ArtistInfo

Catastrophe Theory

A.k.a. Jowi Taylor, Gordon Nicholson

Catastrophe Theory was formed in the early 1980's by high school friends Jowi Taylor, Gordon Nicholson and Bob Esplin as an experimental basement group using tape loops, crude electronics, found objects, handmade and conventional instruments. Jowi and Gordon reformed the group in 1984 and began recording the first cassette, Debris (1985) which went to #31 on the CKLN Top 100 of 1985. Through the nascent fanzine and international community-radio network, Debris went on to critical success at independent radio stations and magazines in cities from Chicago to Stockholm. The second release, Day Rides a Tiger (1986) introduced samplers into the studio palette and resulted in even greater success locally, nationally and internationally. The cassette finished at #1 on the cassette chart at CKLN in 1987 and reached # 8 in the overall Top 100. In 1989, music from Day Rides a Tiger and additional new music was used in the documentary film The Iconoclast: The Images of Richard Slye by Michael Connelly and Malcolm Harris. The documentary aired in Canada on TVO, TFO, VisionTV, Knowledge Network and other cable services as well as PBS affiliates in the United States. In 1993, Catastrophe Theory was commissioned by Harbourfront Centre in Toronto to compose original music for the Canada Day celebrations. The project was a collaboration with the pyrotechnic firm Perfomance Pyrotechnics Associates of Toronto and St. Louis. The resulting piece, Fire:Work debuted before an estimated audience of 10,000 to rave reviews on July 1st, 1993. Jowi and Gordon's reputation for sporadic collaborative creative outbursts has meant a bare trickle since 1993. The latest single, ThunderPrint was in development for approximately three years before being released on an Impact Magazine sampler in 1995. (taken from http://www3.sympatico.ca/e-jowi/cas.html)

ArtistInfo App

Acknowledgements

ArtistInfo for Mac, iPad, and iPhone