| The Nihilist Spasm Band was founded in
1965 when London, Ontario artist Greg Curnoe asked five of his friends
to help him record a sound track for a 16mm movie he had made. The six
"musicians" performed using dime-store kazoos. Soon they
graduated to other instruments — a one-string bass, a mismatched set
of drums, and a huge megaphone for the vocalist. Before long the band
acquired two new members, and became electrified, with amplified kazoos,
and electric violin, bass, and guitars. All of the instruments were made
by the band members themselves, and bore only a superficial resemblance
to commercial instruments with the same names. From 1966 the band played
regularly in public, originally at London's York Hotel where they held
forth every Monday night. In 1967 they released their first recording, a
"flexi-disc" single bound into an issue of artscanada
magazine. (This single is included as a bonus track on the CD-R reissue
of the album 7x~x=x.)
In 1968 The Nihilist Spasm Band released
their first LP, whose title at the time was "The Nihilist Spasm
Band Record." Later known as NO RECORD, it is the first in
our series of seven CD-R reissues. This was the only album on which all
eight founding members of the band performed, as Archie Leitch left the
band in the early 1970s, before the second album was recorded. (Archie
is also heard on the 1967 single.) This is also one of only two
recordings on which the theremin is used. Personnel were Hugh McIntyre,
3½-string electric bass; Art Pratten, Pratt-A-Various and kazoo; Archie
Leitch, slide bass clarinet; Murray Favro, guitar and drums; John
Clement, electric guitar; William A. Exley, vocals and theremin; J. B.
Boyle, kazoo; Greg Curnoe, kazoo and drums. The six selections on the
album are Destroy the Nations, When in London Sleep at the York Hotel,
The Byron Bog, Dog Face Man, Oh Brian Dibb, and Destroy the Nations
Again. Read Michael Panontin's review of NO RECORD.
Listen to an
audio sample of "Destroy the Nations" from this album.
It was ten years until the release in
1978 of the next Nihilist Spasm Band album, Vol. 2. Personnel
consisted of John Boyle, kazoo; John Clement, guitar; Greg Curnoe, drums
and kazoo; Bill Exley, vocals and theremin; Murray Favro, drums and
guitar; Hugh McIntyre, bass; Art Pratten, pratt-a-various. Selections
are No Canada, Stupidity, Dum-De-Dum, and Elsinore. Listen to an audio
sample of "Elsinore" from this album. (Exley plays theremin on
this track.)
In 1984 the NSB released the aptly titled
1984, this time as an audiocassette rather than an LP. Personnel
were Art Pratten, guitar and pratt-a-various; Murray Favro, guitar and
drums; Bill Exley, vocal; Greg Curnoe, drums and kazoo; John Boyle,
kazoo; Hugh McIntyre, bass; John Clement, guitar. Selections (named for
the dates on which they were recorded): March 20 1984, Are You OK Bill?
July 30 1984, June 5 1984, Sept. 10 1984, and Oct. 16 1984. Listen to an
audio sample of "Are You OK Bill? July 30 1984" from this
album.
The next NSB album, released as an LP in
1985, bore the rather cryptic title 7x~x=x. The album cover was
designed by artist Greg Curnoe and featured the "rubber stamp"
style of block lettering that characterized many of his paintings of the
time. Personnel: John Boyle, kazoo; John Clement, guitar; Greg Curnoe,
kazoo and drums; Bill Exley, vocals; Murray Favro, guitar and drums;
Hugh McIntyre, bass; Art Pratten, pratt-a-various. Selections: This Is a
Test, An Appeal to Reason, Enough Is Enough, Fretful, Stop and Think
Shit Heads, and Sinister, plus, as a bonus track not on the original LP,
the NSB's first recording, No Canada, from 1967. Listen to an audio
sample of "No Canada (The First Recording)" from this album.
In 1992 the Nihilist Spasm Band began
making digital recordings for release on CD by Alchemy Records of Japan.
The first Alchemy album was WHAT ABOUT ME, released in 1992. This
was to be Greg Curnoe's final recording with the NSB; he was killed in a
road accident in November, 1992, at age 55. Personnel: John Boyle,
electric kazoo; John Clement, electric guitar; Greg Curnoe, electric
kazoo and drums; Bill Exley, vocals, noise, kazoo; Murray Favro,
electric guitar; Hugh McIntyre, electric bass; Art Pratten, pratt-a-various.
Selections: Hesitation, What About Me, Indecision of the Night,
Function, Wish, Grumbling, Hijokaidan Warp, Breathing, I Have Nothing to
Say, and Dance/Slow. Listen to an audio sample of "What About
Me" from this album.
The Nihilist Spasm Band embarked on their
first tour of Japan in 1996, resulting in the Alchemy CD LIVE IN
JAPAN, recorded in concert in Osaka, Tokyo, and Kyoto. Murray Favro
did not play in Japan, but sent a tape which is heard as selection
number 5 on the CD. On two tracks the NSB was augmented by two Japanese
musicians, Aya Onishi (who later married band member John Boyle), and
noise king Jojo Hiroshige. Personnel: John Boyle, kazoo, thumb piano,
drums; John Clement, guitar and drums; Bill Exley, vocals and noise;
Murray Favro, guitar (prerecorded); Hugh McIntyre, bass; Art Pratten,
pratt-a-various; Aya Onishi, drums; Jojo Hiroshige, guitar. Selections:
Introduction/No Canada, Indecision of the Night, Stupidity, Shinkansen,
Murray (prerecorded guitar solo), La Mama Lament, Better Than Nothing,
Here–Not Here, Hesitation. Listen to an audio sample of
"Stupidity" from this album.
Since 1966 the Nihilist Spasm Band has
played nearly EVERY MONDAY NIGHT in its home town of London,
Ontario, a habit which provided the title for the band's seventh album,
released on CD by Alchemy Records in 1999. The band's first Monday night
venue was the York Hotel, followed by a few other bars, and for many
years continuing to the present, Forest City Art Gallery. Personnel:
John Boyle, kazoo, thumb harp, drums; Bill Exley, vocals, cooking pot;
Hugh McIntyre, bass; John Clement, guitar, drums; Art Pratten,
Pratt-a-various; Murray Favro, guitar. Selections: Mother Canada, I
Dreamt I Was Living in Paradise, Forget, It's Not My Fault, I'm a Real
Nice Fellow, The Filter Song, Gazeteer of Newfoundland, However But,
Slow Dance. Listen to an audio sample of "Mother Canada" from
this album.
To purchase any of the CD-Rs
described above please CLICK HERE. |
