11,000 BitchesJust some jottings owing to my frustration with trying to find a home on disc for 11,000 Switches' electronic music of the 1980s. I may be deluded, but I think it was some of the most forward looking and definitive stuff that I was ever involved with, and I think Dan Williams - my collaborator in that project - feels much the same way about it in regard to himself. It's a very limited project, as we only lasted from 1984-87 and produced maybe about 30 usable pieces, perhaps not even that many, which makes compiling the best work onto a single CD relatively easy. Wed also had a reunion in 2001 that produced at least one very successful piece.
I've been sending some samples around, and I get the same answer seemingly every time - "sounds like (or reminds me of) The Severed Heads." What?! What the hell is The Severed Heads?
Turns out they are a group from Australia, contemporary to Dan and I, that we never heard of. Well, practically never - long about 1987-88 I do remember we got in a compilation that had one track by this group, we played it on Art Damage maybe one time, and it wasn't anything that bowled us over, just another act that was working with tapes and electronics that we didn't know anything about but broadcast for the sake of comprehension. And that was it - we never played, or even saw anything by them again and they had no impact on us whatsoever. Among Australian groups we knew SPK far better and played more often, but our work was not like theirs either.
But now we are being judged by, compared to, and dismissed as a result of, our alleged resemblance to Severed Heads. We do have a piece called "Heads Without Bodies" that remains kind of popular in the Cincinnati underground - it one of our last pieces, dates from 1987, but any resemblance or reference to the Australian group is purely coincidental, and I mean that. This goes beyond professional jealousy; it is a case where one's achievements becomes valueless because the critical establishment awards the prize for an innovation to another, and sees no need to look beyond into differing, completely independent trends.
I am reminded of a Clark Ashton Smith story called "The Cave of Kai" where trophies and victories of warriors are held in a cave guarded by an impassible, undefeatable giant - the warriors can stand at the mouth of the cave and shout all they want, but the giant will not allow them to pass and claim their victories. If you like, or liked, the electronic version of 11,000 Switches, and would like a CD of your own to listen to and wonder where you can get one, for now at least, it's in The Cave of Kai.
Uncle Dave Lewis
Labels: 1980s, bands, electronics, pioneers