Will Guthrie's High 5

Historical article recovered from a Wayback capture dated 2018-02-24.

Born in 1977, Will Guthrie started playing drums at the age of 12. He studied improvisation at the Victorian College of the Arts and has studied privately with Australian’s Graham Morgan, Michael Jordan and Adrian Sherriff, as well as with American jazz legend Tony Williams and English percussionist Eddie Prevost.

In 1997 he won the Wangaratta National Jazz awards for drums and recorded for the ABC with his own band ‘ANTBOY’. Alongside Ren Walters he organized the regular Tuesday night Improvised Music concert series at the Planet Café - now known as the ‘Make It Up Club’. He also runs the Australian based CD label ANTBOY MUSIC which releases music of an experimental nature.

Since 2003 he has lived in Europe (London, Paris, and currently Nantes) where he regularly performs solo and also with others in mainly electro-acoustic improvisation settings. He also composes music in the studio for CD releases and compositions for dance works.

Will’s influences range from many styles and music(s). He often plays home-made instruments, electronics, found and junk alongside more conventional drum-kit. Rather than ‘genre specific’ Will prefers diversity - he feels comfortable working in many different styles and settings from experimental/rock/jazz/flamenco to working with puppetry/dance and visual artists.

Collaborators past and present include Ren Walters, Mark Simmonds, Jim Denley, Rod Cooper, Snuff Puppetts, Phil Bywater, Tim Pledger, Arte Kanela, Mark Shepherd, Arek Gulbenkoglu, Joel Stern, Julien Wilson, Steve Magnusson, Christine Sullivan, Erell Latimier, Julien Ottavi, Robbie Avenaim, Keith Rowe, Jean-Philippe Gross, Ferran Fages, Tim O’Dwyer…

Will currently lives in Nantes, France.

www.antboymusic.com

“While writing this I thought often of how difficult it is to choose only 5 inspiring ‘ultimate’ concerts. I will mention these musicians (and I’II think of many after!) as also having a similar effect after seeing them live: THE EX, Living Color, Ian Chaplin, Musiikki Oy, The Dirty Three, The Necks, Otomo Yoshide, Kadoonka, AMM, Bucketrider, Paul Williamson Hammond group, Mattin, Massona, Helmut Schafer, PITA, Roscoe Mitchel, NUDE, Peter Brotzmann, Jeff Henderson…

OK, so here goes with the high five”…

1. MARK SIMMONDS - Melbourne 1996-97

What I write about here is not so much about any one concert, but about a period of time. I saw Mark live a number of times with different incarnations of his group ‘The Freeboppers’, and within a short period ( maybe 6 or so months in 1996-97 ) I played with Mark about 10 times ( rehearsals, private sessions and a few low-key gigs ), however playing with him and listening to him left a huge mark on my musical life.

I have always been a sucker for the saxophone and saxophone players, many of the most inspiring and influential musicians for me are saxophonists (Coleman Hawkins, John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, John Gilmore, Sonny Rollins, Ornette Coleman, Dewey Redman, Albert Ayler, Archie Shepp, Roscoe Mitchel, Peter Brotzmann, Henry Threadgill, Jim Denley…). Mark was kind of a walking history lesson in terms of saxophone playing, and music in general. He was a virtuoso instrumentalist, incredibly well-learned and had truly consumed much of the jazz history, however he never sounded like so many jazz-cliche sax players, he always sounded like he came

out

of the history, but remained himself. It’s silly to talk about him only in terms of saxophone as he had more rhythmic sophistication than any drummer I ever met let alone sax player(!)

Some of the things that most impressed me were his sound (so strong, clear and so personal it was frightening), how he built his solos (in terms of thematic structure and form, building intensity with sound), and his band concept (firstly he HAD a band concept! He never just soloed over the group, always listened, always had a concept for how the whole band could sound and what was possible, never played the guy out the front who soloed over the rhythm section )…

Playing with (and listening to) Mark was one of the most uplifting, riveting and scary experiences, l knew the effect of music could be as powerful as this however I had never witnessed it with such intensity in the flesh. In a scene that leans more towards conservatism than looking forward, Mark is truly missed on the Australian jazz scene.

2. REN WALTERS Melbourne - 1995-98

Again this is not just one gig but many, and I also spent a lot of time playing and talking with Ren. His music sacred the shit out of me! His command over the instrument was frightening, as was his sound and compositions. For me there is nothing more powerful than hearing someone who sounds like THEMSELVES! Like no other, I guess Ren and Mark (and others such as Chris Abrahams, Oren Ambarchi, Greg Sheehan, Greg Kingston) both had this impression on me as you can hear their influences but it never directs or governs the music, only adds to it. I was listening a lot to what was called the ‘punk-funk’ music from the late 70’s early 80’s, the electric bands of Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman’s PRIME TIME, James ‘Blood’ Ulmer, Ronald ‘Shannon’ Jackson’s DECODING SOCIETY and the like. I was fascinated by this floating time and harmony concept, (what Ornette vaguely describes as ‘Harmolodics’, whatever that is?!) where everything sounded together yet somehow completely detached, where lines, melodies and rhythms could enter in and out, sideways and long ways and work within the music. ‘Pulse’ related music (that always had time) yet the rhythm or time signature was open. I remember seeing Ren for the first time in his trio TIP (with Chris Bekker and Nico Schauble) and it was really clear to me that Ren had also looked at this language (among many other things) and it was a part of his playing. Ren’s playing in completely ‘free’ improvised settings with David Tolley & co also really opened my mind in terms of trying to find different sounds and ways of playing, to play in a way that is concerned more with ‘sound’, as apposed to instrumental playing and history-onics.

3. JIM DENLEY & ROBBIE AVENAIM - Make It Up Club - 2000/2001 ?

I remember this gig well as it was really one that made me think, “I have NO idea of what is happening here at all, but I know

something

IS happening!” Here was a saxophone player and a percussionist playing together in duo, very quiet, very minimal, completely improvised, with absolutely NO sound they made ever sounding like a sax or percussion. It was one of the first times I heard improvised music not sounding at all like improvised music, not coming from jazz, from contemporary new music, not even sounding like music, but a collection of sounds so perfectly placed together, put in the space at the right time that somehow it made the experience COMPLETELY musical! And to my ears it sounded ‘new’, unlike anything I’d ever heard. This gig really turned me on to people such as Keith Rowe & AMM, Taku Sugimoto, Tetuzi Akiyama and many other musicians working in much more minimal and subtle musical areas. Both Jim and Robbie are continuing inspirations for me as musicians who continue to push the bounds of their instruments, (which are somewhat paradoxical as the ‘instrument’ is longer of such concern for this type of music) and concepts of sound. Class!

4. SALIF KEITA - Union Chapel - London - 2001

I’d be surprised if this concert doesn’t forever stick in my mind as one of the most powerful musical experiences I’ve ever had. After being a fan of “the golden voice of Africa” for a long time I went to this concert just after he released his ‘Moffou’ CD. This period for him was a return to an acoustic band, using only African instruments and apparently getting back to his roots of more traditional Malian music. This was truly a sublime concert. The band was SO together, clean, controlled, and tight playing these heavy rhythms, yet totally light, loose and grooving. The quality of Salif’s voice, the human-ness, the richness of his sound is indescribable…Salif sings in a way that goes straight to your heart. He did a short acapella piece that totally spun my head, the kind of music that makes you want to scream and cry at the same time. A master!

5. WHITEHOUSE - Nouveau Casino - Paris - 2003

I went to this concert with a friend after being in Paris for only 2 days. Complete sonic assault on all senses and an utterly devastatingly unforgettable musical experience! WHITEHOUSE’s music has been compared to the feeling of glass shattered all over your face and I guess from that description I wasn’t disappointed. It had an incredible energy with a sound so enormous that it shook the insides of my brain for the next three weeks! Sound as physical electronic energy, noise mayhem yet completely in control, lyrics and general concept in links with much of the music I love from my youth (Public Enemy, Dead Kennedys etc) where the listener is literally forced into some kind of submission to the music.