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Chris Cook /Same Actor / Hot Roddy I've been making electronic music of all kinds for many years since his Electronic Music degree in 1999 and operate under the names Remote, Hot Roddy and even Chris Cook playing sitar along with pre programmed beats (ie: backings). In 2004, I also started to play gigs as 'Same Actor, using various stringed instruments building up soundscapes on the fly using no pre sequenced material, but playing with alternative tuning systems and unusual rhythms. The name Remote was dropped because it was already being used by someone. Subsequently I chose to use Hot Roddy because it was a name so ridiculous it was unlikely to be wanted to be used by anyone else.
Collaborations include work with Planet Mu artists Urban Myth, Chevron and Kyler as well as Rashamon, cellist Bela Emerson, Kenny Process Team, Tim Holehouse, Jane Bartholomew, Isnaj Dui and tabla maestro Juggy Rihal. In London I've enjoyed playing with trombonist Terry T-Toe and flautist Wil Miles. When I go to Brighton I play wiht another wind player, Chris Parfitt and when in Bristol I play with theremin player Alex Thomas.
I was also honoured to help run Brighton's Spirit of Gravity electronic music collective, promoting monthly nights, presenting a show on Totally Radio and releasing sporadic compilations. Hot Roddy has been in session on Radio One and Same Actor on Resonance FM twice. Chris provides the sitar in Brighton based group El Maes and he's produced glitchy remixes for them. I've played been playing Hot Roddy and Same Actor live sets in all kinds of live settings, touring with Totally Bored (Monster Bobby, Bela Emerson and Britch) and Wrong Music (Shitmat, Ebola, Droon, nwodtleM, Gross Consumer, Ladyscraper and Floorclearer).
After an abundance of CDRs, Bip Hop released a Same Actor album "Sharp Edges" in 2005 which was nominated for a Quartz award and then Litmus, Heresmycardrecords and Wrong Music Complaints Dept released Hot Roddy CDs. Whilst working as a Community Musician in East London, and learning sitar from Ramesh Chandra I've been inspired to continue to write and perform music as a solo artist. I released more EPs on Acroplane, Discordance, Spirit of Gravity and Wombnet. I became a member of the London improvising group Jerico Orchestra.
This
rambling biography continues back on the subject of names. Just
to complicate matters further, 2012 saw me use my actual name.
Chris Cook - "The Lemniscate" is released in September
2012 by Wombnet. Now
based in Coventry I enjoy playing sitar in as many different
kinds of situation as possible. Training in India (every year
with Pt Shivnath Mishra) and London (every week with Ramesh
Chandra) spurs me on. I released "Sitar For Concrete Dawns" on the Spirit of Gravity net label and another EP "Busy Cancelling Things" on Bit Phalanx in 2015.
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