SHOWA 44 SHOWA 44
Critics pick - most memorable moment 2007
SHOWA 44's performance at this year's Wangaratta Festival of Jazz.“Simon Barker and Carl Dewhurst's improvised duet at the Playhouse Theatre was an absolute blast!" - Gerry Koster.
"Showa 44, comprising Carl Dewhurst on guitar and Simon Barker on drums, delivered a sonic tour de force in the Playhouse Theatre. Combining ambient sounds with ear-splitting electronics, the duo carved out an adventuresome route through the world of sound. Barker set up repetitive motifs via the use of gongs, as if he were gently throwing pebbles into a lake, while Dewhurst attacked his guitar like a latter-day Derek Bailey. This was jazz in extremis, melding the experiments of English stalwarts AMM with the force-field energy of a Sonic Youth. Ten years ago, music of this sort would have emptied out the small Playhouse Theatre. The fact that the packed house demanded an encore says a lot about the Festival’s growth in audience for this sort of adventurous programming." Des Cowley - Rhythms Magazine