Matthew Bower is a British musician, active since the early 1980s, who has done both collaborative and solo work.

Skullflower

Skullflower was formed when Bower joined up with Stefan Jaworzyn, Gary Mundy and Stuart Dennison in 1987 having previously worked under the name Pure with Alex Binnie and Alex Windsor. Unlike most of their immediate contemporaries in the

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

-based industrial underground, they used traditional rock instruments such as

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

s and

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

as well as tapes, synths etc. The line-up could be fluid, with members of contemporaries such as

Whitehouse Whitehouse may refer to: People * Charles S. Whitehouse (1921-2001), American diplomat * Cornelius Whitehouse (1796–1883), English engineer and inventor * E. Sheldon Whitehouse (1883-1965), American diplomat * Elliott Whitehouse (born 1993), ...

, Coil and Ramleh contributing. The group are often cited as having been a strong influence on

Justin Broadrick Justin Karl Michael Broadrick (born 15 August 1969) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. He is best known as the lead singer and a founding member of the band Godflesh, one of the first bands to combine elements of extreme metal and i ...

Godflesh Godflesh are an English industrial metal band from Birmingham. The group formed in 1982 under the title Fall of Because but did not release any complete music until 1988 when Justin Broadrick ( guitar, vocals and programming) and G. C. ...

and, indeed, Broadrick later released two Skullflower albums on his HeadDirt label. Jaworzyn left the band with bassist Anthony DiFranco and guitarist Russell Smith (formerly of

Terminal Cheesecake Terminal Cheesecake are an English alternative rock band, originally formed by Gary Boniface (formerly of The Purple Things and The Vibes), Russell Smith (formerly of A.R.Kane and MARRS), Mick Parkin and John Jobbagy (also from The Vibes and P ...

) joining. The unit moved further and further away from any recognisable rock genre with albums such as ''Obsidian Shaking Codex'' and ''Transformer'' showcasing a free-flowing, rootless brand of

drone music Drone music, drone-based music, or simply drone, is a minimalist genre that emphasizes the use of sustained sounds, notes, or tone clusters – called drones. It is typically characterized by lengthy audio programs with relatively slight harm ...

, often adding reeds and strings, sometimes played by John Godbert. Skullflower was put on hold around 1997 with Bower pursuing other activities, and triumphantly revived in 2003, with Bower enlisting people like Mark Burns, Neil Campbell, Michael Flower and Colin Potter (of Nurse With Wound) for new material. Although he recorded some of these albums (including Tribulation) alone, many of the group's live commitments were fulfilled by a duo of Bower and Lee Stokoe (who records solo as Culver). A show at the 2008 Colour Out Of Space festival saw Bower and Stokoe being joined by Alex Binnie and Stuart Dennison. At April 2009, the full line-up of Skullflower was Bower, Stokoe, Dennison and Samantha Davies. He and Samantha Davies also record together as Voltigeurs. 2011 saw the release of 'Fucked on a Pile of Corpses' more visceral/

Black Metal Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, a shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, raw (lo-fi) recording, unconventional song structures, and an em ...

/and an almost return to the industrial sounds of Total. Fittingly, it was released on long running English Industrial label Cold Spring. At the close of 2011 the full band line up is Bower, Sokoe, Davies and West Yorkshire Patriot, George Proctor (Mutant Ape).

Total

Bower recorded under the name Total, from 1984-7, and then as a solo vehicle from 1991-2000, on labels such as Majora,

VHF Very high frequency (VHF) is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves (radio waves) from 30 to 300 megahertz (MHz), with corresponding wavelengths of ten meters to one meter. Frequencies immediately below VHF ...

, American Tapes (run by John Olson of Wolf Eyes), Self Abuse and Freek as well as appearing on

Virgin Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

's ''

Isolationism Isolationism is a political philosophy advocating a national foreign policy that opposes involvement in the political affairs, and especially the wars, of other countries. Thus, isolationism fundamentally advocates neutrality and opposes entangl ...

'' compilation. Initially a more drone/neo classical/industrial counterpart to Skullflower's harsher work, the roles slowly reversed, reaching a peak with the noisy ''

Merzbow is a Japanese noise project started in 1979 by , best known for a style of harsh, confrontational noise. Since 1980, Akita has released over 400 recordings and has collaborated with various artists. The name Merzbow comes from the German dada ...

Mixed Total'' cassette being released around the same time as the mostly gentle, fluid "This Is Skullflower" CD. Bower coincidentally stopped using the name, adopting Sunroof! for his solo work, at the same time the US R&B group of the same name appeared; there was no connection between these events.

Other projects

With Skullflower officially resting and Total retired, Bower began a more inclusive project called Sunroof! which, on occasion, could feature

Richard Youngs Richard Youngs is an English musician based in Glasgow since the early 1990s. His catalogue of solo and collaborative work formally begins with ''Advent'', first issued in 1990. He plays many instruments, most commonly choosing the guitar, bu ...

, Neil Campbell, John Godbert, Phil Todd and other friends. More melodic and keyboard based than his previous work, albums were issued on

Giardia ''Giardia'' ( or ) is a genus of anaerobic flagellated protozoan parasite Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and ...

and his own Rural Electrification Project label. In addition, he also guested with

Vibracathedral Orchestra Vibracathedral Orchestra is an England-based drone ensemble that has been active since 1998. Biography The group were formed in Leeds in 1998 when Mick Flower, Neil Campbell and Julian Bradley, who had released a number of homemade cassettes ...

on a number of occasions and has issued 2 albums with

. Bower’s discography of visceral, free drone-rock is one of the most formidable of its kind and he was considered in 2005 by

The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American crime drama television series created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon. The series was broadcast by the cable network HBO in the United States. ''The Wire'' premiered on June 2 ...

to be one of the ''"map co-ordinates for much of what passed for a post-punk UK underground during most of the 80s and 90s"'' (issue 259).

References

External links

VHF Records website - sound samples of their many Bower and related releases are available hereMatthew Bower at Discogs
* https://skullflower-skullflowertruth.blogspot.com/-bower-davies blog * https://skullflower.bandcamp.com/ many digital only releases since 2015 {{DEFAULTSORT:Bower, Matthew 1962 births Living people British experimental musicians English punk rock guitarists Place of birth missing (living people)