The Exploding Meet

The exploding meet was formed in Fredericton, New Brunswick in the autumn of 1983 as a songwriting workshop and experimental recording project. Throughout subsequent years the loose collective vastly improved production techniques and expanded early lyrical and compositional ideas. Once described as "Surrealist-Ethno-Underworld-Fusion", the Exploding Meet led by composer Mark Carmody, were equipped with standard rock instrumentation but with modified tuning and a broad palate of percussion voices which opened up a somewhat unique and mesmerizing sonic range. Rhythms and harmonic structures reflect the group’s interest in the exotic soaring dance modes of Psychedelic Rock, Jazz and Ju Ju Music. The power and freedom of Coltrane and Coleman mix with the meditative pulses of afro-centric music, Middle Eastern modes and the always present, expansive, influential body of accurately referenced material. Environmental sights and sounds from the weathered cities and diverse rural landscapes of Eastern Canada offer the greatest contribution. This atmosphere furnishes a dreamscape from which the whole identity of the music evolves. On July 13th, 1985, the exploding meet performed "Inaugural Address" @ Memorial Hall on the U.N.B. campus and thus embarked on a long journey that always focused on developing live performance potential. The intention always being to discover ways of expressing thoughts and feelings in a musical language tapped at its source. Performances over the next few years included "the Pineapple Analogy", "Slugfest ' 86", "Scream", Wolverine", "Lola Palooza ' 88", "Bard Mongrel", "Gatineau Rebellion", "Circus Of Disharmony" and many others. The collective performed many shows and released a number of albums in various formats over the course of several decades which garnered global praise from the underground and great support from Canadian community based radio. The exploding Meet performed primarily in Fredericton although a number of shows took place in Ontario and Quebec. The collective performed a number of times in their home base at "First Night", "Harvest Jazz & Blues Festival" and also at the first ever "Maritime Independent Music Festival". The exploding meet also had a “pop” side as well, which manifested itself within the division known as Decade of Dreams. Under this banner several vinyl LP’s and CDs were also released and were generally well received once again by the aforementioned recipients of recorded material. Mark Carmody also saw the release of what is truly a magical vinyl only LP which provided the soundtrack to NFB film called “Tuesday Wednesday” released under his own name. Those involved in the exploding meet collective collided through the mutually felt isolation of their existence with a desire to expand the mind. On retrospect, this appears to have been coupled with a born internal need to self discover through the channeling of music and art. Pretty much everyone to this day practices their craft in many forms and we all have extremely fond memories of our times together as “the meet”, touching the universe as one single entity whenever we played. Enjoy this experience and always remember to look for the flare!