couple of favourite films?

La Belle et la Bete by Jean Cocteau and Les Parapluies de Cherbourg

A favourite website?

www.utrophia.net

What makes you laugh?

Mostly, Martin Stephenson at his live gigs, but also Stanley Unwin and The Simpsons (how have they managed to stay funny for so long?)

Is there a pop song you feel sentimental about, and can you name it?

Street Life by The Crusaders at the moment. I used to live alone in Brighton with lots of rescued caged birds, and I used to get back from a night out and dance around the flat to that track, with the budgie gripping on to the top of my head for dear life and flapping his wings.
Happy times!

Thanks Helen!
(Photo by Jacob Stevens)

The Music Questionnaires are an ongoing series

Music Questionnaire No 22 - Ian R Watson

I've actually worked with Ian in two different places over the years, in an office and in a record shop, and I've occasionally played with him too, most recently in a trio with Kev Hopper called "64 Bit". He's been in a dizzying array of bands and collaborations including Gallon Drunk Terry Edwards and the Scapegoats, crypto-funksters SLAB!, astro-funk improv collective Lob and his lovely duo with Pete Flood (of Bellowhead) the Treecreepers. Ian is a generous musician and never less than delightful company and he plays a wonderfully economic and beautifully toned trumpet. I wish I saw him more often, but he does live on the other side of the Earth (or Teddington, if you prefer...)

Who are you?

Ian R Watson

Where are you based?

Teddington

What instruments do you play?

You mean own?, trumpet and guitar

What is your current musical project?

An improvising trio called Elvers, and I am playing some guitar with Solus Rex, and 64 Bit if we ever do another gig?

Name a record that had a big impact on you in your youth

Ride a white Swan - T Rex

What was the last music you bought?

Kasia All Stars “In the 7th Moon, The Chief Turned Into a Swimming Fish and Ate the Head of His Enemy By Magic”

Shankar “Song For Everyone” with Jan Garbarek £1 in the local charity shop…..it may go back

Django Bates “Good Evening here is the news” £1.50 in local charity shop…..will keep this one though

List three records by artists we all should hear:

Oh my favourite pub game; Aladdin Sane - David Bowie, African Rhythms - Pierre-Laurent Aimard/ AKA Pygmies, The hissing of summer lawns - Joni Mitchell

Describe a live performance that had a big effect on you:

The White Riot tour at the Electric Circus, Collyhurst , Manchester on May 8th 1977 with the Subway Sect , The Slits and the Clash. I have been to better concerts over the years but that was a definite turning point for me. Of course I had long hair at the time but cut it off pretty soon afterwards. I have a bootleg of the gig and the Clash sound pretty rough and out of tune, but I didn’t notice or care at the time

Your favourite live venue:

The Club Room. Also I was on holiday once and went to the Fondation Maeght in the south of France, a wonderful museum and open air sculpture park, imagining seeing Sun Ra or Albert Ayler there would instantly transform that into my favourite venue.

What’s the strangest place you have performed live?

The Club room?.....actually one of the strangest was at the party after (or during?) for the Brit Awards ceremony a few years ago in Park lane with the Baby Trio, there were fairground rides inside the hotel…..playing Roland Kirk tunes and such like to pissed up disinterested revellers

Tell me about a great experience as a performer.

I was in a large ensemble at the Red Rose once and almost had an out of body experience, I could almost see shapes swirling around and doors opening as the music developed. I later read an interview with a well known improviser that was in the same group saying how that particular gig just “wasn’t happening” for him.

Is improvisation important to you?

Absolutely

Name three heroes/heroines:

Kenny Wheeler

Ken Nordine

Frank Zappa

Favourite city?

Paris

A couple of favourite books?

The Tin Drum - Gunter Grass

The Swell Season - Josef Skvorecky

A couple of favourite films?

The Tin Drum and Carry on Screaming

A favourite website?

Youtube

What makes you laugh?

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Is there a pop song you feel sentimental about, and can you name it?

"Nature Boy", the George Benson version

Thanks Ian!

The Music Questionnaires are an ongoing series

Music Questionnaire No 21 - Alex Stone

I've never met Alex Stone, but I've known him for about 10 years. We got to know eachother initially on The Fall Forum, where we bonded on many subjects, free improv, traditional music, post-punk, new-wave sci-fi etc, and hardly ever discussed The Fall. He was also a welcome commenter on my previous blog, and lately, rather inevitably, we've hooked up on Facebook too. I was aware of Alex's avant-prog-folk-improv band, Big Block 454 before hearing them on Stuart Maconie's programme, but took a while to make the connection with the bloke I knew online. The current album is utterly splendid. I've never met Alex Stone, but I hope to rectify this soon, he is, after all, a morris dancer too...

Who are you?

Alex Stone

Where are you based?

Stockport

What instruments do you play?

Guitar, bass, keyboards, accordion, and anything else I can get my hands on that will make a noise. I suppose I should also say that I use the computer as a musical instrument, too.

What is your current musical project?

Just finished making an album with Big Block 454, which is a kind of dadist pop group. Also engaged in producing a series of ambient/experimental recordings.

Name a record that had a big impact on you in your youth

The first record I remember asking for as a kid was “Who Is The Doctor” by Jon Pertwee. The second was the soundtrack to 2001: A Space Odyssey. It’s no wonder I turned out the way I did. I still enjoy Ligeti, and I still think Jon Pertwee was the best Doctor. But all my life I’ve enjoyed strangeness in music, and I think that’s the legacy of those recordings.

What was the last music you bought?

“Dumb Supper” by Cath and Phil Tyler – yet another interesting take on British folk music; “Edgar Broughton Band – The Harvest Years” – the first five albums by this highly underrated band in one package; “A Spare Tabby at the Cat’s Wedding” by Moon Wiring Club – because I’ve got a very soft spot for the Ghost Box style of hauntological music. And The Unthanks – “Last” which surely requires no explanation.

List three records by artists we all should hear:

Jerry Yester and Judy Henske: “Farewell Aldebaran”
Lal and Mike Waterson: “Bright Phoebus”
Richard Skelton: “Landings”

Describe a live performance that had a big effect on you:

Evan Parker, Barry Guy, Eddie Prevost and Keith Rowe at The Band on The Wall. I’ve never seen improv played with such passion, emotion and skill. True telepathy going on, with Barry Guy a bizarre and (he told me later) not unintentionally comic focus for the eyes and ears as he battered the hell out of two double basses at once. Had a nice chat with Keith Rowe about the art of roofing.

Your favourite live venue:

Upstairs at The Black Lion, Salford. It used to be the setting for some very exciting and furious improv.

What’s the strangest place you have performed live?

In Holy Trinity Church, Salford.

Tell me about a great experience as a performer.

Did a gig at Holy Trinity with Richard Skelton, Xela and Seasons {Pre-Din}. Very beautiful, devotional improvised music came out of us that night and it made people cry. Meanwhile, the vicar and a very tall goth curate were serving bottles of good ale out of the vestry.

Is improvisation important to you?

Every time I play anything I improvise to a degree, so yes. I aspire to the rare moments I’ve felt on the occasions when it has seemed like Music is playing me, and I hope one day to be a worthy conduit. I imagine on my death bed my eyes will spring madly open, I’ll croak “Quick, the guitar...” and, in front of my incredulous relatives I’ll do something like bang the front of the guitar, hold it to my ear and expire with a look of profound joy. Or, more likely, I’ll ask someone to stick “Another Green World” on for a final spin.

Name three heroes/heroines:

Can’t say I’ve got any. Plenty of people I admire, but for a long time I’ve felt that the best way to live is to become the best at being me. I take advice from wise people, of course, but they don’t know everything – no, hang on, I think Derek Bailey did. Shame David Sylvian didn’t listen very well.

Favourite city?

Liverpool. I was brought up there, and I’ve happily let it become a mythical place of memory rather than somewhere I’d want to live again.

A couple of favourite books?

M. John Harrison – “The Course of The Heart.” It’s got something as indefinably strange and wonderful that can never quite be reached. Which is funny, because that’s what it’s about. Try it.

Nikki Segnit – The Flavour Thesaurus A wonderful resource of information about flavours; ideal for those of us who like messing with food.

Roger Phillips – “Mushrooms”. The best guide to our fungi.

A couple of favourite films?

Inland Empire
Drowning by Numbers
School for Scoundrels

A favourite website?

wood s lot

What makes you laugh?

Absurdity. And ducks. Actually, that’s probably the same thing.

Is there a pop song you feel sentimental about, and can you name it?

Yes. Unfortunately, it’s “More Than A Feeling” by Boston. I don’t want to talk about it. I do find myself feeling sentimental about some of the old hymns I used to have to sing when I was a kid. "Come ye thankful people come" and "For those in peril on the sea" were favourites. Probably still are, if I were to go to church. Maybe I'll do a hymns album.

Thanks Alex!

The Music Questionnaires are an ongoing series

Music Questionnaire No 20 - duncan goddard

I can't quite place where I first met Duncan Goddard, but somehow living in Teesside and sharing a love of Faust and Can it was inevitable our orbits would collide. We've collaborated a couple of times, in the early 80s in a noise-rock improv trio called "Macbeth" (with Steve Dinsdale) and in the early 90's in best forgotten pop project. In the meantime Duncan's first love - electronic improvised music - finally paid off as his long running project (with Steve Dinsdale and Gary Houghton) Radio Massacre International began playing international gigs and releasing acclaimed CDs. We met again via the internet a year or so ago, and in the flesh at a Drop gig in London. I still enjoy his spiky wit and enthusiasm for some of the more neglected regions of music...

Who are you?

duncan goddard

Where are you based?

north london, madrid, stockport

What instruments do you play?

bass, keyboards, analogue electronics, hardware sequencers & guitar. sometimes all at once. if you took everything away from me & said "you can have one thing back", I think it would be an old fender bass. but if you took everything away from me like that, I would hunt you down &.....

What is your current musical project?

radio massacre international. but it's time I branched out. working on a wee symphony in stolen moments. no, that's not its name, nor will it be.

Name a record that had a big impact on you in your youth

bowie's cover of "See Emily Play". didn't catch the intro (by alan freeman, in 1972 or 1973) so all I heard was him back-reffing this strange music as "a memory of early pink floyd". when I finally heard the original a couple of years later, I was astonished. round about then, I think I got a copy of "silver machine" & saw "7 seas of rhye" on top of the pops. between those things, something lasting was forged.

What was the last music you bought?

more radiophonics compilations & a barry gray collection. jack arel. the dukes of stratosphear (reissues). takemitsu. the entire soundtrack music from "the clangers". some faust reissues. "squawk" by budgie.

List three records by artists we all should hear:

"time out of mind" (dylan)
mi media naranja (labradford)
daydream nation (sonic youth)

Describe a live performance that had a big effect on you:

labradford, at the highbury garage. on one of the rare occasions of one of them actually deigning to speak to the audience, it was to apologise in advance for an abbreviated & insubstantial set due to equipment failure. they did enough with what they had left working, to produce tears & a decision to buy a memorymoog at the earliest possible opportunity. which I did.

Your favourite live venue:

as an artist? st mary's church, philadelphia. as a punter, fond memories of the coatham bowl in redcar, but like a lot of us metropolitan types I'd choose one of the two larger south bank venues. RFH if pushed.

What’s the strangest place you have performed live?

the cafe/bar of the liverpool playhouse, in 1987, playing bass in a three-piece completed by an actor on tenor sax & a stage-manager on guitar. we did a segue/mash-up of "summertime" & "stormy weather".

Tell me about a great experience as a performer.

in 2007, we had spent six months collecting material for an album which was inspired by rather than being a tribute to the late syd barrett. then we decided to try to plough through the whole thing live, in one go, by way of launching it. it worked, we pulled it off, it sounded great, & so we did the whole thing again in baltimore a few weeks later. this was an unusual approach for us (see below) & it satisfied us that we could still learn an arranged set.

Is improvisation important to you?

very much so, & in truth the response to the previous question should reflect the many many times that the magic has visited an improvised live perfromance. "are you the band that makes it up as you go along?" we were asked in 1982, before being barred from the dolphin in redcar. well, it seems to have served us better than them.

Name three heroes/heroines:

I can't. there are many people I admire, for music & for plenty of other things; I think it's just blind chance that some of their "heroic" actions come to prominence or public knowledge whilst others remain unknown. there's heroism in everyone, to some degree- I can't single anyone out.

Favourite city?

haven't been to a city I didn't like, with the possible exception of LA. but madrid's close to the top of my preferred places at the moment. stockholm. vienna. manchester.

A couple of favourite books?
complete shakespeare, anything by greg bear or larry niven.

A couple of favourite films?

(looks at DVDs) "in like flint", "dark star". but tomorrow I might say something different. is this indicative enough of my character for us to move on? I find it very difficult to leave a film halfway through, no matter how bad it is, but if it's got jack black in it, I can usually manage. he's a fat unfunny turd.

A favourite website?

encyclopedia dramatica. somehow it gives me hope that the internet will fade into the background & become the preserve of the sorts of folks who write crap like that, while the rest of us dip in & out & get on with our lives.

What makes you laugh?

see above. a guilty pleasure. also, comedies of manners done by americans ("larry sanders" & the like). they're so busy being good at it that they completely miss the irony.

Is there a pop song you feel sentimental about, and can you name it?

yes- "the carnival is over" by the seekers. not the least bit ashamed of that. my "best of..." seekers collection is right next to "chaos AD" by sepultura.

Thanks Duncan!

The Music Questionnaires are an ongoing series

Music Questionnaire No 19 - John Bisset

I first met John about 18 years ago when I turned up for the first ever practice of the London Electric Guitar Orchestra - and after the initial rush of interest we struggled on for what seemed like months as a guitar trio of John, Jorg Graumann and myself, before the concept finally took off and I was able to leave for "sartorial reasons". Since then I've spent a hilarous few days in Hamburg with him at an improv festival, and given him the odd gig. I always liked the fact that John is roughly the same age as me and shares a post-punk history - he was the leader of the sublime "Grow Up" as well as the guitarist in Spherical Objects. These days, outside of improv and twangy guitar instrumentals, he's probably best known as one the stars of the wonderful Two Thirteen TV...


Who are you?

John Bisset

Where are you based?

Stoke Newington, London

What instruments do you play?

Guitar

What is your current musical project?

Using green screen to create visual equivalent of multitracking - filming myself as I lay down each track then mixing them together to make film with several me's playing the music. Having been addicted to multitracking since my first 4 track cassette in 1989 this is a delight especially as it becomes an 'analogue' experience, as it it's not possible to edit each take, you have to get it right in one go.

Name a record that had a big impact on you in your youth

Electric Warrior - T.Rex

What was the last music you bought?

Well i subscribe to Spotify so I suppose that counts as buying. I've been playing J.S. Bach: Cantata Bwv 39 - 'Brich Dem Hungrigen Dein Brot' every morning for the past month.

List three records by artists we all should hear:

Caravan - Rahul Dev Burman
13 lumps of chease - London Electric Guitar Orchestra
Because her Beauty is Raw and Wild - Jonathan Richman

Describe a live performance that had a big effect on you:

Jonathan Richman at the Shepherd's Bush Empire in 2009. His refusal to play any of the old stuff - turned into a philosophy of life by way of the song 'Es Como El Pan' (It's like bread, when its even one day old it's no good). He played a nylon strung acoustic with no strap or pick, wandering off mic frequently, getting the air conditioning turned off so you could hear him and so we suffered cos 'when you refuse to suffer, you lose' - mucking about - wonderful!

Your favourite live venue:

The Club Room during the 90's

What’s the strangest place you have performed live?

In the years we did annual relays there were a lot of odd spaces - tents, railway carriages, disused power stations, paper structures - the strangest was probably the disused power station in Berlin where there was no floor/ceiling in front of me and the audience stood opposite on the other side of the abyss. There were huge burnt patches on the walls where the cables had run.

Tell me about a great experience as a performer.

The first time I played with Pocket (me and alex ward on electric guitars, with bass and drums) - at the 12 bar club (was it a Baggage Reclaim event?)[probably - Richard]. A genuine 'band' evolving from chance meetings and a coincidence of tastes, moving through the early stages with apparent ease and then performing even better than rehearsals suggested. I'd been playing impro for many years and this was my first return to tune-based material.

Is improvisation important to you?

Essential

Name three heroes/heroines:

Rhodri Davies,
Jonathan Richman,
Candida Doyle

Favourite city?

London

A couple of favourite books?

Puckoon by Spike Milligan
When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron

A couple of favourite films?

Back to the Future
Sholay

A favourite website?

YouTube

What makes you laugh?

Ivor Kallin

Is there a pop song you feel sentimental about, and can you name it?

Oh my god so many!
Me and my sister had about 15 singles when we were about 12 and 11 respectively (1970ish). We spent whole days playing them, A sides and B's, on a Dansette. We voted on them and made a weekly Top Ten - it was the same records each time, but in a different (hotly contended) order.
All the singles belonged to my step father and were from the late 50's early 60's and I feel sentimental when ever I hear one of these - Elvis, Bobby Darin, Marty Wilde, Connie Francis, etc.
If I had to choose one it would be 'Everybody's Somebody's Fool' by Connie Francis - simply because I like singing it!

Thanks John!

The Music Questionnaires are an ongoing series

Music Questionnaire No 18 - Chris Cundy

I got to know Chris Cundy in the mid 90's when he he used to play at "The Club Room", the improvised music club I ran. Later his band "Transmissions of Not" played at my "Baggage Reclaim" club. He's consequently become a mainstay of the UK free improv scene whilst also being a member of The Guillemots and even found time to appear on my EP "Pinhole" a few years back. A tremendously enthusiastic individual, he could justifiably be described as putting Cheltenham on the experimental music map, both as a player and as a promotor...

Who are you?

My name is Chris Cundy

Where are you based?

Cheltenham

What instruments do you play?

bass clarinet and other woodwind such as that thing called the saxophone

What is your current musical project?

A new band called Exit Kit. It's a quartet I've put together so that I can play my own music.

Name a record that had a big impact on you in your youth?

Everyday by Buddy Holly.

What was the last music you bought?

Let England Shake by PJ Harvey

List three records by artists we all should hear:

The Eric Dolphy Memorial Album by Eric Dolphy / The Len Bright Combo Present The Len Bright Combo By The Len Bright Combo / Symphony in D Major by Carl Phillipp Emanuel Bach

Describe a live performance that had a big effect on you:

Seeing The Auntie Vegetable's performance at a house party in Chatham when I was about 10 and realizing that growing up wasn't entirely necessary.

Your favourite live venue:

Mick Beck's house in Sheffield.

What’s the strangest place you have performed live?

On the street, any street - busking. The people I meet and the reactions people have are wilder than anything I've seen on tour or in the comfort of a venue.

Tell me about a great experience as a performer.

Working with Mexican dancer Tania Cervantes for Nofit State Circus. I helped create/perform music for an aerial fight scene that she devised just by counterweight that spanned the height of the big top. It gave me very free and edgy possibilities for the saxophone which I played over a toe tapping 6/4/3 rhythm.

Is improvisation important to you?

Yes, I should think its possibly the most important thing to me.

Name three heroes/heroines:

George Stephenson, Buckminster Fuller and Giulietta Masina

Favourite city?

Glasgow

A couple of favourite books?

Down And Out In Paris And London by George Orwell / Candide by Voltaire

A couple of favourite films?

Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory (the original of course) / Back To The Future.

A favourite website?

You Tube

What makes you laugh?

Ivor Kallin and Alan Wilkinson getting up to mischief together.

Is there a pop song you feel sentimental about, and can you name it?

Yes, I suppose it would have to be To Love Somebody by The Bee Gees. Funny, I never really liked the Bee Gees but what a song that one is! It is about loss and absence isn't it? It conjures a spooky kind of nostalgia in me anyway.

Thanks Chris

The Music Questionnaires are an ongoing series

Music Questionnaire No 17 - Wavis O' Shave

I got to know Wavis after I enthused about his character "The Hard" on my blog, and he wrote to me to recommend a few videos I might have missed. I later started collecting his records (not cheap) and in email converstions found him to be surprisingly debonnaire and unsurprisingly hilarious. What you don't learn about him in this questionnaire you find out in the hour long special he did for Resonance FM (and I produced)

Who are you?

I am Wavis O'Shave, who, according to Wikipedia, is a surreal English
musician and comedian who regularly appeared on Channel 4's music show
THE TUBE. Well that's true I guess,but I do have a habit of popping
up here and there unexpectedly at a whim or drop of a fedora.

Where are you based?

Second star on the left, straight on 'til morning.

What instruments do you play?

The Theremin that is inside of my head.

What is your current musical project?

I am being filmed for a movie docu about my longevity, for a DVD
national release later this year. It will exclusively include my
latest musical offering 'Sunspots on the Moon'.

Name a record that had a big impact on you in your youth

Responsible for my having a perma tan since the age of 13, 'Sunny
Afternoon' by the Kinks, 1969. Best served with ice cream.

What was the last music you bought

'The music of the Spheres' - an ancient philosophical concept that
regards proportions in the movements of celestial bodies. To be
honest, I haven't actually bought it yet - been on order since the
last thousand years and 123 past lives. Hard to obtain. No, it was an
illegal recording by the Lancashire based Bootle Brass Band singing
'The perfect gift for Easter'. It is a Bootle Egg.

List three records by artists we should hear

'Woman' by John Lennon - there's something in there for almost every
adult male to think about, 'Happy Talk' 1982 cover version By Captain
Sensible..it's all in the chorus (dreams of Katie Derham coming
through my bedroom window at the dead of night)..and 'Always look on
the bright side of life' by Python. You have to.

Describe a live performance that had a big effect on you

This is a toss up between Kate Bush and Sooty. Saw Kate on her only UK
tour back in 1979, only ten dates. In those days artistes gave you an
hour and a half. Bushy gave you three hours and a costume change with
just about every number. It was technical perfection, sound and
vision. Seeing Sweep in the flesh..I mean glove..was a dream come
true, I had always been a great fan of his winding up techniques of
long suffering Harry Corbett.

Your favourite live venue:

Bed. Well I do live in it a lot. Partly blame the Kinks.

What’s the strangest place you have performed live?

Long ago I had a band called 'The Borestiffers'. We did a one venue
world tour, a church hall that belonged to the local blind community.
We got it for free because of a misunderstanding that the blind
fellas, expecting a musical concert, could come and hear us free.
Didn't have the heart to tell them all we played was empty suitcases,
bullworkers and an actual kitchen sink.

Tell me about a great experience as a performer.

Turning up as a support act to a rock band on a flying carpet on
wheels that trailed empty tins of Tennants Super strength, as Mustapha
Dhoorinc - in full and precise eastern apparel, turban and all, and
beard down to the shins. Whilst the Islamic intro played, downed what
looked like an unopened bottle of whisky in thirty seconds. It was
cold tea actually. Proceeded to freak the audience out, made it to the
end of the set and scarpered off on the carpet leaving one and all
stunned.

Is improvisation important to you

Yes..you can only write your lyrics on your arms for as long as your
arms are long.

Name three heroes/heroines:

Scotland's Finest, Maggie Bell, sadly best known for singing the
'Taggart' theme tune and for her 1982 hit 'Hold me' alongside B.A,
Robinson. For sure, our answer to Janis Joplin and Aretha Franklin,
just goes to show that you don't get out of life what you put into it.
66, and still the best female vocalist ever to come out of the British
Isles..next,Saint Joan of Arc for proving you can't beat the system...
and on that theme, Bonnie Prince Charlie, the first popstar in history
and history's biggest loser. Finally, Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav
Jung whose theory of the Collective Unconscious and archetypes made it
ok for me to meet a few mythological Greek gods and goddesses and not
be bonkers. Oh, and Indiana Jones would have made the list but he's
off trying to find my lost 1965 'Beatles at Carnegie Hall' programme.

Favourite City

Electricity..can't put the kettle on without it.

A couple of favourite books;

'Steppenwolf' by Herman Hesse, and the Sanskrit epic 'The Mahabharata'

A couple of favourite films;

Ursula Andress as Ayesha in the 1966 Hammer film 'She' - I would have
followed her anywhere - '2001 A Space Odyssey'.. I would have followed
the spacecraft anywhere,still trying to work those last 20 minutes
out....'Jason and the Argonauts' cos I can meet Talos thanks to Jung,
and 'One flew over the cuckoo nest' (Still can't beat the system)

What makes you laugh;

Natural comedy moments..I've seen myself in Mr Bean and Frank Spencer no end.

Is there a pop song you feel sentimental about, and can you name it?

This one goes to penalties. It's either the Beatles 'Across the
Universe' cos nothing's going to change my world, or their 'Fool on
the Hill' - they must have seen me sitting up at the top of
Glastonbury Tor.

Thanks Wavis

Music Questionnaires No 16 - Monster Bobby

I guess I've known Monster Bobby for about 10 years, since he kindly asked me to play some songs at the "Totally Bored" club he was helping to run at the time, and we've kept in touch ever since. I've always found him never less than utterly charming and I've always admired his total love of pop music and the way it works, whilst clearly keeping interests in music some may consider a bit more "cerebral". He talks about his music in the replies, so I'll just point out that as well as being something of a mover and shaker and active collaborator in music, he also produces two rather fine and engaging blogs The Bomb Party and Little Other...

Who Are You

Well, on my birth certificate it says Robert William Barry, however most people have called me Bobby for as long as I can remember. But then, Bobby Barry is obviously far too ridiculous a name to do anything vaguely professional under, so about ten years ago, I started adopting the even more ridiculous moniker of Monster Bobby for most of my musical projects.

Where are you based?

Paris, these days, however I grew up in Brighton and lived in London for the best part of ten years before moving here.


What instruments do you play?

Guitar, mostly, although I also have a small collection of old Casio keyboards. I've been both a percussionist and an electronics/weird noises type person in bands before.

What is your current musical project?

Well, there's a few... First and foremost, there's The Pipettes, the pop group I started about seven and a half years ago that has now released two albums and many singles. In The Pipettes, I play guitar and a sort of electronic harp/guitar thing called a Q-Chord, and occasional I trigger samples. Everyone in the band writes the songs.

Then there's the solo thing I do, Monster Bobby, which is generally me with an acoustic guitar and a sampler, singing songs with occasionally quite obstreperous electronic noises behind them.

Last year, I started a project in London called A Little Orchestra, which is a sort of loose collective of instrumentalists, generally orchestral instrumentalists, performing a mixture of 20th century minimalist/avant-garde works, film scores, pop songs, and our own compositions.

Finally, I just invented this game called Wav Tennis, whereby any two musicians or non-musicians volley sound files back and forth over the internet, gradually building up tracks through the semi-random accumulation of exchanged noises. You can find more details of the rules to Wav Tennis on my Little Other blog. I am currently engaged in a couple of games of that, and always up for starting new sets. Hopefully, one day, everyone will be playing Wav Tennis!

Name a record that had a big impact on you in your youth

The first album that I remember really loving and being a bit obsessed by: Bad by Michael Jackson
The first album that I bought with my own money and that really felt like 'my music' : Killers by Iron Maiden

What was the last music you bought?

A thing on RER called Baku: Symphony of Sirens, which is a double cd compilation of recordings and reconstructions of music/poetry/sound art from Russia in the immediate post-revolutionary period.

List three records by artists we all should hear:

Ahem.. Earth vs The PIpettes by The Pipettes, Gaps by Monster Bobby and We Are The Pipettes by The Pipettes... No, but seriously... Something by Os Mutantes, something by Art Bears or Henry Cow, and something by Disco Inferno, although right now I'm not sure which particular records. Just get everything they ever did.

Describe a live performance that had a big effect on you:

Two things towards the beginning of last year - Cosi Fan Tutte at the Royal Opera House, and Billy Budd at Opera Bastille - have left me obsessed with the possibilities of sung drama.

Your favourite live venue:

I think pretty well all the live music venues I have ever loved are now either closed down or refurbished beyond recognition.

What’s the strangest place you have performed live?

The Pipettes once played a gig in a hair salon in Berlin that was sort of like something out of an Armistead Maupin book. That was quite strange.

Tell me about a great experience as a performer.

You know that thing that happens sometimes when everyone in the band plays the wrong thing - but you all play the wrong thing together, and it ends up sounding/feeling much better than the right thing ever could've done.

Is improvisation important to you?

I get very jealous of musicians who are very comfortable improvisers because I have a sort of crippling fear of being on a stage and not knowing what I'm supposed to be doing. And I find small stages in front of small amounts of people much scarier than big stages in front of large amounts of people, and therefore no stage at all in front of four or five people can be absolutely terrifying. Having said that, over the years, I've always found ways and means of bringing forms of group improvisation into my life, although rarely in public. The Pipettes have always spent a lot of time improvising in rehearsals, often in styles that one would not expect from a band like The Pipettes; and A Little Orchestra play quite a lot of stuff that is improvisatory but structured in some (possibly quite meagre) way, such as by a piece of text. I briefly had a project with a guy who makes sort of noise music and super 8 films who calls himself Eaten By Children, and that was all based around improvisation, largely with no-input mixing boards and fx. We made some pretty nice recordings which sadly still haven't been released, but I hope they will be one day. All these things were definitely, as you say, important to me, and some of my favourite live gigs by other people have been improvised or at least contained improvised elements, but right now, at least, it isn't really something I do in public.

Name three heroes/heroines:

I'd like to split this question into two halves because I can't think of three people that I'm willing to unambiguously call "Heroes" with a big capital H. So, on the one hand, there are people who might better be called "Anti-Heroes": people where the absolute amazingness of certain aspects of their work/life has sort of been overshadowed by the utter wretched sordidness of certain other aspects of their work/life, in which category I might put, Richard Wagner, Michael Jackson and Phil Spector. On the other hand, there are people who are perhaps less reprehensible, but also somehow less heroic with a big capital H, and yet somehow they've maybe done a bunch of stuff that I really think, gee, I wish I could say that I'd done that. I'd like to call this category, less "Heroes" than "Pretty Cool Guys" and I would include there people like, Laurie Anderson, Bill Drummond, Delia Derbyshire, Raymond Scott, and Glenn Gould.

Favourite city?

That's sort of a tricky one, in a way. Probably six months ago I would have said London without really thinking about it, but now I'm living in Paris and I'm really much happier here than I ever was in London. Then, at the same time, I have a certain resistance to naming Paris as my, like, "favourite city in the world" much as I find it a very pleasant place to spend my time. There are also a number of cities that I haven't spent that much time in but I've been enormously impressed with while there, and have always felt like I'd like to spend much more time there: Copenhagen, Bologna, Osaka, Hamburg, and Berlin, in particular. Probably my favourite city would have to be some imaginary city, like Ledom in Theodore Sturgeon's novel Venus Plus X, or something like that.

A couple of favourite books?

At the moment, probably Dr Faustus by Thomas Mann, and The Stars, My Destination by Alfred Bester.

A couple of favourite films

Recently I decided that the five best films ever made are Modern Times, City Lights, The Kid, The Gold Rush, and Buster Keaton's Sherlock Jr, and that anyone who says otherwise is just wrong.


A favourite website?
ubu.com or thestomachroom.com

What makes you laugh?

Marx Brothers films, Steve Martin stand-up records, any sitcom starring Leonard Rossiter, people walking into lamp posts, dogs that can say 'sausages', root vegetables shaped like genitalia, that sort of thing.

Is there a pop song you feel sentimental about, and can you name it?

Far too many to mention.

Thanks Bobby

The Music Questionnaires are an ongoing series