Skeleton Crew

Skeleton Crew
Skeleton Crew, 1982 Left to right: Tom Cora, Dave Newhouse, Fred Frith
Background information
Origin	New York City, United States
Genres	Avant-rock, experimental, free improvisation
Years active	1982–1986
Labels	Rift
Associated acts	Duck and Cover
Former members
Tom Cora Fred Frith Dave Newhouse Zeena Parkins

Skeleton Crew was a United States experimental rock and jazz group from 1982 to 1986, comprising core members Fred Frith (guitar) and Tom Cora (cello), with Zeena Parkins (harp) joining later. Best known for their live improvisation performances where they played various instruments simultaneously, they also recorded two studio albums Learn to Talk (1984) and The Country of Blinds (1986).

History

Skeleton Crew originally began in 1982 as an unnamed quartet, but before their first performance, two of the band members suffered collapsed lungs within two weeks of each other, leaving ex-Henry Cow guitarist Fred Frith and improvisational cellist Tom Cora from Curlew with the choice of continuing or abandoning the project. They chose to continue, agreeing to play all the instruments on stage themselves. Frith played guitar, violin, keyboards, bass drum and hi-hat while Cora played cello, bass guitar, homemade drums and other contraptions enabling him to play instruments with his feet.

Performing like this was a challenge for them and made the resulting music unpredictable, but as an improvising duo, this pleased them. It gave rise to a rhythmic tension not present in a group with just one drummer. Frith told Down Beat magazine in 1982:

"It's all just on the edge of breaking down all the time, which is a quality that I've always liked. I don't like things to be too easy." ^[1]

The duo sounded like a much larger band and they called themselves "Skeleton Crew". Their accidental inception would never have happened had it not been for the untimely withdrawal of half the band.

In 1982 they performed extensively in Europe, North America and Japan, refining their double one-man band act with each new concert. Later that year Dave Newhouse of The Muffins helped out for a while playing saxophone and part of a drum kit. Two limited edition cassette tape recordings of some of the trio's live performances in 1982 were released in 1982 and 1984. After Newhouse left, they continued touring as a duo again. In October 1983 they joined Duck and Cover, a commission from the Berlin Jazz Festival, for a performance in West Berlin, followed by another in February 1984 in East Berlin. In December 1983 Skeleton Crew performed at the 1st Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville in Victoriaville, Quebec, Canada.^[2]

Later in 1984 Skeleton Crew began work on their first studio album Learn to Talk in Switzerland. The LP (with sides named "Side Free" and "Side Dirt") featured music that was both sparse and raw and consisted of cynical and humorous "songs" interspaced with cello, guitar and violin instrumental fragments. It conveyed the energy of their live performances. Tapes also featured throughout the album: Ronald Reagan saying "We're still free in America", cut-ups of Sousa's "Washington Post" and TV ad clips. Tapes had also become a part of their live act.

By now, Skeleton Crew had become quite competent with their one-man-band act. Later in 1984 Zeena Parkins, playing electric harp and keyboards, joined the band and remained until the end. As a trio, they made their second studio album The Country of Blinds in 1986 (again in Switzerland and produced by ex-Henry Cow member Tim Hodgkinson). Here the music was richer and more rhythmical than their first album. The songs were more developed but the cynical edge of the first album remained. Soon after the recording sessions the group decided to split up. Frith explained why:

"We actually started to sound like a normal rock and roll band so it seemed kind of pointless to go on at that point."^[3]

Frith and Cora re-united in 1995 in the Netherlands to record a CD-ROM Etymology, a sound sample library of sonic sounds and wire manipulations.

Discography

Studio albums

• Learn to Talk (1984, LP, Rift Records, U.S.)
• The Country of Blinds (1986, LP, Rift Records, U.S.)

Compilations

• Learn to Talk / Country of Blinds (1990, CD, RecRec Music, Switzerland) – Learn to Talk and The Country of Blinds combined on a single CD, minus two tracks from Learn to Talk and one track from The Country of Blinds.
• Learn to Talk / The Country of Blinds (2005, 2xCD, Fred Records, U.K.) – Learn to Talk and The Country of Blinds reissued on a double CD, minus one track from The Country of Blinds, plus ten extra tracks.

Other album appearances

• Various artists: Passed Normal, Vol.1 (1987, LP, FOT Records, U.S.) – Includes six Skeleton Crew tracks recorded live at Illinois State University, Normal on November 4, 1984.
• Various artists: Festival Mimi 86 (1987, LP, Oblique Musique, France) – Includes one Skeleton Crew track recorded live at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France on July 3-6, 1986.
• Fred Frith: Step Across the Border (1990, 2xLP, RecRec Music, Switzerland) – Includes two Skeleton Crew tracks.

References

External links

• Discography of Fred Frith.
• Fred Frith home page.
• Skeleton Crew at Allmusic.