An evening going deep into the realms of psychedelic guitar with intrepid sound traveller Sir Richard Bishop (Sun City Girls / Sublime Frequencies), Alexander Tucker's proto-prog marriage of song, overlapping soundwaves and hauntological melody and Duke Garwood's own minimal, mutated, feedback-drenched take on the blues.

SIR RICHARD BISHOP

Richard Bishop is an improviser, composer, and an intrepid explorer on electric and acoustic guitar whose work often reflects the shadow worlds of India, the Middle East, North Africa, and other points along the Gypsy trail. There is also a fair amount of experimentation involved in much of his string-work which can lead to audio realms rarely visited by others. Attentive listeners may hear shades of Jimmy Page, Django Reinhardt, Sonny Sharrock, and Ali Akbar Khan in his playing. Others may hear the sounds of a train wreck or a swarm of bees flying into a buzz saw (it depends on the day). It hardly matters. Bishop has fused all of these and many other elements to forge a unique and inventive style all his own.

Richard is perhaps best known as a founding member (along with brother Alan Bishop) of experimental ethnic-improv pioneers and underground tricksters Sun City Girls, who for nearly 30 years have produced an extensive discography of over 50 full length albums, 20 one-hour cassettes and a dozen 7” records. Sun City Girls formed in 1981 after the Bishop brothers' stint in the group Paris 1942 which also featured J. Akkari and former Velvet Underground drummer Moe Tucker.

Richard's first solo record, Salvador Kali, was released by John Fahey's esteemed Revenant label in 1998 under the moniker Sir Richard Bishop (the name stuck). The album showcases Bishop's own particular obsessions and roots, drawing from a variety of worldwide sources. Locust Music issued his second record, Improvika, in 2004. This release consists of nine extemporaneous and free-flowing pieces for solo acoustic guitar.

In 2005, Bishop began performing relentlessly as a solo artist, playing throughout Europe, Australia, and the United States. He has not stopped since.

2006 saw four different SRB projects manifest. Fingering the Devil, which was recorded at an impromptu studio session in London on a day off during the 2005 European tour, was released on LP and CD by Southern Records in the UK. Mostly improvised, It beautifully captures the music Bishop was playing on stage during this time. This was followed by two more releases from Locust: Elektronika Demonika, a record of ear-splitting, creepy electronics, containing no guitar whatsoever; and While My Guitar Violently Bleeds, which is made up of three extended compositions for acoustic and electric guitar. Richard's 30-minute film God Damn Religion, a trance-inducing, relentless barrage of seizure-causing imagery, was unleashed on DVD by Locust on 06/06/06.

In 2007 the album Polytheistic Fragments was released on the Drag City Label. It includes works for acoustic, electric and lapsteel guitar, plus two piano compositions. Next up was The Freak of Araby (Drag City, 2009). This was the first Sir Richard Bishop album to feature a full band of supporting musicians. The record stands as a heart-felt tribute to late Egyptian guitarist Omar Khorshid as well as to the enduring spirit of Middle Eastern music.



In May of 2010, Drag City released the album False Flag by Rangda, a new group featuring Bishop, Ben Chasny (Six Organs of Admittance, Comets on Fire), and Chris Corsano (Flower-Corsano Duo, Flaherty/Corsano, Jandek, Bjork, etc).

Richard was also a co-founder of the Sublime Frequencies label (with Alan Bishop and Hisham Mayet). The label, whose mission is dedicated to acquiring and releasing obscure sights and sounds from Africa, India, S.E. Asia and beyond, began in 2003 and currently has over 65 releases to its credit.

"Bishop is a splendid acoustic guitarist with a sure touch and an impressive vocabulary gleaned from the Spanish flamenco and North Indian classical traditions with a bit of Belgian Django Reinhardt's gypsy swing jazz mixed in." - Bill Meyer (Ink Blot Magazine)

"Bishop's music has an austere and pristine quality to it that makes him an absolute pleasure to listen to." - Nick Hennies (Foxy Digitalis)

"In order for guitar music to have value, it must remain new and on the move. There shall be no safe or sacred ground. To take risks and to challenge one's self and one's listeners, is the only way to maintain any worth." - Richard Bishop

ALEXANDER TUCKER

After years perfecting his musical craftsmanship, via numerous album releases for ATP Recordings and U-Sound Archives and collaborations with performers as diverse as Stephen O’Malley (Sunn 0)))) Daniel Beban (Orchestra Of Spheres) and Daniel O’Sullivan (Ulver), Alexander Tucker reached something of a crescendo with 2011′s remarkable “Dorwytch” (Thrill Jockey -included in The Wire’s top 50 albums of 2011), an achievement surpassed only by his constantly mutating live show. Somehow through all of this he has also written a new album - Third Mouth - which will be released on Thrill Jockey in April 2012.



DUKE GARWOOD

“Visionary, challenging, anything but casual listening, it takes the blues to a new place” – Maverick

“Reared on a sonic diet of blues and classical, Garwood doubles as occasional clarinettist with the Archie Bronson Outfit, but in his own right makes wracked country-blues albums..It's a sound which prizes mood, depth and authenticity over sophisticated surfaces, with the erratic, apparently off-tune guitar, splashy, shuffling drums and sundry squawking horns recalling Tom Waits, while the bricolage of metallic percussion and avant-twang guitar flourishes owes a clear debt to Captain Beefheart.” – The Independent

Duke Garwood is the sometime collaborator of Archie Bronson Outfit (he plays clarinet with the Domino three-piece) and is currently recording a collaboration with Mark Lanegan.