Despite the name, The Hafler Trio is essentially the work of one man, Andrew M. McKenzie, born in Scotland in 1963 and his family moved to Newcastle upon Tyne shortly after. McKenzie released his first 7" single at the age of 14, having formed a punk rock group named Flesh.
There have been numerous members and collaborators alongside Andrew M. McKenzie, including Cabaret Voltaire co-founder Chris Watson, the (semi) fictitious Dr. Edward Moolenbeek, Steven Stapleton of Nurse With Wound, Adi Newton of Clock DVA, Z'EV, Fluxus artist Willem de Ridder, David Tibet (of Current 93), Genesis P-Orridge, Annie Sprinkle, Jónsi Birgisson (of Sigur Rós), Michael Gira (of Swans and Angels of Light), Chloe Vevrier, Erla Þórarinsdóttir, Blixa Bargeld, Netochka Nezvanova, Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, Jóhann Jóhannsson, John Lacey of COUM Transmissions, and Autechre among many others. McKenzie was also part of Whitehouse along with Steven Stapleton and William Bennett for their first live performance.
Photo by Carl Abrahamsson
In addition to the 6-part retrospective set released by The Grey Area of Mute Records titled The Golden Hammer (including many early LPs and EPs such as The Sea Org, "Bang" – An Open Letter, Three Ways of Saying Two, All That Rises Must Converge, Seven Hours Sleep, A Thirsty Fish and more), CD releases include: Intoutof, A Bag of Cats, Mastery of Money, How to Reform Mankind, with several notable stand-out collaborations: 12 Ecomomical Stories by Peter Greenaway, Nurse With Wound and the Hafler Trio Hit Again! (collaboration with Nurse with Wound), Snuff (with Willem De Ridder), Soundtrack to Brion Gysin's 'Dreamachine' (which included detailed historical documentation and instructions for use), a substantial 2-part collaboration with Autechre, and most recently a three part collaboration with Jónsi Birgisson of Sigur Rós.
Andrew M. McKenzie is the core of The Hafler Trio, international protagonists of mood engineering for over 25 years, co-founder of Simply Superior, psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, lecturer, teacher, seminar and workshop leader in Creative Thinking, inventor of Complemation, sound engineer, designer, writer, programmer, classical guitar teacher, and far too many other things.
His present goals all involve applying everything learned by experience over the last 48 years for the benefit of others.
Specialties: changing people's lives, giving manicures, talking too much, applying structures and disciplines from disparate areas of endeavour where they normally wouldn't be applied at all.