Just as in England during the late 1960's after the initial 'British Invasion', where the second wave of English bands began pushing musical boundaries; so it is in Detroit of 2004. The cyclical popularity of "Garage Rock" is giving way to more varied musical explorations.
Where bands like Pink Floyd, Soft Machine, and Hawkwind took pop music to a new place back then, so now are Detroit bands like Electronic Anarchists, Wolf Eyes, 4FR, Aquarius Void, and THTX. Practitioners of "Spontaneous Composition", THTX have recently finished recording a whopping eight albums in a six month period. Spanning the musical gamut from free jazz, to voodoo folk music to 70's art rock stylings, with a few obscure covers thrown in for good measure (Van Der Graff Generator, Colloseum), THTX create a diverse array of sounds that recall Pharaoh Sanders, Magma, and Exuma, to name a few. Plans are to release the eight CDs in the coming near with individual vinyl album releases running concurrently.
THTX is comprised of Matthew Smith, leader of local Detroit Stalwarts "Outrageous Cherry", and a foudning member of "The Volebeats". Matthew plays; Guitar, Trumpet, Keys, and Sings. Matt is known for his extreme, impressionistic work as a record producer (The Go (featuring Jack White), Denise James, Kim Folley, Slumber Party, etc.)
His musical collaborator in THTX is Kerry Gluckman, long time Detroit Drummer and Percussionist (also the leader of the eclectic six-piece "Waka Jawaka" in the late-90's). Along with legendary Detroit bassist Ralph Valdez (Algebra Mothers, Retro) and keyboard wizard Russell Sumner (The 27), these sonic alchemists are able to create a dark spontaneous pastiche of sound which is both frighening and exciting.
During the recording process no discussions about musical direction or any planning were allowed. "The tape rolled and whatever came out was used", and although there are overdubes, they were done immediately and most of the compositions were completed and mixed in an hour or two.
THTX is already looking ahead to recording sessions in the near future. As new sonic explorations and psychic phenomena unfold they may even rehearse compositions before recording them... stranger things have happened.
Matthew Smith Matthew Smith has been singing and playing guitar in and around Detroit since the age of 14. After studying music composition with William Albright and William Bolcom in the 80's, and a subsequent 2-year stint studying Javanese gamelan music, Matthew started playing with a variety of bands and appearing on numerous recordings. Since that time, he has appeared either onstage of in the studio with with the likes of Outrageous Cherry, The Volebeats, The Witches, Andre Williams, Kim Fowley, Damo Suzuki, Simon Boney, Monster Island , Medusa Cyclone, Jeff Tarleton, The Go, Denise James, Yuji Oniki, The Spring Reverbs, Destroy All Monsters, Saturday Looks Good To Me, and many others. THTX is his new heavy rock outfit, where many of his musical pathways converge in a high density, high decibel improvisational setting.
Kerry Gluckman
Kerry Gluckman is a Detroit based Drummer & percussionist as well as a sculptor, designer & educator (adjunct faculty –Wayne St. Univ.).
His previous bands include: “Walk The Dogma”, “Park the Karma” & Waka Jawaka. Kerry’s all time favorite Musicians are: Frank Zappa,
King Crimson, Miles Davis & Magma…In that order.
Kerry’s Top 10 Albums of all time are: