Fred Frith
English avant-garde guitarist and composer (born 17. 2. 1949 in Heathfield, Sussex), Fred Frith, is a founder of HENRY COW, and later also ART BEARS, two of the leading groups in Rock in Opposition. During his work, Frith participated in founding or in working with various existing groups and projects, as well as influencing their albums or concerts by his non-repetitive performance of the viola. MATERIAL, MASSACRE, GOLDEN PALOMINOS, SKELETON CREW, Tom Cora, John Zorn or Brian Eno - these are groups and individuals we know the most. The beginnings of his solo career are connected with San Francisco cultic legend THE RESIDENTS and Ralph Records label.
Directors Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzel are founders of the film society Der Andere Blick. They have made a ninety-minute documentary, Step Across the Border (Germany/Switzerland, 1989), approaching the personality of Fred Frith, his music and co-performers from different angles. They have worked in Tokyo, Osaka, Verona, St-Remyde-Provence, Lipsko, London, New York, Zurich and Bem. In addition to sequences taken from the rehearsal of Frith's project KEEP THE DOG (Fred Frith, René Lussier, Jean Derome, Zeena Parkins, Bob Ostertag and Charles Hayward), the lengthier are dedicated to the performances with John Zorn, Japanese group AFTER DINNER, and Iva Bittová and Pavel Fajt.
Fred Frith, like his forefather of the avant-garde John Cage, finds music in everything that clatters, peeps, jars and hisses. He can manage to change anything in the room to a musical instrument. Frith´s untamed curiosity and fervor for invention also brings a very energetic spirit to this documentary. The film is best defined as a dada-istic symphony of sounds and imaginations. "Step Across the Border", like the film "Pull My Daisy", is black and white.
"The film shows one how to listen to the world, how to observe it. The watchmaker finally leaves from in front of the mirror, where he looks down only at himself."
Herman Barth, film theoretic