THE ARTAUD BEATS

The Artaud Beats biography
The Artaud Beats are an experimental improvisation band made up of Geoff Leigh: sax, flute, vocals, electronics, Yumi Hara: piano, vocals, Chris Cutler: drums, John Greaves: bass, vocals. Geoff, Chris and John have a long history within the Avant scene having all been members of Henry Cow.

Cutler has been a wide variety of experimental bands since Henry Cow, including Art Bears, News From Babel, Cassiber & Pere Ubu. Geoff Leigh performed on Henry Cow?s Legend & In Praise Of Learning before leaving the band and has performed with Hatfield & The North, Slapp Happy, Aksak Maboul amongst many others. John Greaves played on the HC albums up to IPOL, on leaving Henry Cow Greaves recorded the Kew.Rhone. album with Peter Blegvad & Lisa Herman, later playing with National Health. Yumi Hara is a pianist & composer, she studied medicine at the University of Tsukuba in Japan and practised as a psychiatrist for eight years before moving to the UK in 1993. In 1999, she graduated in music from City University in London. As well as Artaud Beats she was a member of you, me & us with Chris Cutler & Daevid Allen.

The Artaud Beats came together due to a chance meeting at the Avantgarde Festival in Schiphorst, 2009. Geoff Leigh and Yumi Hara were there as a duo, Chris Cutler and John Greaves with Peter Blegvad and Dagmar Krause. It was suggested they perform as an improvisation quartet. The performance was well received and the band was formed. Two tours of Japan followed and a performance at the Rock In Opposition festival with Fred Frith guesting. Every performance is undertaken with no songs with the members improvising off each other. They have now released their first studio album, Logos.

Bio by Nogbad The Bad