The first of two days in our Chris Cutler weekender. This concert will be a unique meeting where the Cutler/John Edwards rhythm section will back a conversational talk/play programme devised by David Thomas, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist (Pere Ubu/Rocket from the Tombs) and Guitarist/Vocalist Peter Blegvad (Henry Cow/Art Bears/Slap Happy/Faust).

DAVID THOMAS

David Thomas was one of the founding members of the short-lived protopunkers Rocket From The Tombs (1974-1975) and of post-punk group Pere Ubu (1975 - present, intermittently). He has also released several solo albums. Though primarily a singer, he sometimes plays melodeon, trombone, guitar or other instruments.

Thomas has described his artistic focus as being the “gestalt of culture, geography and sound”. Common themes crop up throughout much of his work, such as the US Interstate Highway system, images of roadside or “junk” tourist culture, Brian Wilson, AM Radio, and many others.

Something of a cult figure, Thomas’s high pitched voice is one of the most distinctive in rock music; Emerson Dameron memorably described Thomas’s singing as “Jimmy Stewart trapped in an oboe”, while Greil Marcus writes that “Mr Thomas’s voice is that of a man muttering in a crowd. You think he’s talking to himself until you realize he’s talking to you.”

David Thomas on LastFM
Pere Ubu on Myspace



PETER BLEGVAD

Singing, Guitar

In Europe, during the 70's & 80's he co-founded the legendary Slapp Happy, recorded and toured with Faust, toured with the Art Bears, and worked with Henry Cow and Andy Partridge.

In America he was recording and touring with, amongst others, The Golden Palominos, John Zorn, Arto Lindsay, Jack Bruce, Andrew Cyrille and Carla Bley.

He made three solo LP’s for virgin records during this period, and one for ReR.

Since then he has made four more solo CDs and written the libretto for the television opera ‘Camera’, as well as a authoring (and performing – with the trio and a theatre company – multimedia show ‘Imaginary media’.

He has been a regular contributor to the ReR Quarterly and in 1994, published a slim volume of his writings and drawings (Atlas Press, London) under the title "Headcheese." He also produced two weekly cartoon strips, "Leviathan" and “THE PEDESTRIAN for ‘The Independent on Sunday’ (Leviathan is now available in book form) and he continues to illustrate book reviews for the Spectator and other publications. For the last 10 years he has recorded and presented a series of aural cartoons (Eartoons) under the title ‘Static in the Attic’ for BBC Radio 3.

He teaches at the University of Warwick and has lectured at The Royal College of Art, Norwich School of Art, The Ruskin School, Oxford University Hull (University of Humberside), and The British Council, Beograd. He has exhibited artworks in galleries on both sides of the Atlantic.

Peter Blegvad discography

CHRIS CUTLER

Percussion / Electronics

At the start of the seventies, Cutler co-founded The Ottawa Music Company - a 22-piece Rock composer’s orchestra - before joining British experimental group Henry Cow, with whom he toured, recorded and worked in dance and theatre projects for the next 8 years. Subsequently he co co-founded, recorded and toured with a series of mixed national groups: Art Bears, News from Babel, Cassiber, The (ec) Nudes, The Science Group and p53 and was a permanent member of American bands Pere Ubu, Hail and The Wooden Birds. Outside a succession of special projects for stage, theatre, film and radio – and dozens of short-lived groups, he still works regularly with Fred Frith, Zeena Parkins, Jon Rose, Tim Hodgkinson, David Thomas, Peter Blegvad, Daevid Allen, Daan Vandewalle, Stevan Tickmayer, Annie Gosfield, the Hyperion Ensemble and spectralists Iancu Dumitrescu and Ana Maria Avram. He is a permanent member of The Bad Boys (Cage, Stockhausen, Fluxus &c.), Artbears Songbook, Comicoperando, Vril and Lotte Anker’s What River is This? And he can be found with all the usual suspects in all the usual improvising contexts. He has performed just about everywhere as a soloist with his extended electrified kit.

Othert projects include commissioned works for radio, various live movie soundtracks, pieces for the Hyperion Ensemble, Signe de Trois for surround-sound projection, a daily year-long soundscape project for Resonance FM and p53 for Orchestra and Soloists.

He founded and runs the independent label ReR Megacorp and the art distribution service Gallery and Academic, is editor of the occasional sourcebook Unfiled, author of the book File Under Popular – and many articles and papers published in 16 languages. He was on faculty for a while at the Museum School in Boston and lectures irregularly on theoretical and music related topics worldwide. He appears on over 160 recordings.

Chris Cutler website

JOHN EDWARDS

John Edwards is a true virtuoso whose staggering range of techniques and boundless musical imagination have redefined the possibility of the double bass and dramatically expanded its role, whether playing solo or with others. Perpetually in demand, he has played with Evan Parker, Sunny Murray, Derek Bailey, John Wall, Joe McPhee, Lol Coxhill, and many others.