Prehistory (1988–1993) Kavus Torabi and Dan Chudley (both guitarists and singers) met in their mutual hometown of
Plymouth,
Devon, UK and first worked together in 1988 in the psychedelic thrash-metal band
Die Laughing, in which the two developed a tightly integrated and interlocking guitar style. After Die Laughing split in 1993, Chudley formed the band
Squid Squad in which he played with singing flute player/clarinettist Sarah Measures and drummer Jamie Keddie. Torabi, Chudley, Measures and Keddie (along with bass player Laurie Osbourne) all relocated to
Leyton, East
London in 1994 and formed The Monsoon Bassoon.
Early days, Redoubtable and In Bold Gardens (1994–1997) Early gigs and recordings brought the Monsoon Bassoon to the attention of
Organ magazine and Org Records, who issued their first release - (the cassette EP
Redoubtable) in 1995. The band briefly went into hiatus later that year following the departure of Jamie Keddie to the eccentric
Britpop group
Octopus. However, he was persuaded to return in early 1996 and the band began a new lease of life. In 1997, The Monsoon Bassoon began recording material for their debut album, with
Tim Smith (
Cardiacs) as producer. Several of these tracks were released in early 1998 on a demo cassette called
In Bold Gardens which received limited circulation and a handful of reviews. By this time the band were developing a strong reputation on the London underground scene thanks to their powerful live act, now focussed into tighter songs, and had played on concert bills with Nub and
Sidi Bou Said.
The year of breakthrough singles (1998) Monsoon Bassoon manager John Fowers had now set up Weird Neighbourhood Records in order to issue Monsoon Bassoon recordings. The label's first release was the debut Monsoon Bassoon single, the double A-side
Wise Guy/28 Days In Rocket Ship. Much to the band's astonishment, this was awarded Single of the Week in
New Musical Express. Laurie Osbourne later recalled "we had a really trendy moment where for some reason the NME started getting into progressive music. There was a writer called
Simon Williams who runs
Fierce Panda who discovered
Coldplay,
Super Furry Animals and so on, and he was really into us, so we had a moment of strange trendiness in amidst eight years of terminal untrendiness, you know?" The third Monsoon Bassoon single,
The King Of Evil, was NME Single of the Week once again. Reviewing it, NME's Stevie Chick concluded "Slightly hamstrung by more than a few things, notably the fact that they don't live in
Glasgow, they aren't on
Digital Hardcore, they look like
Club Dog roadies, they are completely and utterly skint and they have the lumpiest band name since Frottage Bunion, the fivesome nevertheless persist in making the most amazing alternative music...the most gorgeous, grotesque, explosive outbursts of noise witnessed since the madder bits of '
Come on Die Young' came round and ruined our woofers. Key words? Psychotic. Lunging. Lithe. Panthers in the back garden. Hair-raising, in every sense of the word." The band rounded off their most successful year to date by supporting their longtime heroes
Cardiacs at the Garage, London, on 4 December, followed by a concert with Rothko, Nightnurse and an embryonic
Snow Patrol at the Camden Underworld on 15 December and a support slot for The Clint Boon Experience on 17 December at the Bull and Gate, Kentish Town.
I Dig Your Voodoo (1999) The Monsoon Bassoon were, by now, at the epicentre of the loosely defined London
math-rock scene. Centred around relatively small venues such as the Dublin Castle and Upstairs at the Garage, this featured London-based bands such as
Billy Mahonie,
Guapo,
Rothko, Nub,
Delicate AWOL, Geiger Counter (later Foe) and the
Shrubbies, plus affiliated acts such as the Oxford-based Nought and developing indie acts such as
Seafood. The band's first (and only) album,
I Dig Your Voodoo, arrived in 1999. Like the singles, it was released on Weird Neighbourhood Records. It received reviews in the mainstream press in publications as disparate as
The Guardian,
Heat, and
NME. The latter, giving the album eight points out of ten, said "it is with longing arms that we clutch The Monsoon Bassoon close to our heavy bosom. They have come with a malicious intent to bludgeon all musical preconceptions into mush. And they will, ultimately, tug hard on your heartstrings in ways that you won't quite understand. It's all in the delivery.
I Dig Your Voodoo... is psychedelic pop that has been hung, drawn and quartered only to be dipped into an acid pickle and served with a liberal helping of
punk rock angst... Every spurt of sonic agitation is brimful of intent." Comparing the music to
Nomeansno,
Cocteau Twins’
Liz Fraser and
Cardiacs, the review concluded that the album was "one fuck-off cosmic rock'n'roll sensation, with scant regard for the songwriting rulebook. Truly, it's a world of unfathomable
prog-
new-wave wonders. Pop music, then, but not as those in their right mind know it." The band gigged persistently in and around London during this year, playing once again with
Snow Patrol in July.
Final years (2000 to mid-2001) Despite the positive response to their album, The Monsoon Bassoon did not get signed by any major labels to enable them to make the next step in scaling up their career. Undeterred, they continued to perform live, and to record and release on Weird Neighbourhood. 2000 saw the release of two seven-inch vinyl split singles, intended as the first two parts of an ongoing collaborative series, in which the band would cover/adapt one piece by a chosen collaborator in and in return would have one of their own pieces covered or adapted in a similar way.
Wall of Suss 1 saw the band working with
Rothko and
Wall Of Suss 2 was a collaboration with
Max Tundra. In mid-2001, The Monsoon Bassoon provided three tracks for the "Summer 2001" box-set release in Day Release Records’ "Four Seasons Singles Club" series (alongside
Defeat The Young and
The Naysayer). Robots And Electronic Brains commented "Monsoon Bassoon offer up a blast of their patented blueprint of acid-powered sax abuse and corrugated rock. It's
Morphine trying some rather less stuporific narcotics. On "God Bless The Monsoon Bassoon" they reprise the Cardiacs-folk of
Sidi Bou Said..."
Split (late 2001) Despite an ongoing show of confidence and a loyal fanbase, The Monsoon Bassoon's resources were flagging, and a second departure by Jamie Keddie spelled the end of the band. Laurie Osbourne recalls "we had no money and we didn't get signed — there was this big push to approach a label and get signed and it just didn't happen... After that, (Jamie Keddie) left and after that it was just, well, ‘if one of us leaves...’ We were just such a family unit that we had to split up. We'd been together, and lived together for eight years at that point. He left because he had a kid and a family." Many recordings from the band's last years remain unreleased, including a planned EP called
My Kill Hand Never Felt So Good and the initial tracks for a second album provisionally entitled
I Am The Master And You Are Coming With Me To Hell. ==Post-split==