June 14, 2007

Gutbucket Performs Live Score to Vintage French Animation

(North Adams, Mass.) On Saturday, July 14, MASS MoCA will explode with the genre-busting sounds of New York City-based band Gutbucket. This jazz-punk outfit will meld its carefully crafted music with an early French animated film, Johnny the Giant Killer. The 1950 film, a French combination of Fantasia and Alice in Wonderland, tells the story of little Johnny who rescues his pals from a giant with the assistance of a swarm of insects he's befriended. In this presentation of the film, little Johnny is assisted in his mission by the musically shape-shifting ensemble who "blend free jazz, hardcore rock, oddball time signatures, and other elements into a cacophonous, humor-laden sound all its own." (The Boston Globe)

The seven-year-old quartet is made up of Ken Thomson on saxophone, Paul Chuffo on drums, Ty Citerman on guitar, and Eric Rockman on bass. Their debut as a band to a packed house at Manhattan's Baby Jupiter began their quest to build a live reputation - they've toured 32 U.S. states and 19 countries. "[Gutbucket's] live shows pursue the . . .ideals [of frenzy and uplift], forcing a conversation between punk, funk, and free jazz," says the The New York Times. The band continues to tour extensively, playing in venues from art galleries to colleges, rock clubs to heralded spots within the festival circuit - Seattle's Earshot Jazz Festival, New York's Winter Jazz Festival and the Bang on a Can Marathon. They have released three albums, InsomniacDreams, Dry Humping the American Dream, and most recently Sludge Test which The Guardian lauded with this review: "their influences extend far and wide, allowing them to set Ornette Coleman-esque saxophone hollers against live drum n' bass rhythms, and squalling Pixies guitars behind ponderous electric double-bass bowing," Gutbucket has also spent time developing collaborative projects with the string quartet Ethel and friends from the Bang on a Can "family" as well as conducting numerous workshops for musicians and non-musicians alike.

Tickets for Gutbucket are $14 in advance/ $18 day of show. MASS MoCA members receive a 10% discount. Tickets are available through the MASS MoCA Box Office located off Marshall Street in North Adams, open from 11 A.M. to 5 P.M. Wednesday through Monday (June 30 through September 4, from 10 A.M. until 6 P.M. daily). Tickets can also be charged by phone by calling 413.662.2111 during Box Office hours or purchased on line at www.massmoca.org.

MASS MoCA, the largest center for contemporary visual and performing arts in the United States, is located off Marshall Street in North Adams on a 13-acre campus of renovated 19th-century factory buildings.

For Immediate Release
Contact: Katherine Myers
(413) 664-4481 x8113
katherine@massmoca.org