Recently, in the wake of the Memphis Flyer‘s coverage of the local classical scene, a reporter asked me what venues I would recommend to hear exciting, new composers at work. After listing a few of the usual suspects — the Green Room at Crosstown Arts, the Cannon Center, the Germantown Performing Arts Center, etc. — I wrapped it up with the words, “Oh yeah, there’s also this bar …”
A bar where one can hear composers of new music? Yes indeed, thanks to the venturesome spirit that is alive and well at B-Side Bar in Midtown. The club nestled among the various shops of Minglewood Hall has become a favorite of the experimental set (among many other genres) in recent years, and one regular there has been David Collins.
Since before his 2021 debut album, Memphis, Collins has demonstrated a knack for inhabiting the interstices between classical, jazz, rock, and “new music,” whatever that is. Along the way, he’s been incredibly prolific, not just in composing his own music, but in tackling other composers from the worlds of both jazz (e.g., Horace Silver) and classical (e.g., Erik Satie). And he’s often performed at B-Side, typically with his primary group, Frog Squad.
As of July of last year, he ramped that up considerably, as his spin-off group, Freak Squid, took up a residency there on the last Tuesday of every month in order to work out some of Collins’ newer material. It still preserved Frog Squad’s rock-friendly approach to instrumental music — “sometimes we had four guitars, which was awesome,” Collins quips — but with a slightly different feel.
And, because of the quality of the sound at B-Side, usually overseen by live sound veteran Joe Holland, that July-December residency will soon yield more tangible fruits. Having recorded every Freak Squid performance from last year, Collins has now mixed the best cuts into a new collection, due to drop later this week. “It’s maybe more indie-rock-ish, like Radiohead-ish,” he says of the imminent album. “We also have some really free stuff on there. I’m gonna put it out in two parts. And the second part is going to be a lot more aggressive kind of avant garde. It will be released under my name David Collins, and the title is Freak Squid One.”
Meanwhile, Collins has already moved on. Now he has a group simply called David Collins’ Acoustic Septet, and they currently occupy the coveted last-Tuesday slot. “I’ve got a new band, and probably in six months I’ll have another new band after that,” Collins remarks. “I’m hoping that every six months I’ll do a new band and then we’ll record it live, so I’ll get two albums a year from this residency. This new band features two guitarists, me and Logan Hanna. Ethan Baker’s on violin, Ben Walsh is on double bass, Aaron Phillips is on bass flute, Delara Hashemi is on alto flute, and Haley Ivey is on concert flute.”
This material is decidedly less indie-rock, particularly as it has no drums. “This is nice because it’s really quiet. Kind of intimate,” says the composer. “I’ve got everything arranged. There’s a few tunes that just have lead sheets for the rhythm section, but flutes are generally scored out. The idea is that the flutes will have a calliope kind of sound.”
David Collins’ Acoustic Septet appears on Tuesday, February 27th at B-Side Memphis, 10 p.m., and the last Tuesday of every month after that.
