London Musicians Collective

Paul Burwell and I often worked with the pyrotechnic sculptor (and fireman) Stephen Cripps from 1977 in Butlers Wharf to his death in 1982. In Butlers Wharf we did several performances including ‘Piece for Burning Piano and fire-extinguisher.’

The following was written by Paul Burwell as programme notes in a style that can be taken on numerous levels and has many fundamental truths:

The Fall of Babylon 1932-1937

The first performance of an unpublished play, written in1929 but set sometime in the present.

It concerns an evening in the lives of an accident prone fireman, a cab-driver and an unemployed strip club manager brought together by a series of chance events gradually becoming aware of the major themes of Contemporary Art.

These themes are represented by Feminism, Political Message, Collectivism, Minimalism, Structuralism, Drip-Painting, Technology, New Wave, Improvisation, Punk Art, Community Fringe Theatre and Performance Art

The evening ruthlessly dissects, analyses and exposes their complete inability to come to grips with these issues or with the tragedy of each others’ lives.

I suggested we called our genre Depressionism.
I wrote: ‘our work has no meaning. It comes from a deep sense of nihilistic blackness which is totally liberating and makes everything stirring and bracing.
I believe in nothing.
I think everything is possible.
I believe in nothing but miracles’