Secret Chiefs 3

Secret Chiefs 3
Secret Chiefs 3 performing in New York, 2009
Background information
Origin	San Francisco, California, United States
Genres	Avant-garde
Years active	1995–present
Labels	Mimicry, Amarillo
Associated acts	Mr. Bungle Estradasphere Faith No More
Website	Official Site
Members	See "Band members"

Secret Chiefs 3 (or SC3) is an instrumental rock group led by guitarist/composer Trey Spruance (formerly of Mr. Bungle and Faith No More). Their studio recordings and tours have featured different line-ups, as the group performs a wide range of musical styles including surf rock, Persian, Arab, Indian, death metal, film music, electronic music, and various others.

Satellite bands

In 2007, it was announced Secret Chiefs 3 has always been a general name for seven different bands, each representing a different aspect of Spruance's musical and philosophical interests.^[1] The seven bands are The Electromagnetic Azoth, UR, Ishraqiyun, Traditionalists, Holy Vehm, FORMS,^[2] and NT Fan^{[citation needed]}.

The albums Book of Horizons (2004) and Satellite Supersonic Vol. 1 (2010) were conceived as compilation albums featuring the satellite bands under their own names. All bands have appeared on at least one of these albums. Some satellite bands have also released records on their own. So far, five of the satellite bands have had tracks featured across a series of six 7" singles and Traditionalists have delivered a full-length album.

Trey Spruance performing in 2009

Electromagnetic Azoth

The Electromagnetic Azoth specialize in electroacoustic music.^[3] Spruance has referred to them as the center of the Secret Chiefs 3 because they often employ sound collages to combine motifs associated with the other satellite bands.^[4] Material released under their name can be found on the albums Book of Horizons^[5] and Satellite Supersonic Vol. 1.^[6]

UR

UR has released two EPs — Kulturvultur / Drive and Circumambulation / Labyrinth of Light — and a split EP with The Electromagnetic Azoth titled The Left Hand of Nothingness / Personnae: Halloween. Spruance describes the band's music as "suprasensory surf";^[1][5] the band's musical style combines surf rock with Persian, Arabic and Indian musical elements. UR has also covered movie themes such as "Halloween" and "Exodus".

Fans have speculated that all songs by Secret Chiefs 3 bearing the "Book T" prefix (for instance, on Second Grand Constitution and Bylaws) are the work of UR, "Book T: The Exodus" being the only title confirmed so far. All of the Book T songs contain elements of surf rock, thus fitting Spruance's description of the band.

Ishraqiyun

Ishraqiyun are a seven-piece band with an instrumentation including dhol, saz, rabab, esraj and drums.^[2] Their music has been described as an "acultural, neo-Pythagorean enterprise into heavy electro-folk"^[5] borrowing heavily from Turkish and Central Asian music. The band stands out due to their frequent use of complex time signatures.^[2] So far, Ishraqiyun have released material the Book of Horizons and Satellite Supersonic albums, as well as a split 7" single with Electromagnetic Azoth, Balance of the 19 / Ubik.

Traditionalists

According to Mimicry Records the Traditionalists are "decidedly walking in the footprints of the Great Masters of cinema music".^[7] So far, material by the Traditionalists can be found on Book of Horizons as well as on the album Le Mani Destre Recise Degli Ultimi Uomini (2009) and the 7" single La Chanson de Jacky / The Western Exile (2012), which have both been released under their name. Le Mani Destre is a score to an imaginary giallo horror film, inspired by the work of several Italian film composers, such as Ennio Morricone or Goblin.^[7] "La Chanson de Jacky" was originally composed by Jacques Brel in 1965 and, in its Traditionalists version, features vocals by Mike Patton. "The Western Exile" finally is a rearrangement of the song "The Exile" found on Book of Horizons.^[8]

Holy Vehm

Mimicry describes Holy Vehm as an "ultra-death metal grind band". The band features John Merryman of Cephalic Carnage^[5] on drums, Jesse Quattro, Jessica Kinney, and Unhuman on vocals, and Trey Spruance (credited as "The Enemy") on bass, guitar and sampling.^[9] According to Spruance, the band's music "employs Boulez-ish atonal serialism, played in dastgah tunings".^[2] So far Holy Vehm have only released two songs on Book of Horizons but Spruance announced in a 2008 interview that he plans to release a full-length Holy Vehm album for The End Records.^[10]

FORMS

The music of FORMS has been likened to funeral marches and ballads.^[3] Apart from their material on Book of Horizons, FORMS have released the song "Radar" on a split EP with Ishraqiyun. The song reinterprets a theme from the 1951 film The Day the Earth Stood Still, originally composed by Bernard Herrmann.^[11]

Secret Chiefs 3 performing in 2009

Philosophy

SC3's music, album artwork, liner notes, and lyrics feature theological and philosophical themes influenced by Henry Corbin, Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi, Aryeh Kaplan, Julius Evola, René Guénon, Hakim Bey/Peter Lamborn Wilson, Seraphim Rose, and many others. More on the Secret Chiefs 3 philosophy and influences can be found in the Web of Mimicry Museum Without Walls and the SC3 Myspace page.

Band members

Spruance formed the band in the mid-1990s with fellow Mr. Bungle members Trevor Dunn on bass and Danny Heifetz on drums. Some of the many musicians who have since recorded or toured with SC3 include violinist Eyvind Kang, percussionist William Winant, drummer Ches Smith, bassist Shahzad Ismaily, former Mr. Bungle member Clinton "Bär" McKinnon, and Estradasphere members Timb Harris, Jason Schimmel, and Tim Smolens. Musicians tend to float in and out of SC3, so the concept of "current" and "former" members isn't entirely applicable.

Below is a list of past and present members, guests and collaborators:^{[6][9][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]}

Discography

This is a list of all releases by SC3 and the satellite bands. The column "artist" states under what name the recording is released, not who is credited with the individual songs. Some releases, like the album Book of Horizons, are noteworthy in this regard because they are released under the name Secret Chiefs 3, but the tracks they contain are each credited to a satellite band, giving the release the appearance of a compilation album.

Studio albums

Live album and DVD

Singles and EPs

Planned releases

Footnotes

External links

Media related to Secret Chiefs 3 at Wikimedia Commons

Official

• Secret Chiefs 3 on Myspace
• Secret Chiefs 3 official website
• Secret Chiefs 3 at Web of Mimicry

Free live recordings

• Free Bootleg of Secret Chiefs 3 Live at Tralf Music Hall, on March 12, 2007