Biography Mia Clarke

Clarke and Moor first crossed paths in Los Angeles in September 2003, when Electrelane supported legendary punk rock group The Ex at the Troubadour, on the first date of a three week U.S tour of the west coast. The two bands immediately struck up a friendship, and The Ex later invited Electrelane to perform at their 25th anniversary celebration at the Paradiso, Amsterdam, in November 2004. In 2005, Ex guitarists Terrie and Andy joined Electrelane onstage for a live improvisation at the annual Wels music festival in northern Austria.

Having felt an affinity for each other’s guitar playing since touring together in the United States, Clarke and Moor discussed recording an improvisation— or “guitargument” as it was jokingly referred to— for a couple of years before it finally came to realization.

In April 2008, Clarke flew to join Moor in Amsterdam. Between bike rides along the canals and tea on the rooftop, the two set up equipment on the ground floor of Moor’s apartment building, a converted schoolhouse. They recorded almost two hours of purely improvised material in two parts— they agree that the result is more a conversation between instruments than an ‘argument’ as such.

Passages from the Guitargument have been used as the soundtrack for New York based filmmaker Jem Cohen’s new short film, Half The Battle, which features 16mm footage taken during the Ex’s convoy tour in the Netherlands and France, following their 25th anniversary show.

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