Michael Bouwman

https://ariremix.com.au/interview-with-racheal-bruhn

BIO

Artist Musician MICHAEL BOUWMAN

Bands: Former member of following Brisbane Bands, variously on vocals/ alto saxophone/ ensoniq samplers/
fx knob twiddling: Seven Hills Art Colledge band ‘The Lamingtons’, ‘Wondrous Fair’, ‘Frankly Zappa’ (Zappa
tribute band), ‘Sons of Bee Gees’, ‘Muddy Nolan and the Twisted Hearts’, ‘The Nutty Squirrels’, ‘Lost in Space’,
‘The Safari Suits’ (live music to silent movies in Fortitude Valley), and once played as guest with ‘My Three
Sons’ at a ZZZ joint effort Qld Uni, and the ‘Lemon Fabs’ at the old Hacienda Fortitude Valley, presently a
member of ‘Sniffy’ (a recording only band of ex Kenmore High School musicians). Played a gig a year or two
ago with ‘0+1’ in Hobart with Peter McPherson (ex ‘The Pitts’) and Irena Lukas (ex ‘Zero/Xero’) and recently
doing solo synth/sampler performances at the Laura Street Festival, 2014 and 2015 and at Steven Bowerman’s
Vision Gallery in Boundary Street, and as ‘Bouwhouse’ with Nigel Kimber in the Fortitude Valley and at the
‘Nine Lives’ artist co-operative exhibition at the Morningside School of Arts hall in 2016. Presently recording in
a synthesizer trio, under the name ‘Float Tank’ out of West End with Jandy Rainbow and Dorian Dowse.
Lyric credits include: ‘Biggest Tallest (Building in Tiny Town)’, ‘Floor of the Forest’, ‘Can You Afford Free Love?’,
‘Trouble’, ‘Bush Week’, ‘Dying Frame’, ‘South Pacific’, ‘(Fade) Golden Memories’, ‘Weird Little You’.
Recorded music includes: with Lemon Fabs as guest on their vinyl single ‘All we leave behind are the
Memories’ (1987), c.d.’s as follows: in Sons of Bee Gees ‘Live’, in Wondrous Fair ‘Cosmological Clock’ (1994)
and on ‘Spill compilation 1′ (1992 – cassette only),’Spill compilation 2’ (1993 – c.d.) and ‘Spill Compilation 3’
(1995-c.d.) (note: these Spill products are no longer available but free m.p.3’s are downloadable at www.spilllabel.org/compilations.php), c.d.’s with Sniffy: ‘Sniffy 2000’, ‘Sniffy 2001’, ‘Sniffy 2002’, ‘Sniffy 2003’, ‘E-Z
Sniffling’, ‘Fire Ants on the March’.
Music video clips include, in Wondrous Fair: ‘Floor of the Forest’, ‘Silence’, ‘Biggest Tallest’, ‘Steve Smith’, ‘Ant
Walkover’, ‘Mars’, and in Sniffy: ‘South Pacific’, ‘Weird Little You’
Television:
film clip by the Lamingtons was first aired on the B.A.T. Channel, the first excursion into community television
in Brisbane
Live soundtracks, in band ‘The Safari Suits’ (with Leo Power and Neil Neilson) for Brisbane Independent
Filmmakers, to Salvador Dali and Louis Bunuel’s: Un Chien Andalou, Tarzan King of the Apes (we all bought
Safari Suits for that), and the Buster Keaton movies: The Golf Nut, and The General.
Theatre and soundtracks for film: performed with community Street Arts (Thrills and Spills Circus) in 1984, and
later: musician-in-residence for Queensland Performing Arts Trust’s 1994 Out of the Box Festival in Fractal
Theatre’s Scratch and Scrap Opera… also wrote the music for Fractal’s 1994 production of Coriolanus, and did
a performance piece with them at Livid Festival, La Boite Theatre’s 1997 productions of Mr Melancholy, and
The Shoe Horn Sonata, and the 1998 production of X-Stacy, On Giant’s Shoulders production of Holy Days, and
Wolf’s Lullaby, and Purple Pears Production’s Oleanna, and on some movie soundtracks, including (with the
Lamingtons and actor Noni Hazelhurst) on Jackie McKimmie’s ‘Stations’ (1983), and Purple Pear’s ‘Shades of..’,
and a children’s musical ‘Red Rock Rebel’ with Christine Smale for Nash Theatre 2005. More recently, did
music/ musical direction/ sound design in Fractal Theatre for the ‘Anywhere Festival’ to the play, ‘My Love has
a Black Speed Stripe’ starring Sandro Collarelli, performed in Brisbane, Parramatta and Ipswich in 2015. Did the
sound for Stephen Henry’s short movie, ‘Nothing Much’ using music from Brisbane band ‘Sniffy’ in 2012.
Examples of involvement with Artist Run Initiatives:
Including performing in Seven Hills Art College band the ‘Lamingtons’ with lyricist/ drummer and Fine Arts
lecturer Chris McKimmie from 1980, performing at various college events, including a performance by Jeanelle
Hirst at the Seven Hills Campus. The Lamingtons had a shared rehearsal space at Redcomb House with seminal
Brisbane band Zero/Xero in the early eighties. Also in that decade, in band ‘Wondrous Fair’, playing political
fundraisers and various art openings including ‘The Exploding Plastic Inevitable’ at the Smellies Building, the
now heritage-listed warehouse at 32 Edward Street, the City. Performed an original musical set with artist
Eugene Carchesio and others for a Women’s Legal Conference at Caxton Hall in that time period, and with
Jeanette Gilfedder for art performances in and about the city centre.