Peter Blegvad

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Peter Blegvad
PeterBlegvad April2007.jpg
Blegvad with the Peter Blegvad Trio at a RIO Festival in Southern France, April 2007
Background information
Born (1951-08-14) August 14, 1951 (age 72)
New York City, US
Origin Letchworth, Hertfordshire, England
Genres Avant-rock, experimental
Occupation(s)Musician, lyricist, cartoonist, illustrator
Instrument(s)Guitar, vocals
Years active1960s–present
Labels Virgin, Recommended

Peter Blegvad (born August 14, 1951) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, writer, and cartoonist. He was a founding member of German/English avant-pop band Slapp Happy, which later merged briefly with Henry Cow, and has released many solo and collaborative albums. [1] He is the son of Lenore and Erik Blegvad, who were respectively, a children's book author and illustrator.

Contents

Biography

Early years

Peter Blegvad's life began in America – he was born in New York City and originally raised in Connecticut. When he was 14, the Blegvad family moved to England in 1965, unhappy with the social climate of America following the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the threat posed by the Vietnam draft to Peter and his younger brother Kristoffer. Blegvad was educated at St Christopher School, Letchworth, a boarding school where he met his musical collaborator Anthony Moore. Moore and Blegvad played in various bands during their schooldays, alongside fellow musicians such as Neil Murray (then a drummer, later a well-known hard rock bass guitarist). [2]

Slapp Happy and Henry Cow

In 1972, Blegvad followed the itinerant Moore to Hamburg, Germany, where the two formed the avant-pop trio Slapp Happy with Dagmar Krause. [2] [3] Slapp Happy recorded two albums for Polydor Germany with krautrock group Faust as their backing band. Polydor released the first, Sort Of in 1972, but rejected the second, Casablanca Moon.

Blegvad had got to known Faust due to playing with them at their base in Wümme, and would subsequently go on tour with them in the UK, playing guitar as a live band member. This in turn put him in contact with Faust's tourmates, the avant-rock group Henry Cow, with whom he was "soon making all sorts of plans". [4] The rejection of Casablanca Moon prompted Slapp Happy to relocate to London where they signed up with Virgin Records and re-recorded Casablanca Moon, released in 1974 by Virgin as Slapp Happy . (The original Casablanca Moon was later released by Recommended Records as Acnalbasac Noom in 1980.)

In 1974, Slapp Happy merged briefly with Henry Cow, recording two albums in 1975, Desperate Straights and In Praise of Learning . Shortly after recording In Praise of Learning, first Moore and then Blegvad left Henry Cow due to incompatibilities with the other musicians in the group. Blegvad has confessed that the technical demands of Henry Cow's music were beyond him ("It was discovered – not to my surprise – that I actually couldn't play Henry Cow music. The chords and the time signatures were too complicated. And... just generally, Anthony and I felt kinda lost..." [2] ) but it was also clear that there were crucial differences in artistic approach. Blegvad would later reveal (in an interview for the Hearsay fanzine) that "the piece that got me kicked out was "Living in the Heart of the Beast". I was assigned the task for the collective to come up with suitable verbals, and I wrote two verses about a woman throwing raisins at a pile of bones. Tim Hodgkinson just said, I'm sorry, this is not at all what we want. And he wrote reams of this political tirade. I admired his passion and application but it left me cold. I am to my bones a flippant individual, I don't know why I was created thus or what I'm trying to deny, but it clashed with the extreme seriousness. People who take themselves very seriously make me giggle, unless they're pointing a weapon at me or my loved ones". [2]

Due to Krause's decision to remain with Henry Cow, Slapp Happy dissolved and the three members went their separate ways. Despite the simultaneous foundering of Blegvad's involvement with both groups, it was not the end of his working relationships with the various members. Many of Blegvad's future solo albums and projects would feature former members of Slapp Happy and Henry Cow; and Slapp Happy themselves would periodically reunite in 1982, 1991, 1997, 2000 and 2016–17.

Solo work and collaborative projects

In the meantime, Blegvad returned to New York to work as a cartoonist, but maintained his interest in music. In 1977 he reunited with Henry Cow bass player John Greaves to collaborate on the album Kew. Rhone. – an unusual cross-genre release combining elements of minimalism, avant-garde jazz and progressive rock. The album was also notable for its personnel, which included celebrated New York jazz musicians Carla Bley, Michael Mantler, and Andrew Cyrille among the performers. As a musical document Kew. Rhone. remains both ambitious and unclassifiable; Blegvad's literate and playful lyrics are well-matched by Greaves' complex song structures. Blegvad would later continue his collaboration with Greaves in 1995 on Unearthed, a collection of spoken word pieces set to Greaves' music.

In 1978, Blegvad reunited with more of his onetime Slapp Happy/Henry Cow colleagues (Chris Cutler, Dagmar Krause and Fred Frith) when he joined the live band for the only tour made by Art Bears. [4]

In the 1980s, Blegvad released a number of albums on the Virgin Records label, including The Naked Shakespeare and Knights Like This. Although these were commercially unsuccessful, one of Blegvad's songs from this period, "How Beautiful You Are", was covered by Leo Sayer on the Have You Ever Been in Love album. [1] By contrast, Downtime, an independent release in the late 1980s produced by Chris Cutler, features mainly very simple demos (often recorded cheaply in professional studios' "downtime"). King Strut and Other Stories (Silvertone, 1990) is a collection of short stories set to simply arranged, professionally produced music played in many cases by noted session musicians. The album features XTC's Andy Partridge while Orpheus – The Lowdown (2003) is a whole album in collaboration with Partridge. [1]

Krause, Moore and Blegvad reformed Slapp Happy in November 2016 to perform with Faust at the Week-End festival in Cologne, Germany. [5] The two groups also played together on February 10–11, 2017 at Cafe Oto in London. [6] On February 24, 2017 Slapp Happy, without Faust, performed at Mt. Rainier Hall, Shibuya in Tokyo.

In 2007, his song “Daughter” was covered by Loudon Wainwright III for the end credits of Judd Apatow’s comedy, Knocked Up.

Work as cartoonist, educator, radio dramatist, etc.

From 1992 to 1999, The Independent ran Blegvad's strangely surreal comic strip, Leviathan , which received much critical praise for blending some of the most interesting elements of Krazy Kat with a coming-of-age-esque story akin to Calvin and Hobbes.[ citation needed ] Some of the strips have been collected in the 2001 volume The Book of Leviathan. In 2013 the book was published as Le livre de Leviathan in French and received the "Prix Révélation" at the 41st Angoulême International Comics Festival in 2014. [7] Other comics and illustrations by Blegvad have appeared in The Ganzfeld and Ben Katchor's Picture Story 2.

He has also conducted two- and three-week writing courses at Warwick University, England, in association with the National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth (NAGTY), and the new University of Warwick venture for gifted and creative children, International Gateway for Gifted Youth (IGGY).

In 2011, Atlas Publishing (trading as "The London Institute of 'Pataphysics") published Blegvad's The Bleaching Stream , described as an "interview format biography."

Blegvad performing with Slapp Happy in Tokyo, February 24, 2017 PeterBlegvad February2017.jpg
Blegvad performing with Slapp Happy in Tokyo, February 24, 2017

Blegvad's work for BBC Radio 3 includes numerous "eartoons" for the weekly poetry strand The Verb, [8] and a number of radiophonic dramas with Langham Research Centre and with Iain Chambers. These include guest+host=ghost, [9] featuring Nick Cave; Use It Or Lose It [10] which won a Radio Academy Award in 2012; Chinoiserie; [11] Eschatology, [12] starring Harriet Walter and Guy Paul; and The Impossible Book (2016). [13]

His 2015 drama with Iain Chambers for Radio Australia, The Eternal Moment [14] starring John Ramm and Emma Powell, was shortlisted for the 2015 Prix Europa.

Discography

Solo

Bands and projects

With Slapp Happy
With Slapp Happy and Henry Cow
With John Greaves and Lisa Herman
With National Health
With John Zorn
With The Golden Palominos
With The Lodge
With Dr. Huelsenbecks Mentale Heilmethode
With John Greaves
With Anthony Moore and Dagmar Krause
With Andy Partridge

Bibliography (as writer / illustrator)

Radio dramas

Other

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Faust (band)</span> German krautrock band

Faust are a German rock band from Hamburg. Formed in 1971 by producer and former music journalist Uwe Nettelbeck, the group was originally composed of Werner "Zappi" Diermaier (b.1949), Hans Joachim Irmler (b.1950), Arnulf Meifert, Jean-Hervé Péron (b.1949), Rudolf Sosna and Gunther Wüsthoff, working with engineer Kurt Graupner. Their work was oriented around dissonance, improvisation, and experimental electronic approaches, and would influence subsequent ambient and industrial music. They are considered a central act of West Germany's 1970s krautrock movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Cow</span> English avant-rock group

Henry Cow were an English experimental rock group, founded at the University of Cambridge in 1968 by multi-instrumentalists Fred Frith and Tim Hodgkinson. Henry Cow's personnel fluctuated over their decade together, but drummer Chris Cutler, bassist John Greaves, and bassoonist/oboist Lindsay Cooper were important long-term members alongside Frith and Hodgkinson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dagmar Krause</span> German singer

Dagmar Krause is a German singer, best known for her work with avant-rock groups including Slapp Happy, Henry Cow, and Art Bears. She is also noted for her coverage of songs by Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill and Hanns Eisler. Her unusual singing style makes her voice instantly recognisable and has defined the sound of many of the bands with whom she has worked.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Cutler</span> English percussionist, composer, lyricist and music theorist

Chris Cutler is an English percussionist, composer, lyricist and music theorist. Best known for his work with English avant-rock group Henry Cow, Cutler was also a member and drummer of other bands, including Art Bears, News from Babel, Pere Ubu and (briefly) Gong/Mothergong. He has collaborated with many musicians and groups, including Fred Frith, Lindsay Cooper, Zeena Parkins, Peter Blegvad, Telectu and The Residents, and has appeared on over 100 recordings. Cutler's career spans over four decades and he still performs actively throughout the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slapp Happy</span> German/English avant-pop group

Slapp Happy was a German/English avant-pop group, formed in Germany in 1972. Their lineup consisted of Anthony Moore (keyboards), Peter Blegvad (guitar) and Dagmar Krause (vocals). The band members moved to England in 1974 where they merged with Henry Cow, but the merger ended soon afterwards and Slapp Happy split up. Slapp Happy's sound was characterised by Dagmar Krause's unique vocal style. From 1982 there have been brief reunions to create an opera called Camera, record the album Ça Va in 1998, and perform shows around the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthony Moore</span> British musician

Anthony Moore is a British experimental music composer, performer and producer. He was a founding member of the band Slapp Happy, worked with Henry Cow and has made a number of solo albums, including Flying Doesn't Help (1979) and World Service (1981).

<i>Desperate Straights</i> 1975 studio album by Slapp Happy with Henry Cow

Desperate Straights is a collaborative studio album by British avant-rock groups Slapp Happy and Henry Cow. It was recorded at Virgin Records' Manor Studio and Nova Sound Studios in November 1974, and released in February 1975. It was Slapp Happy's second album for Virgin, and they had invited Henry Cow to record with them.

<i>In Praise of Learning</i> 1975 studio album by Henry Cow with Slapp Happy

In Praise of Learning is a studio album by British avant-rock group Henry Cow, recorded at Virgin Records' Manor studios in February and March 1975, and released in May 1975. On this album, Henry Cow had expanded to include members of Slapp Happy, who had merged with the group after the two had collaborated on Desperate Straights in 1974. The merger ended after recording In Praise of Learning when Peter Blegvad and Anthony Moore from Slapp Happy left the group.

<i>Concerts</i> (Henry Cow album) 1976 live album by Henry Cow

Concerts is a live double album by English avant-rock group Henry Cow, recorded at concerts in London, Italy, the Netherlands and Norway between September 1974 and October 1975. Sides one and two of the LP record consist of composed material while sides three and four contain improvised pieces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Greaves (musician)</span> British musician and composer

John Greaves is a British bass guitarist, pianist and composer who was a member of Henry Cow and has collaborated with Peter Blegvad. He was also a member of progressive rock band National Health and jazz-rock supergroup Soft Heap, and has recorded several solo albums, including Accident (1982), Parrot Fashions (1984), The Caretaker (2001) and Greaves Verlaine (2008).

<i>Slapp Happy</i> (album) 1974 studio album by Slapp Happy

Slapp Happy is a studio album by German/British avant-pop group Slapp Happy, recorded at Virgin Records' Manor Studio in 1974.

<i>Acnalbasac Noom</i> 1980 studio album by Slapp Happy

Acnalbasac Noom is a studio album by German-British avant-pop group Slapp Happy, recorded in Wümme, Bremen, Germany in 1973 with Faust as their backing band. It had a working title of Casablanca Moon but was never released at the time because it had been rejected by their record label, Polydor. Slapp Happy later re-recorded the album in 1974 for Virgin Records, who released it in 1974 as Slapp Happy. The original 1973 recording of Casablanca Moon, was released as Slapp Happy or Slapphappy by Recommended Records in 1980, and reissued as Acnalbasac Noom in 1982. The title Acnalbasac Noom appears in the lyrics of the song "Casablanca Moon", and is Casablanca Moon with the words written backwards.

<i>Sort Of</i> 1972 studio album by Slapp Happy

Sort Of is the debut studio album by the avant-rock band Slapp Happy. It was recorded in Wümme, Bremen, Germany in May and June 1972 with Faust as their backing band, and released on LP by Polydor Records in 1972. In 1980 Recommended Records released a limited edition of Sort Of on LP, and the album was reissued on CD by Blueprint Records in 1999 with one bonus track.

<i>Henry Cow Box</i> 2006 box set by Henry Cow

Henry Cow Box is a seven-CD limited edition box set by English avant-rock group Henry Cow. It was released in December 2006 by Recommended Records and comprises the six original albums Henry Cow released between 1973 and 1979, including those recorded with Slapp Happy. A bonus 3" CD-single was given to advance subscribers of the box set which contains previously unreleased material taken from live performances in Europe by the Orckestra, a merger of Henry Cow, the Mike Westbrook Brass Band and folk singer Frankie Armstrong in 1977. The two bonus CD Orckestra tracks were later reissued on the 2019 Henry Cow Box Redux: The Complete Henry Cow bonus CD, Ex Box – Collected Fragments 1971–1978.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uwe Nettelbeck</span> German record producer, journalist and film critic (1940–2007)

Uwe Nettelbeck was a German record producer, journalist and film critic. He was best known as the creator and producer of the German krautrock band Faust and changed the face of German rock music in the early 1970s. He was also one of Germany's leading film critics in the 1960s.

<i>The 40th Anniversary Henry Cow Box Set</i> 2009 box set by Henry Cow

The 40th Anniversary Henry Cow Box Set is a nine-CD plus one-DVD limited edition box set by English avant-rock group Henry Cow, and was released by RēR Megacorp in January 2009. It consists of almost 10 hours of previously unreleased recordings made between 1972 and 1978 from concerts, radio broadcasts, one-off projects, events and the studio. Included are new compositions, over four hours of free improvisation, and live performances of some of Henry Cow's original LP repertoire.

"Living in the Heart of the Beast" is a 1975 song written by Tim Hodgkinson for the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. It was recorded in 1975 by Henry Cow with Slapp Happy, who had recently merged with Henry Cow after the two groups had recorded a collaborative album, Desperate Straights the previous year. The song was released on In Praise of Learning in May 1975 by Virgin Records. The song's title is a quote from the nineteenth-century Cuban poet and liberation fighter José Martí. "Living in the Heart of the Beast" was the first of two "epic" compositions Hodgkinson wrote for Henry Cow, the second being "Erk Gah" (1976), later known as "Hold to the Zero Burn, Imagine".

<i>Kew. Rhone.</i> 1977 studio album by John Greaves and Peter Blegvad

Kew. Rhone. is a concept album by British bass guitarist and composer John Greaves, and American singer-songwriter and guitarist Peter Blegvad. It is a song cycle composed by Greaves with lyrics by Blegvad, and was performed by Greaves and Blegvad with vocalist Lisa Herman and others. The album was recorded in Woodstock, New York in October 1976, and was released in the UK in March 1977 by Virgin Records, credited on the front cover to "John Greaves, Peter Blegvad and Lisa Herman", but on the record label as "John Greaves and Peter Blegvad". It was issued in the US in 1978 by Europa Records.

<i>The Virgin Years – Souvenir Box</i> 1991 box set by Henry Cow

The Virgin Years – Souvenir Box is a three-CD limited-edition box set by English avant-rock group Henry Cow. It was released in 1991 by Recommended Records and East Side Digital Records, and contains three albums Henry Cow made for Virgin Records between 1973 and 1975: Legend, Unrest and In Praise of Learning. Included in the box set is a 24-page souvenir booklet and a Henry Cow fold-out family tree.

"War" (originally entitled "War (Is Energy Enslaved)") is a 1975 song composed by Anthony Moore with lyrics by Peter Blegvad for the English avant-pop group Slapp Happy. It was recorded in November 1974 by Slapp Happy with Henry Cow for their collaborative album, Desperate Straights, but was only released in May 1975 on their second collaborative album, Henry Cow's In Praise of Learning.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Snow, Mat (March 5, 1991). "Q&A". Q Magazine. 55: 34.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Peter Blegvad biography". Calyx: The Canterbury Website. Retrieved April 18, 2007.
  3. ↑ Cutler 2009, vol. 1–5, p. 21,40.
  4. 1 2 "Peter Blegvad" page on Chris Cutler homepage.
  5. ↑ "Watch Slapp Happy perform with Faust at WEEK-END last November". The Wire . February 2017. Retrieved May 17, 2017.
  6. ↑ "Slapp Happy with Faust – Two Day Residency". Cafe Oto . Retrieved May 17, 2017.
  7. ↑ "Your Various Angouleme Prize-Winners, 2014, As Best As I Can Figure Out From New Mexico". The Comics Reporter. February 2, 2014. Retrieved February 5, 2014.
  8. ↑ BBC (October 8, 2006). "Radio 3 - Free Thinking Festival 2007 playback page". BBC. Retrieved April 21, 2016.
  9. ↑ "(none) - Between The Ears - Guest + Host = Ghost". BBC. December 31, 2005. Retrieved April 21, 2016.
  10. ↑ "Use it or Lose it". Fallingtree.co.uk. Retrieved April 21, 2016.
  11. ↑ "Open Audio". Open Audio. January 25, 2014. Retrieved April 21, 2016.
  12. ↑ "BBC Radio 3 - Between the Ears, Eschatology". BBC. September 19, 2015. Retrieved April 21, 2016.
  13. ↑ "Open Audio". Open Audio. Retrieved April 21, 2016.
  14. ↑ "The Eternal Moment - Radiotonic - ABC Radio National (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)". Abc.net.au. October 13, 2014. Retrieved April 21, 2016.
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