“People are still mystified by free improvising,” says Weasel Walter of the Flying Luttenbachers. “I think they think it’s some sort of esoteric craft that should be worshiped regardless of whether or not it’s good music. If you have to think about whether or not you’re liking the music, chances are you aren’t.”
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In the tradition of the late 70s/early 80s New York-based no-wave movement, the Luttenbachers’ noisy, chaotic assault combines the seemingly disparate elements of free jazz and punk rock. Their instrumentation varies, but it usually features saxaphone in the midst of a guitar and drum squall. “I grew up listening to both [punk and free jazz] concurrently and seeing a similar aesthetic in both,” Walter explains . “Now I listen to a lot of death metal and I see a lot of things in free jazz that I see in death metal. They’re different styles, but to me a lot of the characteristics are very similar.”
The band underwent the first of several personnel changes eight months after it formed. “Hal kind of lost interest when I started asserting myself, writing tunes and stuff, Walter says. “It became less fun to him and more like work, so he ditched us.” With only a week to prepare for the recording of the Luttenbachers’ first EP, 546 Seconds of Noise, Walter called saxophonist Ken Vandermark, whom he’d met a few months earlier and who would eventually replace Russell in NRG Ensemble. Vandermark came aboard and is also heard on 1389 Seconds of Noise (a title that’s about 780 seconds too long) and Constructive Destruction.
