Thurston Moore

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Thurston Moore
Moore at the 2008 Brooklyn Book Festival.
Moore at the 2008 Brooklyn Book Festival.
Background information
Birth name Thurston Joseph Moore
Also known as Mirror
Born July 25, 1958 (1958-07-25) (age 50)
Coral Gables, Florida, U.S.
Genre(s) Alternative rock, Noise rock, No Wave, Experimental music Noise music
Occupation(s) Singer, Guitarist, Songwriter, Consultant, Record producer
Instrument(s) Vocals, Prepared guitar, Guitar, Screwdriver, Drum stick, Piano, Amplifier
Years active 1980 - Present
Label(s) Geffen
SST
Ecstatic Peace!
Father Yod
Lo Recordings
Destructive Industries
Associated acts Sonic Youth
Ciccone Youth
The Coachmen
Mirror/Dash
Even Worse
Dream/Aktion Unit
Bark Haze
Dim Stars
Northampton Wools
Notable instrument(s)
Fender Jazzmaster
Fender Jaguar
Fender Telecaster Deluxe

Thurston Joseph Moore (born July 25, 1958 in Coral Gables, Florida)[1] is an American musician best known as a singer, songwriter and guitarist of Sonic Youth. He has participated in many solo and group collaborations outside of Sonic Youth, as well as running Ecstatic Peace! records.

Contents

[edit] Early years

Moore was born in Coral Gables, Florida, but was raised in[2] Bethel, Connecticut. Although he enrolled at Western Connecticut State University, he opted to move to New York City instead to join the burgeoning post-punk/no wave music scenes.[3]

Once there, Moore was briefly in the hardcore punk band Even Worse, featuring future The Big Takeover editor (and future Springhouse drummer) Jack Rabid. After exiting the band, Moore and Lee Ranaldo learned experimental guitar techniques in Glenn Branca's "guitar orchestras."[3] He also spent much time at the University of Massachusetts and in the Amherst/Northampton area.

[edit] Sonic Youth

Main article: Sonic Youth

Moore and Ranaldo soon formed Sonic Youth, serving as the band's guitarists, with Moore on lead vocals. The band signed to Neutral Records, then to Homestead Records, and then to SST Records.

Live in the Netherlands (with Sonic Youth), 1991

In 1984, Moore married Sonic Youth bassist/vocalist Kim Gordon; the pair have a daughter, Coco Hayley Gordon Moore (born 1 July 1994). They currently reside in Northampton, Massachusetts.

He and Ranaldo make extensive use of unusual guitar tunings, often heavily modifying their instruments to provide unusual timbres and drones, They are known for bringing upwards of fifty guitars to every live gig, using some guitars for one song only.[3] In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Moore and Ranaldo the 33rd and 34th Greatest Guitarists of All Time.

[edit] Work outside of Sonic Youth

In addition to his work with Sonic Youth, Moore has also released albums as a solo artist. He and Gordon released a few songs as Mirror/Dash, a reference to their respective nicknames. ("Mirror" being an alliterative pun on "Moore," and "Dash" being a pun on Flash Gordon.) The two also established Protest records together but the project has since lapsed.

Moore has collaborated with scores of musicians, including Lydia Lunch, DJ Spooky, William Hooker, Daniel Carter, Christian Marclay, Mike Watt, Loren Mazzacane Connors, Tom Surgal, William Winant, Nels Cline, Cock E.S.P., Daniel Castro, Glenn Branca, Yamantaka Eye, Chris Corsano and My Cat is an Alien. Most of his solo/duo collaborations have been instrumental, and are generally improvised and/or noise based.

In the early 1990s, Moore formed the side band Dim Stars, featuring punk legend Richard Hell of the Voidoids. Moore performed solo on the side stage of the 1993 Lollapalooza tour. Additionally, Moore also contributed guitar work[citation needed] and backing vocals on "Crush With Eyeliner," which appeared on R.E.M.'s Monster LP.

Since 2004, Moore has recorded and performed with the all-star noise collective To Live and Shave in L.A., the lineup of which also features Andrew W.K.. He recorded with the band at Sonic Youth's former studio in Manhattan, and later performed with them at the George W. Bush "anti-inaugural" Noise Against Fascism concert in Washington, D.C., named in reference to Sonic Youth's 1992 song "Youth Against Fascism." Moore curated the "Nightmare Before Christmas" weekend of the All Tomorrow's Parties music festival, in December 2006.

Moore directed the music video for Pavement's song "Here," from Slanted and Enchanted. Foot is a collaboration between Don Fleming, Jim Dunbar and Thurston Moore.

On June 21, 2007, Moore revealed to Spin Magazine that he would be releasing a solo album titled Trees Outside The Academy. The album was recorded at J Mascis' studio in Amherst, Massachusetts. The album is made up of mostly acoustic material and features Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley and violinist Samara Lubelski. The album also features collaborations between Mascis and Charalambides' Christina Carter, who performs a duet with Moore on the track, "Honest James." The album was released on September 18, 2007, on Moore's label Ecstatic Peace.

On September 24, 2008, Pitchfork Media reported that Thurston was working on a song with former Be Your Own Pet vocalist Jemina Pearl. They did a cover of the Ramones song Sheena Is a Punk Rocker. The song was recorded for the teenage drama Gossip Girl and was featured in the episode "There Might Be Blood".

[edit] Work on film soundtracks

Thurston Moore performing with Sonic Youth at the 2005 Roskilde Festival.

In 1994, Moore teamed up with Greg Dulli of The Afghan Whigs, Don Fleming of Gumball, Mike Mills of R.E.M., and Dave Grohl of Nirvana/Foo Fighters, to form the Backbeat Band, which recorded the soundtrack album to the movie Backbeat.

In 1998 Moore played on the soundtrack of the film Velvet Goldmine as a member of Wylde Ratttz, along with The Stooges' Ron Asheton, his Sonic Youth bandmate Steve Shelley, Minutemen's Mike Watt, Gumball's Don Fleming, Mark Arm of Mudhoney and Jim Dunbar.

Moore also composed original music for the films:

In 2007 Moore also appeared with noise/impro constellation "Original Silence" featuring Norwegian drummer Paal Nilssen-Love (The thing, Atomic, Scorch Trio), guitarist Terrie Ex (The Ex), Jim O'Rourke (Sonic Youth, Wilco, Illusion of Safety), saxophonist Mats Gustafsson and bassist Massimo Pupillo (Zu). The group released the live-recorded album "The First Original Silence" in 2007, on Oslo (Norway) lable SmallTown Superjazz, and a second album "The Second Original Silence" in 2008.

[edit] Record label and writings

Moore and other S.Y. members published the irreverent music zine Sonic Life. Moore runs the record label Ecstatic Peace!. Beginning in 1993, this label jointly released records with rock critic Byron Coley's label, Father Yod, as Ecstatic Yod Records.

Moore reviews new music in Arthur Magazine in a column written jointly with Byron Coley. He manages the website Protest Records, named for its protest against music piracy laws. Moore was the editor/overseer of the 2005 book Mix Tape: The Art of Cassette Culture. He published a highly influential list of collectible free jazz records in Grand Royal magazine.[4]

[edit] Equipment

Moore is known for using a large selection of Fender guitars during gigs. Most of the time he plays a Jazzmaster through many different types of amps among which Vox AC30, Peaveys and Fenders are present. He also plays a Jaguar and a heavily modified Mustang with three single-coil pickups, but less often.

Since Ranaldo and Moore, together with Elvis Costello, J. Mascis and Kevin Shields are known for being key figures in the popularization and resurrection of the Fender Jazzmaster, Fender introduced in 2009 a special Lee Ranaldo signature edition of a Sapphire Blue Transparent version featuring two Fender Wide Range humbucking pickups together with a Forest Green Transparent one for Moore (equipped with a pair of Seymour Duncan Antiquity II Jazzmaster single-coil pickups)[5].

[edit] Trivia

[edit] Solo discography & Collaborations

[edit] Solo Albums

[edit] Singles

  • "Sputnik" 7" (1997) Thurston Moore and Don Fleming on one side, Pete Kember aka Sonic Boom on the other. Gilltery vinyl.
  • "Wonderful Witches" single (2007)

[edit] As Male Slut

  • 1995 - The Church Should Be For The Outcasts, Not A Church That Casts People Out (7")

[edit] Noise, Experimental, extended guitar drone projects

[edit] Collaborations

  • 1988 - Barefoot In The Head [with Jim Sauter & Don Dietrich]
  • 1993 - Shamballa [With William Hooker & Elliott Sharp]
  • 1995 - Klangfarbenmelodie & the Colorist Strikes Primitive [with T Surgal]
  • 1996 - Pillow Wand [with Nels Cline]
  • 1996 - Piece For Yvonne Rainer [with Yoshimi & Mark Ibold (Sunship)]
  • 1996 - Piece for Jetsun Dolma [a live improvisation with Tom Surgal and William Winant at Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville (Les Disques VICTO)]
  • 1997 - MMMR [with Loren Mazzacane Connors, Jean-Marc Montera & Lee Ranaldo (Numero Zero Audio)
  • 1998 - Foot [with Don Fleming & Jim Dunbar]
  • 1999 - The Promise [With Evan Parker & Walter Prati]
  • 2001 - New Life After Fire (for Tom Thomson) [With Dave Dyment]

[edit] Albums with Diskaholics Anonymous Trio

  • 2001 - Diskaholics Anonymous Trio [with Mats Gustafsson & Jim O'Rourke]
  • 2006 - Weapons Of Ass Destruction (Recorded in 2002)

[edit] Albums with Original Silence

  • 2007 - The Second Original Silence (Recorded live in concert on sept. 30 2005 at Teatro Ariosto, Reggio Emilia, Italy)
  • 2008 - The Second Original Silence (Recorded Live In Concert on September 28, 2005 at Brancaleone, Rome)

[edit] Early work with Glenn Branca

[edit] Early work with the Coachmen

  • 1979 -Failure to Thrive

[edit] Split LP's

  • From The Earth To The Spheres (2004, split with My Cat Is An Alien)
  • Thrash Sabbatical (2008, Deathbomb Arc, four-way split 12" + 2x7" w/ Men Who Can't Love, Barrabarracuda, Kevin Shields)
  • Mature, Lonely + Out of Control/Alternative Hair Styles (2008, Nihilist Records, split LP with Graham Moore)
  • Built For Lovin (2008, Lost Treasures of the Underworld)

[edit] Album Appearances

  • 1992 - Do You Wanna Dance (by Dim Stars)
  • 1994 - Monster (by R.E.M.)
  • 1997 - Legend Of The Blood Yeti (by XIII Ghosts & Derek Bailey)
  • 1998 - Velvet Goldmine - Music From The Original Motion Picture ("T.V. Eye" with the Wylde Ratttz)
  • 2002 - Kapotte Muziek - #12 in Kapotte Muziek series (Korm Plastics)
  • 2007 - Touch The Iceberg (by Owl Xounds Exploding Galaxy)

[edit] References

  1. ^ Holly George-Warren and Patricia Romanowski, ed (2005). "Sonic Youth". The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll. New York, New York: Fireside. p. 912. ISBN 978-0-7432-9201-6. 
  2. ^ Dixon, Ken, "Music Hall of Fame proposed for state ", article in Connecticut Post in Bridgeport, Connecticut, April 26, 2007 ("Thurston Moore, leader of alt-rock legends Sonic Youth, who grew up in Bethel")
  3. ^ a b c Azerrad, Michael. Our Band Could Be Your Life. New York: Little, Brown, 2001
  4. ^ http://www.saucerlike.com/articles.php?x=display&id=2
  5. ^ http://www.fender.com/sonicyouth/

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Sonic Youth
Kim Gordon · Thurston Moore · Lee Ranaldo · Steve Shelley · Mark Ibold
Anne DeMarinis · Richard Edson · Jim Sclavunos · Bob Bert · Jim O'Rourke
Albums
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Compilations
As Ciccone Youth
SYR series
Official Bootlegs
Singles
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