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Larry Thrasher




Last Edit/Update
29 May, 2000

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THEE ENGLISH STORY

Mr. Greg Interviews Larry Thrasher

Larry Thrasher has been collaborating with Genesis P-Orridge ever since P-Orridge moved to California in the early Nineties. An accomplished percussionist, electronic programmer, and musician, Larry has worked with P-Orridge in various incarnations known as Psychic TV, Thee Splinter Test, and Thee Majesty. Larry recently returned from playing with Psychic TV and Thee Majesty in England. Being the kind soul he is, Larry agreed to be interviewed about his visit in England and some of his upcoming projects. (Be sure to look for future articles about Larry's solo projects.)

How did you like England?

Mr. Thrasher: London is so vast in it's diversity I couldn't even begin to comprehend it. I do sort of understand why Gen left (Scotland Yard aside). The town seemed very trendy musically. Gen told me that everyone in London is busy running around looking for the "next big thing". And that that "next big thing" will last two weeks so they look for the new "next big thing" forgetting the last "next big thing". The London music scene also seems to be very much driven by the NME and Melody Maker etc. Funny thing I heard about these mags from a "very influential" music bus person in London was that you could easily buy your way on to the cover by bribing the editors with trips to Paris and expensive nights on the town. Who-ever ends up on the covers was just the group or label offering the best vacation package. I think in the states blow jobs are the perks of choice.

What type of impression did the Londoners make upon you?

Mr. Thrasher: I would love to go back again and just hang more. I was so busy that I couldn't really jostle over philology with the natives. I'm very interested in the place because it holds the psychological keys to this country in many ways. The roots of all our evils are in England and that fascinates me. I feel I could gain much understanding of why certain things in the world are like they are if I understand the English more. Colonialism, etiquette, mannerisms, expressions and interplay between the sexes and races from England has cast seeds in all four directions of the globe leaving it's mark for good or for worst.

Did you play at Colchester or just at the Royal Festival Hall?

Mr. Thrasher: Both. Colchester show was in this awesome 15th century cathedral - really nice vibe. Colchester is the oldest town in England. It's where the Romans first came. Also got a reputation for burning witches at the stake I was told, more witches burned in Colchester than any other place in the world. You could still smell the smoldering witches at this show - simply unbelievable.

How do you feel the performance went with Thee Majesty?

Mr. Thrasher: To be quite honest I don't think a large fraction of the audience there at the Royal Festival Hall was ready for a sound collage/spoken word performance. In the states you would be able to hear a pin drop if Gen was standing on stage doing poetic/sonics. A lot of Thee Majesty is about space and silence. Gen would start setting up the next piece by pausing a long time and some yob would yell out "get on with it" or "show us your penis". Gen, being Gen, is very good with hecklers. He will invite them in to the performance and embrace the dialectic. So that part of the performance really became mummy Gen allowing his more unruly children to expose their narrow-minded yobness. I enjoyed the pieces we did. With me (and performing) it goes two ways no matter what I'm doing during the performance; I'm either completely absorbed or I'm self-conscious. If I'm self conscious I don't like the performance. I'm very natural at improvised music and it's very easy for me to be 100% focused and there is no real sense of me.
Gen is always a joy to be on stage with, I thought Gen was brilliant during Thee Majesty's set. Thee Majesty really does reflect splatterings of Gen's early history with Coum Transmissions & TG from a perspective of reflection and wisdom of life. I got a lot of very good feedback regarding TM's set from people after the show.

Did you play at all with the PTV line-up?

Mr. Thrasher: Oh definitely. I was the mysterious girly-girl in the Kimono. I was doing all the weird stuff.

What did you think of their performance?

Mr. Thrasher: I had a blast - that was my intent and I succeeded. Gen was fuckin on it. The band was probably tighter than ALL 23 of the live records combined. I loved it. Unfortunately we didn't know until 5 minutes before we went on that there was some curfew at 1 a.m. We were there to fuckin go all night. We really were. We were shocked when we found out we had such a short time left. I guess everyone assumed we knew.

Did you have any time to meet with them, hang out, or form any impressions of Gen's earlier collaborators?

Mr. Thrasher: Of course I spent the whole week with them. We rehearsed during the week and then did the two shows.
I really loved Alex and Matthew (from the old lineup) I don't know what to say - it felt like family immediately. These are very talented yet very modest people with big big hearts. They were totally on top of it as players. I would love to work with them more in any capacity. Playing with Alex is sort of like playing with an original British invasion principal. He's got the one in a million tone and a repertoire of every 3 minute song ever written. I had no idea he was so talented. You'd never find a player like him in all of California - he's the real McCoy - a British pop-rocker! - and not like all these little wimpy derivative bands in England now like Blur and Oasis and what not.

What do you like most about playing with Thee Majesty?

Mr. Thrasher: I like the hearing Gen's words. I like hearing him mutate phrases and seeing new phrases evolve and unfold. A bit like watching a flower bloom... macro lense-slow mo.

How does your performance with TM differ from working under the name PTV?

Mr. Thrasher: TM is a natural progression from where Gen and I left PTV. Trip Reset was really an exploration of ambient states and impressions of youth and swirls of dream-like hallucinations. TM is further stripped down. We are building a new direction for us and allowing the collaboration to take on it's own life. Sort of following the collective bliss in it's positive and negative manifestations. People won't be fully keen to TM until after we're all dead - you can trust me on this. I think there is not enough time to digest it right now.

How do you like working with Bryin Dall?

Mr. Thrasher: Bryin and I both share a deep mutual love and respect for Hank Williams. We're homies! Unfortunately I have only played live with him twice now. In SF supporting Pigface and in London. Both times were pure joy and I hope to cross paths much more often. I try to work off of harmonics from his guitar so there is a complete melding of the sound. He then builds off of my layer and very quickly we each have an idea who's doing what. This is a great state to be on stage for me. I would maybe equate it with an out of body experience. You really just remain very calm and enjoy the ride. Things shift and move around you and it's all there for you to behold. Gen adds the narrative and the story unfolds like pure ether.

How was the performance in England different than the premiere in Stockholm? Which did you enjoy more?

Mr. Thrasher: They were so different in so many ways that it's a tough question. The band in Stockholm was Gen fronting Bachir and Mustapha Attar, Chandra Shukla and Myself. It was the first time we had all worked together and it was more of a ground breaking situation than a anything else. The sound was also problematic in Stockholm on stage. So that takes away from our experience. It's one of the prices we pay to accommodate larger venues (as opposed to really traditional settings like mosques, caves and yurts).

What other projects are currently engaged in? Any upcoming releases or performances?

Mr. Thrasher: Chandra Shukla and myself are working on several fronts together. We have started a series of record labels which will soon be releasing titles. We have two main thrusts at the moment. Thrasher qawwal, and the trilogy project which includes Jon Weber. Thrasher Qawwal is an English qawwali group I've been developing for 12 years now. Qawwali music for those unfamiliar with it is a folk music of north India and Pakistan that has roots in Sufism and Persian poetry. It's Tabla and dholak driven (Chandra on tabla)with me singing and currently we've been working with a guitarist from New York named RB Korbett. She was in Pussy Galore, Hellvis and King Missle. We're currently recording a single to release this fall on our own Del Ruba Records.
The Trilogy Project is actually three different projects interelated conceptually by a symbology/cosmology written by Chandra Shukla and me. The projects are XX, The Numina, and Splooge. XX is minimal noise and drone beds.
The Numina is more hard techno, Splooge is balls to the walls 180 bpm death-noise. Jon Weber is the father/brain-child/joy-stick behind Splooge. We are presently talking to several labels to license titles. We also hope to do some live stuff soon. We're getting a lot of calls from the Scandinavian regions to play live there so I'm sure some shows will come soon.

You can visit Larry Thrasher on the web at
http://www.thrasherqawwal.com

Copyright Das Romanie Booksellers 1999

Thought/Quote For The Day From:  www.thrasherqawwal.com  22 June, 1999

The past weighs us down, the thought of the future fills us with fear ---
So we stick to mill-treading and back-slapping and a glassy tear.
Each one of us was with Jesus in his Is-ness
Before Abraham the father of nations was.

Francis Brabazon