Michael Flower
Michael Flower has been involved in a number of solo projects and is best known for his work with Vibracathedral Orchestra. The original group came together when Mick Flower began recording with Neil Campbell and Julian Bradley, who had released a number of homemade cassettes and an LP of their duo work. They self-released 2 CD-R albums before Campbell suggested merging the nascent group with the trio Flower was working with alongside Bridget Hayden and Adam Davenport, forming the best-known five-piece Vibracathedral Orchestra line-up.
Chris Corsano
Chris Corsano is a drummer from New England, USA. He often performs in an improvisation duo with saxophonist Paul Flaherty. He has also recorded material with artists such as Dredd Foole, Jandek, Sunburned Hand of the Man, Six Organs of Admittance, Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore, Matt Valentine, Nels Cline, Vibracathedral Orchestra, Cold Bleak Heat, Jim O’Rourke, Mick Flower, and C. Spencer Yeh as well releasing several solo recordings.
Count Hejnowski
Count Hejnowski is Matt Heyner who plays in Malkuth, NNCK, and other underground entities.
Phil Todd
Ashtray Navigations was formed in 1994 in Stoke On Trent, England, by Phil Todd, inspired by the UK’s underground tape music scene. Using the barest minimum of outdated equipment, Todd recorded and self-released dozens of limited edition cassettes (now much sought after by collectors), which presented his vision of homemade psychedelic rock and avant-garde noise electronics. This led to vinyl and CD releases on labels such as Siltbreeze (USA), American Tapes (USA), Veglia/Kraak (Belgium) and Todd’s own Betley Welcomes Careful Drivers imprint, culminating in a tour of the USA in 1999 which was the first real incarnation of Ashtray Navigations as a live music project. The new millennium saw a move to Leeds in England, many more releases in multiple formats and more live performances, this time featuring Ashtray Navigations as a group project featuring Todd and various collaborators including Chloe Jarvis, Matt Robson (Random Number), Ben Reynolds and drummer extraordinaire Alex Neilson.
Mel Crowley
Mel Crowley plays under the alias Ocelocelot and often collaborates with Phil Todd of Ashtray Navigations. “As Ocelocelot splays her space nuptials across a skyline smeared with mushy peas, and junked Vespas limp across the tarmac at Dragonfly refueling stations, orphans gaze away from the mysterious metal chambers it is their duty to scrub with steel wool. Gawk, urchins”
Marcia Bassett
Zaimph is the solo project of Marcia Bassett, a New York City artist and musician. In Flaubert’s novel Salammbô, the Zaimph is a holy magical veil that guards the statue of the moon goddess Tanit. Bassett appropriated the name in 2003, releasing a handful of CD-Rs on Heavy Blossom. Later CD and LP releases have appeared on numerous independent labels such as Hospital Productions, W.M.O.r, Utech Records, Gypsy Sphinx, and Volcanic Tongue.
Under the Zaimph veil, Bassett predominantly uses guitar and vocals to create sounds that shimmer in a dark metallic buzz of sonic noise and drone, before a swift shift into blissed out ragas or crippling, brutal, white-hot noise. The organic improvised elements of Bassett’s work leave traces of eerie ghost voices and deep-space echoes that recall the electrified ritual of nomadic Japanese avant-gardists Taj Mahal Travellers — but more immediately sound like a magnification of her contributions to Double Leopards and Hototogisu, generating towers of electricity that move from malevolent arcs of anti-gravity and spumes of throttled single notes into deep wormholes that do violence to feeble notions of time and space.
This tour of The Termite Club is made possible by a grant from Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts Regional Touring Program.