The instrument invented by Tom Waits
Tom Waits is a ruthless innovator who has operated solely on his terms and has never cared for following the trends or conventions set out in the music industry. In 1992, Waits decided to go a step further and create his own instrument, which helped him establish his unique, inimitable sound.
Waits isn’t the only artist to have created an instrument. Björk also forged her own item of musical apparatus ahead of her Biophilia project in 2001. She recruited British percussionist Matt Nolan and Icelandic organ craftsman Björgvin Tómasson to build the one-off piano featuring small steel bars, which the musician later used on an array of tracks.
Additionally, electronic pioneers Kraftwerk also invented a selection of instruments. Most notably was their creation of the laser drum cage in 1976, which allowed Wolfgang Flür to stand in it, moving his limbs through beams that would activate percussion sounds.
Waits’ instrument, the conundrum, was also a new brand of percussion. The musician collaborated with his neighbour and sculptor, Serge Ettienne, on the project, with the motivation behind the instrument being Waits’ wanting “to explore more machinery sounds.”
Waits once explained the simplicity of the conundrum: “This was an instrument that was built for me by a neighbour of mine who’s a sculptor and a welder. It’s just an iron cross with a lot of metal hanging off of it. It sounds like a jail door closing behind you.”
On another occasion, Waits elaborated on the brutalist design of the instrument and explained: “It’s just a metal configuration, like a metal cross. It looks a little bit like a Chinese torture device. It’s a simple thing, but it gives you access to these alternative sound sources. Hit ’em with a hammer. Sounds like a jail door. Closing. Behind you. I like it.
“You end up with bloody knuckles, when you play it. You just, you hit it with a hammer until you just, you can’t hit it any more. It’s a great feeling to hit something like that. Really just, slam it as hard as you can with a hammer. It’s therapeutic.”
Waits has continuously experimented throughout his career and frequently used strange household items such as tin cans on his records. The creation of the conundrum was another showing of ingenuity by the singer-songwriter and proved how far he was willing to go in his search for the perfect sound.
Although envisioning the instrument and commissioning Etienne to build it was a complicated process, Waits hasn’t made it his signature sound. Astonishingly, the conundrum has only been used on ‘In The Collosseum’ from his 1992 album, Bone Machine, which you can listen to below.
