The Secret Chiefs 3 are the brainchild of guitarist / composer Trey Spruance. It is a very experimental group that crosses many genres: Encompassing things like surf rock, Morricone inspired film music, Indian music, Persian music, and even death metal. Even though it sounds like it would be tough sledding for the average listener, the music mostly stays very melodic and even catchy.
Trey Spruance first came to prominence as one of the founding members of Mr. Bungle (with Faith No More singer Mike Patton). By the time Mr. Bungle released their 2nd album, Disco Volante, in 1995 you can already hear the embryos of what Trey Spruance would take to further heights with Secret Chiefs 3 (which he formed in 1996).
Two songs on Disco Volante have Spruance with the sole writing credit: “Desert Search For Techno Allah” and “Ma Meeshka Mow Skwoz”.
“Ma Meeshka Mow Skwoz” is one of my favorites on Disco Volante and I think really showcases where Secret Chiefs 3 would go. This live version from Mr. Bungle’s tour supporting California is especially great…you can really see Trey Spruance putting his all into the performance!
The first few Secret Chiefs 3 albums (First Grand Constitution and Bylaws, Hurqalya (Second Grand Constitution and Bylaws) and Book M)were billed as the work of a single band. However, by 2004 and release of Book of Horizons Trey Spruance came up with the concept of “Satellite Bands” that fell under the Secret Chiefs 3 umbrella. Each song on Book of Horizons is attributed to one of those six satellite bands.
Book of Horizons is today’s pick!
The satellite bands on Book of Horizons share a lot of the same members, but each one does distinctly sound different. Key musicians on the record include Tim Smolens (bass), Jason Schimmel (guitar) and Timb Harris (violin) (who were all also members of Estradasphere at the time). Ches Smith (drums), Mr. Bungle member William Winant (percussion), Eyvind Kang (Viola) and Shahzad Ismaily (accordian) also appear throughout.
The album starts out with “The End Times” a song by FORMS. FORMS is more or less a jazz band that plays with a lof of odd time signatures. This video was included as part of the bonus features of the Secret Chiefs 3 DVD Live at the Great American Music Hall
Speaking of live footage, this is a great version of “The End Times” performed at The Middle East in Cambridge, MA:
Other songs by FORMS include “The Owl in Daylight” (inspired by the Philip K. Dick novel by the same name) and “Welcome to the Theatron Animatronique”
Here’s a cool performance of the latter from 1998 in San Francisco:
Ishraqiyun is another of the satellite bands that appear. They are mostly inspired by Indian and other Middle Eastern music, including non-Western tunings in the instruments. “The 4” is a great example:
Ishraqiyun songs are frequently performed live by the band. Here is “The 3” (from Book of Horizons) performed at Great American Music Hall:
The Traditionalists band is inspired almost exclusively by Ennio Morricone film soundtracks, especially the spaghetti western themes. “The Exile” on this record is a perfect example of their sound:
UR is the surf rock & exotica band…but they add an interesting twist to the style. They make that genre into something more dancey, not unlike Mr. Bungle’s “Desert Search for Techno Allah”.
“Anthropomorphosis : Boxleitner” and “Book T: Exodus” (which is based on the the theme from the movie The Exodus composed by Ernest Gould) are the UR songs on Book of Horizons.
- The Electromagnetic Azoth is mostly tape collage and electronica based. This is some of the stranger music on the record.
Finally there is Holy Vehm. Which is a full-on death metal / grindcore band. It is super-intense stuff! Some of it reminds me a lot of Cephalic Carnage. That isn’t surprising because the drummer of that band, John Merryman, plays on these songs. Trey Spruance has long said that he has a whole album’s worth of Holy Vehm material but all these years and many albums later these are still the only two songs by this satellite band that have been released. I would love to hear the rest of these songs if that rumor is true!!! These songs are completely bonkers!
If you enjoy Book of Horizons I urge you to dive into the rest of the Secret Chiefs 3 catalog. There is not a bad record in the bunch. Some of albums are compilation based like this one (Book of Souls: Folio A, Book M), some are focused on one satellite band (Le Mani Destre Recise Degli Ultimi Uomini is The Traditionalists and Perichoresis is Ishraqiyun) and a couple are performances of compositions by John Zorn’s Masada songbook (Xaphan: Book of Angels Volume 9 and Malkhut). All of them are worth hearing.
As an added bonus of today’s pick, I’m including this incredible interview that the Center for the Study of World Religions at the Harvard Divinity School conducted in 2024. It has a ton of nitty gritty details about Secret Chiefs 3 straight from the mouth of Trey Spruance! Defintely worth checking out!
