Took long service leave from the circus; on sabbatical in Melbourne, working on several unrelated projects, for example: learning to program in computer languages for the purpose of creating music, learning Spanish, setting up a rehearsal studio, some traveling; but mostly, diverse musical projects, including:
Creating and performing works with Phunktional dance company.
Creating and performing works with dancer Tony Yap.
Performances and recordings with composer/guitarist Mark Finsterer.
Performances with violinist/singer Jenny M. Thomas and her dark,
modern treatments of Australian folk songs.
Many improvised collaborations with bass clarinettist Chris Young,
particularly with the group Oskar and Bebra.
Performances of my stochastic music-generating computer program.
With singer Leili Mander, performing the music of Bessie Smith, Billie
Holiday and their contemporaries.
Django Reinhardt's music, with the group Bois et Charbon.
With klezmer/gypsy collective Tzigas.
The music of John Coltrane with Tim Pledger and Chris Lewis.
Cabaret performances with Josephine Fisher and Dave Evans.
Regular musical workshops at my home.
Playing and touring full-time in the Circus
Oz band, as Musical Director from 2001. (Here are some of the places
we've been.)
Took up the saxophone.
Completed a degree in improvisation and double bass at the Victorian College of the Arts.
Took up the double bass. Freelanced and played in bands
in Australia and overseas including:
Bohjass: an
everchanging art-rock/jazz ensemble.
Running Joak:
grotesque parodists.
Rococo Pops: just
like a reception band, only crunchy.
Colonial V-Knees: country-punk request karaoke.
The Maelstrom: impassioned proto-soul.
Barcode: my first original band; two horns, bass and
two percussionists.
Buckley's 44:
street band inventing on invented instruments
Hot Cafe: Django's
music.
Musiikki Oy:
freewheeling jazz expressionism.
Ju-Ju: sitar-led, but
it can lead anywhere.
Billy London Orchestra:
original songs from the charismatic Graham Barker.
Trio Grand: acoustic
guitar, bass and drums in a delicate balance.
Bucketrider: extreme
art/rock/jazz.
Hop Jump Big Band: experimentation on a large scale.
Mantramancy: bass clarinet, double bass, harmonic
singing and didgeridu - very rich.
Bloom: silky trip-hop.
Blame the Acrobats: the Flying Fruit Fly Circus band.
Studied philosophy and physics at Melbourne University. Edited the student newspaper, Farrago.
Took up the guitar.