WHEEL ME OUT - Nash The Slash

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The 1960s and 70s were vibrant times for live music in Nash’s native Toronto. Often, he would find himself in the right place at the right time to act as impromptu sound man for all sorts of major artists.

I never got paid for it. I would just happen to be there and volunteer. I was sitting in at the Troggs’ sound check and they didn’t have a technician with them; Reg Presley was at the board trying to get the drums sounding good and he’d run back up to the stage to do vocals. I just said to him “Reg let me do your sound tonight” so I ended up doing the sound for the Troggs and it was great!

I’m a huge fan of Suicide. I saw them live many times and did sound for them in Toronto back in the 70s. One of the cool things about their records was the echo effect on Alan [Vega]’s voice. So they’re doing sound check and I noticed there was no echo effect on the vocal. They said they didn’t normally bother because house sound men didn’t know what was needed and they didn’t want the sound messed up. I said “I know exactly what you need and I know exactly how to do it.” That night in Toronto, they sounded like the records.

Nash’s own live performances are carefully constructed, high concept spectacles; a world away from the head-bobbing laptop displays of today’s electronica.

He first bandaged his head for a nuclear meltdown inspired performance in 1978. However the overriding influence for his aesthetic is silent film. His name is taken from the villain in Laurel and Hardy’s short Do Detectives Think? and in tribute to the genre, Nash has written soundtracks to several silent films including the Cabinet of Dr Caligari and The Lost World.

I love silent films. They have such a bad rep. My first solo gig was in 1975 at the Roxy Theatre in Toronto. I played along to Salvador Dali’s 18 minute Un Chien Andalou.

A lot of silent movies are presented like they’re a play from a live stage. Caligari in particular suits this. The sets are all hand painted, there’s not a straight line in any of it; it’s all out of kilter.

When I was growing up in the fifties silent films would show the odd time on television. Somebody would stick on some classical music that didn’t fit the movie and I always thought it was offensive. It’s critical—I don’t care if it’s a silent film or Raiders of the Lost Ark—music and film, you can’t have one without the other.

In line with his underlying philosophy about performance, Nash the Slash shows are devoid of rock star ego

The stage is sacred. You treat it as such and you give the audience a show.

The whole Invisible Man look—the bandaged head—came about by accident. Along with the white suit and white top hat I use projectors and slide projectors and I become part of the stage. Psychedelic colourful effects, bits of old silent movies, these are all integrated into the video show and work in synchronisation with the music.

The performer is now part of the entire work, the entire presentation. To this day I don’t use stage lights – the performer himself is not that important: it’s the presentation. WMO

Nash the Slash is currently working on the soundtrack to True CSI and plans to tour the UK in October 2009.

Recommended listening:

Blind Windows – compiles his first two releases, The Bedside Companion EP (as played at both 45 and 33) and the Dreams and Nightmares LP which includes his soundtrack to Un Chien Andalou.

Nash's Gravesite (including French and English versions of his hockey chant Sudden Death Overtime)

www.nashtheslash.com