Review & Interview: The Band Whose Name Is a Symbol - Box Set II

One day, a few years ago, Dave 'The Cardinal' Cambridge was waxing lyrically about an album that he had just put up for sale on the Cardinal Fuzz webstore. Said album was 'Pathfinder' by The Band Whose Name Is A Symbol (TBWNIAS) and the way Dave was talking about it made it sound like it was a pretty essential purchase. Now, Mr Cambridge is one of those rare people whose musical taste/opinion I trust implicitly and on that basis I bought the record. Record arrived and duly spun and wow! From that day forth I was hooked. This story is one that has been repeated in many, many homes and in those few short years TBWNIAS have become firm favourites of lovers of all things psych/kraut....actually, belay that...not just favourites but one of the few bands that pretty much everyone can agree are something special. Since 'Pathfinder' TBWNIAS have become permanent fixtures on Cardinal Fuzz...'Masters Of The Mole Hill', a repress of 'Pathfinder', 'Elevator', 'Dronverdose' and the the first box set have all been thrown our way. Add into the mix two releases not on CF - 'Live 2010 Dominion Tavern' on Drone Rock Records and 'Cosmic Curios' on The Weird Beard and you have a band that matches other bands (no names, no pack drill) in prodigious output, the only difference is that the quality is never sacrificed for the sake of 'getting a record out there'.

One of the reasons that TBWNIAS have become so popular in psychedelic circles is the relationship and friendship between band head honcho John Westhaver and Dave Cambridge. It is evident to all that the two hold each other in high regard and there is a genuine bond between the two. John is a man whose knowledge and love of music is legendary, what he knows matched only but what he owns (I never normally get jealous of other peoples record collection but John's....woah!). Match this with Dave's life mission to bring good music to us punters and his obvious love of music (and no slouch on the knowledge front himself!) and you have a team that ensures us psych lovers will never go hungry.

The upshot of all this is that the pre-'Pathfinder' work of TBWNIAS has been hunted high and low to the point of almost extinction - at one stage the prices on Discogs were astronomical...if available at all (most were initially limited to 100 copies..rarer than rocking horse shit!) And so up stepped Dave, a man never to see his customers go without, and 'Box Set I' was born - lush represses of 'Versus The Purveyors Of Conspicuous Authenticity', 'Scrappy Little Jaw' and 'Pathfinder' all together in a tasteful box....a product that not only sounds good but looks good as well. It became one 'the' purchases of that year, winning new admirers and wowing existing ones. Still this did not sate the hunger for material of us vinyl freaks and, a couple years later, 'Box Set II' was born and what an absolute fuckin' banger it is. If purchased direct from Cardinal Fuzz you get: 'Superficial Marks', 'Biker Smells', 'Punks, Twats and Urban Cowboys' and 'Basement Blowouts' LPs (the latter a collection of tracks from the August 2010 and March 2012 Rehearsal Recordings); 3 x CDr's (August 2010 Rehearsal (CDr1), March 2012 Rehearsal (CDr2) and 'Shed Sessions 2010' (CDr3); full colour 12 Page booklet and a full colour double sided A3 Poster. All of this presented in a foiled outer box. It truly is a thing of beauty. Now, you will have to forgive me if I forego my normal 'track by track' review for this because we will be here all day and frankly you will lose the will to live...needless to say it is ESSENTIAL.

'Superficial Marks' was the band's first album, originally released back in 2008. As the band progressed it became more of a 'collective' with a very fluid personnel roll call..those present on 'Superficial Marks' were: John Westhaver - drums, Bill Guerrero - guitar, Nat Hurlow - guitar/keys, Mark McIntyre - bass & Carol Lane - keys on 'Dusty Groove'. As an album it is full of superlative playing (natch) and encompasses such a variety of styles and influences it takes the breath away...from the heavy psychedelic krautrock of opener 'Subterranean City' thru the mutated bluesy/southern rock of 'The Devil's Lettuce' and to 'Proglodyte', an awesome piece of improvised jamming that, at that time, would be the pre-cursor to what came later. It becomes clear that from the outset TBWNIAS were a band who played psych for people like us...the hard working 'man in the street', not for the 'Johnny Come Lately' poseurs with pointy Chelsea boots and flowery shirts.

'Biker Smells' is notable for me personally because if features possibly my fave TBWNIAS track 'Raga Quo-tation' - an eleven minute fuzz fest that sets the hairs on the back of the neck a-tingling. Released originally in 2010 it pretty much picks up where 'Superficial...' left off; full blown and full-blooded jams and improvised freakouts that exhilarate and leave the listener slack-jawed in admiration. Those present (John Westhaver - drums, Bill Guerrero - guitar, Nat Hurlow - guitar/keys, Mark McIntyre - bass) seem to have some kind of telepathic link that brings them all together...a cohesive unit that instinctively know what to play and when. But it's not just the accomplished playing, it's the sheer breadth of influences and 'styles' that inform the tracks - those like 'Circle Of Disharmony' positively reeks of seventies heavy psych while 'Blues In Goddamn' takes in drone, blues and throws in some 'out there' experimental flourishes..opener 'Once We Were' is pure proto-punk..the spirit of MC5 lives on.

'Punks, Twats and Urban Cowboys', as well as having possibly one of the best titles ever, sees even more dimensions added. Opener '7 White Guys and An Arab' comes off like the bastard offspring of Muslimgauze and Can. The track is a nod to the personnel; Hesham Attya providing the middle eastern vibe vocally and with the oud alongside John Westhaver - drums, Bill Guerrero - guitar, Nat Hurlow - guitar/keys, Mark McIntyre - bass, Jason Vaughan - keys/percussion, Dave Reford - guitar, Jan Lis - violin and Erick LaRock on electric lap steel. What about Jazz I hear you scream...well yer covered with 'Jaz-per Normal', a sultry, free jazz odyssey followed by 'At The Gates Of Ra' which adroitly melds the eastern vibe with a jazzy structure....a work of genius. The rest of the album sees 'normal' TBWNIAS service resumed with 'Gatineau Breakdown' Pts 1 and 2, 'Sno-Cave Movement' and 'Inertia Syndrome' providing the kraut tinged flights into the cosmic void. This, as a whole, is one of my favourite albums of theirs.

'Basement Blowouts' is a fascinating document...a collection of rehearsal takes that show that nothing these guys ever do/have done is below par. The tracks have nearly all made it onto albums in a different form or guise and it's fascinating to see how they have evolved through the rehearsal process. 'God II (Eastern Bloc Version) with its free jazz flourishes and pastoral, folky psych breakdowns is a freakin' masterpiece and the last 3 minutes is like 'The Devil went Down To Georgia' played by a krautrock Sabbath...huge and magnificent. Other standouts are the deliciously heavy 'Neu Sedan (Metal Mayhem Version) and a version of 'Sour Kraut (re-imagined)'. Despite it being a collection of rehearsal tracks, this album should be considered as a fully rounded one in its own right...the tracks are not rough and ready like some other 'Outtakes' albums but fully formed and well-rounded and should be firmly in the TBWNIAS canon. If this album were a bootleg, it would be going for ££s (or $$s). Truly brilliant stuff.

'Box Set II' is a triumph...not only is it a collection of absolutely top class music but it is a audio document that brings us the earliest recordings of a band that is the very definition of a 'Cult Band'. It is released on June 8th and there a few left for pre-order over at Cardinal Fuzz here. For a product of this quality, £70 (or £25 for the CD version) is a price that seems ridiculously low - 4 LPs, 3 CDrs, that is hours of quality music - but as mentioned above, Cardinal Fuzz is about love and spreading the good word.

John Westhaver - drummer and head honcho of TBWNIAS - very kindly spared some time to talk about music, Cardinal Fuzz and the band.

So here we are at Box Set number 2....when TBWNIAS started, did you ever think you would reach a point where Box Sets were not only viable but pretty much assured selling out?

Ha! No chance! When Mark McIntyre and I first jammed after the demise of Four ‘N’ Giv’r, we had no real goals other than to start something a little more “out there” and instrumental. From the get go, there was never any thought regarding releasing an album, much less a pile of them over 10 years culminating with not 1, but 2 box sets !!! I mean, that’s fairly crazy when it comes down to it! We had both been in tons of bands, FNG was a 4 year-ish project that yielded two albums, Mark had Weapons of Mass Seduction (2 albums) and prior to that I was in a few bands that had released quite a bit of material. The only reason there are box sets of tbwnis is because of the visionary: Dave Cambridge of Cardinal Fuzz over your side of the pond!

For those who don't know, what is the general ethos of TBWNIAS?

Well…we started out intending to play improvised instrumental rock oriented music. It draws, as is well documented, on a huge swath of styles and influences that come from all members (past and present). Every single player has a deep understanding, respect and love for music and history. All of us have rather huge record collections which we all draw on for spiritual inspiration. We do not copy anyone ever, but our influences are many and can be heard I believe. The idea of tbwnis was built on “let’s have fun”. We are all good friends. These 2 things fuel the collective.

Your knowledge and record collection is legendary and the rest of the guys in the band are exceptionally savvy music-wise as well - it must be a very broad palette of influences from which to work....is there an 'unwritten' code as to what your music should reflect?

Well I kind of mentioned that with the last question. I’m the senior in the group and musically was mentored in the 60’s by an older cousin who played hand percussion in an acid rock group as a teen. He had a killer record collection and I was bitten, with regard to everything by the time I was 7 years old. Incense, the color purple, drums and percussion, long hair, paisley shirts etc. Been doing radio for 38 years sharing my knowledge and working in record shops for 40 years doing the same. I met everyone in my band through my shop (Birdman Sound) and or I was known to them through my radio programs over the years. I’ve known Nathaniel (currently the youngest in the group) the longest as I sold him wax at another shop way back in the late 80’s…Yes we all, even past members of tbwnis, are huge music freaks and all have “deep” collections. The code is “respect the rock” {:>))))

The line-up is a very fluid thing and it seems as though every release will have slightly different personnel involved (with a few mainstays)..is it fair to say that TBWNIAS is a collective rather than a band? With such a fluid membership does it affect the improvisational base of the band?

Once there were four…yes it has been more or less collective oriented. I learned to function in this environment from being a part of the exploding meet for nearly 2 decades, who were based in eastern Canada. All people in the “meet” were the same as tbwnis – deep shit into music and we, the exploding meet never rehearsed, we just played live shows , the majority of which were recorded. Lots of releases there and tons that could be and all professionally recorded. The mentor in that out was my longtime close friend Mark Carmody, who by most people’s opinion is a true musical genius. I modeled tbwnis after the exploding meet in many ways. There are also very many mutual influences….”surrealist-ethno-underworld-jazz/rock fusion”

The other day I saw the band referred to as a 'cult band' ....thoughts on that?

I see that for sure…we are fucking obscure, we don’t play lots, we’ve never toured, local bands and people we know in our hometown never ask us to play shows with them. We get snubbed by festivals (all of which are rubbish anyways), we have released more physical music than any artist from here ever to my knowledge and rarely “chart” at any of the community radio stations either. Charts are largely bogus shit anyways…here today, gone tomorrow…wfc! Guess though if we really wanted to play “the cult” card we’d need some hooded robes, although there’s an awful lot of that going around these dayzzz…. {:>)))) HA !

The Box Set includes previous albums 'Superficial Marks', 'Biker Smells'& 'Punks, Twats and Urban Cowboys' ...firstly the titles??? Anything specific you recall from the recording of each?

“Marks” and “Smells are us as the original 4 piece and they are Live off the floor, no overdubs and are heavy! Love these for the raw punk/psych/prog energy…. “Punks Twats” was an idea I asked Bill Guerrero to help me with and is made up of entirely at the time improve, 1 offs from our dense catalogue of rehearsal recordings, which Bill made. He and I sat down and told nobody else we were “making” this LP…I sorted the goods before hand and in 1 afternoon we assembled that record. I came up with the title which is a fairly “fuck you” sort of statement on tbwnis opinion of much of the same old shit that goes on around town regarding music in general…nasty maybe…however….

I recall you mentioning a while back that 'the tape is always playing' in rehearsals etc and thus the 'Basement Blowout' LP/CDs....there must be a huge wealth of unreleased material just sitting around...can you see the 'Basement Blowouts' becoming a series?

Tons in the vault, since liftoff…ridiculous and daunting…have not even heard it all!!! I find shit all the time from our various methods of recording…Reford with his cassette methods, Bill’s various rigs and now Jason’s zoom….easy to lose track of shit…lately trying to get back on top of that with recent stuff. A series of Blowouts could happen…Weird Beard in the UK did “Cosmic Curios” IT’S THE SAME IDEA AS Blowouts and Punks Twats for that matter….think there’s at least 2 or 3 others already as Bandcamp only albums…anyone want to do a waxing of these let me know. The box set and “Blowouts” in particular is all down to the Cardinal! When he was over here fall of 2017, he hatched the idea. I sent him, a boatload of material and told him I wanted him to choose all the music and do the jacket (with Brett Savage of the Dead Sea Apes). I had no concern whatsoever with that process or with whatever outcome as I respect Dave and trust him without question. His baby, he nurtures it. He did a whackin’ good job as “Blowouts” is ferocious and it looks wicked, Brett knows his shit and also of course did the artwork and layout for our latest album “Droneverdose”.

Like most of us over in the UK, 'found' the band via Cardinal Fuzz ('Pathfinder' for the record) and the relationship between you and Dave 'The Cardinal' appears to be based on mutual love, trust and respect...silly question I know but for the record, how much do you owe the ever growing reputation of the band to Cardinal Fuzz?

Well there’s history covered in the first box set booklet that proves that the relationship goes back beyond “Pathfinder” by a big stretch as Dave was a fan of the radio show where he first heard the symbol. We already had a bit of a reputation with ltd. self releases with the first few, well underground in the usa, Greece etc….Cardinal Fuzz broke that bigger with Pathfinder, no way around it. The flipside of that was me following Cardinal Fuzz releases since day 1 also. Think our relationship seems to be maybe destined in a weird way. It’s great relationship with no strings attached. We are friends in the real sense of the word. We plan on moving forward as a band and continue to record. Cardinal Fuzz is not a guarantee as the vessel and we all are aware of that. If the band tanked tomorrow or Cardinal Fuzz ceased to exist, Dave and I would still be friends and excitedly talk about, music, dogs, world events etc., the same as we always have.

To you personally John, that you love music is an absolute given and you and I have chatted for hours about krautrock, kosmische, punk, heavy psych and experimental shit (to name but a few 'genres') but if push comes to shove what do you look for in an album?

I’m a person going to the grave that believes that all the very best music was made between 1968 and 1974. I have a bucket of favorite groups. When I hear any new shit, it always has to speak to me with an understanding that has to be relevant to the history involved in getting whoever to where this work is at as presented. There’s fuk loads galore of contrived, “same old, same old”…it ain’t rocket science to play music, let’s not mince words, but there has to be reverence to the old masters and the best in any genre or I simply get bored by it…edge and heart are always evident in any of the good stuff as well. If you know music, you can feel that stuff, right of the get go!

This is a really unfair question bearing mind the size of your record collection but.....Desert Island Discs time....what 5 would you rescue from a fire (and that's based on the music rather than value!)

> Hawkwind – Space Ritual, Can – Delay, Captain Beyond – S/T, Gong - Camembert Electrique and Miles Davis –Dark Magus.

Your 'fanbase' over here is growing daily and so the question we all want to ask is ....will you ever make it over here for a gig or 2?

Think about it every day Andy…maybe next year…hope that ain’t too late !