Steve Noble / Colin Webster / Alex Ward + Dead Days Beyond Help

Event information

Three of our most musically adventurous minds come together for what promises to be a thrilling night of raw and uncompromising music.


Steve Noble studied with the Nigerian master-drummer Elkan Ogunde & his earliest professional playing was with Neneh Cherry's avant garde jazz-pop group, Rip Rig And Panic. Since then he's become one our great musical explorers, taking improvisation to new realms. Sax player Colin Webster is a fearless collaborator, working with musicians from Led Bib's Mark Holub to Dutch free-metal pioneers Dead Neanderthals, to London electro-pop band Chik Budo. Joining them is one of the UK's leading figures of the improv scene, reeds player Alex Ward.


Dead Days Beyond Help
Formed in 2006 and played their first show in February 2007. Alex Ward initially came to attention in free improvisation circles for his work as a clarinettist with the likes of Derek Bailey and Eugene Chadbourne, while his interests in rock music and composition first became apparent with the band Camp Blackfoot. His guitar playing has been featured with improv power-trio N.E.W. (with Steve Noble and John Edwards), and in recent live collaborations with such avant-rock luminaries as Tatsuya Yoshida, Shoji Hano and Weasel Walter. Dead Days Beyond Help teams Alex with virtuosic drummer Jem Doulton for an unrestricted exploration of the possibilities of the guitar/drums duo.

"Formidably knotty, complex music which avoids the dry geekiness of US math rock while beating it hands down in terms of intensity and fluidity... Ward’s guitar work leaps between metallic crunch, Fripp-esque tangle and Chadbourne choogle with astounding energy and precision, while Doulton’s drumming swings with commensurate joy and fury" - Derek Walmsley, The Wire.