Glenn Branca 1948-2018

We at Julie Tippex are very sad about the news of the death of Glenn Branca which happened in the night of May 13th, and our deepest thoughts are going to Reg, his wife, his family and his collaborators. We’ve worked from 2011 to 2015 with him on several shows, representing him for Europe, after having met in 2007 at ATP where Glenn, but also Reg and Kling Klang, one of our bands back then, had performed. The collaboration was an intense one and the performances were at least as powerful. It’s been a great honor for us to work for all those years with him, a truly inspired and habited musician, whose impact will never stop. We wish you well Glenn, and the most beautiful peace.

—  Julie Tippex

It’s 2011 and I am booking my first shows for the legendary Glenn Branca and his Ensemble ( “4 guitars, 1 bass, 1 drummer… 1 Glenn Branca” ). The band is playing Primavera and Villette Sonique festivals. I was flying to Barcelona a day after their show and was supposed to meet them in Paris. Going out of the plane I pass along the line of passengers waiting to board the next plane and there’s this guy who stops me and says “How was your flight ?” – he was dressed like nothing and was amusing his friends, a bunch of younger girls and guys carrying guitars. I stopped and said “You’re Glenn Branca ?! I’m your agent !”

Then there were several tours with the Ensemble and a solo tour where Glenn played acoustic (the loudest acoustic guitar you ever heard) and that very very weird 2-neck guitar. The Paris show was with Thurston Moore and they spent the night in Pigalle drinking absinthe like true Americans in Paris.

The last show we did together was the Symphony n°16 “Orgasm” for 100 guitars, bass and drums, at Philarmonie de Paris. Oh the sound, even during the rehearsals. Walking him to his hotel after one of those rehearsals, two taxi drivers came to a fight over who would drive him, rolling on the ground and everything – Glenn: “At least it’s not NY; they would have shot each others”.