Killick Erik Hinds of Athens, Georgia

Athens, Georgia

Athens-Clarke County is a consolidated city–county in U.S. state of Georgia, in the northeastern part of the state, comprising the former City of Athens proper and Clarke County. The University of Georgia is located in this college town and is responsible for the initial growth of the city...

 is active as a composer, performer, and promoter of a wide range of music. He plays quartertone electric guitar, as well as Big Red harp guitar

Harp guitar

]The harp guitar is a stringed instrument with a history of well over two centuries. While there are several unrelated historical stringed instruments that have appropriated the name “harp-guitar” over the centuries, the term today is understood as the accepted vernacular to refer to a particular...

 and the H'arpeggione, an 18-stringed upright acoustic instrument with sympathetic strings, both built by Fred Carlson. Equally influenced by improvisation

Improvisation

Improvisation is the practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one's immediate environment and inner feelings. This can result in the invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols, and/or...

al music and "composed" sounds, Killick's style blends primitive folk, heavy metal, and sacred musics from around the world. Killick has played with improvisers including Susan Alcorn, Susie Allen, Brent Bagwell, Colin Bragg, William Buchanan, Jeff Crouch, Chris Cutler

Chris Cutler

Chris Cutler is an English percussionist, composer, lyricist and music theorist. Best known for his work with English avant-rock group Henry Cow, Cutler was also a member and drummer of a number of other bands, including Art Bears, News from Babel, Pere Ubu and Gong/Mothergong...

, Jeremiah Cymerman, Ernesto Diaz-Infante, Lisle Ellis, Tony Evans, Drew Gardner, the Georgia Guitar Quartet, Vinny Golia

Vinny Golia

Vinny Golia is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist specializing in woodwind instruments. He performs in the genres of contemporary music, jazz, free jazz, and free improvisation....

, Frank Gratkowski, Leslie Helpert, Blake Helton, Carl Ludwig Huebsch, Ben Kennedy, Harald Kimmig, Habib Koité

Habib Koité

Habib Koité is a Malian singer, songwriter and guitarist. His supporting cast, Bamada, is a super-group of West African talent, including Kélétigui Diabaté playing balafon.- Musical style :...

, Peter Kowald

Peter Kowald

Peter Kowald was a German free jazz musician.A member of the Globe Unity Orchestra, and a touring double-bass player, Kowald collaborated with a large number of European free jazz and American free-jazz players during his career, including Peter Brötzmann, Irène Schweizer, Karl Berger, Fred...

, Craig Lieske, Marshall Marrotte, Jeff McLeod, Tatsuya Nakatani, Larry Ochs, Brian Osborne, Ravi Padmanabha, Dennis Palmer

Shaking Ray Levis

The Shaking Ray Levis is an ongoing collaboration of musicians with a common interest in free improvisation. The project was conceived and led by the Chattanooga, Tennessee-based team of Dennis Palmer and Bob Stagner. They use storytelling, synthesizers, samplers and percussion to achieve their...

, Dave Rempis, Blaise Siwula, Carl Smith, Bob Stagner

Shaking Ray Levis

The Shaking Ray Levis is an ongoing collaboration of musicians with a common interest in free improvisation. The project was conceived and led by the Chattanooga, Tennessee-based team of Dennis Palmer and Bob Stagner. They use storytelling, synthesizers, samplers and percussion to achieve their...

, Sándor Szabó, Ken Vandermark

Ken Vandermark

Ken Vandermark is an American jazz composer and saxophone and clarinet player.A fixture on the Chicago-area music scene since the 1990s, Vandermark has earned wide critical praise for his playing and his multilayered compositions, which typically balance intricate orchestration with passionate...

, Matthew Welch, and Eric Zinman.

Killick started Solponticello Records in 2001, and he released a solo H'arpeggione cover version of Slayer

Slayer

Slayer is an American thrash metal band formed in Huntington Park, California, in 1981 by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King. Slayer rose to fame with their 1986 release, Reign in Blood, and is credited as one of the "Big Four" thrash metal acts, along with Metallica, Megadeth and...

's Reign in Blood

Reign in Blood

Reign in Blood is the third studio album and the major label debut by the American thrash metal band Slayer. It was released on October 7, 1986 through Def Jam Recordings. The album was the band's first collaboration with record producer Rick Rubin, whose input helped the band's sound evolve...

in 2005. He changed his name from Erik Hinds to Killick Erik Hinds in 2006, and now performs as just Killick.

Killick married Delene Porter in Key West, Florida, on August 9, 2003.

H'arpeggione

The H'arpeggione is an instrument built by Fred Carlson for Killick Erik Hinds. It is an acoustic upright quartertone-fretted six string instrument tuned from a contrabass A♭ up to E♭ (half-step below the high E on a guitar). The H'arpeggione also has 12 resonating sympathetic strings which run through the neck and emerge over the body and run to a separate buzzing bridge. The body is larger than an acoustic guitar, with an arched fingerboard and bridge for bowing or plucking, a spike for upright playing position and a top of (recycled) redwood.

External links

• Killick
• Solponticello Records
• Killick's MySpace site
• "Homemade-Instrument-alists: Killick," Sweet Pea's Ghost Dance and Music Review, 2008.