Home » Member Page
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.