Praxis is the name of an

experimental rock Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments with the basic elements of the genre. Artists aim to liberate and innovate, with ...

project, led by producer/bassist

Bill Laswell William Otis Laswell (born February 12, 1955) is an American bass guitarist, record producer, and record label owner. He has been involved in thousands of recordings with many collaborators from all over the world. His music draws from funk, ...

and featuring guitarist

Buckethead Brian Patrick Carroll (born May 13, 1969), known professionally as Buckethead, is an American guitarist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He has received critical acclaim for his innovative electric guitar playing. His music spans severa ...

and drummer

Brain A brain is an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It is located in the head, usually close to the sensory organs for senses such as vision. It is the most complex organ in a ve ...

in nearly every incarnation of the band. The group worked with many other artists such as

Serj Tankian Serj Tankian (born August 21, 1967) is an Armenian-American singer, musician, songwriter, political activist and entrepreneur. He is best known as the lead vocalist, primary lyricist, keyboardist, and occasional rhythm guitarist of heavy metal ...

from

System of a Down System of a Down (also known as SoaD or simply System) is an Armenian-American heavy metal band formed in Glendale, California, in 1994. Since 1997, the band has consisted of Serj Tankian (lead vocals, keyboards); Daron Malakian (guitar, voc ...

, Iggy Pop, DXT and

DJ Disk DJ Disk is a turntablist from the San Francisco Bay Area. He is of Panamanian, Colombian, and Nicaraguan descent. Born Luis Quintanilla on October 7, 1970, in San Francisco, Disk began scratching and mixing vinyl at a young age. In 1992, he joined ...

Biography

Early days

Bill Laswell initially used the name Praxis for an experimental solo EP recorded for

Celluloid Records Celluloid Records, a French/American record label, founded by Jean Georgakarakos (sometimes shortened to Jean Karakos) operated from 1976 to 1989 in New York City, and produced a series of eclectic and ground-breaking releases, particularly in the ...

in 1984, simply named "1984".

1992–1996

The band's debut album, '' Transmutation (Mutatis Mutandis),'' released in 1992, was well received by critics. Praxis was composed of guitarist

, keyboardist

Bernie Worrell George Bernard Worrell, Jr. (April 19, 1944 – June 24, 2016) was an American keyboardist and record producer best known as a founding member of Parliament-Funkadelic and for his work with Talking Heads. He is a member of the Rock and Rol ...

, drummer

, bassist Bootsy Collins and

Afrika Baby Bam Nathaniel Hall, better known by his stage name Afrika Baby Bam, is an American hip hop artist, born in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York, and was part of the hip-hop group the Jungle Brothers. He was named in honor of Afrika Bambaataa. He is ...

as "AF Next Man Flip" on turntables. Bill Laswell masterminded the project and served as producer and co-writer of much of the album's material. Praxis combined elements of different musical genres such as funk,

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

, hip-hop and heavy metal into highly improvised music. The P-Funk-inspired track "

Animal Behavior Ethology is the scientific study of animal behaviour, usually with a focus on behaviour under natural conditions, and viewing behaviour as an evolutionarily adaptive trait. Behaviourism as a term also describes the scientific and objectiv ...

," with a lead vocal from Collins, was released as a single. A video was also shot for the track. Their next studio album, '' Sacrifist,'' was released two years later on the new Laswell-led label Subharmonic and featured a rotating roster of guests including sax player John Zorn, drummer

Mick Harris Michael John Harris (born 4 October 1967) is an English musician from Birmingham. He was the drummer for Napalm Death between 1985 and 1991, and is credited for coining the term "grindcore". After Napalm Death, Harris joined Painkiller with Jo ...

from

Painkiller An analgesic drug, also called simply an analgesic (American English), analgaesic (British English), pain reliever, or painkiller, is any member of the group of drugs used to achieve relief from pain (that is, analgesia or pain management). It i ...

, and members of the band

Blind Idiot God Blind Idiot God is an American instrumental rock trio formed in 1982 in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, by guitarist Andy Hawkins, bassist Gabriel Katz and drummer Ted Epstein. The phrase "blind idiot god" comes from horror writer H. P. Lo ...

. The death metal-influenced album was not as acclaimed as their debut. The same year saw the album

Metatron Metatron ( ''Meṭāṭrōn'', ''Məṭaṭrōn'', ''Mēṭaṭrōn'', ''Mīṭaṭrōn'', ''Meṭaṭrōn'', ''Mīṭṭaṭrōn'') or Mattatron ( ''Maṭṭaṭrōn'') is an angel in Judaism mentioned three times in the Talmud in a few br ...

, with a trio of Buckethead, Laswell and Brain, which included the song "Wake the Dead." In 1996 the band toured Europe and recorded two live albums called ''Live in Poland'' and '' Transmutation Live'' containing material from shows in

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Zürich ...

and

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

. Both albums featured members of the

Invisibl Skratch Piklz The Invisibl Skratch Piklz are an American group of turntablists. The members of the group were originally hip-hop DJs, who were among the pioneers of the turntablism movement in the 1990s; turntablists create musical pieces by mixing sampl ...

. After the shows, the project broke up.

1997–2004

In 1997,

re-released his

Material Material is a substance or mixture of substances that constitutes an object. Materials can be pure or impure, living or non-living matter. Materials can be classified on the basis of their physical and chemical properties, or on their geolo ...

EP ''

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

'' under the Praxis name. This was followed by the album ''

Mold A mold () or mould () is one of the structures certain fungi can form. The dust-like, colored appearance of molds is due to the formation of spores containing fungal secondary metabolites. The spores are the dispersal units of the fungi. Not ...

'' with

Pat Thrall Patrick Thrall is an American rock guitarist. Thrall began his recording career in 1972. He played guitar, vocals, and percussion with the group Cookin' Mama, which had his brother, Preston Thrall, on percussion. They released the album ''New Day ...

, Peter Wetherbee and Alex Haas instead of

and

respectively. The album was essentially somewhat of a remix album with Wetherbee and crew taking elements from 1984 and crafting a full-length release. Laswell's involvement with this album was minimal. In 1998, Laswell contributed "Dreadnot" to the compilation ''Abstract Depressionism''. Though labeled a Praxis track, this was essentially a solo Laswell creation. In the same year a first compilation album also containing two songs from the

Death Cube K Buckethead is an American guitarist and singer. The Buckethead discography currently includes 47 studio albums , 1 live album, 4 special releases, 388 extended plays as Bucketheadland , 5 demo tapes, 3 solo DVD video releases, 2 DVD video release ...

album '' Dreamatorium'' (Death Cube K is an anagram of Buckethead) was made available. In 1999, a re-worked version of ''Live in Poland'' was released as ''

Warszawa Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...

''. Little was heard of the band for the next years, while Brain and Buckethead played for Guns N' Roses and Laswell concentrated more on his dub releases.

2004–2010

Most original members reunited for a small tour in 2004 culminating in their appearance as part of a Bill Laswell themed episode of the PBS series Soundstage. Laswell also began working on their next studio album '' Profanation (Preparation for a Coming Darkness)'', but due to the label (Sanctuary) going broke the project was put on hold for about three years. In 2005 ''Transmutation Live'' was re-worked and re-released as '' Zurich''. Another live album called '' Tennessee 2004'' was released in 2007 which was a truncated version of a longer show performed at the Bonnarroo festival. On January 1, 2008 the studio album '' Profanation (Preparation for a Coming Darkness)'' was released in Japan with guest contributions by

Mike Patton Michael Allan Patton (born January 27, 1968) is an American singer, producer, film composer and voice actor, best known as the lead vocalist of the alternative metal band Faith No More. Noted for his vocal proficiency, diverse singing techni ...

and Iggy Pop as well as Buckethead's old friend Maximum Bob and many more.

2011–present: Hiatus and Sound Virus

In early 2011, '' Profanation'' was re-released on Bill Laswell's new

M.O.D. Technologies M.O.D. Technologies is an independent record label based in New York City and intended to be the modern evolution of producer and bassist Bill Laswell's Axiom label. It was founded in 2010 by Laswell and RareNoiseRecords founder Giacomo Bruzzo, ...

label with two additional live tracks. Later that month Bill Laswell stated in an interview that there was likely no more future for the band: M.O.D. Technologies also has a vinyl version of '' Profanation'' scheduled for an April 2013 release. In 2015, the band released a new album entitled "Sound Virus". In 2022, Bill Laswell, Buckethead and Brain returned to the stage as Praxis to play two shows in New York.

Notable guests

The following musicians have contributed to the various Praxis experiments (though arguably, those appearing on "Mold" are not proper collaborators as this album is only tenuously part of the Praxis canon): *

as AF Next Man Flip on turntables * Cindy Blackman on drums * Bootsy Collins on bass and vocals *

on turntables * DXT on turntables *

Yamatsuka Eye (born , 13 February 1964) is a Japanese vocalist and visual artist, best known as a member of Boredoms and Naked City. He has changed his stage name three times, from Yamatsuka Eye, to Yamantaka Eye, to Yamataka Eye, and sometimes calls hims ...

on vocals *

on drums * Lili Haydn on violin *

on turntables *

Toshinori Kondo was a Japanese avant-garde jazz and jazz fusion trumpeter. Career Kondo was born in Ehime Prefecture. He attended Kyoto university in 1967, and became close friends with percussionist Tsuchitori Toshiyuki. In 1972 the pair left university, and ...

on trumpet * Maximum Bob on vocals *

on vocals * Iggy Pop on vocals *

on vocals *

on guitars * John Zorn on saxophone

Musical styles

Between the influence of Laswell and Buckethead, Praxis' musical experimentation in both studio, street and live settings have combined elements of mid-1970s

Funkadelic Funkadelic was an American funk rock band formed in Plainfield, New Jersey in 1968 and active until 1982. The band and its sister act Parliament, both led by George Clinton, pioneered the funk music culture of the 1970s.John, Bush. Funkade ...

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of musi ...

, hip-hop's more avant-garde leanings, and Last Exit's ferocious yet organic jazz/metal aesthetic. Many of these experiments defined diverse, eclectic, and freeform genres including avant-garde, heavy metal, funk and jazz-fusion.

Discography

Studio albums

*1992: '' Transmutation (Mutatis Mutandis)'' *1993: '' Sacrifist'' *1994: ''

'' *1998: ''

'' *2008: '' Profanation (Preparation for a Coming Darkness)''

Singles

*1992: ''

EPs and compilations

*1984: ''1984'' *1992: ''A Taste of Mutation'' *1998: ''Collection'' *2015: ''Sound Virus''"This is not a reissue nor compilation. This is re-stored, edited, enhanced and remastered Version, a Reconstruction."
''Sound Virus'' by Praxis. Retrieved 2016-11-06.

Live

*1997: ''Live in Poland'' *1997: '' Transmutation Live'' *1999: ''

'' *2005: '' Zurich'' *2007: '' Tennessee 2004''

References

External links

Bill Laswell's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Praxis American funk metal musical groups Buckethead Island Records artists Musical groups established in 1992 Musical groups disestablished in 2011 ROIR artists