A two-track improvisation recorded in Amsterdam by guitarists Mia Clarke (Electrelane/ Follows) and Andy Moor (The Ex/ Dog Faced Hermans/ Kletka Red).
Clarke and Moor first crossed paths in Los Angeles in September 2003, when Electrelane supported legendary punk rock group The Ex at the Troubadour, on the first date of a three week U.S tour of the west coast. The two bands immediately struck up a friendship, and The Ex later invited Electrelane to perform at their 25th anniversary celebration at the Paradiso, Amsterdam, in November 2004. In 2005, Ex guitarists Terrie and Andy joined Electrelane onstage for a live improvisation at the annual Wels music festival in northern Austria.
Having felt an affinity for each other’s guitar playing since touring together in the United States, Clarke and Moor discussed recording an improvisation— or “guitargument” as it was jokingly referred to— for a couple of years before it finally came to realization.
In April 2008, Clarke flew to join Moor in Amsterdam. Between bike rides along the canals and tea on the rooftop, the two set up equipment on the ground floor of Moor’s apartment building, a converted schoolhouse. They recorded almost two hours of purely improvised material in two parts— they agree that the result is more a conversation between instruments than an ‘argument’ as such.
Passages from the Guitargument have been used as the soundtrack for New York based filmmaker Jem Cohen’s new short film, Half The Battle, which features 16mm footage taken during the Ex’s convoy tour in the Netherlands and France, following their 25th anniversary show.
Biographies:
Mia Clarke was born in Brighton, England in 1983. She currently lives in Chicago, United States. She is the guitarist in the British rock group Electrelane, who formed in 1998 and went on indefinite hiatus in late 2007. In 2008 she formed a new group, Follows, based in Chicago. She has written about music and travel for a variety of national and international publications, and co-edited The Art Of Touring, a collection of artwork and writing by touring artists reflecting life on the road, which will be published by Yeti in early 2009.
Andy Moor was born in London, England in 1962. He began his musical life in Edinburgh, Scotland playing guitar with the band Dog Faced Hermans, a multi faceted eclectic group that mixed energetic post punk energy with traditional tunes and improvisations. In 1990 he moved to the Netherlands after an invitation to join Dutch band The Ex. The openness and versatility of the musicians in this group has brought them into contact with many musicians from different scenes and backgrounds, including Tom Cora, Han Bennink, Wolter Wierbos, Djibril Diabate, John Butcher, and Anne-James Chaton.
In 1995 he performed his first series of completely improvised concerts as a duet with Terrie Ex and in 1996 he began another group with Tony Buck (Necks), Joe Williamson, and Leonid Soybelman (Ne Zhdali) called Kletka Red...fusing traditional Klezmer, Greek and Russian songs with their own frantic styles of playing....
In more recent years Andy has involved himself more in Amsterdam’s improvised music scene, working alongside electronic musicians such as Kaffe Matthews, Yannis Kyriakides, Thomas Lehn, Colin Mclean, and DJ/Rupture— as well as composing soundtracks for films and regularly performing solo and with dancers such as Magpie music and Dance Company with Katie Duck. His latest projects include a quartet with Ken Vandermark, Terrie Ex and Paal Nilssen Love, as well as duos with Anne James Chaton and DJ Rupture. Andy continues to be a full time member of The Ex, who most recently have been collaborating with veteran Ethiopian saxaphonist Getatchew Mekuria.
Hello, ive been asked to being in MTV series.I am gone start a new mtv series!! But need a girl to be my GF on the show. Because, this show goes about a couple! Anyone interested being in MTV ?
Hey hey.. check out The Necks on tour in Europe this month....if you're anywhere near any of these places..!.. 2/3/4/5-Brussels (with B2B), 6-Amsterdam, 7-Tilburg, 8- Bielefeld, 10- Rome, 12-Ljublijana, 13-Zagreb, 14- Belgrade, 15- Moscow, 16- Berlin, 20- Eberswalder, 21-Halifax, 22- Birmimgham,, 27-London, 28- Bristol, 29-Dunfermline....... Check www.thenecks.com for details...........
Hi Mia Nice sounds! Long time no see. We should be popping across the pond to your neck of the woods at least once this coming year. Will get in touch. Hope you're well marc
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