Rhys Chatham is one of those mythological figures in music, perhaps best known for combining minimalist music with heavy metal. The kneejerk reaction would be that he's mixing highbrow and lowbrow -- but like so many others, his view changed in 1976 when he saw the Ramones. Chatham was onto something and his groups would include, among others, Glenn Branca, musicians who would form Sonic Youth and Wharton Tiers.
His tunes, from "Guitar Trio," his best-known work, to "An Angel Moves Too Fast To See (For 100 Electric Guitars, Electric Bass and Drums)", are based on repetition and volume to produce harmonic overtones -- ghostlike sounds that emanate from slight variations in pitch. The best way to hear this music is to let is wash over you and give yourself over to it. It makes sense on it's own terms.
While Chatham's music is not what you encounter every day, Milwaukee is no stranger to sounds from outside the box. Hal Rammel is recognized around the world and upstarts like Mahogany Throttle have tapped the source in local clubs. Even in their heyday the Violent Femmes were unafraid to venture into Free Jazz territory. For Chatham's Milwaukee appearance former Die Kreuzen bassist Keith Brammer will be part of the band.
Recently, the record label Table of the Elements reissued Chatahm's hard-to-find titles. He lives in France, but set up a U.S. tour which includes working on a new album in Chicago and a show in Milwaukee.
OMC: It seems that without really trying, your music offered new definitions for what guitar-based music could be. What allowed you to be so open-minded when rock and roll can often be cliched?
R.C.: I think it was because of changing context. At the start of the seventies I was a minimalist composer writing pieces in the vein of Tony Conrad, Elaine Radigue and La Monte Young. In 1976, I heard the Ramones and what I heard changed my life. They were using more chords than I was, true, I was using one chord, they were using three, but the music was close enough to the minimalist sounds I was working with that I was inspired to play electric guitar after hearing them. I didn't want to be guilty of simply appropriating the music, which is to say that I didn't want to be an art music composer posing as a rocker, I wanted the music to be authentic. So I played in various rock groups for a year or so in order to truly integrate into the context, and afterwards was able to make a piece which reflected everything I was as a musician and composer, as well as the rock music I loved. And the result was Guitar Trio."
OMC: Are there any misconceptions you find people to have with your music?
R.C.: When people first heard G3, they had never heard anything like it before. People coming out of a rock context thought of it as noise rock, people coming out of an art context thought of it as a radical new strain of minimalism. It's been 30 years since G3 was composed and it has been quite influential on many groups, so people are more comfortable with it now simply because they've heard it, either on recording or in the context of other groups being influenced by it. So the point of interest is to hear G3 played live in its purest form. Currently though, I find that I'm having the same problem with my heavy metal band, Essentialist, that I had with G3 30 years ago. People are wondering what I am doing working with heavy metal. And because I come out of a non-heavy metal context, some folks think that it can't be any good, that it will be effete art bullshit. I understand the concerns of people who think like this, believe me. But we hope to give these people a pleasant surprise when the CD comes out next spring."
OMC: When preparing for a performance with musicians you have not previously worked with, how much direction do you give them and how much room for improvisation is expected? (Chatham gives his players a fair amount of detailed instruction as well as the score for the music.)
R.C.: Primarily that they be good rock musicians and already know the piece (G3) from the recording. I give everyone a score -- which is basically a cue sheet plus an explanation of the theoretical side of the piece, the overtones as its primary musical vocabulary. Then we will have one rehearsal of an hour directly before the performance, followed by a sound check. The musicians who play G3 have to be good improvisers in the sense that they must come up with their own rhythmic lines to counterpoint the characteristic G3 line that I play. Also, through subtle changes of flat-picking technique, one can alter the overtones that are being generated by one's guitar, and also the composite waveform of ALL the guitars in the context of the performance. So we must be constantly listening to each other in order to have a good performance, and in this sense we are improvisers in addition to being rock musicians. "
OMC: What is your biggest challenge for this tour?
R.C.: The biggest challenge has been to make sure that everything is well organized on a technical level so that the musicians and audience involved in the city we play in have an optimal experience of playing and listening to G3. There are many details that must be taken care of in advance: sound system, DVD projector, musicians' scores and recordings, logistical issues. Fortunately, we had Regina Greene of Front Porch Productions organizing everything and assuring that things ran smoothly, and so far, every night that we have performed has been a joyous event for the people involved.
