Rhys Chatham, John Schott, Ava Mendoza, Bill Orcutt, George Chen, and John Krausbauer, with Lisa Mezzacappa (bass) and Jordan Glenn (drums). Recorded on June 7, 2013 at The LAB in San Francisco, Other Minds presents a preview event for its upcoming presentation of Rhys Chatham’s “A Secret Rose,” a piece for 100 guitars. During this event Rhys Chatham introduces two of his earlier compositions for multiple electric guitars, electric bass, and drums. In his introduction for the first work, an excerpt of “Guitar Trio,” Chatham tells how in the 1970s he was interested in minimalism but after hearing the band The Ramones perform he was inspired by their three cord punk songs to expand his own guitar compositions from one to two chords. The resulting work, “Guitar Trio” is a driving, pulsating, yet never quite overwhelming barrage of guitars and overtones, that never seems to get dull. Then after introducing the band, Chatham, jokingly remarks that the next piece is based on a precise tuning system going back to Pythagoras before the band rips into his “The Out of Tune Guitar No. 3.” The event then concludes with Charles Amirkhanian and Chatham talking about the upcoming November 2013 concert featuring “A Secret Rose,” describing some of the challenges and joys of presenting a work for 100 guitars as well as taking a few questions from the very enthusiastic audience.
