Darmstadt 2012: An Evening With Man Forever

Man Forever is the composition project of drummer John Colpitts aka Kid Millions, best known for his 15-year involvement in experimental rock band Oneida. This evening serves as a portrait of Kid’s work for Man Forever, an ever-growing ensemble featuring the contributions of a number of key players in the Brooklyn music scene, which will be celebrating a recent release, Pansophical Cataract, on the Thrill Jockey label. In addition to works for tuned drums, Kid will present new ensemble pieces for guitar and voices, and an interdisciplinary dance collaboration with artist Dana Bell.

In 1997 John Colpitts aka Kid Millions founded the experimental rock band Oneida in Brooklyn, NY. Oneida has released upwards of 20 recordings and has toured North America and Europe extensively. In 2007 Colpitts began working closely with the Japanese group The Boredoms and has performed their composition Boadrum in North America, Japan and the UK. In 2010 he recorded his first solo album and founded the drum ensemble Man Forever which combines carefully tuned drum kits with aggressive and powerful ensemble playing. He has also recorded and performed with Brian Chase of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, White Hills, Soldiers of Fortune, Jah Division, People of the North and many other experimental ensembles. He lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. He was awarded a Millay Colony Composer’s Residency in May of 2011 and appointed to Millay Colony Jury for the selection of 2012 Composer Residencies, where he was named the 2011 Edward T. Cone Fellow.

Dana Bell is a choreographer and video artist. As the director of the performance troupe Psychic Effects since 2010, her work has been presented at venues and festivals including Millennium Film Workshop as part of INDEX Festival, Secret Project Robot, Louis V ESP Gallery, Union Pool and The Schoolhouse.  Bell writes compositions and makes videos to perform alongside conceptualized choreography. Psychic Effects is the conceptual framework re-directing renowned painter and teacher Josef Albers’ concept in relational aesthetics between colors as a contemporary psychosocial phenomenon.  This performance will be performed alongside Man Forever’s “Surface Patterns” and will  include performers Kerry Davis, Talice Lee and Kristin Myers while classic “hysterical” film scenes are projected in a three channel video superimposed with the related contemporary interpreted gesture of Bell’s performers.