NEW SHOW — STRiNGS & THiNGS: “This time, on our series called “First Axe” – stories about first guitars – we’ll hear from the founder of Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars. That’s composer, performer and producer Patrick Grant. He’ll take us back to his teen years in Detroit for the brief but noisy life of his first department store axe.” https://www.stringsandthingsshow.com/
2022 DMA Nominee Outstanding Classical Composer — Patrick Grant
My first publicly performed piece was “Cantata for the Easter Mass” when I was 15 years old at the Our Lady of Victory Church in Northville, MI. It was written for soloists, choir, strings and organ. While I’m not a traditionally religious person at all, I have retained this sense of ceremony in all my work ever since. It seeks to find a place in the world. And there is always a feeling of a larger narrative. My work with the Tilted Axes mobile electric guitars project is another branch of this same aesthetic. Some times it asks: What is classical music? Is it an instrumentation or an intention? Is it as the venue it’s performed in or can it be found anywhere? Is it solely a technique or is it what we find beyond it if we know where to look? And yet other times the music aims to say as little as possible. It only asks you to listen with prejudice. One thing I have found to be common to all things “classical”, whether it’s traditional or it’s pushing the envelopes of genres: It seeks to elevate us all by pulling us into the present. Together. And if the composer is from Detroit, it’s also not unusual if it has a mean groove. — Patrick Grant Final Phase DMA Voting closes on March 6th at 11:59pm.
Top row: Patrick Grant, Jeremy Nesse, Surar Al-Gaylani, Noel Marie Rivard 2nd row: Marco Delicato, Jeff Adams, Gael Grant, Dean Western 3rd row: Bob Kaufman, Sean Biggs, Manny Falcon, Alex Lahoski 4th row: Chris Simpson, Sarah Metivier Schadt, Rob Knevels, Mike Balavitch Bottom row: Maggie McCabe, John Lovaas, Jocelyn Gonzales, Chris McGorey
Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars is commissioned to create
“REEL TO REAL,” a series of three musical processions celebrating
The 60th Annual Ann Arbor Film Festival
DEARBORN: The Henry Ford, 20900 Oakwood Blvd., Saturday, March 19, 12 noon – 2pm
DETROIT: The Marche Du Nain Rouge, Cass Corridor, Sunday, March 20, beginning at 1pm
ANN ARBOR: Opening Night of the Ann Arbor Film Festival, Tuesday, March 22 at 6pm, Michigan Theater
To mark the opening of the 60th Annual Ann Arbor Film Festival, the festival has commissioned a series of musical processions from Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars.Tilted Axes: Reel To Real is named to mark our return to live events in 2022. The first event is a procession at The Henry Ford in conjunction with their current exhibit Apollo: When We Went To The Moon. The second is an appearance at The Marche Du Nain Rouge. The third event is the main attraction, the opening night of The Ann Arbor Film Festival. The performance will be based at The Michigan Theater and will travel around downtown as a prelude to the evening’s screenings.
Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars is a group of guitarists and percussionists led by post-rock composer/performer Patrick Grant. They perform original music untethered via mini-amps strapped over their shoulders. Since their inception 10 years ago, they have created and performed numerous new music events in the USA, Europe, and Brazil.
Tilted Axes can perform anywhere there are people, excelling in untraditional venues. Its roster of musicians can change from performance to performance, city to city. The musicians learn a common repertoire created by diverse composers and rehearse it in workshops. Its performances are free to the public and are supported through institutional and/or private donations.
The project takes on aspects of spectacle informed by municipal band tradition, avant-garde theater, and world music. It takes music out into the world and seeks transformative situations meant to change community conversation. It is an apolitical organization, but it does support science, arts programs, and renewable energy whenever possible. Tilted Axes works best when it is part of something bigger than itself i.e. festivals, exhibitions, community initiatives, astronomical events.
* * * Go to Tilted Axes’ web site for procession details closer to the day of the events: www.tiltedaxes.com
TILTED AXES: REEL TO REAL performers — electric guitars: Jeff Adams, Mike Balavitch, Sean Biggs, Marco Delicato, Manny Falcon, Surar Al-Gaylani, Patrick Grant (music director), Bob Kaufman, Rob Knevels, Alex Lahoski, John Lovaas, Chris McGorey, Chris Simpson — bass instruments: Jeremy Nesse (chapman stick), Sarah Metivier Schadt, Dean Western (electric bass) — percussion: Noel Marie Rivard (snare leader), Maggie McCabe (high perc), Gael Grant (perc +) and more TBA — movement director: Christopher Caines — production: Jocelyn Gonzales, Melinda Faylor — performance support: Frank Pahl, Anthony Fremont, and others TBA
Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars is a project of Peppergreen Media and is powered by Vox Amplification courtesy of KORG USA. We thank our performance partners The Ann Arbor Film Festival, The Henry Ford, The Marche Du Nain Rouge, Eastern Michigan University and AMP!,Detroit Guitar in Birmingham, and Grove Studios in Ypsilanti.
Please enjoy this new music from Tilted Axes. You can listen for free on our Bandcamp page or our Soundcloud page. Our work is supported by the public and is made available to you free of charge. However, if you do wish to contribute, Satan’s Little Circus is downloadable for $1 on Bandcamp.
Happy Halloween! Patrick Grant & Tilted Axes
SATAN’S LITTLE CIRCUS Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars
featured musicians on this recording: Electric Guitar: Steve Ball, Daniel Reyes Llinas, Patrick Grant Electric Bass: Dan Cooper, Patrick Grant Drums & Percussion: John Ferrari
Produced by Patrick Grant/PGM Recorded at The Whammy Bar (NYC) and The Ferrari Factory (NJ) Mastered by Sheldon Steiger Composer: Patrick Grant Publisher: Peppergreen Media (ASCAP)
This release is made possible through the vision and generosity of our Past-Present-Future Fall 2020 Co-Producers and Tilted Team members: Aaron Alter, Adam Levin, Aileen Bunch, Alex Durante, Amy Sue Quinn, Andrew Marks, Anthony Garone, Bob Kaufman, Chad Ossman, Chris Simpson, Christoph Goetzen, Christopher Gibbons, Courtney Gowan, Dan Gentges, Daniel Rothbart, Dave Grieg, DB Cooper, Deb Calvert, Detroit Guitar, Eleonor Sandresky, Eric and Tracey Wolfe, Eric Anderson, Erik Grant, Erin Leen, Erin Victoria Wigger, Gael Grant, Garry Rindfuss, Greg Meredith, Gwen Deely, Henry Lowman, Jason Goldstein, Jeff Georgas, Jeffrey Adams, Jim Schaeffer, Joel Blumsack, Jon Diaz, Jude Traxler, Julia Knevels, Jürgen Mühle, Kathy Starkey, Keith Vanden Eynden, Lynn Bechtold, Manfred Kohl, Marc Mellits, Maria Tegzes, Matthias Neumann, Michael Fisher, Mike McKenna, Milica Paranosic, Peter Kaufman, Pietro Russino, Ralph Valdez, Sandra Prow, Saori Tsukada, Sean and Laura Biggs, Steve Ball, Susan Montgomery, Teresa Peacock, Tom Peyton, Tony Weitner, Zero Boy, and anonymous individuals and organizations.
“Since its creation almost a decade ago, Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars has been an open ensemble where musicians and artists of different backgrounds and identities create performances together. As the group’s creative director and composer, I would like to express my gratitude to the many musicians who have contributed their artistic voices to the overall mix. This is what makes Tilted Axes unique and every tilt we undertake different from the ones that came before. Our mission and tradition of going out into the world and performing free for the public will hopefully be curtailed for only as short a while as is safe and possible. In the meantime, we are adapting our approach to continue to create meaningful art for our changing times. We support all efforts to end ignorance, social inequity, and systemic racism. As musicians, we learn that the greater part of performing well is to listen to each other. Our ears are open.” – Patrick Grant
(1st row) Angela Babin, Alex Lahoski, Jeff Adams, Marcelo Andrade, Steve Ball, Aileen Bunch, Eduardo Cabral, (2nd row) Jude Closson, Nora Elbayoumy, John Ferrari, Michael Fisher, Michael Foti, Sudeip Ghosh, Christoph Goezten, (3rd row) Jocelyn Gonzales, Gael Grant, Patrick Grant, James La Croix, Daniel Reyes Llinas, Jane Mabrysmith, Anthony Mullin, (4th row) Jeremy Nesse, Reinaldo Perez, Sarah Metivier Schadt, Christopher Simpson, Gerard Smith, Leslie Stevens, Skeeto Valdez, (from the USA, Brazil, Germany, and beyond)
Tilted Axes to premiere “Touchy Subjects,” video and music for the Summer Solstice June 20-21
On June 20-21, 2020, Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars will release new music (June 20) and an accompanying video (June 21) in observance of the Summer Solstice. The new work, entitled “Touchy Subjects”, is a musical meditation on the real phenomenon of “touch starvation” that many are experiencing since the onset of social distancing. “Touchy Subjects” will explore the tonalities of touch, or the ways in which we physically connect to the world we inhabit have changed.
Tilted Axes is an award-winning project of post-rock composer and performer Patrick Grant, which brings specially composed electric guitar music into public spaces. The group consists of 15-18 electric guitarists playing instrumental music through wearable mini-amps, accompanied by percussionists and other performers. Stylistically the ensemble covers a number of genres, centering on the nexus where rock, classical, and world music meet. Tilted Axes performs in public squares, museums, and festivals of all kinds.
“For ‘Touchy Subjects’ the aim is to create something that relates to our universal situation and can be understood anytime anywhere, past, present, or future,” says creator Grant. “At the same time, we don’t want to create another grid-style video. We’re compiling images and video footage from our musicians and other collaborators and building a musical and visual narrative that encompasses the personal experiences we all share. Like other works that I have produced which are informed by science (“Genome: The Autobiography of a Species”, “Moonwalk” for the Apollo 11 anniversary, etc.), we are consulting trained psychologists in the creation of this work. We are lucky that one of our Tilted Axes members is a doctor of psychology. We feel confident that, while we are certainly making art that is open to interpretation, that the sources of inspiration are informed and enlightened.”
We hope that everyone reading this is safe and healthy.
There are two streaming events that are coming up that we wanted to tell you about that can be watched remotely.
EARTH DAY 50 VIRTUAL KICK-OFF
Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars is proud to be a part of the Earth Day 50 Virtual Kick-off this Sunday April 19, via a new video commissioned by 350NYC. The event is presented by Earth Day Initiative and March for Science NYC from 4pm to 10pm EDT. The line up includes Al Gore, Senator Elizabeth Warren, actors Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Ian Somerhalder, and others with exhibitions by 350NYC, Climate Clock, and many more. Together we can build a better world.
Patrick Grant is nominated for Outstanding Classical Composer and Tilted Axes is nominated in the same field for Outstanding Small Ensemble. We are honored to be included with so many talented friends and colleagues. The 29th Annual Detroit Music Awards ceremony will be held online for the first time ever at 8pm EDT, also on Sunday, April 19. Tune in for some fantastic surprise appearances and special, never before seen, performances as Detroit celebrates its music community.
In our last update, we announced some upcoming performances and new grant funding. As with so many others, our live performances and site specific events have been put on hold during this current crisis. We will be updating you soon with news of rescheduled performances and new projects.
On a brighter note, we would like to welcome Nora Elbayoumy to Peppergreen Media in her administrative role. Nora comes to us via Alchemical Studios where she works as the Technical Facilities Manager and we look forward to utilizing her Stage Managing skills for our future productions.
Outstanding Small Ensemble – Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars
Outstanding Classical Composer – Patrick Grant
The Detroit Music Awards FINAL BALLOT is now open! If you are a registered member of the DMAs, please consider the impactful music that Tilted Axes Detroit has created for our community when casting your vote.
I wanted to share news of recent nominations and an award that were received in the past week.
Part of my identity as an artist has been that of being a passionate cultural ambassador for my home town of Detroit and of the bounty of musical innovation that continues to pour forth from its people.
I’m honored that I have been able to create a number of large-scale multidisciplinary musical events there with friends and musicians I know.
Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars as a project is a mystery to a lot of people. Is it rock, world, or classical music? Actually, if you take a step back, it is all of these things and more tied together in kind of Gordian knot. It also combines art, science, and theatricality in all of its presentations.
The work we do in Detroit continues to resonate via Phase 2 nominations in the Detroit Music Awards. If you are, or know a registered member of, the Detroit Music Awards, please take a moment to find out more about Tilted Axes and of the continued positive impact we’ve had on a number of Detroit communities since 2013.
“53 years ago this week, ‘96 Tears‘ by ? and The Mysterians rose to #1 on the pop charts. This week on Studio 360, the roots of American punk are traced back to Detroit in this brand new American Icons piece produced by Jocelyn Gonzales and Pedro Rafael Rosado, with Rob St. Mary, Ralph Valdez, Mary Cobra, New York Times’ Jon Pareles, and help from Patrick Grant and WDET 101.9FM.” (27 min.)
FIELDS AMAZE & Other sTRANGE Music Gets Three Entries in the 62nd Grammy Awards®!
Official entries for your consideration…
1. Best Contemporary Instrumental Album
Fields Amaze and Other sTRANGE Music
2. Best Instrumental Composition
Keeping Still
3. Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance
Imaginary Horror Film – Part 2
First Round voting begins Sept. 25
Patrick Grant: piano, keyboards, electric guitars, percussion
John Ferrari: drums & percussion
Kathleen Supove & Marija Ilic: keyboards
David Simons: theremin
Keith Bonner: flute
Thomas P. Oberle: clarinet
Darryl Gregory: trombone
Martha Mooke: viola
Maxine Neumann: cello
Mark Steven Brooks: electric bass
Alexandra Montano: vocalise
All 2018 production, overdubs, revisions, and new stems recorded at Peppergreen Media, NYC and The Ferrari Factory, NJ. Mixed at Mercy Sound Studios, NYC – Garry Rindfuss: mixing engineer – Sheldon Steiger: album mastering – Patrick Grant: producer