Biography

John Bisset received early training on the piano, but from eleven preferred the guitar, on which he was left to his own devices.

His teenage works were compositions and structures for improvisations on the piano, guitar, viol and assorted objects (paint tins, tent poles, etc). As a member of the Manchester Musicians' Collective he was influenced by its fabulous mix of personalities and musical styles - Trevor Wishart, Tony Friel, Simon Holt, Dick Witts, etc. He was also playing and recording with Manchester new wave bands Spherical Objects (lead guitar) and Grow Up (singer/songwriter).

He graduated from Art College in 1982 and spent the following years synthesising the visual and the aural – writing musical-theatre ranging stylistically from Jarryesque pantomime (Venus Bound) to abstract electronic opera (Shegone). All equally unperformable.

Through the late 80's he wrote and performed songs in partnership with Robert Connor  for the group Suddenly Last Summer, and subsequently played in improvised Rock group The Mosquitoes. When this disbanded Bisset returned to free improvisation, delighting in the spontaneity of ad hoc groupings and becoming an active member of the London Musicians' Collective.

In 1993 he founded the 2:13 Club in London – presenting concerts of improvised music and an annual event ‘Relay’. The 2:13 Club and the Relay were subsequently taken up by Burkhard Beins in Berlin and Nikos Veliotis in Athens. The club still thrives in Stoke Newington, with an Annual Festival in Athens & London in December. Relays now take place all over the world, notably in Spain (run by Wade Mathews) and in Autumn 2005 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (co-ordinated by Jane Rigler).

The associated label 2:13 Music has fifteen releases.

Throughout the 90's Bisset travelled extensively in Europe, improvising with countless musicians in various groupings. For on-going groups he prefers the duo, and his most regular partners are Rhodri Davies, Burkhard Beins, Alex  Ward and Ivor Kallin. In 2005 he gave up flying, and is consequently more London based - though he has been seen as far away as Basel.

In his solo work he puts aside the electric guitar and all preparations - playing meditative, open-weave improvisations.

In 1995 he co-founded the London Electric Guitar Orchestra and travelled with this collective from dadaist anti-music, through arch-simplistic instrumentals to graphic scores and conduction. Bisset's last work with them ‘sticks and stones’ (2001) took to an extreme the non-conventional prepared guitar sounds, placed in a dislocated structure.

The 4-piece band Pocket, fronted by Bisset and Alex Ward (guitar),was formed, in 2001, as something of a reaction to LEGO – playing instrumentals with strong melodic lines firmly rooted in rock music.

Country Dad is a collective, with Bisset on guitar and vocals, aided as circumstances permit, by John Say - washboard; Christopher Cundy - bass clarinet; Olie Brice - double bass; Hannah Marshall - 'cello