Brand X
International
Musician magazine September 1980
article
“Breaking down the barriers”
ΜΟΥΣΙΚΗ
John Goodsall
(guitar)
Percy Jones
(fretless bass)
Peter Robinson
(keyboards)
Mike Clarke (drums)
Brand X
Breaking down
the barriers
There are
still a few exceptionally talented musicians around who strongly believe that
the genre jazz-fusion/jazz-rock has some creative mileage left, and they're
determined to prove it. Some of them regularly get together to form a loose
venture called Brand X, and whilst believing in the positive aspects of the music
are perfectly aware of the traps in front of them.
As bass
player Percy Jones says: "There's a lot of fusion bands over in America,
some of them are so cliché-ridden. There's a couple of radio stations in New York
that play jazz-rock 50 per cent of the time. Some of it sounds like "fuzak",
it sounds really predictable. We try to get away from that, because that's one
of the criticisms we get a lot, that jazz-rock is played out. It's not an
unreasonable criticism, it's something we're very aware of."
And Peter
Robinson, one of Brand X's two keyboard players: "Miles Davis made that breakthrough
where you could play jazz tunes through that hard rock thing. It's very hard to
keep on coming up with good tunes and present them in that way. Basically it's really
masculine music. I wouldn't call it aggressive, it's athletic. There are some
sweet things that have come out of it, but basically with the high energy
jazz-rock with a lot of technique, generally dazzling the audience, there's a
limit to how far that can go, there's not much intimacy. It's really important
on stage to display to the audience that it's fun to play, rather than this
guerilla warfare."
Brand X have shown on record that it is possible to escape the clichés. Much of their work has consisted of relaxed, atmospheric playing aimed e creating a certain mood — examples include the eerie "Nightmare Patrol" on Livestock and most of the second album, “Moroccan Roll”, recorded with heaps of space echo — an area largely uncovered by their US counterparts. On the minus side, they are sometimes guilty of substituting flashy playing for ideas — "dazzling the audience" as Peter Robinson puts it — and pushing their techniques to the limit when the music doesn't demand it.
The latest album “Do They Hurt?” is a clear illustration of the strengths and
drawbacks of jazz-rock in 1980. Many of the compositions are inspired and
beautifully played, in patticular "Voidarama" and "ct of
Will", with synthesized vocal from Percy. But there are also passages of
fast playing which shatter the mood that's been built up — or perhaps that's
deliberate.
The idea of a
band of world-class jazz-rock musicians, coming from Britain at first, seems
ridiculous. After all, the major names that have defined the genre have been
from the States, virtually all Miles Davis alum- ni... Tony Williams, Joe
Zawinul, McLaughlin (British born but naturalized American), etc, etc. How can
a British band possibly match them for musical pedigree?
It may come
as a surprise therefore to hear that Peter Robinson had gigs with Stanley Clarke,
Lenny White, and master Japanese percussionist Storm Yamashta, before joining
Brand X. And that Herbie Hancock is only one of a list of well respected
musicians that drummer Mike Clarke has played with. The other members of Brand
X have also spent more than a few years "paying their dues", as we
say in the biz - but more of that later.
Brand X
caught the public eye almost as soon as they started gigging due to their drummer
being the very famous Phil Collins of Genesis. It was a definite advantage,
once they'd thrown off the tag of being "Phil Collins' part-time
band".
The group was
actually started as an Average White Band-type outfit by a singer called
Phillip Spinelli and guitarist Pete Bonus, and initially made an album for Island
Records which was scrapped. The original drummer, John Dillon, left for personal
reasons and Phil Collins was called in on the recommendation of Island A&R
men.
John Goodsall recalls: "We tried out some really hot drummers, but Phil Collins settled in straight away with Percy (Jones), the bass player, into a really tight thing just naturally. We eventually got the band together with Phil Collins, Robin Lumley (on keyboards), Percy Jones and me, and the four of us decided that the instrumental passages were a lot more fun. The other two guys started going more and more into commercial songs and we started going out more into improvisation.”
The line-up
of the group has constantly changed - not because of musical dissatisfaction,
but because the idea behind Brand X is that of an informal group of musicians
getting together to play for enjoyment rather than making money.
Robin Lumley
spends more time on producing these days, although he did play on a couple of
tracks on their latest album “Do They
Hurt?” and gigged on their recent tour with Bill Bruford's band.
Phil Collins
also played on the same two tracks, although he doesn't have much time to play with
the band now.
Other members of Brand X have included drummers Chuck Burgi and Kenwood Dennard, percussionist Morris Pert and bass player John Giblin.
As current
drummer Mike Clarke explains: "It's not like it's my gig, it's like when
they want Phil Collins they call Phil, when they feel like calling me they call
me, and him and I have been kinda split level the last couple of years.”
John Goodsall
and Peter Robinson
Mike Clarke and
Percy Jones
John Goodsall (guitar)
Peter Robinson (keyboards)
Percy Jones (fretless bass)
Mike Clarke (drums)
[ εδώ δεν είναι πλήρες
το άρθρο ]
H
δισκογραφία των Brand X (μέχρι και το 1980):
/ 1.
“ Unorthodox Behaviour
” (1976)
H σύνθεση:
/ - John Goodsall (guitar)
/ - Robin Lumley (keyboards)
/ - Percy Jones (bass)
/ - Phil Collins (drums)
/ 2.
“ Moroccan Roll ”
(1977)
H σύνθεση:
/ - John Goodsall (guitar)
/ - Robin Lumley (keyboards)
/ - Percy Jones (bass)
/ - Phil Collins (drums)
/ - Morris Pert (percussion)
/ 3.
“ Masques ” (1978)
H σύνθεση:
/ - John Goodsall (guitar)
/ - Peter Robinson (keyboards)
/ - Percy Jones (bass)
/ - Chuck Burgi (drums)
/ - Morris Pert (percussion, electric piano)
/ 4.
“ Product ” (1979)
H σύνθεση:
/ - John Goodsall (guitar)
/ - Robin Lumley (keyboards)
/ - Peter Robinson (keyboards)
/ - Percy Jones (bass)
/ - John Giblin (bass)
/ - Phil Collins (drums)
/ - Mike Clarke (drums)
/ - Moris Pert (percussion)
/ 5.
“ Do They Hurt? ” (1980)
H σύνθεση:
/ - John Goodsall (guitar, vocals)
/ - Peter Robinson (keyboards)
/ - Robin Lumley (keyboards)
/ - Percy Jones (bass, vocals)
/ - John Giblin (bass)
/ - Mike Clarke (drums)
/ - Phil Collins (drums)
/ - Morris Pert (percussion)
ΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΟΓΡΑΦΟΣ
[ ανάρτηση 9 Μαρτίου 2024 :
Brand X
International Musician
magazine September 1980
article “Breaking down the barriers”
ΜΟΥΣΙΚΗ ]
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