Volcano the Bear
Volcano the Bear are an improvisational/experimental English band formed in Leicester in 1995. The group's members are Aaron Moore (drums, trumpet, vocals), Nick Mott (saxophone, guitar, vocals), Clarence Manuelo (tapes, electronics) and Daniel Padden (keyboards, guitar, clarinet, vocals). Although the principal roles of each member are as listed, the group use a large array of additional sound-making objects to create their music.
Volcano the Bear | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Leicester, England |
| Genres | Experimental/improvised |
| Years active | 1996–present |
| Labels | Volucan, Pickled Egg Records, Misra, Beta-lactam Ring, United Dairies, Rune Grammofon |
| Website | brainwashed |
Early work
Their early work was characterised by theatrical live performances and unconventional recording methods; for example The One Burned Ma, their second full-length album, contains no tracks on which all four members appear. Having self-released a handful of cassettes and CD-Rs, several as every short-run limited editions with hand-drawn inserts, they came to the attention of Steven Stapleton of Nurse With Wound, who revived his United Dairies imprint to release The Inhazer Decline, their first full-length album.[1] However, a proposed collaboration with Nurse With Wound was not completed. They continued to release regular live CDRs on their own Volucan imprint, and later albums such as Five Hundred Boy Piano and much of The Idea of Wood were performed live in the studio.
Hiatus
A hiatus in group activity occurred in the early part of the 2000s with Mott and Moore reviving their pre-Volcano the Bear unit Songs of Norway. Manuelo created an album and EP as Earthtrumpet. Padden founded The One Ensemble of Daniel Padden initially as a solo project, later expanded to a quartet, with Chris Hladowski and Aby Vulliamy (both of Nalle), and Peter Nicholson. This unit has subsequently issued its releases as "The One Ensemble", with Padden releasing an album in 2006 of his solo material under his own name. Padden has also played with the Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra.
Moore played drums on the 1999 L.P. Free Surf Music #1 by Alan Jenkins and The Thurston Lava Tube, drummed for The Nightingales for a while, and in 2005 formed the duo Dragon or Emperor with occasional VtB collaborator Stewart Brackley. He also released a solo album The Accidental on which Alex Neilson and Andrew Liles appear. He is currently a member of the Brooklyn band Freetime.
Reunification
In early 2006 the band reconvened to release a double album Classic Erasmus Fusion to excellent reviews, and later that year released a live recording of their first performance as a full band in four years entitled Egg and Two Books.
The band released their first album for five years, Golden Rhythm / Ink Music, in April 2012.[2][3]
Musical style
The band's music has been described as "avant-garde drone rock",[4] "avant rock",[1] and on the album 500 Boy Piano British folk influences were noted.[5] Their 2012 album Golden Rhythm / Ink Music was described as pushing "well beyond the boundaries of rock music, incorporating elements of Middle Eastern music, American freak folk, jazz, and Dadaist literary absurdity".[2] They have been compared with The Residents, Nurse With Wound, and Faust among others.[6]
Discography
| Year | Title | Format | Label/Cat. No. | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Volcano The Bear | ||||
| 1996 | Vol One | Cassette | Volucan 001 | Limited edition of 25. |
| 1996 | Vol Tu | Cassette | Volucan 002 | Limited edition of 50. |
| 1996 | Vol III (iii) | Cassette | Volucan 003 | Limited edition of 20. |
| 1998 | Volfur | CD-R/CD | Volucan 004, later Beta-lactam Ring mt053.1 | Limited edition of '50 – 60'. Recorded live 6 February 1998. |
| 1998 | Volve | CD-R/CD | Volucan 005, later Beta-Lactam Ring mt053.2 | Signed limited edition of 50. Recorded live 22 March 1998. |
| 1998 | The Inhazer Decline | CD-R | Volucan 006 | Limited edition of 6. |
| 1998 | Volseptor | CD-R/CD | Volucan 007, later Beta-Lactam Ring mt053.3 | |
| 1999 | Volwheat | CD-R | Volucan 008 | Recorded live 8 March 1999 at the Y Theatre in Leicester. |
| 1999 | Yak Folk's Y'are | LP | Pickled Egg 7 | |
| 2000 | The Inhazer Decline | CD | United Dairies UD055 | Fewer tracks than 1998 version. |
| 2000 | The One Burned Ma | CD | Misra MSR006 | |
| 2001 | Five Hundred Boy Piano | CD | United Dairies UD50 | |
| 2002 | Guess The Birds | 10" EP | Beta-Lactam Ring mt028 | |
| 2002 | Volnono | CD-R/CD | Volucan 009, later Beta-Lactam Ring mt0 53.4 | Some tracks previously featured on Volwheat. |
| 2002 | Xvol | CD-R/CD | Volucan 010, later Beta-Lactam Ring mt053.5 | Live in East Hampton, Massachusetts. |
| 2002 | The Mountains Among Us | LP/CD-R | Beta-Lactam Ring mt045/Volucan 011 | |
| 2002 | Voleven | CD-R | Volucan 011 | Only available with the Volucan edition of "The Mountains Among Us", features material by VTB and various other projects. |
| 2003 | The Idea of Wood | CD/LP | Textile Records TCD3/TLP3 | |
| 2004 | All The Paint I Can Breathe | 10"EP | Beta-Lactam Ring mt059 | Material from the first three Cassettes. Some with additional 7". |
| 2004 | Voldozer | CD-R | Volucan 012 | Recorded live in Glasgow, Paris and Nijmegen |
| 2004 | "Shake Your Crow Remix" / "Tunnels And Wheels" | 7" | Gold Soundz GS#13 | Limited edition of 310. |
| 2005 | Catonapotato | CD | Broken Face/Digitalis Industries DIGI14 | Recorded live in Leicester, Sheffield, Paris and Norrköping. Only Mott & Moore appear. |
| 2006 | Classic Eramus Fusion | 2xLP/2xCD | Beta-Lactam Ring mt092a/b | Some 2xLP sets come with an extra 7", and a special edition comes with a bonus LP and the 7". |
| 2006 | Volfurten | LP | Volucan 014 | Limited edition of 300 with hand-painted covers. |
| 2006 | "Massive Furniture Invasion" | 8" | alt.vinyl | Limited edition of 150. |
| 2006 | "Birth of Streissand" | 7" | NO-FI NEU001 | Limited edition of 150. |
| 2006 | Egg And Two Books | CD | Vivo 2006026CD | Recorded live at the Phoenix Theatre, Leicester. |
| 2007 | Amidst the Noise and Twigs | CD | Beta-Lactam Ring mt204a | |
| 2007 | Volquince | CD-R | Volucan 015 | |
| 2007 | 11 Years of Yes | CD-R Business Card | Twisted Knister Flupp 025 | One track, limited edition of 40 copies in cigarette packet. |
| 2009 | The Shy Volcanic Society at the Bear And Bird Parade | CD | Beta-Lactam Ring mt222 | Split release with La Societe Des Timides A La Parades Des Oiseaux. |
| 2009 | That People Don't Know They Are Monsters / Bow Heavier My Lord | 7" | Quasi Pop QPOP REC 02 | |
| 2010 | Volrudolf / Grande Pfungst | LP / CDR | Volfurten 01 | Limited edition of 105 copies with hand-painted covers. |
| 2010 | Volsechzehn | CDR | Volucan 016 | Recorded live in Berlin, 2009 . Only Moore and Padden appear. |
| 2010 | Planetary Bethlehem | LP | Beta-Lactam Ring mt205 | Limited to 330 copies. 30 in hand-painted covers. |
| 2011 | Hotbites Live at the Nightlight | LP | Blastocoel Sound 002 | Limited to 100 copies. Live in Chapel Hill, NC, 2006. |
| 2012 | Golden Rhythm / Ink Music | LP/CD | Rune Grammofon | |
| Other Projects | ||||
| The One Ensemble of Daniel Padden (Solo and group works by Daniel Padden.) | ||||
| 2002 | The One Ensemble of Daniel Padden | CD | Catsup Plate CPR714 | |
| 2003 | The Owl of Fives | LP/CD | Textile TLP4/TCD4 | |
| 2005 | Live at VPRO Radio | CD-R | Brainwashed Handmade Series HAND002 | |
| 2006 | The Isaac Storm | LP | Ultra Eczema UE37 | As "Daniel Padden". Limited edition of 400. |
| 2007 | Wayward The Fourth | CD | Secret Eye No. 32 | As "The One Ensemble". |
| Songs of Norway (Improvised music by Aaron Moore and Nick Mott.) | ||||
| 2003 | Despite The Cloak | LP/CD | Beta-Lactam Ring mt058 | Some LPs with additional 7". |
| 2004 | The Great Work | 3" CD | Olwyn Plant SB007 | |
| Earth Trumpet (Solo work by Clarence Manuelo.) | ||||
| 2000 | Earth Trumpet | CD | Cenotaph Audio CT004 | |
| 2001 | Roman | 2xCD-R | Beta-Lactam Ring mt053.6 | One audio disc, one with QuickTime movie. |
| Guignol (Aaron Moore, Jeremy Barnes and Clarence Manuelo.) | ||||
| 2003 | Angela, David and the Great Neopolitan Road Issue | CD | Cenotaph Audio CT009 | |
| El Monte Aranos (Nick Mott and Aranos.) | ||||
| 2003 | Allied Cooking But Not As You Know It! | CD | Pieros 003CD | |
| Aaron Moore (Solo project.) | ||||
| 2005 | The Accidental | CD | Elsie & Jack No. 017 | Some with additional DVD by Francesco Paladino with extra track. |
| Dragon or Emperor (Aaron Moore and Stewart Brackley.) | ||||
| 2007 | Dragon or Emperor | LP/CD | Pickled Egg 64CD | |
Compilation appearances
- Lactamase Bonus Compilation
References
- Semprebon, Rolf "The Inhazer Decline Review", AllMusic, retrieved 7 October 2012
- Houle, Zachary (2012) "Volcano the Bear: Golden Rhythm / Ink Music", PopMatters, 18 June 2012, retrieved 7 October 2012
- Masters, Marc (2012) "Volcano the Bear Golden Rhythm/Ink Music", Pitchfork, 24 April 2012, retrieved 7 October 2012
- Carlson, Dean "Volve Review", AllMusic, retrieved 7 October 2012
- Semprebon, Rolf "500 Boy Piano Review", AllMusic, retrieved 7 October 2012
- Wilson, Andy (2006) Faust: Stretch Uut Time 1970–1975, Mute Publishing Limited, ISBN 978-0955066450, p. 3