Chris Corsano, Mike Watt, and Joe Baiza with Ilyas Ahmed play at the the Fixin To

A new trio to deliver a mix of free improvisation and punk, all of it wild-eyed and fierce as hell. Guitarist Joe Baiza (Saccharine  Trust, Universal Congress Of) and bassist Mike Watt (Minutemen,  fIREHOSE, Stooges) both need no introduction, but if you insist:  they’re defining figures of the 1980’s California hardcore/post-punk scene and did as much as anyone to expand the music into something beyond categorization, pulling things in from all over the imaginary genre-map, including free jazz’s improvisation and exploratory fervor. Drummer Chris Corsano (Rangda, Björk, Bill Orcutt) came up in a world heavily indebted to Baiza and Watt, fully embracing the ethos of “Punk is whatever we made it to be.” He’s brought that approach to free improvisation/experimental/etc. since he came on the scene in the late ’90s. Flash forward to late 2023 when the trio first met out in the Mojave Desert. They cut an album for Yucca Alta records (due out in September), followed by a pair of SoCal shows. Now they’re embarking on a West Coast tour.Or, as Watt puts it: “this is mike watt’s reckoning of what this is: late last year drummer chris corsano was put w/me for a gig in the joshua tree desert parts(by derek monypeny) and his first suggest was to get joe baiza which I was way into. we did that gig: totally improvised instrumental music. we did it sitting down: chris sitting down, me and joe baiza are sitting down. for me, it’s was a very interesting conversation to be involved in and I got big time excited.”

Ilyas Ahmed has been releasing records as a solo & collaborative artist for almost 20 years. His most recent solo album A Dream of Another was released in 2023. He is also a member of the experimental rock band Grails whose last record Anches En Maat was released in 2023 as well. Records forthcoming on all fronts in the next year. Ilyas lives and works in Portland Oregon.