Gaffer Records celebrate their 10th anniversary with a tour that kicks off tonight at OTO before taking in Amsterdam, Oslo, Berlin, Geneva and Paris. Created by Sheik Anorak in order to release SoCRaTeS first CD, Gaffer Records was then initially hardcore/punk oriented, but the artistic directions slowly changed and the label is now one of the most influent and interesting improv/ experimental in Europe, having put out releases by the likes of Dead Neanderthals, Predicate, Will Guthrie and MoHa!. For the Gaffer anniversary tour, French free improv / noise duo LOUP (featuring Gaffer Records founder Sheik Anorak) will play 6 dates alongside bands and artists relating to the label. For tonight's show, support comes in the form of a trio of improvising saxophonist Colin Webster, guitarist/clarinetist Alex Ward, and Steve Noble on drums, plus a solo set from Hungarian American saxophonist, composer, and lyricist André Vida.

May 6th - London (uk) @ Cafe OTO
May 7th - Amsterdam (nl) @ OCCII
May 8th - Oslo (no) @ TBA
May 10th - Berlin (ger) @ Bei ruth
May 11th - Geneva (swi) @ Cave 12
May 13th - Paris (fr) @ Instants Chavirés

www.gafferrecords.com/


LOUP

New duo from 2 Lyon's activists - closely related to Grrrnd Zero and Gaffer Records. LOUP sounds like the perfect example of this new "made in France" generation in their search for the establishment of an other "experimental" french identity. They then unconsciously shake things and leave the tradition behind... LOUP is a mix between free-jazz, drone and noise, captured in a voluntary, affirmed and exciting flux, which gave them the opportunity to support bands such as Rangda (Chris Corsano, Rick Bishop, Ben Chasny) and The Thing ( Mats Gustafsson's trio) with Otomo Yoshihide; LOUP sounds definitely right !

www.loupduo.fr




COLIN WEBSTER

Colin Webster is an improvising saxophonist from London who has put out releases with the likes of Sheik Anorak, Mark Holub and Toby McLaren. Having toured with heavyweight Dutch free-jazz duo Dead Neanderthals in February this year, he recently put out a release with sound artist Graham Dunning for Linear Obsessional Recordings.




ALEX WARD

Alex Ward is a composer, improviser, and performing musician, working primarily with clarinet and guitar. His involvement in freely improvised music dates back to 1986, when he met the guitarist Derek Bailey. He subsequently took part regularly in Bailey's Company events, and has gone on to become a major figure in British improvised music. His current work ranges from the duo Dead Days Beyond Help, in which he plays guitar and sings, his group Predicate who perform his compositions, regular improvising groups with Steve Noble, Kay Grant and others, as well as more ad hoc encounters with musicians as diverse as Eugene Chadbourne, Thurston Moore, Joe Morris and Weasel Walter, and co-running the label Copepod with Luke Barlow. He brings a unique energy and inventiveness to all these projects, elevating them far above the ordinary and injecting them with a thrilling sense of danger and possibility. 

"Alex Ward is one of those players who seems to get interesting music out of anything he touches" - Nate Dorward, Paris Transatlantic

STEVE NOBLE

Steve Noble is London's leading drummer, a fearless and constantly inventive improviser whose super-precise, ultra-propulsive and hyper-detailed playing has galvanized encounters with Peter Brötzmann, Derek Bailey, Matthew Shipp, Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith, Stephen O'Malley, Joe McPhee, Alex Ward, Rhodri Davies and many, many more.

In the early eighties, Noble played with the Nigerian master drummer Elkan Ogunde, Rip Rig and Panic, Brion Gysin and the Bow Gamelan Ensemble, before going on to work with the pianist Alex Maguire and with Derek Bailey (including Company Weeks 1987, 89 and 90). He was featured in the Bailey's excellent TV series on Improvisation for Channel 4 based on his book ‘Improvisation; its nature and practise’. He has toured and performed throughout Europe, Africa and America and currently leads the groups N.E.W (with John Edwards and Alex Ward) and DECOY (with John Edwards and Alexander Hawkins).

"Unrepeatable moments of collective inspiration and sudden sunlit shafts of modal near melody punctuate the continuing energy blur." Stewart Lee, The Sunday Times

ANDRÉ VIDA / saxophones, electronics

André Vida (b.1974) is a Hungarian American saxophonist, composer, and lyricist living in Berlin. Vida has been at the forefront of several major developments in experimental music, including his membership in Anthony Braxton’s original Ghost Trance Ensemble, his world record 403 performances at the Serpentine Gallery responding to Anri Sala's film Long Sorrow, performances with The Tower Recordings, and his extensive collaborations electronic music visionaries Jamie Lidell, Tim Exile, Kevin Blechdom, and Rashad Becker.

André Vida photo by Shumon Basar

vidatone.com