Malgorzata Haduch
On Tuesday, October 20, celebrated Dutch band the Ex will be playing at the Sugar Maple in Bay View. The gig marks the beginning of their first North American tour since 2011. The Ex will be joined at the Sugar Maple, and for the rest of the 10-day tour, by a longtime collaborator, Chicago multi-instrumentalist Ken Vandermark.
If you haven’t heard or even heard of the Ex, here’s a brief overview.
In 1979, a group of punk-loving Dutch kids decided to start a band and so, naturally, they drew straws to see who would play what instrument. “The Ex” was chosen as the band’s name due to the brevity that made short work for graffiti artists. The music has been in a continual state of transformation over the past decades, making categorization difficult (not to mention unnecessary). Since the Ex defies common labels, commentators often fall back on creative hyphenizations. Dutch-Anarcho-Punk. Rock n’ Free Jazz Folk.
Categories aside, the Ex shares with many of the aforementioned genres a Dionysian abandon, a commitment to improvisation and an eagerness to collaborate with musicians of diverse traditions. In the pastiche-friendly, DIY spirit of the Ex, here are some insightful excerpts from interviews that illuminate the band’s history and aesthetic philosophy.
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On being considered an “anarchist band”
Andy Moore (guitarist in the Ex since 1990): "Well, I think we never called ourselves an “anarchist” band. I think that was a name that was inflicted on us by probably fans and journalists. It probably came from the fact that we released this double 7″ single called “The Spanish Revolution from 1936″, that’s probably where it started. But before that The Ex were considered a punk band. So when we released that we became an anarcho-punk band. But we never ever thought of ourselves like that. Of course we were totally into that revolution, and sort of their anarchist philosophy, but we are also into many many other things. It’s quite a multi-pluralist sort of group, with lots of ideas. So we don’t have a need to give ourselves a label like that at all. And we never have."
On the departure of long-time lead singer G.W. Sok (a.k.a. Jos) and one source of the Ex’s strength
AM: "…And then we immediately thought, we’re not going to stop the band because of that… He was one element. In a way that’s the strong thing about The Ex. Everyone has such a strong input, that when one person leaves, it doesn’t mean the thing will automatically collapse. In a way the other three legs of the chair are completely strong still. So we just put another leg underneath."
Jos (vocals, 1979-2009): "What we liked about punk was the idea that everything is possible. You don't have to stick to a format or style, if you want to include or exclude certain things, then just do it. Usually we start from scratch, in the practice room. Someone comes up with a melody, a rhythm, a riff, whatever. The others listen, join in, kind of a jam, we improvise... See if it's going somewhere, I try some vocals, does it fit, make sense. If we feel there's a kind of something in there we record a bit on the mini-disc, while jamming along. We talk about possibilities for the piece, what do want with it, let it rest, next time try again... At a certain point the thing finds a certain shape, we never know beforehand where it will go to, which is also part of the fun, of course. Sometimes you find yourself in unknown territory, other times you explore areas you already are more or less familiar with. The adventure is no less exciting. Through the years certain elements of other musical styles have crept into ours, the result of the fact that we too get inspired by other musics. When it feels like - hmmm how you say this - like it suits us or something, and we can make it something of our own, then it might find a place in our music. It's not that we are desperately searching to find these kinds of music. It feels more like these musics find us. Once you bump into it, you might suddenly recognize it as something that might fit with what you want to do with your music."
Jos: "The collaborations usually grow out of a mutual interest for each others' qualities. It's not that we "search" for interesting people to play with because that would look good at our resume, the thing is that when we appreciate certain artists for what they're doing and we notice that this appreciation is mutual, we keep it in mind and sometimes the occasion rises and we would think it a good idea to maybe do something together. This might result in three or four vocals, or hardly any... it varies, which is okay by me, as long as the result doesn't suffer from it. I'm not on an ego trip anyway. When there are so many instruments to deal with, with all of them of course wishing to have a piece of the pie, to me it makes total sense to not have all those goddamn vocals put in everywhere just for vocals' sake."
"The jazzers in Holland liked to play with us, I guess, partly because the band does not function as five individuals but as one "wholeness," if that is a correct expression. Within the five of us, there is no rivalry, unlike in the jazz-scene. They play in all kinds of different formations, not always with only people they like, therefore at times they all have to eh, defend their territory so to speak. At least, that's the way I see it. The Ex's strength lies in the fact that the five individuals make each other better when playing together. 5 x 1 = 6 something like that. That is why it worked so well with Tom Cora- he had that same kind of idea about it. At first, we only knew him from the stuff he had been playing; we admired what he did, we contacted him, sent him a couple of our CD's, asked him to contribute to one of our albums. He didn't have time then but he said he'd be in Holland pretty soon after, we should meet and do a practice-session or something. We did, and it felt good, sounded good, and thus we agreed that we should make this collaboration more than a one-off thingy."
Writing from a tour stop in Slovenia, Ken Vandermark was kind enough to answer a few questions about his history with the band, the ever-evolving music of the Ex and some of his favorites from the band.
"I started occasionally playing with them when they recorded "Starters and Alternators," with Steve Albini in Chicago in late 1998, these were on various improvised music concerts that led to the formation of Lean Left (with Paal Nilssen-Love on drums, and Terrie and Andy) in 2009. Playing with the band proper began in, I think, 2011 when The Ex & Brass Unbound project started (which included Mats Gustafsson, Roy Paci, and Wolter Wierbos in the horn section). So between these collaborations, the last half dozen years have been pretty busy.
I think there are a lot of reasons that so many different kinds of musicians are attracted to the work of The Ex. For me, a primary one is their ongoing willingness to change. If you listen to their discography, there is a constant development and evolution to their aesthetics. To continue such a process over decades is incredibly inspiring to see and hear. Initially, what attracted me to their work was the fact that their music was clearly open ended and adaptable, able to spontaneously shift in the middle of a performance- for a rock band, in my experience this is very rare. Since I've come to know them better as musicians and as people I gain more and more from their independent spirit- musically and politically- which displays the power of collaboration and community to full effect.
My first Ex album was, "Joggers & Smoggers," which I chose because it included members of the Dutch improvised music scene- that remains a favorite. Their recordings with Getachew Mekuria (“Moa Anbessa,” and “Y'Anbessaw Tezeta”) are incredible, almost impossible to believe- two such different cultures and approaches to playing representing themselves completely and not turning into watered-down, "world music." And of course I always want to see where they're headed, so the new documents with Arnold de Boer are great (Catch My Shoe, How Thick You Think/That's Not A Virus 7")."
