Brian Chippendale

Brian Chippendale is a musician based out of Providence, Rhode Island. Chippendale is best known as the drummer/vocalist for the bands Lightning Bolt (alongside bassist Brian Gibson) and Mindflayer (alongside Matt Brinkman). He also plays saxophone and drums in a solo project called Black Pus. Chippendale also illustrates his own comic book series, Peanut Butter Ninja, and a number of other one-shot, limited-publication comics. As a result of playing drums in front of Lightning Bolt's amplification setup, which often exceeds 3000 watts, Chippendale has been reported to have suffered considerable hearing loss. Before its destruction, Chippendale was a member of Fort Thunder, part of an abandoned, pre-Civil War textile factory in Providence, Rhode Island known as a work-space for local, avant-garde artists. Chippendale grew up outside of Philadelphia, PA, and started drumming with his first band, the Pissants, in 1989.

Sound

Chippendale is known for his fast-paced, frantic drumming. In the Peter Glantz and Nick Noe film The Power of Salad, revolving around a string of Lightning Bolt performances across America, Chippendale likens his drumming to his drawing style: "I feel like everything I do has something to do with filling up space. I dunno, almost the way I drum is the way I draw: it's like I'm covering every little space with a beat or a hit or something."

Equipment

Lightning Bolt is known for their dynamic and often hodge-podge setups. Chippendale does, however, have a fairly consistent equipment set-up during live performances:

Drum setup

• One snare drum (Ludwig-Musser Supraphonic)
• Two floor toms
• One kick drum with a DW 5000 kick pedal
• Two cymbals (one Sabian 20" ride cymbal and one Zildjian 20" Ping ride cymbal)
• Drum sticks: Zildjian "Absolute Rock" blunt-end sticks
• Drumheads: REMO pinstripe drumheads

Though the composition of Chippendale's drum setup is fairly consistent, the positioning of them is not. Usually the kick drum and cymbals are to his right, the floor toms in front and to the left, and the single snare drum directly in front of the floor toms. During more recent concerts, Chippendale has added a smaller tom and moved one of his floor toms to the more conventional place, to his right.

During Mindflayer performances, Chippendale also tends to employ a second Ludwig-Musser snare drum.

Microphone

As a vocalist for Lightning Bolt and Mindflayer, Chippendale eschews the usual microphone stand and conventional microphone, instead using the type of microphone built into a household telephone receiver, held in his mouth or attached to a hood. This microphone is then run through an effects processor to alter the sound further. Chippendale often warbles or makes nonsensical sounds into the microphone, so the vocals typically come out extremely distorted and almost incomprehensible. More recently, Chippendale has used a Line 6 delay pedal to delay and repeat his vocals while drumming.

Effects

• Line 6 DL-4 Delay Modeler
• Boss SD-1 Overdrive pedal
• Morley Wah pedal
• Boss OC-3 Super Octave Pedal
• Death by Audio Interstellar Overdriver Pedal – used to add noise to drums
• BIAS Coron DS-7 Drum Synth – a simple drum-synth module attached to bass drum

Comics

File:Brian Chippendale comic.jpg

Panel from Protista Inspections

Aside from music, Chippendale is also a prolific comic-book artist. He's created the album art for all four Lightning Bolt releases, and draws a number of other, usually one-shot comics. Chippendale's drawing style, like his drumming, is very busy and full of small, perhaps unnecessary details. Chippendale's style has been described as "almost a little too enthusiastic". The same reviewer continues: "The manic detail and cross-hatching on every page, the Winsor McCay level of ambition in creating a beautiful page layout -- it's all a little hard to process."

In October 2006, Chippendale released his long-awaited Ninja comic book, an epic 80-page graphic novel five years in the making. [1]

Chippendale has also done the album art for all of Lightning Bolt's studio albums.

Other projects

Chippendale performed drums on Björk's 2007 album Volta.

In 2003 Brian played on at least one occasion with Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore under the label Nuntronix, which seems to be a catch-all moniker for Moore's free improvisation collaborations.

Brian participated as drummer 77 in the Boredoms 77 Boadrum performance which occurred on July 7th, 2007 at the Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park in Brooklyn, New York.

Discographies

Solo projects

• Appears as "Gleemun" on the Sonic Chimp compilation LP (Sealed Hotel, 1996)
• Black Pus I (2004)
• Black Pus II (2005)
• Black Pus III: Metamorpus (2006)
• Olneyville Providence Live Compilation (10 CD-r handmade bootleg boxset) (no label) (2005)

Lightning Bolt

Main article: Lightning Bolt discography

Albums

• Lightning Bolt (Load) (1999)
• Zone 50-minute companion cassette (1999)
• Ride the Skies (Load) (2001)
• Wonderful Rainbow (Load) (2003)
• Hypermagic Mountain (Load) (2005)

DVD / Video

• The Power of Salad (Load) (2002)
• Pick a Winner (Load) (2004)

Mindflayer

Self-released

• Raise Your Tentacles and Yell! (released on official website) (2000)
• Live CD-R (released on official website) (Bulb) (2000/2001)

Studio albums

• It's Always 1999 (Ooo Mau Mau/Load) (2001/2004)
• Take Your Skin Off (Bulb) (2003)
• Die & Mold Services (Corleone) (2004)
• Expedition to the Hairier Peaks (Corleone) (2005)

7-inch singles

• Split (with Prurient) (Important Records) (2007)

Appearances on compilations

• Old Tyme Lemonade compilation (Hospital Productions) (2004)

Pissants

• Mindless Little Insects (1990)
• Aphidz Army Anarchy (1991)

Collaborations

• Volta (2007)

External links

• Official website
• Other website
• Faux Fetus Collective - Black Pus
• Load Records
• Art programme
• 77 Boadrum Site Profile Viva Radio, Sep 2007. (Flash)