Colin Edwin Balch is an Australian musician, specialising in fretted and fretless bass guitar, double bass and guimbri.
Colin Edwin Balch | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Colin Edwin Balch |
| Born | 2 July 1970 Melbourne, Australia |
| Origin | Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England |
| Genres | |
| Occupation | Musician |
| Instruments | |
| Years active | 1993–present |
| Member of | |
| Formerly of |
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Edwin first came to public attention as a member of the British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, in which he was bass player from 1993 to 2011. Currently, Edwin is a member of Ex-Wise Heads, a long running collaboration with multi instrumentalist Geoff Leigh which mixes ethnic, ambient, and post-modern influences. He is also a member of metal-influenced project Random Noise Generator, and the bands Metallic Taste of Blood[1] and progressive metal act O.R.k., as well as participating in numerous collaborations and releasing solo work.
Biography
editColin Edwin Balch was born in Melbourne on 2 July 1970. During his childhood, his family moved to Hemel Hempstead, England, where he became a schoolfriend of the young Steven Wilson.
In December 1993, he joined Wilson's progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, in which he played bass guitar, double bass and guimbri. His time in the band lasted until its initial dissolution in 2011, and covered nine studio albums and thirteen live albums. Edwin also played double bass on occasion for Wilson's other main project No-Man, notably for 1993 radio sessions and on 2001's Returning Jesus album.
In 1999, Edwin teamed with former Henry Cow instrumentalist Geoff Leigh and percussionist Vincent Salzfaas to form the instrumental ethno-fusion trio Ex-Wise Heads, who have gone on to record six albums (with the project later becoming a duo of Edwin and Leigh augmented by percussionist Rick Edwards and various guests).
Since 2009, Edwin has also been releasing solo work, including two solo albums (Third Vessel in 2009 and PVZ in 2012)[2] both available through Burning Shed.[3] He continues to regularly release standalone solo tracks via his Bandcamp page.
In 2011, Edwin formed the band "Metallic Taste of Blood" with Italian musician Eraldo Bernocchi, Hungarian drummer Balazs Pandi and Keyboard player Jamie Saft, releasing an album on RareNoiseRecords.[1] With a new line-up featuring former Prong drummer Ted Parsons and keyboard player Roy Powell, Metallic Taste of Blood released a second album "Doctoring the Dead" in May 2015, also on RareNoise.[4]
Edwin has continued working with Eraldo Bernocchi in the newest line-up of the band Obake, alongside vocalist Lorenzo Esposito Fornasari with their second album entitled Mutations, which was released in October 2014 on RareNoise.[5]
Also in 2011, Edwin worked with American guitarist Jon Durant on the album Dance of the Shadow Planets[6] and the two collaborated further on the album Burnt Belief[7] released on the Alchemy Records label in 2012.[8] Their third collaboration, Etymology, was released in October 2014.[9]
Edwin has also collaborated with Italian bassist Lorenzo Feliciati, resulting in the album Twinscapes, released on RareNoise in 2014.[10] The Twinscapes album also features contributions from Nils Petter Molvær, David Jackson, Roberto Gualdi and Andi Pupato, and was mixed by bassist and producer Bill Laswell[11] Edwin is known to have an interest in photography and also took the cover image for the album.[12]
In mid 2014 it was announced that Edwin would be joining experimental jazz rock band Henry Fool[13] as well as participating in recording new material for a future album.
In 2015 Edwin joined Lorenzo Esposito Fornasari, guitarist Carmelo Pipitone and drummer Pat Mastelotto in a new band "O.R.k." releasing the albums Inflamed Rides.[14][failed verification], Soul of an Octopus.,[15] and Ramagehead,.[16]
Edwin recorded the bass lines for the instrumental rock musical collective Armonite, releasing the albums The Sun is New each Day in 2015[17] and And the Stars above in 2018, the latter published by Cleopatra Records.[18]
Edwin has also collaborated with Ukrainian female vocal duo Astarta, playing concerts in London and Ukraine[19] and releasing a full-length album in April 2016.[20]
Style and equipment
edit
Edwin is a jazz fan, and incorporates an atypical jazz-inspired style into his playing for a rock band. He also has a strong interest in world music and in electronica, reflected particularly in his work with Ex-Wise Heads and in his solo releases.
In between 1994 and 2004, Edwin's main bass was a 1994 Wal Mark I four-string fretless bass, until he gave it "a break" and semi-retired it from the rigours of live touring. He subsequently used a Music Man StingRay and, for the Deadwing Tour, a Music Man Bongo which can be viewed in action on Porcupine Tree's DVD release Arriving Somewhere....
During that time period Edwin was introduced to Spector basses and purchased a EuroLX 4-string model in Natural Oil. The company then gave him one of their extended scale-length models (35" as opposed to the "standard" 34" scale for 4-string basses), a Euro 4LX-35[21] in transparent black. This proved to be useful as over half of their 2007 album, Fear of a Blank Planet was downtuned C/F/Bb/Eb to which the 35" scale length give better definition to the lower notes. For the second leg of the Fear of a Blank Planet Tour starting in October 2007 a ReBop Deluxe FM[22] unlined fretless bass in Natural Oil was used for the song "A Smart Kid" among others, and well as using his Music Man Bongo bass guitar as his spare or encore bass.
As of late September 2009 Edwin was back to using his fretted and fretless Wal Mark I 4-string basses for the majority of the tour supporting the Porcupine Tree release of The Incident. He played approximately 85% of The Incident song-cycle on his Wal basses. His black Spector Euro 4LX-35 was used for the other 15% "heavy parts" which were down-tuned to C Standard. Edwin still endorses the Spector and Basslab basses as well as EBS amplifiers, speaker cabinets, and effects pedals. He endorses Ernie Ball Bass Strings for use on his Wal fretless bass[23] and Spector Medium Stainless Steel Bass Strings on his fretted Spector basses.[24]
Discography (Outside of Porcupine Tree)
edit- Solo Albums
| Year | Title | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Third Vessel | Hard World |
| 2012 | P.V.Z. | Hard World |
| 2015 | Mesh E.P. | Hard World |
| 2020 | Infinite Regress | Hard World |
- With Ex-Wise Heads
| Year | Title | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 2002 | No Grey Matter | Hard World |
| 2003 | Time and Emotion Study | Hard World |
| 2006 | Holding Up the Sky | Hard World |
| 2007 | Liquid Assets | Hard World |
| 2010 | Celestial Disclosure | Tonefloat |
| 2011 | Schemata | Hard World |
- With Lorenzo Feliciati as Twinscapes
| Year | Title | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Twinscapes | RareNoise |
- With Armonite
| Year | Title | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | The Sun Is New Each Day | Merry-Go-Sound |
| 2018 | And the Stars Above | Cleopatra Records |
- With Metallic Taste of Blood
| Year | Title | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Metallic Taste of Blood | RareNoise |
| 2015 | Doctoring the Dead | RareNoise |
- With Obake
| Year | Title | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Mutations | RareNoise |
| 2016 | Draugr | RareNoise |
- With Jon Durant
| Year | Title | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Dance of the Shadow Planets | Alchemy |
| 2012 | Burnt Belief | Alchemy |
| 2014 | Etymology | Alchemy |
| 2016 | Emergent | Alchemy |
| 2021 | Mutual Isolation | Alchemy |
- With O.R.k.
| Year | Title | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Inflamed Rides | Hard World |
| 2017 | Soul of An Octopus | RareNoise |
| 2019 | Ramagehead | Kscope |
| 2022 | Screamnasium | Kscope |
- With Tim Bowness
| Year | Title | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Abandoned Dance Hall Dreams | Inside Out |
| 2015 | Stupid Things That Mean The World | Inside Out |
| 2017 | Lost In The Ghost Light | Inside Out |
- With Astarta as Astarta/Edwin
| Year | Title | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Astarta/Edwin | CompMusic |
- With Endless Tapes
| Year | Title | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Endless Tapes EP | Hard World |
| 2016 | Brilliant Waves | Hard World |
- With Gaudi
| Year | Title | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Magnetic | Rarenoise |
- With Jon Durant and Inna Kovtun
| Year | Title | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Edwin Durant Kovtun | Alchemy |
Current equipment
edit- 2012 Spector USA Series Bolt-On NS-4H2-MM Black Cherry High Gloss Custom Shop 4-string fretless bass (Unlined Ebony fingerboard) with EMG MM-TW pick-ups, Aguilar OBP-3 preamp & Hipshot hardware[25]
- 2006 Spector Euro 4LX-35 4-string bass downtuned to "C Standard" (C/F/Bb/Eb) in Transparent Black.[26] strung with Spector Medium Stainless Steel strings.[24]
- BassLab Soul-IV in Black (used mainly as a studio bass and also as a backup/encore bass on the "Fear of a Blank Planet" tour[27]) strung with Ernie Ball Hybrid Slinky strings.[24]
- BassLab Soul-IV in Metallic Orange (prototype bass borrowed from Heiko Hoepfinger used as a studio/recording bass[28]
- EBS TD 650 amplifier and two 4x10" Proline neodymium cabs.[24]
- EBS ValveDrive tube preamp/overdrive pedal, EBS MultiDrive distortion, EBS OctaBass octave, EBS MultiComp compressor, EBS UniChorus Chours, EBS Bass IQ Envelope Filter, EBS Tremolo, Boss HR-2 Harmonist, Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner.[24]
Previously used equipment
edit- 2007 Spector ReBop Deluxe FM unlined fretless bass in Natural Oil.
- 2004 Music Man Stingray fretted 4-string bass (Natural ash finish, Rosewood fretboard [29]) with a Hipshot Bass Extender installed for downtuning the E-string to D.
- 2005 Music Man Bongo 4-string bass in "Stealth (flat) Black" (used for the majority of the "Deadwing" tour as seen on the band's Arriving Somewhere... Live DVD and as a backup/encore bass on the 2007–08 "Fear of a Blank Planet" tour).
- Trace Elliott AH350 amplifier and speaker cabinets
- Tech 21 LM300 amplifier and two 4x10" speaker cabinets ("trashed on a European tour by some slack local crew"[30])
References
edit- ^ a b "Metallic Taste Of Blood | This is the website of Metallic Taste of Blood". metallictasteofblood.com. Archived from the original on 10 September 2015. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
- ^ "Colin Edwin, Bass Musician Magazine Q&A". bassmusicianmagazine.com. 11 April 2013. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
- ^ "Debut solo album from Porcupine Tree bass player Colin Edwin". Third Vessel. Retrieved 8 July 2011.
- ^ "Metallic Taste of Blood - Doctoring the Dead". May 2015.
- ^ "RareNoiseRecords - obake-store". rarenoiserecords.com. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
- ^ "Untitled Page". jondurant.com. Archived from the original on 5 October 2011. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
- ^ "Unsung Melody - Trees and Beliefs. An interview with Colin Edwin of Porcupine Tree". unsungmelody.com. 10 February 2013. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
- ^ "Burnt Belief". Archived from the original on 8 August 2013. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
- ^ "Burnt Belief - "Etymology" due out October 21 on Alchemy Records - The Prog Report". progreport.com. October 2014. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
- ^ "Through the looking glass: a peek at RareNoiseRecords releases for 2014 « Dense[Signals]". densesignals.com. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
- ^ "THE Bill Laswell Pages". silent-watcher.net. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
- ^ "The Fisheye Snaps New Album Cover from Colin Edwin of Porcupine Tree · Lomography". lomography.com. Archived from the original on 12 January 2015. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
- ^ "Colin Edwin joins Henry Fool - Prog". prog.teamrock.com. 22 April 2014. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
- ^ "O.R.k. - 'Inflamed Rides' (Review) | TMMP". Archived from the original on 11 June 2015.
- ^ "O.R.k. – Soul of an Octopus Review". 27 February 2017.
- ^ "O.R.k."
- ^ "Armonite - Music". Retrieved 21 June 2015.
- ^ "Armonite - And the Stars above". Retrieved 25 May 2018.
- ^ "Colin Edwin, Musical Chemistry and Following Instincts – Bass Musician Magazine, June 2017 Issue". June 2017.
- ^ "TPA News – April 2016 – the Progressive Aspect – TPA". Archived from the original on 29 June 2019. Retrieved 16 September 2017.
- ^ "Spector Bass – Europe Series 4LX-35". Archived from the original on 10 April 2008. Retrieved 14 April 2008.
- ^ "Spector Bass – Europe Series ReBopDLX Bolt-On". Archived from the original on 10 April 2008. Retrieved 14 April 2008.
- ^ "Ernie Ball – News". Archived from the original on 3 April 2008. Retrieved 14 April 2008.
- ^ a b c d e "Colin Edwin on Riding A Sonic Storm". Bass Player Magazine. September 2007. Archived from the original on 17 May 2008. Retrieved 13 April 2008.
- ^ "Builder Profile: Spector Custom Shop - YouTube". youtube.com. Archived from the original on 19 December 2021. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
- ^ "Image: ColinEdwin4_lrg.jpg". spectorbass.com. Archived from the original on 8 August 2007. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
- ^ "Image: colin_edwin3.jpg, (397 × 549 px)". basslab.de. 29 December 2006. Archived from the original on 7 February 2012. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
- ^ "Image: coln_edwin1.jpg, (1550 × 2372 px)". basslab.de. 21 May 2006. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 5 July 2007. Retrieved 22 June 2007.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Some of you know Porcupine tree???". Ernieball.com. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 8 July 2011.
External links
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