the tracks 'olive' & 'folk song' is from the recent release 'little man on the boat' on barnyard records. this album was played entirely by jean martin and myself (except for guests rob clutton - upright bass on 'folk song' and puff - voice on 'cat song'). it will be available for purchase online through the barnyard records website
the tracks 'cover both sides', 'walking stainlessly on rivers', 'pescado en azul' & 'zig zag' feature Nick Fraser on Drums. (Jason Hammer plays String Bass on the track "cover both sides") as well as myself on Guitar and Tenor Sax.
Influences
toumani diabate, d'gary, voivod, ali farke toure, steve tibbetts, supersilent, pharoah sanders, nana vasconcelos, mats gustafsson, john butcher, anthony braxton, bill frisell, morton feldman, sanjo music, joe maneri, sun ra, ivo perelman, dewey redman, indonesian music, lightning bolt, sabir mateen, kayo dot, hella (duo), gnawa trance music, steve reich, dinosaur jr, j mascis, ed blackwell, john mclaughlin, tony williams, rashied ali, kora music, john coltrane, albert ayler, charles lloyd, vishwa mohan bhatt, minor threat, charles mingus, william parker, joseph spence, miles davis, archie shepp, eric dolphy, alice coltrane, jimmy giuffre, mick barr, malian music, olivier messiaen, konono, black flag, jeff buckley, bonnie prince billy, arthur russell, marc ducret, wayne krantz, tim buckley, leon thomas, james blood ulmer, mbuti pygmies of the ituri rainforest, ornette coleman, charles gayle, cecil taylor, allan holdsworth, ben goldberg, joe morris, jimmy lyons, fela kuti, anton webern, nels cline, marc ribot, giacinto scelsi, derek bailey, krishnamurti, shudder to think, slint, don caballero, sonny sharrock and many others.
people whom i'm owe deep inspiration and gratitude - Maury Coles, Jason Hammer, Mark Hundevad, Nick Storring, Brandon Valdivia, Nick Fraser, Jean Martin, Michael Keith, Nilan Perera, Evan Shaw, Ellery Eskelin, Tim Berne, Ben Monder and many other local and international musicians.
Sounds Like
With his involvement in the math-jazz trio Sing That Yell That Spell, I HAVE EATEN THE CITY and in the local improv scene, there is no doubt that Colin Fisher is one of the best musicians in Ontario. An unfairly skilled saxophonist and guitar player, Fisher's hands dart around his instruments with amazing precision and creativity, showing off the Stratford, Ont.,-based virtuoso's obviously varied musical tastes. Fisher has a way with strange chord shapes and menacing loops that fold into one another to make slightly creepy and altogether exceptional jazz compositions. Fisher will play any club that will have him and will help out any band that needs him, proving to be a truly versatile musician who is only happy when an instrument is in his hands.
Neil Haverty-Dose magazine
- associated with improvised music community of toronto (which started with the infamous alto saxophonist Maury Coles whom i was in a band with near the end of his life called "Abstract" we recorded 2 albums one of which with Joe Mcphee) with people like Glen Hall, Jason Hammer, Evan Shaw, Mark Hundevad, Jean Martin, Nick Fraser, Scott Thompson, Ken Aldcroft, Joe Sorbara and many others.
- have also worked with musicians from outside canada including William Parker, Paul Hession, Dominic Duval, Gerry Hemingway, Sabir Mateen, recent performance @ the guelph jazz festival in an orchestra comprised of my good friends/members of AIMToronto playing with Anthony Braxton, I HAVE EATEN THE CITY colloborated with musician Francois Houle @ the 2007 Open Ears Festival, STYTS and IHETC have also colloborated with the infamous Damo Suzuki of Can, I had the opportunity to play David Daniells "Sunfish" @ X-Avant Festival in toronto with many other great local players, in 2007 was also part of the RYHS CHATTAM ensemble in toronto ontario playing his famous piece 'guitar trio', etc.
- had the opportunity to play shows with bands such as Nels Cline Singers, Time of Orchids, Trevor Dunn & Shelley Burgon, Don Caballero, Kayo Dot, Drums & Tuba, Nihilist Spasm Band, Hella, Koenjihyakkei, Pinback, and many others. I've recorded with The Constantines for their sub pop release "Shine a Light", the last Vermicious Knid release, the band Red Trakpants 'fear of castration' album, Insideaminds upcoming album, played a bit of sax on The Blankett's upcoming release, also some freakout sax on the track 'windmills' by a cool metal band from kitchener called Whats He Building In There, and many others
Bands/Projects - I HAVE EATEN THE CITY with Nick Storring - cello, laptop/electronics and Brandon Valdivia - percussion
- SING THAT YELL THAT SPELL with Lennie Haggerty - drums, Tim Nicholls - bass
- SANDBOX duo with Michael Keith - multi-instrumentalist
- play guitar for ISLA CRAIG
- member of AIMToronto Orchestra
- duo with flautist Rob Piilonen, WHISPER, which has a CD available
- I also colloborate with dancer (butoh, modern improvised) CLAUDIA WITTMAN
- duo project NOT THE WIND, NOT THE FLAG with IHETC drummer BRANDON VALDIVIA who have a self titled homemade cdr available which i did the art for and a 38min composition i composed called 'tintinabulum' which is being released on barnyard records in the next month or so.. a clip of the piece can be found on the ntw, ntf myspace page.
- Brandon and I have also been frequently conspiring with flautist ALIA O'BRIEN embracing our love for world folk trance musics and free jazz.
- playing guitar for the beautiful and talented ANNA LINDA SIDDALL!!
- collective improv project called ALLO CAVEMAN, featuring Justin Haynes, Jean Martin, Alex Lukashevsky and myself.
- COW TONGUE band with Michael Smith, Evan Shaw and Jean Martin
- new band, FANAA - Gable Levine - Clarinet, Alia O'Brien - Flute, Nick Storring - Cello, Lennie Haggerty - Drums, John Farah - Keyboards, Evan Shaw - Alto Sax, Colin Fisher - Guitar
- another new band - NO WHITE GOD featuring doc dunn, valdivia, grasshopper, carl didur and myself
- member of the wonderful christine duncan's ELEMENT CHOIR
- i play guitar for the otherwordly james klassen aka TRADITION
- duo with simeon abbott, LAMBCHOPS
- play saxophone, guitar in ayal senor's GLASS TOMB
- new duo with lennie haggerty, INTO THE OTHER
- new band DRUNKEN BEE with morgan doctor - percussion, scott peterson - bass/throat singing, sina salimi - santoor/voice & myself on guitar/various instruments -
- playin guitar for GRASSHOPPER!
- saxophone in ACTUAL WATER
- member of doc dunn's TRANSCENDENTAL RODEO
- I play the occasional solo set *please contact me if interested in booking for such a thing.
- recently finished a studio project with fabulous engineer/producer/percussionist JEAN MARTIN!! its called LITTLE MAN ON THE BOAT. It is now available!!! available from the barnyard records website
- on the horizon.. a duo recording with myself and JOE SORBARA.. and 2 releases from NOT THE WIND, NOT THE FLAG!
US Tour w/ Between The Buried And Me, Cynic & Devin Townsend! Jan 26th @ Opera House in Toronto! Be there! Pre-sale tickets are also now on sale, if you plan on coming I highly suggest getting them now! Available at ticketmaster. Links on our page!
North Atlantic Oscillation's "Hollywood Has Ended", from the forthcoming album Grappling Hooks, is featured in this month's Police Box compilation from TenTracks. It's here:
In case you haven't heard, TenTracks is a new music delivery service where you can buy exclusive 10-track compilations for £1, i.e. a mere 10p per track.
This month NAO are in the illustrious company of the excellent Found, Orkestra Del Sol, Fence Collective luminaries James Yorkston and King Creosote and exactly 5 others. Once again, that's £1 for ALL TEN TRACKS. Not bad, really.
The King of Coma track “mental fragments” is featured on the Äisti sajns fikÅ¡n! (cleaning science fiction) Sampler. You can download it for free here:
