Nash the Slash -

Nash the Slash — aka Jeff Plewman (March 26, 1948 — May 2014) — was a Canadian violinist and keyboardist from Toronto who first emerged as a member of FM, appearing on the band’s debut album Black Noise. Between 1978 and 1982, he released two EPs and three proper studio albums on signature-press Cut-Throat Records.

Background

Nash the Slash was born James Jeffrey Plewman on March 26, 1948, in Toronto, Ontario. His mother sang and played classical piano, while his brother studied cello. Plewman received classical violin training and performed with his high-school orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra. He attended North Toronto Collegiate Institute and took early-music studies at York University, where he participated in an ensemble built around harpsichords, mandolins, and historical wind instruments.

Plewman entered the Toronto rock circuit with bassist Mike Waite and guitarist Percy Adler in Breathless. The group played theatrical shows at venues including the Roxy Theatre and Ontario Place Forum, where singer/keyboardist Cameron Hawkins saw Plewman in a support slot for Scrubbaloe Caine. Breathless recorded the Plewman composition “Slasher” at Toronto Sound with engineer Terry Brown. Toronto agency Concept 376 included the track on a promotional compilation for agency clients.

Promoter Gary Topp encouraged Plewman to develop the Nash persona and booked his first Nash the Slash performance on March 16, 1975, at the Original 99-Cent Roxy Theatre in Toronto. Plewman accompanied the 1929 Luis Buñuel silent short Un Chien Andalou with a live electronic score built from violin, mandolin, tape loops, and drum machine.

Plewman and Hawkins joined the Toronto band Clear with Ken Worth and Tony Mendez, then broke off with FM. On July 24, 1976, the duo recorded a 13-minute version of “Black Noise” at Cut-Throat Studios above the Roxy Theatre. Plewman also played electric violin for David Pritchard on the 1976 Island album Nocturnal Earthworm Stew, which included the solo piece “Nash Metropolitan” and the group improvisation “An Admission of Guilt” with drummer Martin Deller, who joined FM. In early 1977, the trio appeared on the CBC program Who’s New, which led to the album commission behind Black Noise.

Plewman left FM near the end of 1977 and resumed solo work through his Cut-Throat imprint. He recorded the four-track Bedside Companion in January 1978 at Cut-Throat Studios on a TEAC four-track machine, issued on 12-inch as the label’s first release. Plewman returned to TVOntario’s Nightmusic Concert on Feb. 28 for an audiovisual program built around surrealist paintings by Robert Vanderhorst.

He initially prepared a full-length record from the television material and his Un Chien Andalou score, but rejected an unsatisfactory test pressing and restricted the initial release to Bedside Companion. Plewman introduced the bandaged stage image at a 1979 Neighbourhood Alert show at The Edge, where phosphorescent makeup referenced the Three Mile Island accident. He carried the remaining instrumental material into Dreams and Nightmares, his first full-length solo album for Cut-Throat Records.

Discography: