Both share a love of gritty percussion and supreme resonance on their respective string instruments, their influence on each others’ extended language is clear and explosive when combined.
Clare and Clayton have made music together since 2000 in groups such as the Splinter Orchestra and Hammeriver. In 2001 they started ‘the NOW now festival’ and the series ‘if you like improvised music, we like you’, and produced the festival independently over the next 6 years.

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Clayton Thomas is a double bassist and grass roots organiser working in the broad spectrum of improvised and experimental music. He is Australian, but lives in Berlin.

Amoung ongoing projects Trio Aus (with Johannes Bauer and Tony Buck), Hammeriver, The Splinter Orchestra and CODE (with Ken Vandermark, Max Nagl & Wolfgang Reisinger) he has collaborated with Paul Lovens, Peter Brotzmann, Sonny Simmons, Evan Parker, Anthea Caddy, Andre Vida, Steve Heather, Magda Mayas, Chris Heenan, Matthias Muller, Manon-Liu Winter, Hannes Loeschel, Sharif Sehnaoui, Christine Sehnaoui, Franz Hautzinger and The Ex.

I’m trying to work out a physical activity equally engaged in electronic and acoustic music aesthetics, while maintaining the kind of transitional and transformative energy of the music that changed my life. I draw inspiration from creative music of all eras, happily learning from and engaging with improvisers, sound artists, composers and thinkers alive and kicking in the 21st century.

I have been inspired and pushed by many great musicians, but would especially thank Jon Rose, Jim Denley, Andrew Meisel, Cooper-Moore, Tony Buck and Hollis Taylor for doing some real work on the topic.

All my music is dedicated to my first teachers, Wilber Morris and Peter Kowald.

Recordings
Broken River The Tim O’Dwyer Trio
Sonny Simmons Renegade Society with Brandon Evans & Andrew Barker
Creoles with Jim Denley
Artery with Jon Rose & Chris Abrahams
The Splinter Orchestra
MAP with Mary Halvorson & Tatsuya Nakatani
Substation with Robin Fox
Raw Square with Mathew Ottignon