“Hard to imagine but The Nihilist Spasm Band have been going since 1965 – that is when yours truly also arrived on this earth, and god, I feel old at times.
They have never learned to play their instruments properly, nor the desire to do so. Since 1966 they play together almost every monday night at the Forest City Gallery in London, Ontario, Canada where the “atmosphere is informal. We play for our own enjoyment but an audience is welcome.” Also, unbelievable actually, is that the line up is consistent: John Boyle (kazoo, things, drums), John Clement (bass), Bill Exley (vocals), Murray Favro (guitar), Art Pratten (pratt-a-various) and Aya Ohnishi (drums, kazoo) – the latter being a constant guest performer.
With such consistencies one could think: some times seem to last forever. Look for pictures and see a bunch of nice grand daddies, which is not what they sound like. Technically, I suppose, they could record every monday night and release tons of records, but the discography is surprisingly small. I have no idea how its decided when something slips out on vinyl, and wether this new LP is one that is particularly good or bad.
The Nihilist Spasm Band are the perfect non musicians, not having picked up any tricks in all those years, but yet remain firmly free in their playing. Free improvised rock music, distorted, chaotic, with feedback wailing about, strings being tortured, non sequential banging on percussion, occasional screaming/talking/singing. Everything is played with some nice power and raw, untamed energy (looks at the picture again and smiles). I can see why they don’t release as much as recordings they probably have. It leaves you wanting more, but you could always go to the Forest City Gallery on monday night and hear it yourself. Be quick, nothing is forever.” (FdW)
