Before you read, a couple of percussive pieces by Steve Hubback. A selection from a piece called FIRE A selection from a piece called TAKE AND NOW, A BRIEF HISTORY OF STEVE'S EMERGENCE AS A GONG AND CYMBAL MAKER, IN HIS OWN WORDS: After having turned professional as a drummer in 1980 and touring on the working club scene for a few months, I left the UK. In Paris I developed a mini drumset (20 years before the modern Jungle Kits of today) and played with rock groups, jazz, theatre and solo. All through the 80’sfs I performed all over Europe from Norway to Yugoslavia while recording for various labels in Sweden, Denmark and Germany. In 1990 I hammered out my first gong. This opened up a whole new world for me and I constantly worked on my metalcraft with guidance from metalworker friends and a Norwegian blacksmith who gave me a masterclass in forging techniques. I learned welding and started creating steel sculptures. In 1995 I had my first solo exhibition in Aarhus with steel sculptures, gongs and mobiles and since then I've exhibited in Norway, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, England and Wales. After a very vivid dream in the early 90's I saw a drummer playing a percussion set with a living bronze dragons wing. I knew I had to try and make this into an instrument. It was in 1997 that I finally forged my first Dragon Cymbal. This led to a new direction of creating cymbal and gong sculptures which opens up new possibilities with sound and a different approach to performing on these sculptures. My percussion set eventually became a sculpture in itself, incorporating forked (wood) branches for the stand with a forged iron beam that everything is bolted onto. (For practical reasons I built a lightweight set around 20 kilo's.) which is about as light as I can get it with the sounds I need. I've also started to use aluminum for drum shells and drum rings. Since 1999 I have made my own sticks and mallets from branches that I find in woodlands and forests in different countries. I'm working constantly with sculpture. Mostly cut and forged stainless steel, occasionally forged iron. My sonorous sculptures are now mostly forged in stainless steel, although I still work with bronze for certain works. I create all the forms I work with by cutting and grinding, hammering and fire. I'm developing my solo performances with my percussion sculptures and gongs, moving towards a trancelike experience with resonant metal sounds and powerful rhythms. |