The Ex

The Ex will play an exclusive show with appearance of Ken Vandermark   The adventurous, innovative Dutch band The Ex just celebrated its 33â…“ year anniversary with a series of festivals. Not merely retrospective but primarily forward-looking and adventurous. Among the many guests invited were young as well as seasoned experimental, improvising and other exciting musicians from Amsterdam, Berlin, New York, Chicago, Ethiopia, Scandinavia and Great Britain. The Ex have defied categorization ever since they started playing in 1979. Born out of the punk explosion, when anything and everything was possible, the band have still managed to retain both curiosity and passion for their music. Using guitars, bass, drums and voice as ther starting point The Ex have continued to musically explore undiscovered areas right up to the present day: the early 1980s saw collaborations with jazz musicians and an Iraqi-Kurdish band. In the 90s the group found a myriad of partners from varied musical and non-musical backgrounds including Kamagurka, Tom Cora, Sonic Youth, Han Bennink, Jan Mulder, Shellac and Wolter Wierbos. In 2002 The Ex set up a lively musical exchange with Ethiopia, which eventually led to two CD recordings and hundreds of concerts with the legendary saxophonist Getatchew Mekuria. After 33â…“ years, more than 25 albums and around 1800 performances the band continues to work as they did in when they began, completely independent of record companies, managers or roadies. Because of this ‘do it yourself’ work ethic The Ex is still a great example for other forward-thinking bands and musicians. “Staying a bird, staying independent, free if you will, for three decades, that takes skill and something else, something more like heart.” Music journalist John Corbett on The Ex. CURRENT LINEUP... TERRIE HESSELS - guitar, baritone guitar ARNOLD DE BOER - vocals, guitar, sampler ANDY MOOR - guitar, baritone guitar KATHERINA BORNEFELD - drums, vocals THE EX: CV Founded in mid 1979. Ever since independent in their own management (Stichting Ex) and own record label (Ex Records). To date over 1500 performances and some 25 albums. Concerts in North America, Russia, Canada, Ethiopia, and nearly all of Europe. Worked with a.o. Tom Cora (USA), Brader Musiki (Kurdistan), Lanaya (Mali), Jan Mulder, Kamagurka + Herr Seele (Belgium), Chumbawamba (England), Fugazi (USA), Sonic Youth (USA), Djibril Diabate (Mali) , Konono No. 1 (Congo), Mohammed Jimmy Mohammed (Ethiopia), Getatchew Mekuria (Ethiopia), Anne-James Chaton (France), Jaap Blonk, Instant Composers Pool, Han Bennink, Ab Baars, Wolter Wierbos, Theatergroep d'Electrique, Magpie Dance Company, Tortoise (USA), Tsehaytu Beraki (Eritrea), Mats Gustafsson (Sweden), Ken Vandermark (USA), Roy Paci (Italy). Winner BV Popprijs 1991 Sub-labels: Unsounds (improvised music + modern composition), Terp (improvised music and African), Zea (grind-popmusic).