Member Since: 1/8/2007
Band Website: herring.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk
Band Members: Just me. Info on my old Red Herring and Interface bands in these links.
Influences: Rock & classical influences as diverse as Bartok, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Mahler, Tchaikovsky, Tippett, Shostakovich, Joe Jackson (a multi-style writer like myself), Klaus Schulze, Pink Floyd, Frank Zappa, Yes, Mike Oldfield, Andreas Vollenweider, King Crimson, Ultravox, Jethro Tull, Jean-Michel Jarre, Gary Numan (who I used to resemble quite strikingly back in the 80's), Tangerine Dream, Gentle Giant, Robert Wyatt, early Genesis (Peter Gabriel era), Gryphon (anyone remember them?), Talking Heads, Radiohead (who got their name from a Talking Heads song by the way), trad & modern Jazz, early medieval music, etc. etc.
And in my not-so-humble opinion the greatest of all composers who ever lived is... no, not that vastly over-rated upstart Mozart, but step forward and take a bow: Felix MENDELSSOHN!
I like to discover composers and performers that dare to be different. Some of the best of these were Havergal Brian, Sorabji, Harry Partch (who even made his own instruments), Conlon Nancarrow, John Cage, Fred Frith, Adrian Belew, Captain Beefheart (Trout Mask Replica is still the most "out there" album ever recorded! My Red Herring album owes a lot to Beefheart) etc. Also bands such as Faust, This Heat, Cul De Sac, plus jazz influences such as Miles Davis, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, the Canterbury scene incl. National Health, Hatfield & the North, Phil Miller, Richard Sinclair, Dave Stewart (Not the Eurythmics tosser but the other one with TALENT!) and so on ad almost infinitum.
Avant-garde composers of Electronic music; Tim Souster, Ron Geesin, Ilhan Mimaroglu, Paul Lansky, Tristan Murail, Morton Subotnick (even though he never said thank you for the CD I sent him of my tribute piece To Touch the Silver Butterfly of Spring , and doesn't answer his emails. Morton, you should respect your fans a bit more!), Brothomstates, Autechre, Milton Babbitt, Luciano Berio, Trevor Wishart., plus some rather more mainstream (but still highly influential) electronic pioneers such as Tomita, Synergy (a.k.a Larry Fast), Wendy Carlos etc.
I've also been influenced (and greatly impressed) by musicians and composers who know how to use a recording studio as a creative instrument in its own right, such as Mike Batt, Trevor Horn, Rupert Hine, George Martin, Kate Bush etc.
My literary influences also must be mentioned, they include Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, Lewis Carroll, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Robert Heinlein, Robert Silverberg, Frederick Pohl, Clifford Simak, Douglas Hofstadter, Richard Feynman, Richard Dawkins and dozens of others.
Sounds Like: Every piece of music I write is different from the last one, sometimes radically different. I try not to repeat myself in any way, and employ a wide range of techniques and styles.
My music can be divided into three categories;
1) my "early" and highly experimental period (1978 - 1986)
2) my "Rock band" attempts Red Herring and Interface from the early 80's
3) my contemporary efforts from 2000 to the present day.
My early solo works are for the most part dense and somewhat clumsy, but there are still some interesting noises to be found there. (I am not one of those composers who destroys early "inferior" works. I keep everything . The listener must ultimately be the judge, not the writer.)
The music I have written post-2000 is still just as diverse if not more so, drawing on ever wider influences and utilizing all that modern hardware and software makes possible (within the restriction of cost, of course!)
Music should be a journey of discovery - don't stick to the familiar and "safe", take some risks! The benefits can be enormous. And most of all, it should be FUN!
(BIG RANT COMING UP!)
The established music industry nowadays seems to be feeding on itself voraciously; soon there will be nothing left on the shelves but covers of covers by mass-produced "pop idols" each sounding exactly the same as the last, singing blankly and emotionlessly to computer-generated backing tracks. Simon Cowell is NOT on my friends list! I feel very strongly about this sorry state of affairs. I am passionate about music in all its forms, and I admire the adventurous composers of the past (and present) who have amassed a marvellous legacy of musical wonders which is currently being ignored, stifled and sat upon by the music industry in order to shamelessly promote the commercially safe and lucrative middle ground - a ground that is rapidly becoming a narrow but well-trodden footpath in a continent of forgotten wonders. Meanwhile, in the world of "modern art" we get dead horses hanging from ceilings and unmade beds given press headlines as if they were somehow masterpieces, yet anyone who decides to be adventurous in the world of recorded sound is labelled "uncommercial" and subsequently ignored. Yet for me, an adventurous musical composition is far more interesting and challenging than anything the Tate has (or ever will have) to offer.
Okay, rant over. Nothing to see here, just Elwood blowing his top. (Quick - get a recording of it!)
Record Label: Pump Audio www.pumpaudio.com
Type of Label: None