Early days Bill Laswell initially used the name Praxis for an experimental solo EP recorded for
Celluloid Records in 1984, simply named "1984".
1992–1996 The band's debut album,
Transmutation (Mutatis Mutandis), released in 1992, was well received by critics. Praxis was composed of guitarist
Buckethead, keyboardist
Bernie Worrell, drummer
Brain, bassist
Bootsy Collins and
Afrika Baby Bam as "AF Next Man Flip" on turntables. Bill Laswell masterminded the project and served as producer and co-writer of much of the album's material. Praxis combined elements of different musical genres such as
funk,
jazz,
hip-hop and
heavy metal into highly improvised music. The
P-Funk-inspired track "
Animal Behavior," with a lead vocal from Collins, was released as a single. A video was also shot for the track. Their next studio album,
Sacrifist, was released two years later on the new Laswell-led label
Subharmonic and featured a rotating roster of guests including sax player
John Zorn and drummer
Mick Harris from
Painkiller, and members of the band
Blind Idiot God. The
death metal-influenced album was not as acclaimed as their debut. The same year saw the album
Metatron, with a trio of Buckethead, Laswell and Brain, which included the song "Wake the Dead." In 1996 the band toured Europe and recorded two live albums called
Live in Poland and
Transmutation Live containing material from shows in
Zürich and
Warsaw. Both albums featured members of the
Invisibl Skratch Piklz. After the shows, the project broke up.
1997–2004 In 1997,
Bill Laswell re-released his
Material EP
1984 under the Praxis name. This was followed by the album
Mold with
Pat Thrall, Peter Wetherbee and Alex Haas instead of
Buckethead,
Brain and
Bernie Worrell respectively. The album was essentially somewhat of a remix album with Wetherbee and crew taking elements from 1984 and crafting a full-length release. Laswell's involvement with this album was minimal. In 1998, Laswell contributed "Dreadnot" to the compilation
Abstract Depressionism. Though labeled a Praxis track, this was essentially a solo Laswell creation. In the same year a first compilation album also containing two songs from the
Death Cube K album
Dreamatorium (Death Cube K is an anagram of Buckethead) was made available. In 1999, a re-worked version of
Live in Poland was released as
Warszawa. Little was heard of the band for the next years, while Brain and Buckethead played for
Guns N' Roses and Laswell concentrated more on his dub releases.
2004–2010 Most original members reunited for a small tour in 2004 culminating in their appearance as part of a Bill Laswell themed episode of the PBS series Soundstage. Laswell also began working on their next studio album
Profanation (Preparation for a Coming Darkness), but due to the label (Sanctuary) going broke the project was put on hold for about three years. In 2005
Transmutation Live was re-worked and re-released as
Zurich. Another live album called
Tennessee 2004 was released in 2007 which was a truncated version of a longer show performed at the Bonnarroo festival. On 5 April 2005, Laswell performed a 2-hour concert at
WTTW Stusios, Chicago with three incarnations of his groups:
Tabla Beat Science (with
Zakir Hussein,
Ustad Sultan Khan,
DJ Disk,
Karsh Kale, Selim Merchant and
Nils Petter Molvaer),
Material (with
Pharoah Sanders,
Foday Musa Suso,
Hamid Drake,
Aïyb Dieng and Abegasu Shiota) and Praxis (with Buckethead, Brain and
Toshinori Kondo), with Bootsy Collins performing
MC duties at its climax. An hour long edit was broadcast on the
Soundstage series on 13 July 2006. On January 1, 2008 the studio album
Profanation (Preparation for a Coming Darkness) was released in Japan with guest contributions by
Serj Tankian,
Mike Patton and
Iggy Pop as well as Buckethead's old friend
Maximum Bob and many more.
2011–present: Hiatus and Sound Virus In early 2011,
Profanation was re-released on Bill Laswell's new
M.O.D. Technologies label with two additional live tracks. Later that month Bill Laswell stated in an interview that there was likely no more future for the band: M.O.D. Technologies also has a vinyl version of
Profanation scheduled for an April 2013 release. In 2015, the band released a new album entitled "Sound Virus". In 2022, Bill Laswell, Buckethead and Brain returned to the stage as Praxis to play two shows in New York. == Notable guests ==