Axolotl disbanded in late 2002 as its members dispersed to focus on other interests. A studio recording of the band at its high-water mark will be released sometime in 2004. Many thanks to everyone who supported Axolotl during its five-year run in Seattle. Band members continue to work with each other in aggregates such as Iron Kim Style and the Dennis Rea–Fred Chalenor–Randy Doak trio.
AXOLOTL is an exploratory instrumental rock quartet featuring two of the Northwest's most imaginative and sonically adventurous guitarists, Dennis Rea and Bill Horist, with versatile electric bassist Ryan Berg and multidimensional drummer Randy Doak. Named for an outlandish primitive salamander species, Axolotl performs richly varied sets of strikingly original compositions ranging from maniacal punk-jazz to stirring anthems to twisted neo-metal, interspersed with explosive improvisations. Rea and Horist's guitar playing is all over the sonic map in this group, propelled by Berg's huge bass grooves and Doak's deft jazz-rock drumming.
Founded in 1992 in Taiwan, Axolotl reformed in Seattle in 1997 around original members Rea and Berg. A year later the group was augmented by guitarist Bill Horist, whose mind-bending playing greatly expands Axolotl's sonic palette. The group's latest member, Randy Doak, ties it all together with his imaginative polyrhythmic drumming. The group has performed to enthusiastic audiences at venues throughout the Northwest, including the artsEdge and Tonehole festivals and on the Sonarchy live radio hour. Axolotl is currently recording its first CD for release in 2003.
Critical praise for Axolotl
"Axolotl will blow you away. Their original compositions will make you rethink and redeposit all that you thought you knew. Call it post-modern classical. Call it punk-jazz. If you're the kind of person open to new and experimental forms of live performance, you can't go wrong here."
—Kreg Hasegawa, The Stranger"There's as much guitar played in this band as in most musical genres. Here, joined by a powerhouse rhythm team, are two unparalleled, equally idiosyncratic players, both able to lovingly and hauntingly distort the instrument's usual sounds."
— Earshot Jazz"Two guitarists who've got plenty o' personality, Dennis Rea and Bill Horist are each abusing their instrument in different ways—Horist with implements, preparations, and processors that fracture and reassemble the sound, Rea with an unrelenting force to his notes and screams. Their quartet Axolotl explore all manner of metal jazz and other rough trade."
— Seattle Weekly"...two of the most irresponsible guitarists in Seattle"
— Seattle Weekly"Bastard Jazz"
— The Stranger"Seattle guitarist Bill Horist gets a lot of run in these pages, but only because he's one of the most shape-shifting (and reliable) improv-fringe guitarists in the region, able to switch from industrial noise to space-monster prog or scathing outjazz without pausing for breath. Here, he Portland-premieres his Axolotl project with another head-spinning Seattle guitarist, Dennis Rea, whose list of previous collaborators includes Dutch free-jazz drummer Han Bennink, French composer Hector Zazou, German synth-twister Klaus Schulze and, perhaps most tellingly for our purposes here, American prog king Trey Gunn. Reports of Axolotl appearances up north are spoken in reverent yet excited tones. Phrases like "evil mathematical equations" are employed to describe Axolotl's intense instrumental workouts that will no doubt drive precision-minded guitar technicians into a tongue-wagging frenzy of envy."
— Willamette Week, Portland"The music took on an almost physical manifestation, as if evil mathematical equations with beastly fur and claws were spinning around me like a thousand little winged Tasmanian devils, all nipping at my flesh through the blinding vortex."
—Pete Comley"Like a grizzly bear on acid"
—Richard Huos
Bassist Ryan Berg is a founding member of Axolotl and has been a part of the Seattle music scene since 1994. He currently plays in HighRize (an acid-jazz quintet that traverses the boundaries of jazz, funk, rock, and free improvisation) and was a founding member of avant-jazz free improv quartet State, power-pop rock quartet King Size American, and klezmer-jazz trio the BJs.
Randy Doak has been playing drums for more than 30 years and is well versed in many styles of music including rock, jazz, and free improvisation. His command of odd meters and diverse styles makes him an ideal fit as the newest member of Axolotl. In the late 70s, he was a member of swing show band The New Deal Rhythm Band. In the 80s, he gigged and recorded with the new wave band Connections before going on to study with free-jazz legend Jerry Granelli at the Cornish Institute. Since then he has been freelancing in a wide variety of settings around the Seattle area. He is also a founding member of Awkward Star, a group that combines atmospheric, melodic pop with spoken word and musical improvisation.
Since relocating to Seattle from southwest Michigan, Bill Horist has established himself as a noted improvising guitarist along the West Coast. He has collaborated with Chris Cutler, Tatsuya Yoshida (of Ruins), Climax Golden Twins, Amy Denio, KK Null, Uchihashi Kazuhisa, William Hooker, Luigi Archetti, Christoph Gallio, Lesli Dalaba, Paul Hoskin, Jessica Lurie, Timothy Young, Mason Jones, Jeff Greinke, Masa, Tucker Martine, and Yoko Murau, as well as members of Critters Buggin, Maktub, Wayne Horvitz's Pigpen, and the Billy Tipton Memorial Saxophone Quartet. He has been a member of the bands Nobodaddy, Tourniquet Trio, Phineas Gage, UnFolkUs, Tablet, and Zahir, and currently plays with Axolotl and free-shredding trio Ghidra (featuring Wally Shoup). These encounters have resulted in projects that range from rock to ambient, from free jazz to industrial. As a solo artist, Bill's improvised, prepared guitar work is informed by Hans Reichel, Fred Frith, and Henry Kaiser, but shows a unique style and personality. In 1998 Bill toured the United States in support of his first CD Soylent Radio. His second solo CD, Songs from the Nerve Wheel, was released in 2000.
Dennis Rea's sonically adventurous guitar playing is informed by modern jazz, free improvisation, experimental composition, out-rock, and the music of East and Central Asia. He has collaborated with such innovative musicians as Han Bennink, Hector Zazou, Stuart Dempster, Klaus Schulze, Cui Jian, Wang Yong, India Cooke, Toshi Makihara, Trey Gunn, K. Leimer, Wally Shoup, Fred Chalenor, and Eyvind Kang. He has given hundreds of performances in the U.S., China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and Germany, and has appeared on nearly two dozen recordings. Between 1989 and 1996 he organized three of the earliest unofficial concert tours of China by progressive Western musicians. He currently performs with Axolotl, Jeff Greinke's LAND, free-jazz juggernaut Stackpole, and singer/songwriter Eric Apoe, among many other projects.
Photos by Charles Estus; Dennis Rea photo by Xiao Quan
Program from Axolotl concert at New Phase Art Space, Tainan, Taiwan, 10.18.92
Axolotls emeritus
Tainan, Taiwan 1992: Ryan Berg (bass), Alex Crane (keyboards), Matthew Clark (bass, vocals, drum programming), Mark DeForge (bass, vocals), Dennis Rea (guitar, vocal), Axel Schunn (guitar), Jordan Su Chau Rong (vocal)
Seattle, 1998-2000: Jay Jaskot (drums), Olli Klomp (drums)Thanks a little from Axolotl!
Dennis Rea | LAND | Stackpole | Writing | Live at the Forbidden City
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