Woodchoppers Association

Spearheaded by the Dinner Is Ruined's Dave Clark (drums) and Lewis Melville (guitar and bass), the Woodchopper's Association are a symphonic collective of Southern Ontario artists whose mandate is to stay on the improvised side of things and "to see what happens." In 2000, they did a workshop for three Guelph-area high schools to turn the kids onto improvised music, using as a basis the 1925 silent film The Phantom of The Opera as a cue guide, and recorded it live as the film played in the background. If anyone is familiar with the character styling of Dave Clark, then expect some wild and fanatical roller coaster compositions ranging from frightening ambience to tribal insanity, à la Lord of The Flies, to bizarre ballets. At times, the music takes on a more frightening tone than the film's director Rupert Julian could have ever imagined. It is unfortunate the troupe, along with the high school students, was not around when the film was released originally, as they might have changed the face of cinema as we know it.