The History of Freak Music
(or how I learned to stop worrying
about the diatonic system.)



England, 1965
My dad was an electronics engineer.
Archy played guitar and recorded at home.
Monica, my mum, played mix tapes dad made.
Hours went by staring at the reels, as she and I would listen.
Mum played piano, so did my grandmother
and my great grandfather, also a violinist.

1971
 I was eleven, and had a how-things-work picture book.
One chapter was about record production and manufacturing.
From then on I was fascinated with recording.

At the same time my dad gave me a film editor and a
Super 8 camera. My own production company,
Pyramid Pictures came into being. Our first (and only) feature
was a weird experimental movie starring Bob Mullen
riding his bike, crashing then scenes of an ambulance
racing away with lights flashing. Good for the morbs.

1980
It was inevitable, probably fate, that I would end up messing about
on a reel to reel tape machine with a pinch roller that ejected tape.
I was twenty, still living at home and recording in the attic.
One experiment had me malleting one of Greg Sullivan's
crappiest and largest cymbals as the tape speed went out of control.
Normal speed would be 7 & 1\2 inches per second.
My tape was booking along at thirty inches per second.
Playback at normal speed made it sound like a freight train.
(Note: this recording was used at the end of
A Two Minute Warning, on the Woodrose vinyl ep Automatic There.)
At this very same time, I made field recordings with
various members of  Woodrose and The Rude Crew.

Proto Freak Music

Though the name would not come until much later,
this was the beginning of Freak Music.

Guru Hamburger