Guapo

Formed in 1994, the ever-prolific British avant-prog outfit Guapo has issued a steady stream of albums and EPs. Although their approach has frequently shifted between releases or even within individual tracks, consistent touchstones have remained, among them France’s Magma (referenced in an album title), Japan’s Ruins (with whom they collaborated on a recording) and assorted Rock in Opposition ensembles such as Present and Univers Zero. Personnel turnover has been equally constant, yet the nucleus for much of the band’s early existence comprised drummer and percussionist David J. Smith together with bassist and guitarist Matt Thompson. During the group’s initial decade additional full-time contributors included bassist Rojer Macoustra, who served from 1994 to 1996, bassist Pid, active between 1996 and 1997, and saxophonist Caroline Kraabel of the Honkies, who participated from 1999 to 2000.

Through their own Power Tool imprint Guapo issued three EPs—Hell Is Other People (1995), Guapo Is No More (1996) and Horse Walks into a Bar (1996)—followed by the full-length Towers Open Fire (1997). Subsequent material appeared on the French Pandemonium label, encompassing the EPs Eat a Car (1997) and Guapo vs. Magma (1998) plus the albums Hirohito (1998) and Great Sage, Equal of Heaven (2001), the latter also distributed in the United States by TumulT. Their third long-player, the Ruins collaboration Death Seed, surfaced in 2000 on Italy’s Freeland imprint. Keyboardist Daniel O’Sullivan entered the lineup for the 2003 North East Indie release The Ducks and Drakes of Guapo and Cerberus Shoal, a joint project with Cerberus Shoal, and remained for the trio recordings Five Suns (2004, Cuneiform) and Black Oni (2005, Ipecac).

Following Matt Thompson’s departure in 2005, Smith and O’Sullivan—augmented by string player Sara Hubrich plus vocalists Alexander Tucker and Jarboe—completed the Neurot album Elixirs (2008), thereby finishing a trilogy begun with Five Suns and Black Oni. Bassist David Ledden handled live duties from 2005 into 2006 before guitarist Kavus Torabi and bassist James Sedwards joined the fold. The resulting quartet of Smith, O’Sullivan, Torabi and Sedwards toured extensively across the United States and Europe, with notable appearances at NEARfest in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, during June 2006 and at the Rock in Opposition festival in Carmaux, France, in April 2007.

After O’Sullivan exited, keyboardist Emmett Elvin of Chrome Hoof came aboard ahead of the ninth album and second Cuneiform outing, History of the Visitation, which appeared in January 2013. In addition to the audio CD, the package contained a DVD documenting performances from the NEARfest and RIO engagements that featured O’Sullivan. Guapo’s tenth overall release and third Cuneiform title, Obscure Knowledge, followed in May 2015—exactly twenty years after the debut EP Hell Is Other People. The album comprised a single 43-minute composition divided into three tracks and showcased the same quartet of Smith, Torabi, Sedwards and Elvin heard on the studio portion of History of the Visitation. Concurrent with Obscure Knowledge’s arrival, the band indicated that new bassist Sam Warren of Thumpermonkey would participate in forthcoming festival shows, as James Sedwards had left to handle guitar duties on tour with Thurston Moore.