DESCRIPTION:
Robert Poss fell in love with electric guitars and basses in 1964 at an age when he still believed one plugged them directly into a wall socket. He memorized the Fender Catalog and passed through a succession of rock and blues cover bands before discovering punk in the late 70's and staring to write, record and release his own material. He joined Rhys Chatham's ensemble in the early 80's and remained a core member for several years. He also began performing and recording the music of eclectic electronicist Nicolas Collins, whom he had known since the mid-1970's. Eventually Poss realized that the sound of feedback, distortion and ringing overtones was "the cake, not the frosting" and began trying new ways of writing songs by layering simple chord patterns over drones and looped riffs. It was his initiative that gave rise to Band of Susans in 1986, and his early experiments became the foundation of their sound. Band of Susans went on to release two EPs and five LPs (all produced by Poss) before disbanding in 1995. Interviewed in The Wire magazine, Steve Albini stated that "I think Robert Poss...is an enormously under- rated guitar theorist. A lot of his approaches to the density of guitar are completely overlooked in any discussion about guitar....The way he structures the song around the drone instead of finding a drone to fit into the song I think is wholly unique." Poss has also performed and recorded solo, and with Bruce Gilbert, Phill Niblock, David Dramm, Alva Rogers, and Ben Neill, among others, and has produced records by Combine, Tone and Skulpey in addition to Band of Susans.