Ex Wise Heads

Ex Wise Heads first came together in early 1997 through a chance meeting in Brighton's renowned emporium of ethnic instrumentation, Adaptatrap. Geoff Leigh (flutes, saxophone, zither, vocals, keyboards and electronics) and Colin Edwin (basses and guimbri) first started composing and playing together as a duo, complemented at times by various machines. It was with the looming deadline of their debut performance that a mutual decision was taken to recruit a live percussionist. Enter multi-percussionist Julian Franks, who joined just in time to learn the as-yet-untested material, and play the first gig at the Lewes Literary Festival. After several more gigs to develop their sound and get musically acquainted, the trio recorded an album's worth of material in the primitive conditions of Geoff's basement. The sessions for the album Everything is Hear were recently released.

During the recording, it became obvious that Julian did not fit in with the Ex-Wise-Heads philosophically and musically, so a capable replacement was found in the shape of Vincent Salzfaas. Geoff and Colin, whilst searching for another percussionist, literally bumped into Vincent in Adaptatrap.

The revitalized trio immediately started recording their debut album, No Grey Matter, which was released in September 2000 on the Hidden Art label. Some of the compositions from the unreleased Everything is Hear surfaced on this release, although they had changed in mood and form with the different style and instrumentation that Vincent brought to the group, the powerful bougarabou sound highlighting different aspects of the compositions, when compared to Julian's tabla and more Middle Eastern influences.
The current line-up has performed at various venues in and around South East UK, as well as the Bracknell Festival, Brighton Peace Festival and Hastings Arts Festival.

In February 2003, Ex Wise Heads released their second album, Time and Emotion Study, with guest contributions from violinist Peter Knight, best known for his work with legendary folk rockers Steeleye Span. Once again a chance meeting was to blame for the involvement of another musician. This time at a Trevor Watts concert, with whom Peter was performing. —Courtesy Calabash Music