Terry Burrows
Encyclopedia
Terence Ashley Burrows is an English
multi-instrumental musician and author based in London
. Best known as a performer under the pseudonym Yukio Yung, Burrows is also a prolific author of books relating to music tuition, technology, business, popular psychology and history - including KISS Guide to Playing Guitar (Dorling Kindersley
), Total Guitar Tutor (Barnes & Noble
), and Play Electric Guitar (St Martin's Press). His books have been published in fourteen different countries and translated into six different languages. As a writer, his pseudonyms include Terence Ashley, Harrison Franklin, Hans-Joachim Vollmer and Yukio Yung. He has also written for magazines in the UK, US, and Germany.
Burrows was born in Ipswich
, Suffolk
and started studying classical
piano
at the age of 5. (Allmusic Guide describes him as "A classically trained keyboardist with an advanced degree in computer engineering.") When he was 12 he started to teach himself guitar
, and as a teenager he took up bass
, drum
s, and saxophone
. The anti-establishment attitudes of punk subculture
appealed to him but his musical influences included Syd Barrett
, the Kinks
, the Who
, XTC
, the Television Personalities
, and the Canterbury progressive music scene
. In his early twenties, Burrows started his own indie
record label, Hamster Records and Tapes, releasing albums by non-commercial acts such as Loch Ness Monster
, Rimarimba, R. Stevie Moore
and Attrition
, and his own solo material under the guise of Jung Analysts, which has been described as "post-punk industrial funk". In 1986, Cordelia Records released Burrows' Tree Climbing Goats (And Other Analysing Shanties) LP, his first release under the pseudonym Yukio Yung, chosen because of his love of Japan
ese culture.
In 1986 Burrows met Alan Jenkins, leader of The Deep Freeze Mice
, and together they formed The Chrysanthemums
, with Burrows as lead singer and keyboard
player until 1991. A psychedelic art pop band with a large cult following almost entirely outside of the UK, they released four albums and four EPs.
At this time, Burrows also recorded a series of "abstract industrial" albums with German composer Asmus Tietchens
, a former collaborator with Brian Eno
and Cluster
. The first volume, Watching The Burning Bride formed the soundtrack to the similarly named film, by Canadian director, Mark Mushet.
After the Chrysanthemums disbanded, Burrows released new solo Yukio Yung material, commencing with 1993's LP Art Pop Stupidity and CD A Brainless Deconstruction of the Popular Song. Over the next few years he released a single and four EPs. In 1996, Burrows rejoined with his ex-Chrysanthemums bandmate Martin Howells to form a new version of that group, renamed with the visual pun Chrys&themums
to distinguish it from the original lineup.
Musically, Burrows was uncharacteristically quiet between 1998 and 2004 - a combination of ill health and an increasingly demanding publishing schedule. By 2003, he'd had more than 50 titles published, and was recognised as one of the world's biggest-selling authors of music tuition titles, with sales of well over 2 million books in the US alone. During this period he also embarked on an additional career as an occasional university lecturer.
In 2004, Burrows emerged again with a typically colorful selection of music projects, the most significant of which was the resumption of his collaboration with US home-recording pioneer R. Stevie Moore
. The resulting album, compiled by Burrows on an Apple Macintosh computer, was released as Yung & Moore Versus The Whole Goddam Stinkin World. The sleeve amusingly depicts the duo as cartoon superheroes about to demolish the planet - a visual metaphor, perhaps, for the antipathy the world at large has shown their music over the years.
2006 saw Burrows returning to the musical abstraction of his earlier career with Tonesucker, a guitar-based doom/drone project that recalls Seattle, Washington's Earth
, as well as performing on theremin
and VCS3 at Britain's prestigious Aldeburgh Festival
.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
multi-instrumental musician and author based in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. Best known as a performer under the pseudonym Yukio Yung, Burrows is also a prolific author of books relating to music tuition, technology, business, popular psychology and history - including KISS Guide to Playing Guitar (Dorling Kindersley
Dorling Kindersley
Dorling Kindersley is an international publishing company specializing in illustrated reference books for adults and children in 51 languages. It is currently part of the Penguin Group....
), Total Guitar Tutor (Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble, Inc. is the largest book retailer in the United States, operating mainly through its Barnes & Noble Booksellers chain of bookstores headquartered at 122 Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District in Manhattan in New York City. Barnes & Noble also operated the chain of small B. Dalton...
), and Play Electric Guitar (St Martin's Press). His books have been published in fourteen different countries and translated into six different languages. As a writer, his pseudonyms include Terence Ashley, Harrison Franklin, Hans-Joachim Vollmer and Yukio Yung. He has also written for magazines in the UK, US, and Germany.
Burrows was born in Ipswich
Ipswich
Ipswich is a large town and a non-metropolitan district. It is the county town of Suffolk, England. Ipswich is located on the estuary of the River Orwell...
, Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
and started studying classical
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
at the age of 5. (Allmusic Guide describes him as "A classically trained keyboardist with an advanced degree in computer engineering.") When he was 12 he started to teach himself guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, and as a teenager he took up bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, drum
Drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
s, and saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
. The anti-establishment attitudes of punk subculture
Punk subculture
The punk subculture includes a diverse array of ideologies, and forms of expression, including fashion, visual art, dance, literature, and film, which grew out of punk rock.-History:...
appealed to him but his musical influences included Syd Barrett
Syd Barrett
Syd Barrett , born Roger Keith Barrett, was an English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and painter, best remembered as a founding member of the band Pink Floyd. He was the lead vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter during the band's psychedelic years, providing major musical and stylistic...
, the Kinks
The Kinks
The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, by brothers Ray and Dave Davies in 1964. Categorised in the United States as a British Invasion band, The Kinks are recognised as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the era. Their music was influenced by a...
, the Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
, XTC
XTC
XTC were a New Wave band from Swindon, England, active between 1976 and 2005. The band enjoyed some chart success, including the UK and Canadian hits "Making Plans for Nigel" and "Senses Working Overtime" , but are perhaps even better known for their long-standing critical success.- Early years:...
, the Television Personalities
Television Personalities (band)
The Television Personalities are an English group with a varying line-up. The only constant member is singer–songwriter Dan Treacy , who uses the band as a vehicle for his music...
, and the Canterbury progressive music scene
Canterbury Scene
The Canterbury scene is a term used to loosely describe the group of progressive rock, avant-garde and jazz musicians, many of whom were based around the city of Canterbury, Kent, England during the late 1960s and early 1970s...
. In his early twenties, Burrows started his own indie
Indie (music)
In music, independent music, often shortened to indie music or "indie" is a term used to describe independence from major commercial record labels or their subsidiaries, and an autonomous, Do-It-Yourself approach to recording and publishing....
record label, Hamster Records and Tapes, releasing albums by non-commercial acts such as Loch Ness Monster
Loch Ness Monster
The Loch Ness Monster is a cryptid that is reputed to inhabit Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. It is similar to other supposed lake monsters in Scotland and elsewhere, though its description varies from one account to the next....
, Rimarimba, R. Stevie Moore
R. Stevie Moore
Robert Steven Moore is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. In addition to having numerous albums released on labels around the world, the prolific Moore has self-released over 400 cassette and CD-R albums since 1968, as well as dozens of home videos, mostly through the R. Stevie Moore...
and Attrition
Attrition (band)
Attrition are an electronic music band, formed in Coventry, England in 1980 by Martin Bowes and Julia Niblock. The band emerged from the experimental post-punk scene of the early 1980s and, along with other groups such as Throbbing Gristle, Coil, Einstürzende Neubauten, and In the Nursery, greatly...
, and his own solo material under the guise of Jung Analysts, which has been described as "post-punk industrial funk". In 1986, Cordelia Records released Burrows' Tree Climbing Goats (And Other Analysing Shanties) LP, his first release under the pseudonym Yukio Yung, chosen because of his love of Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese culture.
In 1986 Burrows met Alan Jenkins, leader of The Deep Freeze Mice
The Deep Freeze Mice
The Deep Freeze Mice were an English New Wave band that were active between 1979 and 1989. They were based in Leicester, and consisted of the core members Alan Jenkins , Sherree Lawrence , and Mick Bunnage...
, and together they formed The Chrysanthemums
The Chrysanthemums (band)
The Chrysanthemums were an English pop group active between 1987 and 1998. The project began as a collaboration between multi-instrumentalist Terry Burrows and Alan Jenkins, the leader of The Deep Freeze Mice. The first releases were performed in the studio by Burrows and Jenkins alone...
, with Burrows as lead singer and keyboard
Electronic keyboard
An electronic keyboard is an electronic or digital keyboard instrument.The major components of a typical modern electronic keyboard are:...
player until 1991. A psychedelic art pop band with a large cult following almost entirely outside of the UK, they released four albums and four EPs.
At this time, Burrows also recorded a series of "abstract industrial" albums with German composer Asmus Tietchens
Asmus Tietchens
Asmus Tietchens , who also records under the monikers Hematic Sunsets and Club of Rome, is a German composer of avant-garde music....
, a former collaborator with Brian Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
and Cluster
Cluster (band)
Cluster is a German experimental musical group who influenced the development of contemporary popular electronic and ambient music. They have recorded albums in a wide variety of styles ranging from experimental music to progressive rock, all of which had an avant-garde edge. Cluster has been...
. The first volume, Watching The Burning Bride formed the soundtrack to the similarly named film, by Canadian director, Mark Mushet.
After the Chrysanthemums disbanded, Burrows released new solo Yukio Yung material, commencing with 1993's LP Art Pop Stupidity and CD A Brainless Deconstruction of the Popular Song. Over the next few years he released a single and four EPs. In 1996, Burrows rejoined with his ex-Chrysanthemums bandmate Martin Howells to form a new version of that group, renamed with the visual pun Chrys&themums
The Chrysanthemums (band)
The Chrysanthemums were an English pop group active between 1987 and 1998. The project began as a collaboration between multi-instrumentalist Terry Burrows and Alan Jenkins, the leader of The Deep Freeze Mice. The first releases were performed in the studio by Burrows and Jenkins alone...
to distinguish it from the original lineup.
Musically, Burrows was uncharacteristically quiet between 1998 and 2004 - a combination of ill health and an increasingly demanding publishing schedule. By 2003, he'd had more than 50 titles published, and was recognised as one of the world's biggest-selling authors of music tuition titles, with sales of well over 2 million books in the US alone. During this period he also embarked on an additional career as an occasional university lecturer.
In 2004, Burrows emerged again with a typically colorful selection of music projects, the most significant of which was the resumption of his collaboration with US home-recording pioneer R. Stevie Moore
R. Stevie Moore
Robert Steven Moore is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. In addition to having numerous albums released on labels around the world, the prolific Moore has self-released over 400 cassette and CD-R albums since 1968, as well as dozens of home videos, mostly through the R. Stevie Moore...
. The resulting album, compiled by Burrows on an Apple Macintosh computer, was released as Yung & Moore Versus The Whole Goddam Stinkin World. The sleeve amusingly depicts the duo as cartoon superheroes about to demolish the planet - a visual metaphor, perhaps, for the antipathy the world at large has shown their music over the years.
2006 saw Burrows returning to the musical abstraction of his earlier career with Tonesucker, a guitar-based doom/drone project that recalls Seattle, Washington's Earth
Earth (band)
Earth is an American musical group based in Seattle, Washington, formed in 1989 and led by guitarist Dylan Carlson.Earth's music is nearly all instrumental, and can be divided into two distinct stages...
, as well as performing on theremin
Theremin
The theremin , originally known as the aetherphone/etherophone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox is an early electronic musical instrument controlled without discernible physical contact from the player. It is named after its Russian inventor, Professor Léon Theremin, who patented the device...
and VCS3 at Britain's prestigious Aldeburgh Festival
Aldeburgh Festival
The Aldeburgh Festival is an English arts festival devoted mainly to classical music. It takes place each June in the Aldeburgh area of Suffolk, centred on the main concert hall at Snape Maltings...
.
Selected discography
- Jung Analysts:
- A Leading Surgeon Speaks (LP, 1984)
- The Wishing Balloons (LP, 1984)
- Sprockendidootch (LP, 1985)
- Push-Button Pleasure:
- The Vast Difference (LP 1986)
- The Last Dissonance (LP 1988)
- The Chrysanthemums:
- Mouth Pain/Another Sacred Day (7" 1987)
- Is That A Fish On Your Shoulder or are you just pleased to see me? (LP/CD 1987)
- The **** Sessions (12" 1988)
- Little Flecks Of Foam Around Barking (CD/2x LP 1988)
- Picasso's Problem/Live at London Palladium (12" 1990)
- Porcupine Quills (LP/CD 1991)
- Odessey and Oracle (LP/CD 1992)
- Chrysanthemums Go Germany/Insekt Insekt (LP/CD/Box 1995)
- Chrys&themums:
- The Baby's Head (CD 1998)
- A Thousand Tiny Pieces (CD EP 1998)
- As Yukio Yung:
- Tree Climbing Goats (and other analysing shanties) (LP 1987)
- Valborgmassoafton (K7 1991)
- Art Pop Stupidity 1993 (LP)
- A Brainless Deconstruction Of The Popular Song (CD 1993)
- Keep The Black Flag Flying/Yukio's Dream #6 (Reservoir Girls) (7" 1994)
- (Mostly) Water (CD EP 1996)
- Good-bye Pork Pie Brain" (10" LP 1996)
- Hello Pulsing Vein (10" LP 1997)
- Good-bye Pork Pie Brain/Hello Pulsing Vein (Box 1997)
- Yung & Moore/The Yung & Moore Show
- Objectivity (CD EP 1997
- Conscientious Objector (RSM CD 2004)
- The Yung & Moore Show (CD 2006)
- Asmus Tietchens & Terry Burrows
- Watching the Burning Bride (LP 1986)
- Burning The Watching Bride (LP 1998)
- Terry Burrows:
- The Whispering Scale (LP 1989)
- YooKO:
- Matrix/Swirl (12" 1992)
- Everybody Get it Together (12" 1992)
- Tonesucker:
- Slaughterhouse (CD 2006)