In the dream, Clayton Thomas and I approached each other from either side of a wide opening in the forest, a meadow. The grass was not tall, being cut or burned back recently. The sky had dark but even clouds, no precipitation, yet the air was heavy. Upon convening in the middle of the field we decided to form a band but we needed a drummer. I pulled, from the waking-world, a plan to collaborate with Mike Pride and volunteered him as the missing piece to our newly formed trio. Clayton agreed.

In reality, I had shared a couple bills with Clayton and had many mutual collaborators, but the connection was tenuous at best. Considering the geography imposed on the three of us, Mike in New York, Clayton in Australia and I in Kansas, the possibility in “normal” times would have been improbable. But dreams, sometimes, seem more real than our waking life, and so a sonic alliance was formed. It turned out that both of them were familiars and excited about the prospect of collaborating. Quite quickly and with a reliable facility, Dream Band formulated an egalitarian process for introducing musical ideas and fleshing them out. A style that is captured here on these recordings.


Shawn E. Hansen
*********************

I've always believed that improvising is a together-thing. You are in the room together, you are sharing the moment, not just in sound, but in space. It's improvising aligned to Derek Bailey's phrase 'the NOW now' – playing to understand the heightened 'present'. That's where I see my responsibility as a player and organiser – create environments where this group of people can be 100% present. The aesthetic outcome is a byproduct. And of course, connected to recording... well that's the next byproduct.

When Shawn wrote to me about making a record from afar, I was in the midst of the covid isolation that launched us all into our own homes. All the gigs were gone, and people couldn't even visit to play music in private. And so the strict adherence to an improvising philosophy; 'we got to be in the same room, take the baffles down, squeeze into the drum booth, etc... that was out the window.

In an improvising situation, part of the music's power comes from each playing being able to influence each moment. But the way this recording worked was all layering response. One of us creating a full piece, another responding, and the third adding something essential, somehow. It wasn't easy and it was a process of both listening as if the playing was live, and recording, knowing full well you're creating an artifact.

The opposite of the culture we're all coming from. And so this music is a product of a potently shared space, but it just happens to have been one that stretched around the globe for a minute, and changed the way we experience 'together'.

Clayton Thomas
*********************

This produce of curious, deep-listening:
Schism-muck or chasm-much?
Neither?
Generous with the patience and heavy on the grace.
Moccasin cams, Cymssmyc mescaline smock, Cesum mics, and just the right amount of audio-seam scum.
This is no scam.
A dream band…

Mike Pride
*********************
-This is album 7 in the "12 for 40 Series"-

The previous 4 albums are:
#1- drums, august (MP solo)
#2- marimba, july (MP solo)
#3- glockenspiel, october (MP solo)
#4- Mike Pride & id m theft able (BUNDA LOVE) - Foreman's Mustache
#5- Mike Pride & Jamie Saft (KALA$HNIKOV) - Indica
#6- Mike Pride - Blemishes (synthesizer/electronic pieces)

Each of the 12 albums will be available for ONE YEAR, then available only as part of a 12 album set.
Please spread the word about this series & thank you for your support!

www.mikepride.com