Biography
For several years an instrumental trio operated from its base in London. Kev Plummer wrote nearly all of the elaborate, guitar-driven pieces and then instructed bassist Matt Armstrong on each one, phrase by phrase. A drummer rounded out the lineup after devising a method of playing with sticks that had been split lengthwise, an adaptation born from repeated neighbor complaints during rehearsals. Once the pieces were sufficiently polished, the group committed seventeen tracks to tape for release on the Hemiola label. Following the band’s dissolution those studio recordings were paired with a full concert performance and issued by Bingo. Live work stayed largely within the United Kingdom, though the musicians made occasional forays onto the European mainland. For a time a second guitarist, Simon Deewogab, joined the ensemble. His physical presence stood in marked contrast to the seated, refined demeanor of Plummer and Armstrong: an imposing figure with dreadlocks reaching the small of his back, Deewogab performed standing and projected a commanding, rock-star aura. Before a major British tour in 1997 he suffered a serious mishap in Amsterdam when he fell into a canal and impaled his leg on a seventeenth-century iron mooring. Deewogab subsequently departed for good. The remaining members hoped to serve as the house band for a club the London Musicians’ Collective intended to open, yet the venue never materialized and the plan was dropped, along with several projected United States tours. Plummer’s music continues to attract listeners drawn to forward-looking electric guitar work rooted in rock, occupying a stylistic territory between the measured precision of surf-rock ensembles such as the Ventures and the near-classical constructions Captain Beefheart developed with guitarists Zoot Horn Rollo and Gary Lucas.
Albums
