GARDEN LEACH aka ANDY CORRIGAN:His work as a singer, songwriter and guitarist for several bands in the Washington D.C. area, over the years, has been a crucial and encompassing element of his life. Yet one element is not enough for Garden, who spends the bulk of his spare hours (aside from a full time job) engaged in creative expression, be it music, writing, painting or photography.
Garden's work is deeply personal, a release valve for frustration, pain and loneliness that seems to recycle itself endlessly with every day's drudgery and each night's insomnia. Often his words wander back to childhood, weaving an insidious longing for its cloying safety with a certain never-forgotten sensation of its frightening vulnerability. Less a sense of innocence lost than that of a burden of questions and sad confusion unrelieved pervades his poems and songs. Always a desire for connection surfaces, a willingness to embrace, to offer himself as a friend or lover; these flares of hope peak above the gray murk of despair and isolation.
Self-conscious, self-exposing, self-deprecating: Garden Leach's work portrays not a propheteer but a seeker, preferring his own nakedness to the bland colours and awkward fit of the rock emperor's clothes.
In addition to Garden's independent musical productions, he has also produced and distributed booklets of poetry and prose; he has also been published in several D.C. literary magazines. Garden Leach: Andy Corrigan is also an accomplished visual artist who has shown work in Richmond, Virginia and Washington D.C.TESTICULAR MOMENTUM:Creating a sonic emission simultaneously as unsettling and mesmerizing as the abrupt sexuality of their name, TESTICULAR MOMENTUM have been unheralded yet unflagging penetrators of the tightly knit music scene of our nation's capital.
Press wise most notable for being the cradle of hardcore and home to FUGAZI and Dischord Records, Washington D.C. has been a playground for more extreme artists in the past -- Don Fleming's VELVET MONKEYS, 9353, NO TREND, and trendsetting shockrock performance art ensemble PSYCHODRAMA. TESTICULAR MOMENTUM guitarist ANDY CORRIGAN'S (aka GARDEN LEACH) previous bands, RED DOGMA and FLYING SHARDS, also explored more experimental musical avenues. Far more prolific than the average white dick, poet-painter-musician Corrigan lured fellow employee NEAL KELLER into his creative lair. Electronic wizard KELLER, a hardcore CABARET VOLTAIRE aficionado and solitary noise sculptor, fused his psychoambiances to the distorted guitar and writhing, haunted vocals of CORRIGAN to create TESTICULAR MOMENTUM.
True independent entrepreneurs, the pair recorded and released their first single in 1988, themselves, christening their label EINE KLEINE TOTENMUSIK. They swiftly ejected a full-length cassette, RUBHER, the same year. The songs on which, explored the labyrinths of alienation wandered by these social outcasts and sexual deviants as they endured the crippling dehumanizations of reality while remaining astonishingly unafraid of intimacy. 1991 saw the issue of MORPHINE MACHINE, a half-studio, half-live recording that featured their magnum opus "Crib, Euphoric Cradle," a twenty-one minute declaration of independence, individuality and freedom of expression that kicks against all attempts to homogenize and bastardize the artist, while inciting the listener to recognize and fearlessly explore his or her own creative potency. MORPHINE MACHINE showcased the additional talents of PAUL BONOMO (aka SNAX), a funk-propelled, multi-talented musician brought in to the TESTICULAR MOMENTUM lineup to expand the breadth of their sound.
Since their early shows in 1988, which included a featured spot at the Fourth Annual Industrial Music Festival - THE SUMMER OF HATE - TESTICULAR MOMENTUM had become increasingly notorious yet largely a misperceived presence in the D.C. music scene. Their landmark personal ads in the local city paper ("The flavor's erotic, so what's in your pocket? Piston or socket? Just bring it, we'll rock it.") bewildered all but the most intrepid denizens in a town that thrives on titillation but banishes sex to the far fringes. Typical club-goers, uneasy with TM's frank expressions of homo, hetero and self erotic desire, had been prone to TM's live appearances a wide berth. This puritanical attitude loosened slightly following guest appearances with internationally known artists: LEGENDARY PINK DOTS, CHRIS & COSEY, SOVIET FRANCE, and local rock bands,
HOLY COW, JADE and WORD MADE FLESH.
Undaunted believers in their own talent, energy and uniqueness, both TESTICULAR MOMENTUM and GARDEN LEACH view life as an arena in which to plunge into the depths and return constantly to exalt in their understanding and ability to survive, thrive and conquer. Fear eats the soul. TESTICULAR MOMENTUM and GARDEN LEACH refuse to be devoured. GARDEN LEACH and TESTICULAR MOMENTUM deserve to be inhaled, tasted and absorbed like the exquisite, exotic and erotic feast that they are!Many thanks goes to VANESSA SKANTZE for her compilation of this Bio material.No Dancing-music video
Add to My Profile | More VideosUnclean
Add to My Profile | More Videos
