Drumheller
are Eric Chenaux (guitar), Rob Clutton (bass), Nick Fraser (drums),
Doug Tielli (trombone), and Brodie West (alto sax). Everybody composes
and everybody improvises. Drumheller plays out of jazz. And there are
family resemblances to be found (if you’re looking for them) to other
out-of-jazz milieus, whether they are (or have been) in Amsterdam,
Empty Bottle Chicago, Downtown New York. But this music could only be
made in Toronto. The tensions between what is tight and what is slack,
what is sharp and what is sweet, what is together and what is alone,
what is multiple and what is single, and (most of all) the fact that
the group never has to demonstrate to or clarify for the listener their
intensions around any of these tensions, are all allowed in their
hometown. Each musician in Drumheller brings very different musical
predilections to the project and all of the group’s resources are
present in their sound: for sure anything jazz; but also experimental
free improvisation, post-punk, traditional folk, formal composition,
noise, and all manner of groove music. Anything can be
allowed, but never for the sake of allowance: it has to make Drumheller
music.