Without Rules

"Oh yeah, that. I did that just the other week, actually,” Cooper chuckles. “I had this gig in The Exeter and it's not exactly a genteel place. I'd played there a couple of times when the music was in the back-room and then they moved it out into the actual bar. Of course, the volume level changed dramatically and I got buried. So, when I knew I'd be playing there again, I figured I'd have to be prepared to give people something a little louder.

“So, I thought I'd go out and do what I normally do – but with drum'n'bass beats,” the 70-year-old guitarist says casually. “You know, just improvise over some loops and beats that I'd made at home. So, yeah, I do that on occasion. That's something I like to do. I can't think of any styles I'm opposed to trying. I'm sure there's some out there but nothing's springing to mind at the moment.”  

You can't sum up Mike Cooper. You just can't. You are Wile E Coyote, he is Roadrunner. Whenever you start getting close, he'll just quietly tear off in some other direction. In broad terms, one would sketch out his career as a British experimental, improv-heavy guitarist who began in blues but has since broadened his palette – and that doesn't even begin to cover it.

It started in the '50s. Out of work, he and his friends opened music clubs and booked each other. Originally, he simply played blues and country standards. Since then, he's written and released original material in styles ranging from free jazz, punk and exotica to folk and drum'n'bass. Room40 founder and frequent collaborator Lawrence English has jokingly dubbed him a 'post-everything' musician.

“I didn't have any specific ambitions when I started out. I just played music for fun. I didn't have any intentions of being famous or anything like that. As opposed to how I feel a lot of musicians start out today,” he says. “My first release was a four-track, seven-inch thing. I played two blues standards, a song from a friend and a song I'd written. I'd consider that the start of my 'professional' career – in that I was out of work and had nothing to do.”

The shock of Cooper's career still comes in its scope. Not just stylistically, but chronologically. His career predates The Beatles. He'll speak candidly about Tim Buckley inspiring him to use jazz musicians – and you have to remind yourself that he was actually his contemporary. To think of a musician of such an era still playing and experimenting with contemporary vanguardists like The Necks' Chris Abrahams is staggering.

“I love playing with Chris. Last year, when we played for ABC Radio, I actually decided to sing with Chris. That actually opened up a whole other arena for me,” the guitarist says of his current touring partner. “I actually started off as a vocalist rather than a guitar player and it's something that I'm focusing on a lot more now. I improvise my vocals but I don't improvise them in a standard improvised vocal way, if you get my meaning.

“I like working with text and lyrics, in other words,” he clarifies. “You know, I've been working on a song cycle for the past couple of years. All the lyrics are drawn from Thomas Pynchon novels and I've kind of chopped them up and re-arranged them. Same words, different order.”

Mike Cooper will be playing the following dates:

Wednesday 13 March - The Box, Brisbane QLD