Haydn Ackerley in action. Photographs © Jeff Pitcher

The auto-destructive world of Haydn Ackerley

Music journalist Ben Thompson sings the praises of local legend, and member of Borough Council (the band, not the administrative body) – musician Haydn Ackerley.

In a hand-written addition to his ‘Auto-Destructive Art’ manifesto in 1959, the artist and activist Gustav Metzger noted “The amplified sound of the auto-destructive process can be an integral part of the total conception”. Whether or not this was the part of Metzger’s 1962 lecture at Ealing art college that caught the ear of a keen young student called Pete Townshend, he would go down in history as the man who convinced the guitarist of The Who that smashing up your instruments could be a creative act.

Watching (and listening to) Borough Council’s Haydn Ackerley lay waste to his acoustic guitar at the end of the band’s headlining set at the Gig for Gaza at the Pig at the start of August, the considerations arising were more practical. Yes, this felt like a suitably exuberant and apocalyptic finale to an event which, as joyful as it was in itself, was also designed to reinforce a sense of human connection with those suffering from awful acts of violence on the other side of the world. But wasn’t that particular guitar integral to a new sound Borough Council had been working on for months, and wouldn’t its total destruction leave them up shit creek without a paddle when it came to recording overdubs on their half completed album?

Talking to Haydn in the immediate aftermath of the gig, he didn’t seem entirely sure smashing up the tool of his trade had been a good idea, and the vibe of encroaching disarray intensified when he borrowed a friend’s valuable Martin acoustic for a show at James Endeacott’s informal festival Endeastock the next day, and contrived not only to break a string but also to lose one of the bespoke ebony pegs that secured it, which he then had to replace at substantial expense. At this point Metzger’s optimistic contention that “Auto destructive art was never purely destructive – destroy a canvas and you create new shapes” did not seem to be applicable.

A week later at a gig at the Rose Hill in Brighton with PTSD jazz pioneers, pip, Haydn was playing on a cheap electric guitar borrowed from his Shirley Crowe bandmate Rosie. As the set unfolded, the intense delicacy of his playing, and the obviously special care with which he was handling this seemingly disposable instrument, almost made it feel like he was apologising to this guitar for the wrongs done to its predecessor. But rather than infusing his playing with hesitancy or half-heartedness, this impulse to make amends seemed to give the music a new clarity and sense of direction.

You can hear this approach coalescing on the zoom recording of the gig,  which has been made available as Haydn Ackerley’s first solo release on ethical streaming platforms NINA Protocol and Bandcamp (but not via Spotify, whose new investment in AI weaponry suggests their long term ambitions involve killing people as well as killing music). The rough hewn nature of this debut is deep in the grain of the five tracks – two with vocals and three instrumentals – as overlooking technical imperfections in the recording was a way of making a break with the obsessive concern with detail that has repeatedly delayed new Borough Council releases over the past few months. And the scuffed beauty of the music bears out Metzger’s gospel of new growth from destruction.

“The important thing about burning a hole in that sheet”, he explained of one of his most celebrated auto-destructive interventions, which involved throwing acid on nylon in a site-specific location, “was that it opened up a new view across the Thames”. And the music on this EP is a perfect slightly dog-eared snapshot of the fresh vista opening up in front of Haydn Ackerley.

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