Club Foot Orchestra
Encyclopedia
The Club Foot Orchestra is a music ensemble founded in 1983 by Richard Marriott
. After a brief career playing dramatic, complex music in San Francisco clubs, they became known for their equally dramatic and complex scores for classic silent movies. The ensemble got their name from a performance art
nightclub called the "Club Foot" which flourished in the Bayview district of San Francisco. Marriott, who lived upstairs, formed a house band that came to be called the "Club Foot Orchestra". Two albums released on Ralph Records
document this period: Wild Beasts and Kidnapped. The performers on these recordings included Snakefinger
, Beth Custer, Eric Drew Feldman
, Dave Barrett, Dick Deluxe Egner, Josh Ende, Arny Young, Julian Smedley, Dave Kopplin, and Opter Flame.
Marriott explained how they started writing for movies:
The score was premiered at the 1987 Mill Valley Film Festival
. After touring with Caligari, Marriott wrote a score for the 1922 Murnau horror classic Nosferatu. This proved equally successful with audiences and lead to an appearance at New Music America 1989 in New York. Portions of the "Nosferatu" score were contributed by Gino Robair
, introducing a period of collaborative composition. New scores for the films Metropolis
, Sherlock Jr., Pandora's Box
and The Hands of Orlac
were presented at art houses across America and also at venues such as Lincoln Center and the Smithsonian Institution
. In between these projects, they also scored and recorded 39 episodes of "The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat
" a Saturday morning cartoon show on CBS. Some of the conductors, performers and composers of this period of the orchestra included Steed Cowart, Deirdre McClure, Sheldon Brown, Miles Boisen, Bob Lipton, Nik Phelps, Doug Morton, Kenny Wollesen
, Elliot Kavee, Catherine Clune, Kaila Flexor, Jason Marsh, Matt Brubeck, Steve Kirk
, and especially trumpet player Chris Grady. They have also scored music for other artists, such as choreographer Joe Goode's Maverick Strain performance installation.
In 1999 a smaller version of the orchestra performed Legong: Dance of the Virgins with Gamelan Sekar Jaya
on a score cowritten by Marriott and Made Subandi. Most recently the orchestra has performed at the World Financial Center and the Morgan Library, introducing new scores for Battleship Potemkin and Phantom of the Opera
. They continue to perform live accompaniment to the silent movies they have scored.
Richard Marriott
Richard Marriott is a U.S. avant-garde composer and performer. He has composed for film, television, dance, theater, opera, installations and video games. He is the founder and artistic director of the Club Foot Orchestra, an important modern ensemble for live music performance with silent films....
. After a brief career playing dramatic, complex music in San Francisco clubs, they became known for their equally dramatic and complex scores for classic silent movies. The ensemble got their name from a performance art
Performance art
In art, performance art is a performance presented to an audience, traditionally interdisciplinary. Performance may be either scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated; spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation. The performance can be live or...
nightclub called the "Club Foot" which flourished in the Bayview district of San Francisco. Marriott, who lived upstairs, formed a house band that came to be called the "Club Foot Orchestra". Two albums released on Ralph Records
Ralph Records
Ralph Records was The Residents' original record label, the name coming from the somewhat colorful phrase "calling Ralph on the porcelain telephone."...
document this period: Wild Beasts and Kidnapped. The performers on these recordings included Snakefinger
Snakefinger
Philip Charles Lithman , who performed under the stage name Snakefinger, was an English musician, singer and songwriter. A multi-instrumentalist, he was best known for his guitar and violin work and his collaborations with The Residents.-History:Lithman was born in Tooting, South London, and came...
, Beth Custer, Eric Drew Feldman
Eric Drew Feldman
Eric Drew Feldman is an American keyboard and bass guitar player. Feldman has worked with Captain Beefheart, Fear, Snakefinger, The Residents, Pere Ubu, Pixies, dEUS, Katell Keineg, Frank Black, The Polyphonic Spree, Tripping Daisy, Reid Paley, Charlotte Hatherley, Custard, and PJ Harvey.He was...
, Dave Barrett, Dick Deluxe Egner, Josh Ende, Arny Young, Julian Smedley, Dave Kopplin, and Opter Flame.
Marriott explained how they started writing for movies:
I became interested in doing something visually that further expressed the ideas behind the music; something that would
help put the music in context. I considered projecting slides of experimental art on a screen behind us. Then a friend suggested, after
catching our show: "The music is so cinematic, why don't you take outtakes of 1950s sitcoms and score them." I put it under my hat.
Later that night I saw a Lily TomlinLily TomlinMary Jean "Lily" Tomlin is an American actress, comedienne, writer, and producer. Tomlin has been a major force in American comedy since the late 1960's when she began a career as a stand up comedian and became a featured performer on television's Laugh-in...
skit on Saturday Night Live. She was reading the Dow Jones averages of various art trends. She
reported, "Pop art up 10... Op art up 20... Expressionism down 30." I turned the channel. And there was The Cabinet of Dr. CaligariThe Cabinet of Dr. CaligariThe Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is a 1920 silent horror film directed by Robert Wiene from a screenplay by Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer. It is one of the most influential of German Expressionist films and is often considered one of the greatest horror movies of the silent era. This movie is cited as...
.
The distorted sets and dreamlike atmosphere in the film were the qualities that I always envisioned accompanying our music. The subversive plot
was drenched in the unconscious. I was obsessed to write for that film.
The score was premiered at the 1987 Mill Valley Film Festival
Mill Valley Film Festival
The Mill Valley Film Festival is an annual, non-competitive film festival presented by the California Film Institute. Known as a filmmakers’ festival, the annual Mill Valley Film Festival offers a non-competitive environment for exhibiting independent and world cinema.Founded in 1978 by MVFF...
. After touring with Caligari, Marriott wrote a score for the 1922 Murnau horror classic Nosferatu. This proved equally successful with audiences and lead to an appearance at New Music America 1989 in New York. Portions of the "Nosferatu" score were contributed by Gino Robair
Gino Robair
Gino Robair is an American composer, improvisor, drummer, and percussionist. In his own work , he plays prepared/modified percussion, analog synthesizer, ebow and prepared piano, theremin, and bowed objects...
, introducing a period of collaborative composition. New scores for the films Metropolis
Metropolis (film)
Metropolis is a 1927 German expressionist film in the science-fiction genre directed by Fritz Lang. Produced in Germany during a stable period of the Weimar Republic, Metropolis is set in a futuristic urban dystopia and makes use of this context to explore the social crisis between workers and...
, Sherlock Jr., Pandora's Box
Pandora's Box (film)
Pandora's Box is a 1929 German silent melodrama film based on Frank Wedekind's plays Erdgeist and Die Büchse der Pandora . Directed by Austrian filmmaker Georg Wilhelm Pabst, the film stars Louise Brooks, Fritz Kortner, and Francis Lederer...
and The Hands of Orlac
The Hands of Orlac
Orlacs Hände is an Austrian silent film of 1924. This late Expressionist work, produced by Robert Wiene, has been remade twice.- Plot :...
were presented at art houses across America and also at venues such as Lincoln Center and the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
. In between these projects, they also scored and recorded 39 episodes of "The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat
The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat
The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat is an animated series starring the classic 1919 feline character, Felix the Cat produced for television by Film Roman. It aired from September 9, 1995 to November 25, 1997 on CBS.-History:...
" a Saturday morning cartoon show on CBS. Some of the conductors, performers and composers of this period of the orchestra included Steed Cowart, Deirdre McClure, Sheldon Brown, Miles Boisen, Bob Lipton, Nik Phelps, Doug Morton, Kenny Wollesen
Kenny Wollesen
Kenny Wollesen is an American drummer and percussionist.Wollesen lives in New York City. He has recorded and toured with many musicians including Tom Waits, Sean Lennon, Ron Sexsmith, Bill Frisell, Norah Jones, Steven Bernstein and John Zorn. He is a founding member of the New Klezmer Trio and a...
, Elliot Kavee, Catherine Clune, Kaila Flexor, Jason Marsh, Matt Brubeck, Steve Kirk
Steve Kirk (composer)
Steve Kirk is a composer, arranger, guitarist, and singer. He owns Steve Kirk Pop Studios in Oakland, California.Kirk has composed music for video games, including the Zynga Facebook game FarmVille, the Disney game for the The Princess and The Frog feature film, and the full soundtrack of Voodoo...
, and especially trumpet player Chris Grady. They have also scored music for other artists, such as choreographer Joe Goode's Maverick Strain performance installation.
In 1999 a smaller version of the orchestra performed Legong: Dance of the Virgins with Gamelan Sekar Jaya
Gamelan Sekar Jaya
Gamelan Sekar Jaya is a Balinese gamelan ensemble located in the San Francisco Bay Area. It has been called "the finest Balinese gamelan ensemble outside of Indonesia" by Indonesia’s Tempo Magazine. It performs the music and dance of Bali in many different genres of Balinese gamelan, mainly...
on a score cowritten by Marriott and Made Subandi. Most recently the orchestra has performed at the World Financial Center and the Morgan Library, introducing new scores for Battleship Potemkin and Phantom of the Opera
The Phantom of the Opera (1925 film)
The Phantom of the Opera is a 1925 American silent horror film adaptation of the Gaston Leroux novel of the same title directed by Rupert Julian. The film featured Lon Chaney in the title role as the deformed Phantom who haunts the Paris Opera House, causing murder and mayhem in an attempt to force...
. They continue to perform live accompaniment to the silent movies they have scored.
Discography
- Metropolis (live recording), 1991, Heyday Records, San Francisco
- Kidnapped, Wild Beasts & More, reissue 1995 (compilation CD), Rastascan
- Sherlock Jr. & Felix 1995, Rastascan
- Plays Nino Rota: Selections From la Dolce Vita, Amarcord, Nights of Cabiria, 8½, Rastascan
- Nosferatu Live at the World Financial Center January 25, 2001
- Caligari
- Legong: Dance of the Virgins