“So, you’re a singer?” “Yes, I sing.” “What do you do?” “I sing.” “You play for me on Saturday?” “I’ll be back in England by then.” “England? No, you play for me on Saturday!” Being propositioned by a drunken German Princess can be hard work. After my singing one line of ‘Ten Versions Of America’ into her regal ear, The … Read More

From station to station to Dusseldorf City, but unlike Kraftwerk, instead of meeting up with Iggy Pop and David Bowie, I was confronted by the imposing forms of enigmatic Man-Machine, Markus Reuter, and the walking Kilimanjaro, Bernhard Wöestheinrich. A day after arriving in Deutschland and one two hour rehearsal later, Centrozoon are playing at a packed wine bar/restaurant as part … Read More

A month and a half of diary silence. Probably a good thing, of course. July found me in Milan recording a couple of croon-centric duets with well-known Italian singer Alice. With temperatures in the nineties, we were well advised to stay in the glorious and gloriously air-conditioned studio. A city of dynamic aesthetic contrasts, Milan was simultaneously ostentatiously beautiful and … Read More

My being mercilessly attacked by a four foot cubed lesbian and the Lord causing a liquid sensation in my favourite curry house aside, it’s been a month and a half of preparations for indefinite somethings as opposed to actually concluding that much. The lack of diary entries has consequently been a tense combination of long time, no write, and long … Read More

Something’s different. A light drizzle, a discarded Walkers crisp packet and an aroma of Saturday night from a fresh puddle of piss and vomit by the Ladbrokes doorway. My neck bristles with tension and my fists are at the ready. ‘Welcome to Heathrow’ the sign proudly proclaims. Mmmm, I must be back in Blighty. Since returning from SARS Central, I’ve … Read More

“Hello, I’m Karen and I’ll be your cartwheeling waitress for the evening.” Two cartwheels and one coffee later, I’m inclined to believe her. “You’re welcome,” she utters for no particular reason. Myself and Lord Peter are in an empty bar in Yorkville with Lawrence@50, Mr Begley and Diane. It’s midnight and an appropriate end to what’s already been dubbed Rene … Read More

Three days in and the word rehearsing has become alien to the Lord and myself. The words ‘food’ and ‘CDs’, however, find us in a frenzy. Peter takes to the staggering variety of restaurants on offer like a duck to water, or Homer Simpson at an ‘all you can eat’ buffet. A large bucket of mussels on the hour, every … Read More

After a relaxed, romantic break in the surprisingly beautiful city of Brussels, it’s a hectic afternoon at home followed by a gruelling 16 hours of travelling and waiting which eventually finds myself and Lord Peter in SARS Central, Toronto. The Bowness/Chilvers Blues Explosion are all geared up to send some unsuspecting Canadians to sleep with their mesmeric blend of lullaby … Read More

Valentine’s week appropriately saw myself and SW finally complete the new No-Man opus, ‘Together We’re Stranger’. A week of passing sound files back and forth from London to Norwich (the true capital of the nation) resulted in the last minute inclusion of a song called ‘Back When You Were Beautiful’ which, while not necessarily the strongest piece on the album, … Read More

After two weeks of shuffling around like Dickens’ Scrooge as re-written by a mightily anxious Samuel Beckett, it’s good to emerge blinking into the daylight of reality. December proved interesting with the Burning Shed mini-festival being both a pleasure and a pain. The words never and again sprung to mind on at least a thousand occasions during the two day … Read More