Get a few positive emails regarding the Fool performance (including one from the organiser who wants us back for next year’s festival). After a week of reading Frank Skinner and Douglas Coupland and mainly listening to old favourites (Bjork, Martyn, Mitchell, Davis etc…), in honour of the new S Club Juniors release, I go out and buy the latest King … Read More

2.00pm: After in car listening provided by Arvo Part and David Toop’s excellent ‘Crooning On Venus’ compilation and food by Esso Shop, myself and Peter arrive one hour late for the soundcheck (we’re delayed by crashes on the motorway). The Bear and The Master arrived on time, but to little effect. Headline band Focus have emerged from their van bleary-eyed … Read More

The final Henry Fool rehearsal before tomorrow’s gig at Whitchurch. Finally, it all comes together. From having no material, we end up with an hour and twenty minutes worth. The sound is no longer Foolish, but, by necessity, Samuel Smiles with rhythm. At our best, we create a fresh vocabulary for the band (a kind of contemporary variation on John … Read More

Innerviews writer Anil Prasad arrives in Norwich for the patented ‘Bowness Tour Of The Fine City’. Anil is tall and friendly, and with the right backing band and sensual production, his rich Canadian voice could transform him into the 21st Century Isaac Hayes. Idealist to the last, I’m not so sure he’d be up for it. Along with verbally righting … Read More

A day of emailing and receiving emails. I hear from Stefano Panunzi from Italian band, The Fjieri Group. I’ve sung on two tracks for their forthcoming debut album which is getting remixed by Richard Barbieri in the next couple of weeks. Stefano is starting work on a new solo album and asks me if I’d be interested to sing on … Read More

As part of Norwich City Council’s City Of Culture bid, I’m invited to a ‘literary lunch’. What I assume will be a grand banquet turns out to be ten people being professionally nice to each other while two respected writers (poet George Szirtes and Booker nominee Trezza Azzopardi) recite parts of their work for the grand prizes of a sausage … Read More

To write or not to write, that is the question. Having never had the patience to keep a conventional diary, or been particularly prone to publicly spreading the tedious details of my day to day existence, when I was approached by Krimson News (via Markus Reuter) regarding this, my first reaction was a resolute no. Who really wanted to read … Read More