Mark Holub & Colin Webster plus Dead Days Beyond Help

Event information

Colin Webster and Mark Holub
Are a British free jazz duo based in London. Combining high energy saxophone, and barrages of hyperkinetic drumming their live sets move between raucous ebullience, grinding negativity, and reflective meditation.

Colin and Mark began collaborating on improvised projects in 2005. In 2010 they recorded the trio album ‘Koi Bombs’ with keyboardist Toby McLaren, which was released by Gaffer Records in 2011. The same year they recorded a duo album which was released on Colin’s Raw Tonk label in 2012. The album contains 10 short and intense improvised tracks pulling in many influences outside of the realm of free jazz - including free improvisation, avant rock, doom metal, noise and more.

Other recent collaborations include a trio tour with French guitarist Sheik Anorak. The pair have also released several albums, and played many major European festivals and venues with their primary projects Led Bib (Holub) and Anthony Joseph and The Spasm Band (Webster).

”..the saxophone comes flailing out to meet the drums’ stuttering attack for a fleeting minute of all-out brawl, and the two tumble into eachother in some sort of euphoric, destructive celebration of their liberation.” - Jack Chuter - ATTN Magazine

”..blast of belligerent, free improv skronk with raucous sax and typically kinetic drumming. …Webster pushes his instruments to the limit with vocalised sounds and slap tonguing among his favourite techniques as he demonstrates on “We’re Done Here”. He’s an excellent technician with a full grasp of the contemporary improviser’s vocabulary.” - Ian Mann - Jazzmann Blog

Dead Days Beyond Help
Formed in 2006 and played their first show in February 2007. Alex Ward initially came to attention in free improvisation circles for his work as a clarinettist with the likes of Derek Bailey and Eugene Chadbourne, while his interests in rock music and composition first became apparent with the band Camp Blackfoot. His guitar playing has been featured with improv power-trio N.E.W. (with Steve Noble and John Edwards), and in recent live collaborations with such avant-rock luminaries as Tatsuya Yoshida, Shoji Hano and Weasel Walter. Dead Days Beyond Help teams Alex with virtuosic drummer Jem Doulton (who also has more than a small hand in the work of disturbing pop visionary Mr. Ron Jetson) for an unrestricted exploration of the possibilities of the guitar/drums duo. Their debut album "Access Denied!" (Copepod, 2009) featured a set of 9 compositions by Ward, ranging from intricate and breakneck instrumentals to structurally-straightforward but emotionally scouring song material; while a subsequent limited edition release "The Verbing" (Copepod, 2011) showcased the duo's totally improvised work. Since then, a deluge of new material written jointly by Ward and Doulton has taken DDBH's music far further into uncharted waters, simultaneously more epic and more mind-scramblingly dense.

"formidably knotty, complex music which avoids the dry geekiness of US math rock while beating it hands down in terms of intensity and fluidity... Ward’s guitar work leaps between metallic crunch, Fripp-esque tangle and Chadbourne choogle with astounding energy and precision, while Doulton’s drumming swings with commensurate joy and fury" - Derek Walmsley, The Wire.