Nash The Slash

[Marsbar]

Nash the Slash, the Toronto experimental musician born Jeff Plewman, whose projects included the progressive rock band FM, has put on his wings. He was 66.

Plewman, who frequently performed wrapped in surgical bandages with a top hat and sunglasses, posted the following message in 2012 to announce his retirement:

It’s time to roll up the bandages. The thrill is gone, it seems for me more than B.B. King.

I’m proud of my remarkable 40-year career in the music biz with no hit (commercial) records. As an independent artist without management, major label support or any grants whatsoever (thank you Canada Council and Factor), I toured internationally and accomplished so much. I was unique on stage and on my recordings. I refused to be slick and artificial. I opened for and toured with some of the best musicians in the world, and was regarded highly by my peers. Rolling Stone journalist Lester Bangs once reported, “Nash the Slash is the kind of opening act that makes the headliner work twice as hard”.

I created one of the first Canadian independent record labels (Cut-Throat Records) in order to release my music and merchandise to the public. I was the first Canadian musician to use a drum machine on an album (1978), at a time when drum machines were outlawed according to the bylaws of the Toronto Musicians’ Association. I was the first to record an album, ‘Decomposing’, which was listen-able at any speed, and miraculously reviewed in Playboy magazine. I composed and produced music for film and television, and for multi-media exhibitions of the surrealist paintings by my friend Robert Vanderhorst.

I hold the distinction of suing the corporate giant Pepsi Cola of Canada for one million dollars (in the Ontario Supreme Court, 1982) for ‘misappropriation of personality’; I won but received no money, just bragging rights.

I travelled across Canada, the US and Europe, and especially adored Newfoundland. I supported Gary Numan and Iggy Pop tours, and was invited to perform in Russia. I received airplay on Polish National Radio in 1979, when Poland was still behind the Iron Curtain. (Years later, a Polish fan explained to me that, because the first LPs were instrumental, there were no lyrics of ‘western decadence’ or ‘punk anarchy’ to grade the musical content as unsafe for communist consumption. Too bad no one in Poland could afford to send away for my records.)

Thanks to Bob Stone at World Records for his support and guidance in those early years, and to Vito, Rose (sadly, R.I.P.), Randy and Doug at Records on Wheels for their distribution and encouragement. Thank you to David Marsden and CFNY-FM for being the only Canadian radio to play my music (as well as the records of a multitude of rising independent Toronto bands like Drastic Measures, The Diodes, The Curse, Blue Peter and Teenage Head). My gratitude also to Randy Ellis who hosted me at his New Jersey club, City Gardens, and in his home with my two roadies and beloved dog.

Independent solo artists can’t do it alone, and I’ve been blessed to have had incredible artistic and technical support. Photographer Paul Till shot all my early album and promo photos, John Pearson drew the Nash the Slash font and logo, and James Redekop designed the CD artwork and acted as my indispensable webmaster for the past ten years. They’ve all been inspirational in their creativity, while putting up with my ornery desire to make the right artistic impression.

I am indebted to Rick Heinl of Heinl’s Violins in Toronto, an oasis of beautiful instruments. In a shop surrounded by violins and cellos worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, Heinl’s has always treated me with respect and great amusement as they repaired my chain-sawed electric violin alongside a million-dollar Stradivarius.

I fondly remember my dearly departed friend and mentor, David Pritchard. He was a man of extraordinary talent, a brilliant personality, artist, free-form DJ and composer. Last but not least, my good friend Gary Topp deserves special mention. Gary was the promoter who presented my first live performance in 1975 at his Original 99-Cent Roxy movie theatre, and gave me so much exposure at his clubs (The Horseshoe and The Edge) as well as numerous supporting concert slots with such great artists as The Stranglers, Pere Ubu and Magazine. Topper inspired me to create the Nash persona, and to this very day, makes me laugh ’til it hurts.

Finally, I would like to thank all the fans who have supported my career for so many years. I never tired of the letter-writing from and to the young and old, receiving and cherishing (to this day) their thoughts, and drawings of Nash in various poses and demeanor. I have kept many of these letters and artwork because they reflect a serious effort on the part of the fans to communicate with me… to connect.

My ‘gauza-lobotomy’ t-shirt artwork is courtesy a fan from 30 years ago. There were writers who described at great length how they listen to Nash records while toiling at their creative output, be it poetry, painting or making jewelry. There have been many who wrote about their own musical inspirations, some were gear-heads (drum machines were a popular topic of conversation). There were mandolin and violin players, even classical and jazz musicians. Many wrote for an autographed picture. There were even kids who took their Nash records to school to play for their grade five classmates, and then, I received a fan letter from the teacher. One time, a high school orchestra did an arrangement of ‘The Million-Year Picnic’. Eat your heart out, Nickelback!

A few main reasons to put Nash to rest… Live gigs don’t excite me any longer. My eccentric style/genre finds no place in the today’s scene, although it’s widely acknowledged that my sound led the way for the development of contemporary electronic/techo dance music in Canada. Even more to consider, the theft of music on the internet has devastated a very important source of my income. CD sales have dropped off considerably, and it’s due mainly to file-sharing without regard for the ownership of the recordings.

Mark Zuckerberg was recently quoted as saying that Facebook will soon go through an ‘explosion of sharing’. That may be all well and fine, but CDs are copyrighted objects containing music that is also copyrighted. The music-listening public has this misinformed idea that music is free… listening on the radio is free, so why not the internet? I don’t employ Metallica’s high-priced lawyers to chase down my millions.

A journalist once asked me to describe a typical Nash the Slash fan. I replied, ‘They just get it’. They get my references to Ray Bradbury, Boris Karloff, and even my opening quote from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. It was my intention to shock, but not offend.

My early musical inspirations came from classical music especially Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev, the power of The Who, the inter-stellar fables of Hawkwind, the distinctly Kraut-rock riffing of Neu, Michael Rother, Ashra Temple, Amon Duul, and Kraftwerk, the drum-machine innovations of Arthur Brown’s Kingdom Come and Silver Apples, the indescribably hypnotic music of Louis Thomas Hardin also known as Moondog, the oblique musical strategies of Brian Eno, and the very first dominant and melodic use of synthesizer on a commercial record anywhere on the planet by Toronto’s own Syrinx. Even before the internet, one could scour the world for inspiration and undiscovered gems.

Creativity in all its facets should be inspirational, and as such should be absorbed, its subtleties appreciated, understood and then woven into the fabric of some other person’s creative vision. I’m very pleased to have shared my creative endeavors with so many people around the world. I hope I’ve left a few breadcrumbs in the forest, to inspire others to find their own path.

Before he retired, though, Plewman expressed his support for the policies of a certain mayor of Toronto.

“I voted for Rob Ford because I believe in fiscal responsibility and you can call him a bumbling fool, but guess what? We’re not going to have any money to support the gay Pride parade unless we get our books straight,” he told the National Post in August 2012. “If we don’t conserve our money, eventually, we’re all going to turn into Greece.”

Canada.com
Published: May 12, 2014, 12:15 pm

[Contact]

I posted this on Facebook, but let me purge here also.
'Children of The Night - And when you're dead, it will be leaving'
Nash the /:
"A journalist once asked me to describe a typical Nash the Slash fan. I replied, ‘They just get it’. They get my references to Ray Bradbury, Boris Karloff, and even my opening quote from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. It was my intention to shock, but not offend."

I don't get out too often but he was, I think, the only artist I saw three times. Once with Laur at a small but packed theatre in Toronto where he played his sound track live to the silent film Nosferatu, which was projected on a screen behind him. Also saw him twice with about 3 other people in a bar (Starz?) in Brampton. The way he pointed to his head during 'dopes on the water' is forever burned into my brain. All 3 evenings were fun as hell. well, way more fun than heaven anyway

I'm playing the CD version of 'children of the night' right now and Windows Media Player thinks it's his album Blind Windows. Is that irony? I keep forgetting exactly what irony is. I blame Alanis Morissette for that.
Blind Windows has 4 songs I've never heard:

Fever Dream [The Marsden Version]
Masquerade [The Marsden Version]
Blind Windows [The Marsden Version]
The Million-Year Picnic [The Marsden Version]

I can't force David to play one of these next week, but if I could I would.

Gotta get me a copy. I also just found on the net a record I've looked for on and off since it came out in '81. They are used copies, but I'm gonna take a chance.
http://www.discogs.com/marketplace?release_id=531058&ev=rb
Decomposing (best album title ever) can be played at all speeds - 33 1/3, 45 and 78 - and is still musical. I've held it in my hands in a record store in The Bramalea City Center, but didn't fork over the cash for it. Stupid! When I went back to buy it, there were no more copies available.

Oh yea, Nero was singing along to 'children' for a while. He gets it. He was shocked but not offended.
Now he's singing to Nash's 'Glass Eye'. What a dog!

I'll be playing Nosferatu later when it gets dark. I think I still have a VHS copy of the movie as well. This is exciting. Gotta go.

[Contact]

Well, just finished watching 1922 silent movie Nosferatu synced up with Nash the Slash's 2001 Nosferatu soundtrack CD.
Took me several tries to get it synced up properly, but what a bittersweet treat. My dog sang along to several tracks!
I'm gonna watch it fresh again tomorrow...
Hint to myself; start the CD just after the 1st mirror scene.

BTW: Laur (an accountant/controller) would also have voted Ford because of his fiscal policies. I disagreed on the sole fact that he was very rich and very elite. Shit is easy for him to say and do. She now agrees with me and is so ashamed that she wants him 'taken out' by any means. I now feel sorry for him and Greece. But still, bye bye Ford. I love you Greece. Jeff, I hope, would now feel the same...

[Marsbar]

Wonderful posting Contact.

I'm familiar with the Marsden Mixes. That all came about during my CFNY-FM period. I had mistakenly played one of the songs on the air at the wrong speed. Nash happened to be listening and told me later how he thought it was the funniest thing ever.

Soon after he released those songs. Unfortunately I don't have copies of any of those.

[Contact]

I love this man. I own 6 albums he can lay claim to. I hope to grow that to 7 or 8.
This is from one of my favourite LP's of all time. And made me freeze when i heard it now. I still haven't thawed out completely.



This is how i want to remember Jeff



And this is how i do remember Jeff



And this is how he should be remembered

[Contact]

[Sunbeam]

RIP Nash.

Brilliant musician and showman with a wicked sense of humour, a wicked short temper, and a heart of gold.

Damn, you will be missed.

Thanks Contact for posting some great Youtube links.

-Peter (FM Soundman)

[turkbuddha]

David,

Your tribute to Nash tonight is what makes you the best on the radio. It is touching but also exploring the depths of a great musician. You always bring out the human side, the humour, the serious side, the sad, and the expressive side of everyone. For this we are all enriched.

Thank You David,

Terry

[Contact]

turkbuddha wrote:

David,
Your tribute to Nash tonight is what makes you the best on the radio.

Yes. Difficult but beautiful tribute to Nash The Slash. Thanks Mr Marsden. So glad you got the CD from Ottawa in time. I just got my copy of Blind Windows today from Germany(!) and was able to listen without the utter despair i would have felt even a few days ago. I'm starting to feel the lighter side of dark again. Genius!
I have 'Dreams & Nightmares' on Vinyl but not 'Bedside Companion' so that was a treat.

Right, let me quote Nash The Slash from the liner notes of the CD:

In 1978 I released my first solo recording Bedside Companion, a 4-track, 12" EP played at 45 RPM. That same year on a late November evening, David Marsden at CFNY Radio created history -- he accidentally played Bedside at the wrong speed, 33 1/3 RPM!
Because there were no vocals, the music didn't sound any weirder, just slower and heavier. The listeners began to prefer different songs at different speeds. Being such a unique revelation, the 'Marsden Versions' have been included here for posterity. They were mastered from the original vinyl at 33 1/3 RPM. All four tracks from Bedside have a unique quality that transcends both turntables and CD players!
...
Special thanks to Bruce Burgess, Gary Topp, Gary Cormier, David Pritchard, David Marsden, CFNY, Don & Vito At Records on Wheels, Bob Stone a t World records and all of you who have waited for this CD.

[Marsbar]

HI Alex - I am planning on mailing that CD back to you. Should I use the address on the outside of the mailing box?

Thanks so much for sending it along. Helped greatly in the tribute to Nash.

[Contact]

I am planning on mailing that CD back to you

I'm hoping you'll keep it and maybe play something from it on air again one day.
Consider it a very belated birthday gift. I have another copy of the CD as a very belated birthday gift to myself.
Several people leaped on board to get this to you. It was heartwarming for me at the exact time that my heart needed warming.