Formed 1997

Performances include O De Guarda, Portugal and LEM, Barcelona

Big Hair is Harry Dawes on theremin, trombone and electronics and Victor Nicholls on fretless bass guitar, electronics and loops. The duo formed in 1997 to perform improvised music, combining the heavily electronically treated bass with the trombone and theremin to produce dense layers of sound with the occasional Burt Bacharach tune thrown in.

Harry Dawes and Victor Nicholls met in 1991 when they were invited to join Scarp, a group performing their own compositions utilising jazz and traditional European dance forms. Scarp use a horn and rhythm section along with a hurdy gurdy and their first CD received the French Record Industry's Gold Medal for Best World Music Album. They were voted one of the six best tracks of the decade by listeners of BBC Radio 3's Mixing It.

Smoother than a bacardi down Burt Bacharach's throat. Squeakier than the leather seats in a '68 Corvette. More electronic noises than a night out with a cyberman. Big Hair deliver more improvised lounge core than any other band. Guaranteed. 

Using real time loops, electronics and 20th century instruments, Big Hair perform improvised music that lots of people actually enjoy. Big news - they are not afraid of good tunes.

Recent reviews:

"Dense layers of controlled sounds" PUBLICO

"Bass and trombone emerge transported by electronics and playing techniques which are, to say the least, rather unorthodox" 

"Big Hair create a climate of sensations; a cross between ironic experiementation and the conventions of pop: FUNDAO

The Theremin

Invented in Russia by Lev Theremin, sometime before 1920, the theremin is one of the world's oldest electronic instruments. It works by using the electromagnetic properties of the body to interfere with the fiels around two aerials, one causing changes in pitch, the other in volume. The instrument is played by making subtle movements with the arms and hands, neither of which actually touch the instrument.

The theremins has had a checkered history and has never entered the mainstream of musical appreciation. It is probably best known as the haunting, ethereal sound on B-movies such as, "The Day the Earth Stood Still". It is also claimed that The Beachboys used the theremin on "Good Vibrations" although others argue that an ondes martenot was used. The debate rages on...