A Bigger MOUTH will consist of all or some of the following:
Steve Noble : Percussion
Pascal Marzan : Guitar
Gabriel Keen : Keyboard
Marcio Matto : Double Bass
Paul Taylor : Trombone
Mike Walter : Saxophone & Synthesiser
Doors 6:30 | music 7pm | £10 cash on the door
The brainchild of Mike Walter, A Bigger MOUTH is an expansion of the preexisting duo ‘MOUTH’. The band consists of Alan Wakeman (saxophones), Gabriel Keen (piano), Lu Edmonds (cumbus), Mark Roberts (percussion), Mike Walter (saxophone and synthesiser) and Paul Taylor (trombone). Walter’s aim was to take these accomplished musicians out of their individual genres and put them into a different environment – one where the six personalities could have an open meeting.
Each of the bandmates draw on their own influences from jazz, middle eastern, pop, rock, improvisation, classical and Latin music. They have the experience to back it up, having played with everyone from post-punk’s Public Image Ltd to Afropop star Youssou n’Dour to R&B’s Neneh Cherry to Soft Machine.
The ‘Bigger’ version of MOUTH established themselves with the release of their debut album ‘Freedom Pass’ in 2024 which was recorded at the same session as ‘Band Stand’. The band members range not only in musical backgrounds, but also in age. This is the inspiration behind the name of their debut album, explains Walter, joking that “at least three of us have a freedom pass”.
‘Band Stand’ is a high energy, high intensity exploration into wild, new and adventurous areas of music. The unconventional instrumentation is the cement of the band’s unique sound as a sextet and each new track brings its own strong narrative. It is left to the imagination of the listener to determine what that might be. ‘Loose Particles’ for example, with its combination of edgy electronics, howling trombone and billowing piano, brings to mind some kind of futuristic steam-punk spaceship. As the tune progresses, it might be about to take off but then something explodes, electronics crackle and fizz and only rubble is left.
Each number moves and morphs in these unexpected ways, like creative streams of collective consciousness. Grooves turn abrupt corners without letting you get too comfortable and harmony is subject to reform at every beat. The result is a wealth of interesting and extremely varied group improvisations. The cacophonous single ‘Structural Nonsense’ proves to be only a taster of what is to come. Described as “a percussive and playful exploration of tension and release” the tune gives the impressions of something winding up to breaking point and then chaotically unravelling. Saxophones flail, dancing over a relentlessly janky backbeat, then the piano scurries as flaring electronics burn through the texture.
