Probably the most enjoyable musical experience of the last month was the near completion of No-Man’s forthcoming album, ‘All The Blue Changes’. Roger Eno recorded some righteous harmonium for the album while the heavens roared (torrential rain hammering against attic windows). Lending aspects of the album an almost 19th Century evangelical feel, Roger’s playing was subtle and inspired and provided … Read More

Consider me chastised! An email from a fan suggested that there was little point in me having a diary page without me actually having written a diary on it. A reasonable point, I suppose. The last month has been quite frantic – 8 days in the wonderful City of Toronto, more work on the new No-Man and Bowness/Chilvers albums and … Read More

How much of the unreleased material I mentioned in my 12th August entry will ever see release is debatable, but the existence of Burning Shed and the economics of CD production certainly makes it all very possible. I continually vacillate between admiring musicians who release almost every aspect of their work (Davis/Fripp/Nelson/Rundgren/Zappa) and those who only wait until a project … Read More

Liase with Pete and Peter regarding the eight (!) forthcoming Shed releases. Receive a package from Lee Fletcher which includes some interesting and rare Bowie material as well as a great mix of the new Centrozoon song ‘Make Me Forget You’. Along with ‘The Me I Knew’, it’s one of the two songs I wrote with Centrozoon during my last … Read More

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