Multi-instrumentalist seeks percussionist/drummer, bağlama/guitar/etc.

Birmingham AL

Description

I'm looking for a percussionist and one other musician who want to start a band, write some music together, and take it as far as we can. I'm imagining something dynamic, where who plays what and who does lead vocals can vary from song to song, and lyrics don't have to be in English. Where I’m at: • In terms of sound, I'm thinking John Berberian, John Cale, Tom Waits, Gaye Su Akyol, Emma Ruth Rundle, Sun Ra, St. Vincent, Fad Gadget, Blood Ceremony, Zartong, Space, Goblin, Khruangbin, Sly and the Family Stone, Echo and the Bunnymen, the Oscillations, the Creatures, and the Doors. • In terms of lyrical tone, the psychedelic bard flavor of Barış Manço, Erkin Koray, the Legendary Pink Dots, early Pink Floyd etc. is kind of my thing right now. Percussionist/drummer: • Danny Shamoun (Viza) and Sattar al-Saadi (Ahmed Mukhtar & co.) are in the ballpark of what I have in mind, but my mind is open. • Experimental percussion is encouraged, e.g. Einstürzende Neubauten, or Brian Viglione on NIN's Ghosts I-IV. Whether you're working with a million dollar drum kit, pots and pans, or digital synths made from samples of lawnmowers, it could work. Whatdya got? • If you sing, rap, or play other instruments, there will be plenty of opportunities for you to do so. Other musician: • Bağlama, qanun, and synthesizer/keyboard are the instruments I’m most keen to have on board, but I’m more interested in your playing and songwriting than in what instruments you play. • Some familiarity with the maqam system is preferred. If your background is Turkish classical or Turkish folk, you know this stuff, though we probably know it by different names, which is fine. • If you’re just a guitarist, that could work, depending upon the way you play, which is more important than how well you play. I like how Victor Kunda Kasoma (the Oscillations) modulates between jazzy and modal, and the way Jenny Hoyston (Erase Errata) oscillates between noisy and melodic. St. Vincent's aggressive fingerpicking and mix of smooth and jagged playing are really cool. Carlos Santana, Dick Dale and Tony Iommi are on the right track. Bruce Springsteen, Ted Nugent and Steve Vai, not so much. The bottom line: character is more important than virtuosity. • If you’re just a bassist (guitar and/or upright), that might work, maybe. Miscellaneous: • I'm intrigued by the use of woodwind instruments in rock music. • My own playing is not jazzy, but maybe you can bring the jazz. • Jazzy application of bowed instruments is a fascinating prospect: maybe dissonant jazz treble on viola or qamancha over a more modal middle on oud, guitar, or cello, with intermittent attack from the otherwise absent bass. Bass can and should be moody and expressive and spontaneous like that from time to time. To only ever use it in the rhythm section is a waste. • Maqam saba - "the goth maqam," as I call it, would pair really well with that sort of experiment. • There are very few things that I'm sure of. Nothing is sacred; we know Major Tom's a junkie. Still, I'm not fond of Trump, Erdoğan, Aliyev, or Kocharyan, for what it's worth.