961

About

961, the moniker for a building situated at 961 Field Rd, Marin Headlands (USA), became the project tag for a weekly collaboration between Tom Nunn (US), Paul Winstanley (US/NZ) and Phil Dadson (NZ). During Phil’s three-month artist residency at Headlands Centre for the Arts in 2016, building 961 was converted into a multi-voiced instrument with long metal rods, wooden dowels and long wire zithers installed directly into floor and wall surfaces. A modified rocking chair (Tone-throne) with tuned rods of wood and steel, and two sets of clashing cymbals operated by long wires attached front and back to the rocker action, occupied centre-space. This, along with the colourful timbral mix of our individual instruments, transformed 961 into a sonic play-space for the 961 project.

Our performing associations go back several decades, and with 961 being the perfect place to meet and record together, a weekly project was hatched and things took off from there. Tom loaded up his utility each Tuesday with a selection of instruments, a 16-track digital recorder and a dozen or so microphones, and he and Paul would head from downtown San Francisco to 961 where we would set up and play together for an hour or two. Over the course of seven weeks some 12 hours of recordings were made. This recording is the very last we produced, an unbroken hour-long improvisation performed for an audience of invited friends and fellow artists.

Click here to view a video recording of the performance made by David Samas with additional footage edited by Phil Dadson.

Click here to view Shiver Me Timbres, a video of 961 instruments.

Click here to access Tom and Paul’s duo recordings, Music For Hard Times.