You may know Chicago drummer William Covert as one-half of the semi-defunct instrumental math rock duo Space Blood. In the band’s halcyon days they pounded shots of their own signature green Malort, wore masks that only an alien mother could love, and performed all over the world spreading their fucked-up gospel. This past March, tens of fans flocked to the band’s living funeral—a raucous affair at Quencher’s saloon complete with blow-up dolls, inflatable aliens, and of course, Malort.
But forget Space Blood. Today we’re here to talk about William Covert and premiere this live performance of “Nova Express” a brand new track from his upcoming solo album!
The instrumental track begins with a flurry of harmonious bells triggered from an electronic drum pad and builds to an infectious drum and synth groove. Watch the video for yourself and see what we mean.
William had this to say on the new project:
After a decade of playing drums in various Chicago based math rock, post-rock, post-hardcore, and punk bands I’m venturing out and releasing an album of solo material. I wrote the album over the winter of 2017 and recorded a full-length LP at Jamdek (formerly Minbal Studio) to be released in 2018. The idea of doing solo drum performances came from trying to do musical experimentation involving the use of acoustic drums combined with analog synthesizers as a hybrid of acoustic and electronic sounds, which didn’t quite fit with any bands I had previously played in and influenced by experimental artists like Ben Frost, Robert Fripp, Sam Prekop, Cooper Crain, Grails, and Watter.
Much of the music came out of a DIY approach to do solo drumming involving live looping of analog synths and electronic drums over acoustic drum patterns without the use of expensive and expansive amounts of gear. There are no laptops, samples, triggers, or pre-recorded loops involved in the drum performances. The music consists of fully composed as well as quasi-improvised pieces that play off the beauty of imperfections inherent with analog synthesizers and acoustic drums that keeps the music lively, but not sterile.
Check out William Covert at his very first solo show Friday, May 11th at Burlington Bar with Imelda Marcos and Parlour (KY). The show is presented by Rad Fake Productions and is 21+ / $8 at the door. Don’t miss this debut performance!