Today is the 20th birthday of the Australian trio The Necks. Here’s where it started in their own words:

On Thursday 9th April, 1987 we gave our first public performance as The Necks, to about 120 people at the Old Darlington School, Sydney University, Australia.

I wasn’t one of those 120 people, which isn’t so surprising since I was still in primary school and my gig-going hadn’t quite taken off yet (and I’d rather not think about what I would have been listening to at the time). In fact, even once I did start going to gigs I was a bit slow to catch on to The Necks, first seeing them at the Governor Hindmarsh in Adelaide on the 25th of February 2001. Since then I’ve seen them another 6 times, which is probably every Adelaide show in that time.
The band is made up of Chris Abrahams on Piano, Tony Buck on drums and Lloyd Swanton on bass. A typical live show consists of two improvised sets of around 50 minutes each – a rough guess based on the live recordings I have (before I get a deluge of Necks fans after bootlegs I should point out that I’m referring to the commercially available 4 disc set), you tend to lose track of time once they get going. Out of these three instruments they are capable of conjuring up endless possibilities, and no two sets are the same. It can take a bit of patience on the part of the listener as they build up a piece from scratch, but once they get going they can be one of the most exciting live music experiences I’ve known. I’d single out the second set at the Space Theatre 12/2/05 as a personal favourite, here’s a review of the whole show that I wrote at the time:

The first set began with Abrahams repeating a gentle
piano figure which was puncutated by Swanton bowing his bass and some subtle
contributions from Buck. They very quickly established a relaxed atmosphere but
seemed to have trouble finding the next step. Abrahams lead the way, but I felt
that it was quite some time before they really found common ground. First to
really lock in with Abrahams was Buck, though still Swanton was just hanging
around the edges trying to find a way in. Quite suddenly Swanton started
playing a bass line that fit perfectly and it was clear that they’d all arrived
at the same place. This moment happens in every Necks performance, while they
may have taken a little longer than usual, everything afterwards was great.
Soon afterwards Abrahams decided to push things further rather than settle into
a comfortable rhythm. With an unusally sharp change he began playing in a
stacatto style so that it was as if he was playing through a delay effect. In
the meantime the rhythm section locked together and Buck was exploring more and
more complex rhythms, gradually incorporating all of his kit. Against this
steady background Abrahams attacked his piano producing great sheets of black
noise and bringing it all to a dramatic conclusion. While not one of their best
sets there were some fascinating and fairly uncharacteristic moments, and
Buck’s drumming in particular was a real standout.
After an intermission they were back for the second set, by now they’d hit
their stride and it was brilliant from start to finish. I think they record all of
their shows and if they were to release this set I’d get a copy without
hesitation. The first section was based around some very unusual melodies played
on the piano by Abrahams. His timing was quite loose and he seemingly made use
of all twelve tones giving a feel akin to modern composition (rather than
“jazz” which is usually a lazily applied label for the Necks). Buck accompanied
this with some appropriately unusual percussion making use of various extended
techniques including scraping a drumstick around a cymbal and around the
snare. Swanton’s contribution here was minimal but perfectly fitting, they all
fit together beautifully right from the start. The overall effect was
fascinating, a truly unique combination of sounds which worked remarkably well
together. The intensity was slowly cranked up until Abrahams cut loose with
some rather more convention melodies. Around this time Swanton took up his bow
again, though no longer with the tentative approach of the early parts of the
first set. For a long time Abrahams played in a beautiful melodic style, but
gradually he introduced slight notes of discordance, little jumps in tempo and
some complex counter melodies, it was in this section that he really stood out.
Eventually this all built up into another violent attack on the piano keys but
in the meantime Swanton really became the focus as the intensity of his bowing
increased. Buck’s playing by now was forceful as well as the trio produced a
wall of noise. With your eyes closed you could here strange harmonies arising
from the din, as if the audience around you were calling out with their voices.
Open your eyes again to watch Swanton as he becomes the focus of attention
bowing his bass in a ferocious trance. The piano and drums slow down and leave
the bass frantically screaming the last few notes of the performance, and then the
rapturous applause. Despite a shaky beginning the Necks have once again
succeeded in building something incredible and revelatory out of nothing.