BIOGRAPHY
Chris Black has played nearly every instrument you don't blow into with nearly every conflagration of degenerate sound junkies within shouting distance, starting out as upright bassist for Shoulders in the early 90's.
From there, he hopped continents and sat in with Parisian rockers Les Wampas for a couple of records and tours before returning to Texas to pursue his love of gambling.
In 2000 he met Graham Reynolds of the Golden Arm Trio, and toured around the U.S. as upright bassist and guitarist for that hair-raising improvisational eutastrophe for several years.
He soon formed a number of collections of noisemakers of his own, most recently and notably Gadjo Bango, a name and idea he carries with him still. It's Romany for crooked stranger, more or less, and was a dark-roasted, gypsified, tuba-driven rock group before disbanding in 2006.
Jericho is Chris Black's first solo release, and was recorded with upright bass, banjo, guitar, accordion, violin, kick drums, piano, saw blades, brake drums, tambourines and maracas, all acquired by chance, and all played by Black himself.
Black recently completed a forty-day solo tour of the United States in support of Jericho, and another, longer trip is in the works for the late summer and fall. An EP of music for violin and abused contrabass is planned for completion in time for the summer tour.
ASSORTED PRESS:
"Armed with an upright bass, acoustic guitar, banjo and live loops, Black's music veers from hushed to hair-raising."
The Onion, March 1st, 2007
"The dark crunch of strings rips through the speakers as a warning to all passersby. This is no ordinary musician. Reaching beyond the boundaries of genre ... Chris Black debuts his solo album, a collection of more throb than beat, instruments churning and bleeding all over this canvas."
By Darcie Stevens, Austin Chronicle, Thursday, July 20th, 2006.
"The instrumentation may change throughout the album, but the vibe remains the same: This is dark stuff."
The Tucson Weekly, February 8th, 2007
"Jericho is a dark trip, an 11-track bender, a 48-minute dunking in murky waters vibrating with upright bass, growling vocals and perfectly placed four-letter words ... it's a little hard not to fall prey to its sinister charm."
By Skylar Browning, Montana Independent
"...and the musician Chris Black steps up to unleash a tight series of gypsy improvisations on his excellent violin . . . The audience, as Black whacks the devil into his fiddlestick, is just about grooving."
By Wayne Alan Brenner, Austin Chronicle, Thursday, August 27, 2004
"It's noise and frenetic, but never chaotic or unfocused. Holding court above it all is Black, yowling into an old-fashioned microphone like the bastard spawn of Nick Cave and Diamanda Galas, spinning tales of good intentions gone bad and love affairs gone south with the relish of a carnival barker hawking the bearded fat lady."
By Michael Toland, High Bias, February 17, 2002
"Un comble. Voilá Les Wampas qui commettent, sans crier gare, ce qui s'annonce comme l'un des albums francais essentiels de cette nouvelle année...La faute, au premier chef, á Chris Black, l'habituel bassiste des Shoulders, convié sur ce disque en catastrophe, et qu'on ne tardera pas á surnommer le métronome ondulant."
By Cyril Deluermoz, Rock & Folk, February, 1993
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