Charlie Collins

Drums, vibraphone, frame drums, mbiras, percussion

Born 26th September 1952 and raised in Sheffield UK, Charlie is a product of the city's rich improvising tradition. He started playing drums age 11, began playing improvised music in 1969, played both RnB and free-jazz through the 70s, and by 1978 was involved in the nascent "Industrial" scene. He was an early member of ClockDVA and founder of The Box, recording for cult labels Industrial, Fetish and Doublevision, and recorded the first releases on the legendary Go!Discs.

Since the mid '80s he has recorded and toured throughout Europe with regular groups and ad-hoc ensembles. He has received a number of awards for live performance and composition, lectured in Improvisation at Nottingham Trent University, worked with dance groups and poets, and toured the live soundtrack to Teinosuke Kinugasa's 1920's masterpiece "Page of Madness". He continues to work in all aspects of contemporary creative music.

Since 2007 he has played regularly with altoist Sonny Simmons, collaborated with theremin player Beatrix Ward-Fernandez and worked with free-folk collective The Hunter Gracchus. He has also toured with Ted Daniel and Michael Marcus in their Duology project and played with Rob Brown and Daniel Levin.

He is one of a handful of musicians to have played both Derek Bailey's Company Week and Top of the Pops (with Moloko). www.myspace.com/charlievibe