The Nihilist Spasm Band (NSB) is a London, Ontario based band. The band was formed in 1965 by Hugh McIntyre, John Clement, John Boyle, Bill Exley, Murray Favro, Archie Leitch, Art Pratten and Greg Curnoe. Leitch has since retired, Curnoe was killed in a bicycle accident in 1996. The band members are mostly local artists- none are trained musicians. The term spasm band refers to a band that uses homemade instruments. Indeed, most of the NSB's instruments are modifications of other instruments, or wholly invented by the members. NSB is considered a founder of the "noise band" concept. In addition to the homemade instruments, members are encouraged to improvise. The range of the improvisation is such that instruments are not to tuned to each other, tempi and time signatures are lacking, and the members push the ranges of their already homemade instruments by engaging in constant innovation. At worst, the band produces unintelligible noise, sometimes so cluttered that it approaches white noise. At best, however, the band can produce fascinating pairings of sound and strange, wonderful rhythms. The band thus pushes the limit of music to its furthest reaches. Jump to: navigation, search Motto: Nickname: The Forest City City of London, Ontario, Canada location. ... Jump to: navigation, search Greg Curnoe (1936–1992) was a Canadian painter known for his nationalism and for his concentration on subjects associated with London, Ontario. ... Skiffle music is a type of folk music with a jazz and blues influence, usually using homemade or improvised instruments such as the washboard, tea-chest bass, kazoo, cigar-box fiddle, or a comb and paper, and so forth. ... Jump to: navigation, search Four thousandths of a second of white noise White noise (Sample ▶(?)) is a random signal (or process) with a flat power spectral density. ...