With strong friendships and a lifetime of musical experience between them, Howard Harrison, Billy Atwell and Matt Volpe – the members of the newly formed improvisational trio Blanche Mayhem – blend their individual styles to create new sounds rooted in different genres of music. They will debut as a live simulcast Aug. 11 from a Union City-based studio Strangebrew and on the web at Strangebrew.com.
“It’s fresh. It’s the newest thing around,” said Harrison, 38, an electric guitarist. “It tests your own talent without consciously being told to do it. We see what we can do.”
“It’s extremely experimental,” said Volpe, 33, who plays base guitar. “It’s really an experiment with sound and noise you can make with a basic instrument.”
After collaborating in different bands, the instrumentalists of Blanche Mayhem felt the need to explore a new realm of creativity that was not confined by the traditional structures of a band.
“Basically Matt and I just arrived at a different space, where we needed to explore working with other people,” said Atwell, 37, a drummer and an instrumentalist.
Driven by the same artistic passion, the musicians of Blanche Mayhem just decided one day last April to get together and see what came about.
“Basically because I know these guys as rock musicians, and I was also interested in doing more of the improvisational stuff that I like,” said Harrison. “It creates a whole other world that I really like. It has no specific genre, but is rooted rhythmically in rock and jazz. However, it’s improvisational so there are no boundaries.”
Atwell, who recently split from the band Shirley Temple of Doom, shares Harrison’s admiration for improvisational work.
“It’s pretty open-arted. We get together, we have fun, and just try to go for it,” said Atwell. “We’re borrowing from the Hendrix Trio experience, inspired by [early ’70s] Miles Davis, ambient stuff. You can notate it, and it turns into a sound all in itself. Traditional conservative notation won’t work for it.”
Harrison
A resident of Union City, Harrison brings the acoustic sounds of his electric guitar to the trio’s off-the-cuff musical endeavors.
“I’ve been playing for about roughly 26 years, and I did a lot of work in the Bay Area of California,” said Harrison, who has moved around extensively from Ohio to California, and for the last 14 years between the New York area and Texas.
Harrison and Atwell, who first met through their wives, have been friends for a few years and had a desire to collaborate, but due to their conflicting schedules and other musical projects, they had been unable to work together until now.
“I’ve known Billy for about four years,” said Harrison. “We had both been in separate bands, so there really wasn’t any time.”
Now since Atwell and Volpe split form their previous band, and there are open timeslots in Harrison’s rehearsal space in New York City, they are fulfilling their goal of working together.
“This has been exemplary,” said Harrison. “This is what I’ve always wanted to do and what my future holds.”
Harrison is also involved in a wide range of other projects, including a band called Walrus, which is kind of like a country, film score band, with all original music. He is also a member of an Austin/Union City-based trio called Angora, which is similar to Blanche Mayhem, and has been making recordings and CDs with them for the last two years. Their fourth CD is set to be released in about a month.
Volpe
Bringing the pulsating echoes of his bass guitar covered with shark stickers is Matt Volpe of Astoria, Queens. Volpe is also a former member of the band Shirley Temple of Doom, where he met Atwell in 1997.
“I played in Shirley Temple of Doom, which was an underground rock trio, since 1994,” said Volpe. “Billy joined in ’97 and we developed a great musical relationship.”
It was Atwell who introduced Volpe to Harrison about four years ago as well. The great rapport that formed between all three of them is what sparked their musical collaboration.
“To me it’s all music and about the people you play with,” said Volpe. “To me that matters the most. It’s out of a love to play, a passion of playing.”
Volpe, who has been playing base for about 14 years, has worked with a few other bands as well. Some of his influences have been Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, for which he credits his inspiration to pick up a bass, and Jane’s Addiction.
“I tooled around with another band called Slim Francis, which was a rock band in the vain of soul,” said Volpe. “Its roots were a rock Americana sound without being overly country.”
Volpe is also a big fan of the movie Jaws, which inspired him in the overall career of the arts. Like his guitar, Volpe himself is branded with shark tattoos on his arms.
Thusfar in his musical career, Volpe is pleased and excited in his new project with Blanche Mayhem.
“It’s completely liberating in this type of situation,” said Volpe. “Music is bigger than me, and I let the music dictate me. I’ve always been a big improvisational fan, and its something I’ve always wanted to do or to try. It’s freeing, liberating and extremely refreshing, but you have to find the right musicians.”
Atwell
Multi-talented instrumentalist and composer Atwell of Weehawken rounds up the trio as the drummer for Blanche Mayhem.
“It came out of a need to play,” said Atwell. “Howard, Matt, and I expressed that need and collaborative effort, and having this beautiful chemistry and respect for each other.”
The name of the trio Blanche Mayhem also came about as spontaneously as their music.
“Howard came up with the name [as a way to call] everyone to rehearse,” said Atwell, who thinks the term came out of a story Harrison was telling one night. Harrison would call people up and ask, “Blanche mayhem?” to get them to rehearse.
The band would get together as often as they could with no set schedule. Their whole purpose was solely to spend time playing and seeing what they could come up with in a musical stream of consciousness.
“We’re trying to do something diametrically different,” said Atwell. “John Lennon once said ‘relax your mind and flow down the stream.’ There’s no image, lifestyle or genre. It’s just about sound and rhythm.”
Atwell who strives to maintain the spontaneity and creativity in his art, looks at the improvisational spectrum as a way to tap into that environment he seeks.
“It’s not about playing the same songs to death,” said Atwell. “As long as its fun I’ll keep doing it.”
Not limited to the drums, Atwell will also be testing his role within the group. At their latest session, he brought a lap steel guitar, traditionally used in country music, and his Australian didgeridoo, native to the Aborigines. Atwell has been a musician for about 28 years, and has played with many different bands in different styles.
Hopes for the future
At Strangebrew.com, the venue space fits about 30 to 50 people, which will include some of the group’s friends and family for the debut. The biggest attraction, however, will be the live audio simulcast on the web page. From there they hope to continue acquiring more gigs, although that isn’t their focus.
“It’s really what happens in this room, and that’s what we do,” said Harrison.
“We’re not trying to prove anything or fit anywhere,” said Atwell. “We’re borrowing from everyone and trying to find our own sound at the same time.”