We kicked off the summer with a private performance in the Paris region of a new piece for 60 electric guitars. Since then, I’ve been working on a version of this piece for 8-12 electric guitars. As soon as its finished we’ll schedule a performance in Paris; watch this page for an announcement.

As some of you may know, I’m also a professional astrologer (https://rhysastrology.fr) specializing in traditional astrology (ancient/medieval/renaissance). Much of the summer was devoted to an intense study of the work of the medieval astrologers Abu Ma’shar and Sahl B. Bishr at my usual summer retreat in the French Pyrenees, but while I was there, I did a series of podcast interviews with Dennis Young of Liquid Liquid.

I’ve posted them below. Each interview is about 45-minutes long:

Part 1: Click here for YouTube link. The link will open in a new window.

I was interviewed by Dennis Young of Liquid Liquid for his music podcast. This is Part 1 of a three or perhaps even a four-part series.

I talk about my early influences and musical activities up to CBGB and the mid-seventies. In Part 2 we’ll start with the Ramones and Talking Heads at CBGB, and take things from there.

Part 2: Click here for YouTube link.

Dennis Young of Liquid Liquid has been doing a series of podcasts with me. In Part 1 we talked about my early beginnings with music, which were largely classically influenced.

Here is a link to Part 2. We speak about the punk and no wave scene in downtown NY of the mid to late 70s. We start with CBGB and Max’s Kansas City and finish with Guitar Trio (G3) and Drastic Classicism, with a lot of talk (and people!) in between!

Part 3: Click here for YouTube link.

Here is Part 3 of the podcast Dennis Young of Liquid Liquid did with me. Dennis gives the description of what we covered:

“A great podcast as Rhys spoke about his early days in New York City in the 1970’s playing and learning from the likes of La Monte Young &Terry Riley in the world of avant-garde music! In this podcast we talk about Rhys’ time playing with his music in the early 80’s playing with Peter Gordon, Arthur Russell in the Love of Life Orchestra, and his time playing at CBGB’s and Max’s Kansas City.”

Part 4: Click here for YouTube link.

Here is the final part of the interview Dennis Young of Liquid Liquid did with me for his podcast.

In Part 4 we talked about the two albums I put out on Ninja Tune in the nineties, one album with Martin Wheeler and the other with Jonathan Kane and Danny Hamilton. We also discussed a CD that came out on the Wire Editions with Gary Smith, Pat Thomas and Mieko Suzuki.

We review my first piece for 100 electric guitars from 1989, An Angel Moves to Fast to See with Jonathan Kane on drums and Ernie Brooks on bass, and then we had a long discussion about Jeff Hunt, Tony Conrad and the Table of the Elements Records, who put out virtually all of my work from the early seventies to the early 2000s.

We discussed their release of the Paris version of Crimson Grail, and how Jeff Hunt organized a 12-city tour of Guitar Trio in the States, resulting in the release of Guitar Trio is My Life on Table of the Elements Records. We also spoke of the outdoor version of Crimson Grail at Lincoln Center, which appeared on a double bill with Liquid Liquid! We finished the interview by speaking of my recent collaborations with Charlemagne Palestine, Ghédalia Tazartès, released on SubRosa, with Oneida on Northern Spy, with Zev on EntreFer Records, , David Fenech on Klang Gallerie, and a forthcoming release with Nico Guerrero on Erototox Decondings.

—ooOoo—