Talker #14: Mayo Thompson

Talker is an interview zine about performance by Giles Bailey.

Issue #14 is a conversation with Mayo Thompson.

As a member of rock group, the Red Krayola, since its formation in 1966, he has made a body of innovative and radically experimental music. The group has been a vehicle for prolific collaboration with contributions from Jim O’Rourke, David Grubbs, Lora Logic, Gina Birch, Sandy Yang and Albert Oehlen among others. The Red Krayola has worked with conceptual art collective Art & Language to release six albums together to date. In the early 1980s, Mayo was a member of Pere Ubu and provided soundtrack music for Derek Jarman. His celebrated 1970 solo record Corky’s Debt to His Father was re-released by Drag City in 1994 and Mayo T. & The Corky Band continue to perform this music live. He is also a visual artist and has published two novels.

This interview discusses performance throughout Mayo’s work, exploring links between happenings and early Red Krayola live shows, formative encounters with performance art as well as the band’s participation in the 2012 Whitney Biennial. 

Issues of Talker have featured Ian White, Kate Valk, Richard Maxwell, Sue Tompkins, Spalding Gray with Kathy Acker, Dora García, Jo Fong, Paul Maheke, Clifford Owens, Barby Asante, Gustav Metzger, Miranda July, Agus Nur Amal PMTOH, Bobby Baker, and Mayo Thompson. Digital versions of these issues are available here; print versions can be found here.

ISSN 2632-8496 (print)

ISBN 979-12-244-1037-9 (ebook)

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