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Archive for the ‘UR’ Category

Secret Chiefs 3: UR (Solar Myth, Philadelphia PA, September 11, 2024)

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, Secret Chiefs 3, Solar Myth, UR on September 12, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 11, 2024] Secret Chiefs 3: UR

I saw Secret Chiefs 3 seven years ago when they opened for Dead Cross.  They are a band created by Mr. Bungle’s Trey Spruance.  For that show the band came out all in hooded robes.  No one spoke.  One more note: Musicians tend to float in and out of SC3, so the concept of “current” and “former” members isn’t entirely applicable.  Thus, I have no idea who was on stage in front of me, except Trey who stood center stage.

The band for this show is an iteration of Secret Chiefs 3 called UR.  Fun fact:

In 2007, it was announced that 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. The seven bands are Electromagnetic Azoth, UR, Ishraqiyun, Traditionalists, Holy Vehm, FORMS, and NT Fan. Spruance has stated that the sound collages of Electromagnetic Azoth serve as the center of Secret Chiefs 3

This show was advertised as

Ars Nova Workshop is thrilled to present Secret Chiefs 3: UR, an incarnation of the shape-shifting avant-cult group led by Mr. Bungle guitarist/composer Trey Spruance, at Solar Myth on Wednesday, September 11, 2024. This show features a brand new incarnation of the SC3 surf band UR. including Spruance, Ches Smith, Shahzad Ismaily, Matt Hollenberg, and Adam Minkoff, performing a full set of all new music.

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Secret Chiefs 3 (Union Transfer, Philadelphia PA, September 10, 2017) [DEAD CROSS]

Posted in Dead Cross, Electromagnetic Azoth, Faith No More, FORMS, Holy Vehm, Ishraqiyun, Mr. Bungle, NT Fan, Philadelphia, PA, Secret Chiefs 3, Traditionalists, Trey Spruance, Union Transfer, UR on September 10, 2017| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 10, 2017] Secret Chiefs 3

When I considered going to see Dead Cross, I wanted to know who was opening.  It was a band I’d never heard of: Secret Chiefs 3.  Turns out that the band was created by Trey Spruance, one of the founders of Mr. Bungle (and played with Faith No More).  And the description of the band sounded wonderfully unusual.  I listened to some stuff online, and that made me decide to check this show out.

Their music is a little hard to describe because there’s so much behind it, so I’m quoting from two sources here:

Jonathan Zwickel in 2004:

Spruance, Secret Chiefs 3’s chief composer and a former guitarist for Mr. Bungle, is a visionary madman capable of instilling both fear and respect in his listeners. Secret Chiefs 3 have existed in various incarnations over the course of the past eight years, and have served as the funnel for Spruance’s remarkably far-flung studies of the hermetic mysteries and musical traditions of unknown and underappreciated subgenres. Album titles like Grand Constitution and Bylaws and Book M hint at the music’s vaguely metaphysical bent. [The music is] an alchemical fusion of Morricone-esque cinematic grandeur, midnight surf guitar, traditional Middle Eastern rhythms and time signatures, demonic death metal, and electronic deviance that yields a work of undeniable force.

Whether or not Spruance and his Secret Chiefs 3 are the intermediaries between heaven and earth is, um, hard to say, but with Book of Horizons it seems they’re certainly communing with a power beyond the merely human. Virtuosity, paired with a fearless love of divergent styles and the humor and talent to skillfully, unmercifully mash them up, pushes [the music] into rarified heights.

And this fascinating bit of information from Wikipedia:

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. The seven bands are Electromagnetic Azoth, UR, Ishraqiyun, Traditionalists, Holy Vehm, FORMS, and NT Fan. Spruance has stated that the sound collages of Electromagnetic Azoth serve as the center of Secret Chiefs 3.

Right.

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