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Charlie Collins

Creative percussionist, free polyrhythmic drummer, and sound artist, based in the UK.

About Me

Charlie Collins is a creative percussionist, free polyrhythmic drummer, and sound artist, based in Sheffield, UK. His work continues to explore the boundaries between pure sound and rhythm, frequently incorporating metal percussion and free improvisation. During the 1970s he was involved in the nascent “Industrial” scene, being an early member of ClockDVA, and founder of The Box, recording for cult labels Industrial, Fetish, and Doublevision, a period soon followed by collaboration with many of the pioneers of free improvisation.

He has received a number of awards for live performance and composition, worked in dance and theatre, taught improvisation at Nottingham Trent University, and toured a live soundtrack to Teinosuke Kinugasa’s silent 1920s masterpiece “A Page Of Madness”. More recently he has been a regular member of alto saxophonist Sonny Simmons Quartet, has a duo with New York trumpet legend Ted Daniel, and has toured and recorded with the Linda Sharrock Group.

His lifelong interest in East Asian percussion and rhythm technique is displayed in current work with komungo player Eun-Jung Kim, pianist Yoko Miura, visual artist Bongsu Park, composer Ryoko Akama, vocalist Ami Yamasaki, and Butoh dancers Mushimaru Fujieda and Tsukasa Kamidate.

He is one of a handful of musicians to have played both Derek Bailey’s Company Week and Top Of The Pops.

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