Kevin Drumm - Two Day Residency with Axel Dörner + Russell Haswell + Phil Julian + John Butcher/Seymour Wright (duo)
No Longer Available
Kevin Drumm returns to cafe OTO for two days this summer: a duo with long-time co-conspirator Axel Dörner (on trumpet and electronics) and a first time live duo performance with Russell Haswell - the pre-eminent exponent (and erstwhile raconteur!) of UK noise. We'll have an additional PA in each evening for full-range quadrophonic sound and both nights will open with a contrasting set - the first a solo performance from Phil Julian and then an extreme sax duo of John Butcher and Seymour Wright on the second night. Brace yourselves.
"Even at its most chaotic, Kevin Drumm’s music usually belies a sense of intentionality, a feeling of controlled purpose no matter the severity of the storm. It’s one of the things that sets him apart: I’ve heard fans talk of Drumm as the most “musical” of noisemakers, or a man who can do more with a few carefully sculpted sounds than most could do with a million." - Dusted Magazine
KEVIN DRUMM
Avant-garde tabletop guitarist Kevin Drumm was born and raised in 1970 in South Holland, IL, playing in a handful of rock bands before relocating to Chicago in 1991 to work at the city's Board of Trade. He soon began his experiments with prepared guitar, applying objects including magnets, binder clips, chains, a violin bow and even toenail clippers to distort the instrument's sound; in time Drumm befriended a number of members of Chicago's growing improv community, including Jim O' Rourke (with whom he served in Brise-Glace, additionally contributing to Gastr del Sol's Upgrade and Afterlife album and Ken Vandermark. In late 1997 Drumm made his solo debut with a self-titled (Perdition Plastics) and has released superb duo records with Taku Sugimoto (Sonoris), Axel Dörner, Martin Tètreault (both Erstwhile) and Ralf Wehowsky (Selektion). His chameleon-like presence has been documented on a number of projects, each revealing new facets of his wide-ranging and unique talents on both guitar and electronics. Drumm seamlessly melds the worlds of acoustic and electronic sound, occasionally teetering on the edge of silence, yet always remaining impeccably musical. Kevin Drumm has recorded and performed with Phill Niblock, Tony Conrad, Jim O'Rourke, MIMEO, Mats Gustafsson, John Butcher, Thomas Ankersmit, Taku Sugimoto and many others.
Axel Dörner was born in Köln in 1964. His first instrument was piano, which he initially studied at the conservatory in Arnhem, the Netherlands, from 1988 to 1989, and subsequently (1989 to 1996) at the Musikhochschule in Köln. From 1991 he studied trumpet with Malte Burba at the Musikhochschule. During the five years in Köln leading up to 1994, he worked extensively with trumpeter Bruno Leicht, as The Streetfighters Duo, The Streetfighters Quartet (with Wayne Dockery and John Betsch), and The Streetfighters Double Quartet with, among others, Matthias Schubert and Claudio Puntin. During this time he formed the Axel Dörner Quartet with Frank Gratkowski, Hans Schneider and Martin Blume, and The Remedy with Sebastian Gramss and Claus Wagner (and guests Peter Kowald, Tom Cora and Matthias Schubert). Numerous radio, television and concert appearances were made with these groups.
RUSSELL HASWELL
Russell Haswell (born 1970, Coventry) is a cult noise artist who has been operating at the margins of the UK's electronic music scene since 1997. Documented in part via his 'live salvage' series for Editions Mego, Haswell's solo free improvisations for electronics are a heady, immersive experience.
"Noise with purpose. Lean, economical and tremendously exciting" - The WIRE
In addition to solo performances Haswell also has a long running duo with Florian Hecker including works with Iannis Xenakis' graphic-input 'UPIC Music Composing System'.
Phil Julian is a UK based experimental sound artist, composer and improviser.
Under both the Cheapmachines alias and his own name, Phil Julian has been venturing across various strains of unorthodox sound since the late 1990′s, with his prolific output on a catalogue of imprints encompassing a diverse range of sonic textures. Studio recordings and live performances within Europe and North America have focused on the use of analogue electronics (particularly unstable and/or chaotic systems) and computer based works.
John Butcher was born in Brighton, England and has lived in London since the late 1970s. His music ranges through improvisation, his own compositions, multitracked pieces and explorations with feedback and extreme acoustics.
Originally a theoretical physicist, he published his Ph.D in 1982 and then left academia for music. He has since collaborated with hundreds of musicians, mostly involved with improvisation - including Derek Bailey, John Stevens, Polwechsel, Gino Robair, Rhodri Davies, Okkyung Lee, Gerry Hemingway, Toshimaru Nakamura, Eddie Prevost, Paul Lovens, Christian Marclay and Andy Moor.
Compositions include “Penny Wands” for reconstructed Futurist Intonarumori, pieces for the Rova and Quasar saxophone quartets, "somethingtobesaid" for the John Butcher Group and “Tarab Cuts”. In 2011 he was one of three recipients of the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Awards for Composers.
Alongside long term collaborations he particularly values playing in occasional encounters, which have ranged from large groups such as Butch Morris’ London Skyscraper and the EX Orkestra, to duo concerts with Fred Frith, Otomo Yoshihide, Matthew Shipp, Tony Buck and Akio Suzuki.
Butcher is also well known as a solo saxophonist who attempts to engage with a sense of place. The well received “Resonant Spaces” CD is a collection of site-specific performances recorded during a tour of unusual locations in Scotland and the Orkney Islands.
