Ballister is a hard hitting trio having one foot at Chicago and the other one at Oslo and it’s comprised of Dave Rempis (Saxophones) Fred Lonberg-Holm (Cello & Electronics) and Paal Nilssen-Love (Percussion). Dave Rempis was a member of The Vandermark Five, and has developed many Chicago-based groups for which he is currently known. These include The Rempis Percussion Quartet, The Engines, The Rempis/Rosaly Duo, The Outskirts,The Rempis/Daisy Duo, Bishop/Rempis/Kessler/Zerang, and Wheelhouse. Past working groups include Triage, and the Dave Rempis Quartet. Many of these groups have been documented on the Okkadisk, 482 Music, Not Two, Solitaire, and Utech record labels. Rempis also performs and tours with Ken Vandermark’s Territory Band and Resonance.
Chicago based cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm has played and studied music in a variety of situations from the Juilliard School to the gutter. A former student of Anthony Braxton, Morton Feldman, Bunita Marcus and Pauline Oliveros, his primary projects are his Valentine Trio and The Lightbox Orchestra. He is also a member of a number of ongoing collective projects (The Boxhead Ensemble, The Friction Brothers with Michaels Zerang and Colligan, The Flatlands Collective, Keefe Jackson’s Fast Citizens) He also currently plays in groups led by Joe McPhee Peter Brotzmann, and Ken Vandermark. He has contributed cello sounds to numerous recording projects by rock groups including Califone, Freakwater, God-is-my-co-pilot, L’altra, Smog, Super Chunk, US Maple, Wilco and many others.
Paal Nilssen-Love has stated his position as one of the most profiled drummers in Europe today, he has made numberless performances at festivals and clubs in Europe and USA and participated on more than 50 recordings. He plays in several bands and project such as Atomic, Element, The Thing, Scorch Trio, School Days, Territory Band and collaborate with artists such as Pat Metheny, Peter Brötzmann, Ken Vandermark, Joe McPhee, Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, Terrie Ex (The Ex), John Butcher, Lasse Marhaug – along many others. He runs his own annual festival – All Ears – for improvised music in Oslo.
Guy Peters wrote at freejazz.org: “Let’s hope that those who were at the Hideout in Chicago on June 16th of last year have sufficiently recovered in the meantime, because based on this live recording, they must at least have had their eyebrows scorched off.” – and I think this is kind of everything you can say about this band to describe the…. better watch the video!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKravYxQvZw]
This free-wheeling trio was an idea discussed for several years by the band members before they eventually met at a closed session in 2009. Since the session felt great, they went ahead with some live dates in 2010, first with a concert on June 16th 2010 at the Hideout in Chicago, released as “Bastard String,” – Recorded, Mixed and Mastered by David Zuchowski. Cover By Lasse Marhaug. Then with a US tour in November of that year. Although that limited edition release sold out within a few weeks of its release, it’s now available for free download at Candy Dinner.
Their second CD, “Mechanisms” was recorded also live on the last date of that tour, again at the Hideout, and was released in April 2012 on Clean Feed Records. The band did their second North American tour that month in conjunction with the new cd, with seven concerts in the U.S. and Canada.
There is no limit between madness and creativity, this is a free flow of energy and inspiration. Not for everybody, not suitable in any moment, but definitively hell of a ride. Now I’m gonna take some time out, need to recover….
