Artist:
Hamster Theatre
Formed:
1993 in Boulder, Colorado
Representative Albums:
The Public Execution of Mister Personality/Quasi Day Room, Siege on Hamburger City, Carnival Detournement
Similar Artists:
Begnagrad,
L'Ensemble Rayé,
Nimal,
Débile Menthol,
Volapük,
Club Foot Orchestra,
Miriodor,
Forever Einstein
Influences:
- Genre: Rock
- Active: '90s, 2000s
- Major Members: Matt Spencer, Brian McDougall, Mike Johnson, Raoul Rossiter, Deborah Perry, Mark Harris
Biography
The Boulder, CO-based Hamster Theatre were founded in 1993, emerging from the musical imagination of Dave Willey, an American accordionist/composer skilled in a wide variety of instruments who had lived for a time in Europe and found himself attracted to the music of Lars Hollmer, Nimal, and similar Rock in Opposition-related artists who blend elements of rock, European folk, avant-garde experimentation, and modern composition. Returning to the States, he recorded and released a solo cassette entitled Songs from the Hamster Theatre (reissued on CD by the Prolific label in 1995), and the Hamster Theatre saga was underway.In 1993, like-minded keyboardist/trombonist Jon Stubbs joined with Willey as co-leader of the new band named Hamster Theatre, formed to play Willey's compositions live. Hamster Theatre featured Willey primarily on keyboards, guitar, and melodeon and Stubbs on bass -- the group would find itself perennially challenged to find a bassist who would stick around very long -- with an array of additional musicians (including vocalist Deborah Perry) on keyboards, sax, flute, and drums. The group gigged around Colorado bars and coffeehouses, but aside from Willey and Stubbs this Hamsters lineup ultimately would not last.
By 1996 Willey and Perry had joined the Denver-based avant-prog band Thinking Plague, which also included guitarist Mike Johnson and reed player Mark Harris. That year Willey and Stubbs recruited Johnson and Harris to join a re-formed Hamster Theatre along with newcomers Mike Fitzmaurice on bass and Raoul Rossiter on drums. This sextet lineup of Hamster Theatre recorded the live CD Siege on Hamburger City at Denver's Mercury Café in 1998.
The group next undertook its most ambitious project to date, the Carnival Detournement album released by the Cuneiform label in 2001. The album was recorded in Colorado with Willey and Stubbs on a multitude of instruments; support from the other Hamsters Harris, Johnson, Fitzmaurice, and Rossiter; and additional contributions from four guest musicians. Thinking Plague co-founder Bob Drake mixed the album at his Studio Midi Pyrennes in France. Although on the Hamster Theatre website misgivings are expressed from Willey and Stubbs about their decision "to mess with Bob's master, significantly squashing the sonic palette he had created," Carnival Detournement was nonetheless released to considerable critical acclaim for its melodic, atmospheric, moody, and unpredictable blend of modern classical, avant rock, and European folk influences.
In August of 2002, Hamster Theatre were invited to perform at Seattle's Progman Cometh festival held at that city's Moore Theatre -- the event featured a number of Canterbury scene headliners but by a number of accounts the Hamsters (now featuring bassist Brian McDougall as a replacement for Fitzmaurice) nearly stole the show. For those unable to attend the festival, the band's performance was included on the second disc of the Public Execution of Mister Personality/Quasi Day Room two-CD set released by Cuneiform in May 2006. Mister Personality/Quasi Day Room also includes a studio disc featuring new compositions mainly by Willey and Stubbs, some written for modern dance and multimedia performances. The live and studio discs were both mixed and mastered by Drake, and this time Willey and Stubbs promised no sonic squashing.
Meanwhile, bassists have continued to enter and exit through Hamster Theatre's revolving door. Between the Hamsters' Progman Cometh performance and the recording of the Mister Personality studio tracks, McDougall departed the band and was replaced by Matt Spencer. However, Spencer appears on only one piece on the CD, Mike Johnson's mini-opus "Oye Comatose," and Willey handles the bass duties everywhere else. Spencer has reportedly since departed for California; apparently yet another bassist is standing in the recruitment line to hold down the low notes during the Hamsters' planned appearance at North Carolina's ProgDay festival in September 2006. ~ Dave Lynch, All Music Guide
