Listen to Mick Flower at the Dust Space

Mick Flower is the guitarist/multi-instrumentalist of the highly celebrated improv group Vibracathedral Orchestra from Leeds, UK as well as a dynamic solo performer. His unique style, mastery over his tools and fearless explorations of sound, have carved Mick out a unique niche in the world of experimental rock. Recently he has recorded a record with drum sensation Chris Corsano, and toured across the US last year with the Sunburned Hand of the Man and Magik Markers on their Fall Brawl Tour doing solo performances. These performances were based around Indian drone instruments which were sampled and stacked upon with layers of guitar improv. It sounds a simple equation, but the way Mick executes these sounds comes across as sheer genius, as something completely transcendent.

Monkeyclaus presented a recording of Mick's show in Charlottesville's Dust Warehouse many months ago as part of our full podcast presentation of the Fall Brawl Tour rolling through Virginia. As Mick has now granted us this interview, we suggest you revisit that audio or experience it now for the first time. We provided a player below to listen to while you read. As someone who was in attendence that night as well as someone who has listened to that recording dozens of times I can say it will lift your spirits and tickle your chakras. It is and was really something special.

Please read the interview below and absorb the words and wisdom of a fine musical magician.

-Matthew Clark

MC: When I saw you play with the Sunburned Hand of the Man, Magik Markers, Animental and Grand Banks, you played solo and then later with SBHOTM. Solo, you played an instrument which I think you referred to in passing as a "japanese banjo". I believe you said it was from India. It sounded amazing and your whole piece based around it was totally mesmerizing. What was that thing and how did you come to acquire it?

MF: Well, the instrument I was playing on that tour is called a "shaahi baaja" or "japan banjo". It's from India and is a hybrid of a dulcimer and a fretted stringed instrument where the strings are fretted with keys (a little like a hurdy gurdy). Years ago Vibracathedral Orchestra bought three primitive acoustic versions - wooden boxes with a few strings fretted with old typewriter keys, we used them on the track "Japan Banjo" on the "Versatile Arab Chord Chart" CD. A couple of years ago I was buying some tampura strings on-line from a shop in London that sells Indian instruments and I saw they were selling an electric version of the Japan Banjo so I bought one. I've never seen anyone playing one and I've never heard a recording of one. I worked out the tuning myself - seems to work ok - I'm not sure if my playing technique is technically correct but that's not important to me. There's more of a barrier to what's in my head and the sound that comes out of the amplifier than when I play guitar but sometimes it's good to have to work a bit harder at an instrument.

MC: Your music has been at times compared with Indian ragas. Do have any particular fascination with Indian Classical? Do you see your own sounds as generating from or seeking to reach for the same point?

MF: Hmm...Well I suppose there's a similarity between what I play and Indian ragas insofar as I use an electronic tampura box, there are no chord changes etc. I do listen to Indian classical and folk music but no way would I say what I do is anything near the level of Indian classical music (more on the folk music side of things) I suppose I'm just jamming my own versions of ragas, hopefully there's a similar purity there although a more naive/ham-fisted one in the music I play. When I was a teenager we used to listen to the Velvet Undergound, Indian classical, flute music of Papau New Guinea, primitive blues. I guess all the music I make is vaguely informed by that period. The VU have the drone going on, I suppose that comes from John Cale and his time playing with the Theatre of Eternal Music - I'm not sure whether Lamonte Young studied with Pandit Pran Nath before or after John Cale's time though, maybe there's a connection there.

MC: The guitar part you laid down after you sampled and looped the drone of the "japanese banjo" was riveting. It was shredding, beautiful and virtuosic but never wanky. Who are some of your guitar heros?

MF: Thanks for the kind words. "Heros" may be a bit strong but Neil Young, Eddie Hazel, Michael Hampton, Richard and Alan Bishop, Sonny Sharrock, Neil Hagerty, Matthew Bower all play guitar music that I enjoy listening to (I'm sure I missed out many... Isn't Lou Reed a great unsung guitar player? Elisa from the Magic Markers plays guitar like no one else I've heard recently)

MC: Does Vibracathedral Orchestra have a formula for creating music or does each project come together in a completely different way?

MF: The VCO is one long project I suppose, we play on a regular basis and record everything we do and we go through the tapes every once in a while and edit. Maybe that's why each release sounds a little different, each is a document of a particular period made unique by the instruments we used at that time etc. The instruments have changed a little over the years. We use fewer acoustic instruments and more amplified instruments and electronics. Things are quiet at the moment for VCO. I think we're going to change our MO in the next few months, try different ways of working. At the end of last year and the beginning of this year we only really played shows, some were big festivals in Europe. I'd like to go back to playing for ourselves for a while and exploring new ways of recording, getting more in touch with the spirit of the music. I've been going through our recordings over the past couple of months, there's some exciting stuff in the vaults and we'll have a few new releases out there pretty soon. We'd love to come to the states again but it's hard arranging long overseas trips with everyone's commitments outside the band.

I'm hopefully touring the west coast of the US at the end of August / beginning of September opening up for GHQ (Marcia from Hototogisu and Pete from Magik Markers band).

I also do a japan banjo/drums duo with Chris Corsano seeing as he's temporarily in the UK - it's an amazing experience to play with Chris, great drummer and all round good guy. We mostly just play shows but have recorded an LP which is coming out on Textile Records from Paris.

MC: Touring the US with the Sunburned Hand of the Man etc. must have been amazing. Did you play with them on all of those dates or only some?

MF: I travelled with Sunburned and the Markers from LA to Boston which was the last half of the Fall Brawl tour. I arrived fresh faced halfway through the trip, straight into LA madness! It was one of the best experiences, travelling and playing music with some great friends. I only played as part of Sunburned a couple of times, most of the time I opened up the show solo (Pete Nolan and John Maloney joined me a couple of times) I was just there paving the way for what was to come!

MC: What is the social political climate like now in Leeds? Is there much outrage regarding the war in Iraq and the UK's close ties to the Bush agenda there? Is there much fear of terrorism etc?

MF: Leeds was where most of the July 2005 Tube Bombers lived. There wasn't that much of an impact, a few streets were closed in my neighborhood while houses were searched but there was as much long term impact as if they'd lived anywhere in the UK. Leeds is a long established multi-racial community and I think that minimized any knee jerk race/religion based reaction locally. There's always been opposition here to Britains involvement in Iraq. It doesn't really make the media anymore, even at the start of it all there seemed to be minimal media coverage of marches etc.

MC: What music has been inspiring you lately?

MF: Velvet Underground live bootlegs from 1968, Sublime Frequencies Algeria and Thailand CDs, Vibracathedral Orchestra tapes from 2004, Mississippi John Hurt, Djinn Funnel LP by Sun City Girls, Iboga ceremony music.

MC: What else besides music inspires you?

MF: All the things that I've had to learn in order to renovate my house. Every job invovles more that I imagine. Jack Smith and Ira Cohen's films and photographs, Rene Daumal's books, the teachings of Gurdjieff.

Listen to Mick Flower at the Dust Space

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