Rex Casswell: electric guitar
Phillip Marks: percussion
Paul Obermayer: electronics

BARK! is the longstanding British improvised music group formed by Rex Casswell and Phillip Marks in Manchester in 1991. After several earlier line-ups, Paul Obermayer joined to form the current trio of electric guitar, percussion and electronics in 1999. BARK! has performed in the UK, Europe and Scandinavia, and has released eight albums.

The music (“James Brown meets the spirit of Modernism!”) builds on several key influences – free jazz, punk, Modernism, pop/rock – but especially the pioneering free improvisation of the Spontaneous Music Ensemble and AMM. It ranges from detailed slow-moving textures, through BARK!’s trademark interlocking grooves, to the most frenzied kinetic noise. Solos are rare, the collective gestures and textures scraping together to explore the intersections of acoustic and electronic sound.

Rex is also a composer living in Denmark and works in close collaboration with choreographer Lene Boel. Phil has longstanding partnerships with pianist Stephen Grew and saxophonist Mick Beck, and plays in the Alan Tomlinson Trio among other groups. Paul is a member of the Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic Ensemble, and has worked with composer/performer Richard Barrett in the electronics duo FURT for over 30 years.

READ MORE: “BARK! WALK: A Personal Reminiscence by Phillip Marks”