Zan Hoffman and Adam in Louisville

Adam Bohman Interview

This is an interview conducted on June 12th, 1991 in Louisville,Kentucky at the house of Zan and Beau of Grandbrother.

The interview is with Adam Bohman of Finchley -London N3 England. Adam works with improvisational bands Morphogenesis and Conspiracy. He does solo recordings and performances in an improvisational vien. Main instruments are prepared violin and other strings. AB = Adam Bohman / MM = Media Mike

MM: Let's start off with some discussion on your approach to playing in a improvisational setting.

AB: Well, I started off playing a violin that was a cheap chinese type used in schools. My father was a musical adviser for the London Borrough of Ealing and he brought home a load of violins for some reason. I took one and started experimenting in a rather rough way. When he saw the state of it at some two weeks later, he let me hang on to it. Initially I prepared the violin and I played it under my chin in the conventional way. At that time in about 1982 I was attending a improvisational workshop held on saturday afternoons at the Cockpit Theatre in Marylebone, London. I wrote a piece for ensemble that used the prepared violin on a small cassette recorder. This recording was used in conjunction with live instruments following a rough score.

MM: How did you progress from these beginings?

AB: After awhile it seemed to me that a far greater range of possibilities existed with having the violin stuck down to a flat surface. Curiously at that time, I hadn't heard the work of Keith Rowe who uses the electric guitar in a similar way.In fact, as far as influences go, Fred Frith was more important to me. His early solo sets on John Peel's radio show inn the late 70's were very inspiring.

MM: Who were you playing with at this time?

AB: As far as improvisation goes, before the Cockpit workshop, I was working entirely by myself. My brother Jonathan and a couple of friends use to record a type of offbeat rock music that in the beginning used mostly homemade instruments. I joined in on a lot of these sessions, but it wasn't what I wanted to do.

MM: What was the next progression?

AB: i think it involved using prepared stringed instruments including the violin, mixed together with prercorded sounds from various sources. Several 4 track pieces were made of this sort.

When I moved to London in 1983 after living with my parents in Sunbury on Thames, I started attending an evening class on Fridays run by the violinst Phil Wachsmann. this covered studio procedures including use of Vcs3 synthesizers, reel to reel, cassette recording and free improvisation. We use to have concerts that were connected with the evening class. Usually at the end of the term. I produced several shorts and pieces for prepared string instruments and prerecorded tape. There was also a duo set in 1985 with Richard Gill (CROW) and we called ourselves Diastolic Murmurs. There have been seeral subsequent performances by the duo and a great deal of recordings.

MM: Let's cover your work with Morphogenesis and Conspiracy.

AB: My involvement with Morphogenesis began in 1985. I had met Roger Sutherland an english teacher with a keen interest in new music when I went to concerts. At an Alvin Lucier concert he invited me to come round and listen to some records. It was at a time when I just moved to London and I only lived a short distance away in Finsbury Park. So it was very convenient to get together. He formed Morphogenesis about two years later. It was an extention of his evening class at City University. They had been listening to a variety of contemporary music over the last few weeks of the term. Including: Feldma n, Cage, Earle Brown, etc.. Then it was suggested that the idea of actually performing experimental works as opposed to being passive listeners would be interesting. I in fact became involved at improvisation #5 and onward. We use to do one session a week and number each improvisation. Although I had heard Morphogenesis before joining I was at that time playing trumpet for the civil service orchestra and the rehearsal times clashed. Soon after I chucked in the orchestra due to being bored with the minimal trumpet parts of much 18 and 19th century music. Also I had become disillusioned with orchetral music in general and wanted a change.

MM: Please describe Morphogenesis's approach to making music.

AB: Well, all sounds (and these include prepared string instruments, percussion, biofeedback activater, electronics, etc...) are fed through a mixer by a sound engineer. Although the improvising depends on a empathy between the players and constant listening, the engineer has the task of altering the sounds by use of ring modulation, filtering, envelope shaping, etc.. And also recording the results and panning the sounds around.

MM: How do you compare the live sound of Morphogenesis and the studio sound?

AB: In a live setting there are a far greater degree of unknown and varible problems. For example, feedback can be a big problem. Also it takes on some occasion, over two hours to set up the equipment. Sometimes the sound the audience hears is different from what we perceive while improvising. With the sesion recordings, the environment is alot more stable and controlled. Mainly because everythings done on a much smaller scale. In other words, everything is at our fingertips.

MM: How has Morphogenesis's music progressed over the years?

AB: In the early days we were doing 45 minute improvisations, because that was one side of a C-90 and it seemed convenient to use that format. Also the sounds we were using were very rough and textural. Over a period of time, the improvisations have become shorter and more concise. We usually do two twenty or two thirty minute improvisations in one session. In addition the electronics have become more sophisticated. Unfortunately due to the technical requirements and unavailability of a professional sound egineer with all the gear, live concerts have been relatively few. It was suggested within the groupthat we could use a simpler set-up and thus encreased the possibilities of doing more live performances.

MM: The previous section covered Morphogenesis, now que us in on Conspiracy.

AB: Conspiracy developed out of the previously mentioned workshop at the Cockpit thatre. Around about 1987 there was a great deal of disillusionment with the Saturday afternoon sessions. The person that was in charge and who was receiving the a considerable fee for running the workshop, couldn't seem to offer any direction or consistency of purpose. He just expected things to develop on their own. Therfore, participation in the sessions grew into a despondent state. Then Nick Cauldrey a keyboard player joined the sessions and together we organized a short festival at the Cockpit theatre. This version of Conspiracy featured the following line up which consisted of Spiro (saxophonist), Nick and myself. Together we formed a improvisational group. We were joined by Harriet (guitarist) who lived across from Spiro. Curiously Nick and Spiro attended another two Cockpit sessions just to see if they could ressurect any kind of interest. By this time, I had stopped going to the sessions annd was surprised to learn that they were still interested. However, we began concentrating on the groups sound and the Cockpit Theatre folded up shortly thereafter.

This version of Conspiracy didn't seem to work to well because Nick and I were on the same wavelengh and Harriet and Spiro obviously weren't. To make matters were making. The sessions were done either around Harriet's or Spiro's house. Occational sessions were done at Nick's. Conspiracy's sound at this time was an uneven mixture between noise elements, melodic fragments and jazzy bits.

MH: Tell us about the incarnations of Conspiracy after that period.

AB: There was a long period of time, maybe several months in which mothing much happened. Then Nick and I decided to put some advertisments out for two new members. Several people turned out for these sessions. We eventually found a saxophonist who had moved down to London from Wales named Barry Edgar Pilcher. The guitarist Andy Hammond joined in and things began to take off. The sound became much more integrated. After a few rehearsals it became an identifiable group sound.

MH: Where did you play / record?

AB: We did a recording of four improvisations at my parents home. It was engineered by my brother Johnathan.

MH: How did that come out?

AB: There was a great deal of attention payed to texture and dynamics.

MH: Was this a one/off type thing or was that the consistent sound you were shooting for?

AB: Yes, that was the sound we were generally trying to achieve. It just voided the cliche of free jazz noisy type thrash.

MH: Therefore, you were avoiding noisy jazz in favor of a more textural sound accented by complexities and detail.

AB: Right. There was a professional recording about a year later done by George Wilkins in 1990. Recorded at George's house in Blackheath in South London. These recordings became our first cassette release called "Beaufort Scale" it's like the winds around the english coast or something. This has been successful and is selling well (still available). Due to family difficulties Barry Edgar Pilcher has to leave the band and he was replaced by porfessional saxophonist John Telfer. Altough Barry Edgar Pilcher was an excellent saxophonist, John was able comfortably explore the more abstrack niose related areas Nick and I were interested. Telfer was more versatile in this kind of sound. Of late, I've been doing solo tapes and trading with my mail contacts.

MH: Thanks for sharing this insight into your musical activities and keep it up.

YOU MAY CONTACT Adam Bohman [bohmanbrothers(a)hotmail.com],

CROW and Conspiracy at:

Nick Couldry

1O8 B Englefield Road

Islington

London England

Adam Bohman

15 Solon Road

Brixton

Borough of Lambeth

London SW2 England

CROW

e-mail: crow@irational.org

VARIATIONS a london compilation CD

Featuring: John Wall from Highbury - "Distil (1)"

Andrew Jacques from Wandsworth - "ronco"

Crow from Crouch Hill - Music for blind limbs

(Voice and text by Marie-Gabrielle Rotie)

Alquimia from Highbury Corner - "The Nagual"

John Grieve from Stoke Newington - "2,4,5-T"

Kymatik from Haringey - "Morphology"

Adam Bohman from Brixton - "Belgian barrage"

For further information: e-mail: paradigm@stalk.net web: http://www.stalk.net/paradigm fax PARADIGM DISCS on +44 (0)171 272 5816

• More Interviews