Guerraz- Band and interview
Guerraz are a minimalistic instrumental noise rock duo from Brighton, England. They specialise in semi-improvised melodic chimes and unrelenting drones merged with hypnotic, dance-influenced, off-kilter rhythms.
The group was borne from the chance meeting of Dave "Puncture Kit" Osborne (drums) and Thomas "LongDistanceRunning" Himsworth (guitar) at the now legendary Studio 284 burrowed into the cliffs of Brighton seafront. At 284, they channeled their shared appreciation of angular rhythms and additive melody into a swirling mass of agitated sonic disruption called Guerraz.
Noise Artists (NA): What are your goals as a band, artistically/commercially
"Genuinely I don’t think we have any commercial goals. I mean our stuff is out there and available but we’re not really people to spend much time on self-promotion. Artistically I want to make and make and make until it’s made. And then start making again."
NA: Who would you want as a dream producer and why?
"Probably some sort of grotesque composite of Martin Hannett and Enya would do the trick."
NA: What will Guerraz sound like on album 3?
"I would like to continue to create snapshots in time. Done live and experimenting with whatever we’re doing at the time. I’m coming up with new stuff at the moment which might take a different turn. We’ve got a lot of ideas individually that will need some sort of outlet, Dave’s fuckin around with ableton and has a new set of weird percussion sounds every time we meet. It has to be specific to the time we’re in, spontaneous I suppose. I don’t like planning."
NA: Explain your songwriting process, who starts? How does it evolve, is it organic? Is it discussed?
"One of us will have the germ of an idea, either a little doodly riff, or a weird off-kilter beat. Often we’ll play on that for a while and start to mould the sound with additions, changes, dynamics, time signatures etc. It’s normally a fairly organic process of trial and error. We’re often playing to a rapidly changing audience in the street and that might be the first time we’ve played an idea."
NA: Tell us about the artists you have worked with
"We improvised with Lou Reed’s guitar feedback in a church last year…his guitar tech brought a bunch of his gear over for the festival (it was curated by Laurie Anderson)…that was one of my favourite experiences with Guerraz."
NA: What are you trying to avoid as a band?
"Seagulls!"
Musical Work
Battery EP (June 2016)
- 1-battery
- 2- eyes
- 3- rafah
- 4- hebron
Pylons EP
- 1- sangatte
- 2- calf
- 3- glitch
- 4- pylons
Some good videos to watch
live vid busking in Brighton: credit Lukasz Kulik
kemptown carnival vid: credit John Lymer
Presence on the web
Some other posts in Articles on the band
https://thisyearinmusic.wordpress.com/2016/05/24/24052016-guerraz-eyes-2016/
https://adherance.com/interview-section.php
Other bands
From Dave…
Chris “daddy” Dave
Dirty Three
Hella
Dave: “I’m into bands/ drummers who play what they truly feel, not what is meant to be popular just to please someone else…that seems fake to me. I like exploring stuff that makes you develop your own musical personality…meditation in a way…people that appreciate probably feel that connection too.”
From Thomas…These are a few things I’ve heard or seen recently that struck a chord. Klein is awesome: soundscapes and glitchy beats, weird vocal lines and samples. Physics house band were great live, very polished. Much more polished than I think I have time to achieve. They played with Adam Betts in support who was incredible.. his credentials include Goldie, Squarepusher, 3 trapped tigers. Superb skill. Thor and friends I saw at the Green Door Store and were interesting. Thor is the hairy percussionist with Swans. They make a sort of Reich-esque minimalism-lite… it had a great effect overall although a friend I was with said there may have been too much xylophone for one evening.
Adam betts
Thor and friends
