A PROPOS D'EVANGELISTA

Carla Bozulich is best known as the singer from LA-based band Gerladine Fibbers and as the woman who re-made Willie Nelson’s Red Headed Stranger with Willie Nelson as a special guest. Carla has one of the most unique voices in any genre. Her work is at once brutally raw and weirdly visionary.

Born in New York City, she grew up a tomboy and girl protector in San Pedro, CA. Carla’s first appearance on record is Gary Kail’s album from 1982 called Zurich 1916, on which she does dada-inspired worldplay, “you know, telephone and vacuum cleaner stuff”. She sang in a couple of groups the Neon Veins and Invisible Chains, the latter of which recorded an album for The Minutemen’s New Alliance label when Carla was 18 years old.

Carla disappeared from daylight for a few years, re-emerged, and was soon causing traffic jams as the gamine howler in the confrontational sex/sound assault outfit Ethyl Meatplow. In 1993, before Ethyl’s last gasp, Carla founded The Geraldine Fibbers, going on to record and tour incessantly with that band until 1998. Scarnella followed, a duo formed with Nels Cline, and a decidedly uncommercial, open, experimental project.

In 2001 she scored a Los Angeles production of Jean Genet’s The Maids and the award-winning feature film By Hook Or By Crook, which she scored and for which she compiled the soundtrack, went to Sundance in 2003. That same year saw the release of Carla’s new rendition of Willie Nelson’s Red Headed Stranger. She has also explored mixed media and performance art, including a commission for The Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

In 2005 Carla rekindled a decade-old connection with Montreal-based musicians affiliated with the Constellation label, leading to a recording at that city’s legendary Hotel2Tango studio, and the release of her Evangelista album on Constellation. Received with high critical praise, the record would find its way onto many year-end best lists, and lead to extensive touring around Europe and North America, including performances at the Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville (Canada) and Bad Bonn Kilbi (Swizterland) among others.

In 2007, Evangelista became the official band name of Carla’s project, and her follow-up record for Constellation was once again recorded at the Hotel2Tango in Montreal, with core co-conpirators Tara Barnes and Shahzad Ismaily, and contributions from a large cast of Montreal-based musicians. The new record, entitled Hello, Voyager, releases in February/March 2008.

A PROPOS DE CHES SMITH

Ches Smith joue de la batterie et des percussions, et du piano horrible. Il écrit de la musique solo pour percussions, petits groupes de jazz, big bands et groupes de rock.

Dernièrement, il a joué avec Good for Cows, Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog, Secret Chiefs 3, Trevor Dunn's Trio-convulsives (membre de Mr Bungle), Ben Goldberg, Xiu Xiu et 7 Year Rabbit Cycle, ainsi qu'un projet solo pour Congs et Brums and These Arches. Il aurait aimé jouer à nouveau avec Theory of Ruin si ces trous du cul n'avait pas tous les fesses serrés.

Born in San Diego, CA and raised in Sacramento, Ches Smith came up in a scene of punks and metal musicians who were listening to and experimenting with jazz and free improvisation. He studied philosophy at the University of Oregon before relocating to the San Francisco Bay area in 1995. After a few years of playing with obscure bands and intensive study with drummer/educator Peter Magadini, he enrolled in the graduate program at Mills College in Oakland at the suggestion of percussionist William Winant. There he studied percussion, improvisation, and composition with Winant, Fred Frith, Pauline Oliveros and Alvin Curran. One of Winant's first "assignments" for Ches was to sub in his touring gig at the time, Mr. Bungle (here he met bassist / composer Trevor Dunn who would later hire him for the second incarnation of his Trio-Convulsant).

During his time at Mills, Ches co-founded two bands: Theory of Ruin (with Fudgetunnel / Nailbomb frontman Alex Newport), and Good for Cows (wtih Nels Cline Singers' Devin Hoff). He currently performs and records with Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog, Xiu Xiu and Secret Chiefs 3. He has also performed with Jandek, John Zorn, Annie Gosfield, Wadada Leo Smith, John Tchicai, Fred Frith, and Nels Cline. He leads his two of his own projects, Congs for Brums (solo percussion) and These Arches (with Mary Halvorson, Tony Malaby, and Andrea Parkins) . He currently lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Discographie sélective:

Ches Smith: CONGS FOR BRUMS; Good for Cows: BEBOP FANTASY, LESS THAN OR EQUAL TO; Trevor Dunn's Trio-Convulsant: SISTER PHANTOM OWL FISH; Secret Chiefs 3: BOOK OF HORIZONS; Ben Goldberg Quintet: THE DOOR, THE HAT, THE CHAIR, THE FACT; Todd Sickafoose: BLOOD ORANGE; Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog: SELF-TITLED LIVE EP; Theory of Ruin: COUNTER-CULTURE NOSEBLEED, FRONTLINE POSTERCHILD.