N.E.W.

Bio:

.. N.E.W is Nobles,totally improvised, power trio, featuring John Edwards on double bass and Alex Ward on guitar.In the words of Jazzwise magazine”theres as much rock here as jazz-Ward is all spidery glissandi and slashing power chords.Edwards is a dark magus of a bass player thundering against the elements,while Noble is a violent,malevolent presence.A white-knuckle ride you’ll be glad to take”. They have released two Cds- their debut cd 'FALSE FACE SOCIETY was released on Derek Bailey's INCUS label.( INCUS 47 ). Their second cd 'DEADEYE TRICKSTERS' was released on the Bo'Weavil label ( CD 30) xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx N.E.W: Deadeye Tricksters: The Sunday Times review July 6, 2008 Stewart Lee ---------- The bass player John Edwards turns up on the best British free-jazz recordings. The drummer Steve Noble cleaves through improvisatory rumblings with dramatic, decisive moves. And the guitarist Alex Ward, a compulsively creative polymath of indiscriminately omnivorous appetite, is a reliably unpredictable axe-hero for collaborators of all backgrounds. The trio’s second record posits a bricolage bebop, an ugly ecstatic jazz, played on sheet metal, broken glass and barbed wire. Coming Up for Air bubbles like an electric soup, and an elastically extended Empty Ballroom finds Edwards and Noble stretching back to catapult Ward’s electric guitar far beyond the gravitational pull of Planet Rock.Bo'weavil,Weavil 30cd xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx STEVE NOBLE From playing with Nigerian master drummer Elkan Ogunde ,Rip Rig and Panic ,Brion Gysin and the Bow Gamelan Ensemble, Noble went on to work with the pianist Alex Maguire and with Derek Bailey(including Company Weeks 1987,89 and 90)and was featured(along with Alex Ward) in the TV series based on Baileys book ‘Improvisation; its nature and practise’. He has toured and performed throughout Europe , Africa and America. Currently leads the groups ‘4tet’ - ‘Say What’- ‘Shakedown Club’- ‘Harry Love All Stars’ and a trio with Lol Coxhil / Edwards-he also fills the drum stool in the following groups ; SFQ, Badland , Gannets , Aethenor,Freebase and Tim Hills group Tongues of Fire. Has been MD for the Spanish dance company MAL PELO since 1998. Noble also runs the record company PING PONG PRODUCTIONS. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx JOHN EDWARDS - Since taking up the double bass in 1987 and playing with the Pointy Birds and the Cholomondeleys dance company-he went on to play with B Shops for the Poor ,The Honkies and GOD as well as busking in the street and composing and performing music theatre with The Great Explorers. Since the early 1990s he has built a reputation as one of the finest ,and most in demand bass players currently active on the British and European improv/ jazz and New music scenes- a first choice for musicians such as Evan Parker ,Louis Moholo , Veryan Weston ,Charles Hayward and Spring Heel Jack- Other groups include BRUISE and the Obliquity trio with Alan Wilkinson and Noble.A solo double bass cd ‘VOLUME’ was released in 2008 on the PSI label. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ALEX WARD - Born in 1974, he has been active in free improvisation since being given his first gig by Derek Bailey in 1987, going on to work with a wide range of musicians as a clarinettist (sometimes also on alto sax), and increasingly since 2000 as a guitarist.His debut recording ‘Ya boo ,reel and rumble’, a duo with Noble was released in 1990 on Baileys label Incus,to great critical acclaim.He has played in bands led by Simon Fell and Eugene Chadbourne, as well as his own quartet “Help Point”, featuring Fell, Steve Noble and Luke Barlow (with whom he runs the label Copepod). He also co-led the rock band Camp Blackfoot with Benjamin Herve, and in 2005 released a solo album of songs entitled “Hapless Days”. He currently writes the material (as well as playing guitar and singing) for “Dead Days Beyond Help”, a 2-piece band with drummer Jem Doulton.

Member Since:

March 11, 2009

Members:

Steve Noble: drums and percussion; John Edwards: double bass; Alex Ward: electric guitar.

Sounds Like:

Record Label:

INCUS and Bo'Weavil