T-Bo Solo Album #7 returns to centre stage…
DiaryAfter work on the hugely enjoyable Plenty lockdown project Enough ended in April, T-Bo Solo Album #7 returned to centre stage and four months later it’s getting close to completion. Once more, my creative co-pilot is the ever-prolific Bo...
’Too much life gets in the way’
DiaryAs an early no-man lyric once stated, sometimes, ’Too much life gets in the way.’ Well, that’s my lame excuse for months of non-blogging and I’m sticking to it! As it’s been such a long wait, here’s a long update. ———— ...
Late Night Laments – Album Notes
DiarySometimes music appears so quickly and seems so right that talking about it seems pointless; cheap even. It is what it is, and what it is is an instinctive force of nature. Conversely, when music comes unnaturally, there’s often a desi...
Lockdown Listening 3
DiaryThe final instalment! The podcast with Mr Wilson, The Album Years, has been dominating my listening choices of late, so I thought I’d draw this extremely short series to a conclusion. I’m pleased to say that the random Covid-19 givea...
Lockdown Listening 2
DiaryLockdown Listening 2 This rather brief edition of Lockdown Listening is truly a C-19 special. Every day during these ‘unusual times’, various neighbours have been leaving boxes of CDs, DVDs and books out on walls and benches througho...
Lockdown Listening
DiaryThis may be the start of an occasional series or it may just be an end in itself. I thought it might be interesting to offer an honest, unedited lockdown listening list along with comments explaining some of my thoughts about the music. ...
Tuesday 31 March 2020
DiaryOne problem with very occasional blog writing, as I’ve just found out, is that the world can be in a very different place at the end of the process compared with where it was at the beginning. I started this in January/February in the ...
8th September 2019
DiaryThe seven month gap between diary entries has been taken up with the release of solo album #5, a mini-tour, recording for no-man’s forthcoming studio release, and – most recently – the start of what may very well be solo album #6. Yipp...
13 Feb 2019
DiarySolo album #5 is now ready and about to make its way into the wider world. As mentioned in several interviews, Flowers At The Scene feels like something of a necessary refreshing of the palette. At the very least, it’s a decisive move ...
August 26, 2018
Diary, 10cc, Adam Holzman, Andy Partridg, Big Big Train, Bowness Chilvers, Dylan How, Flowers At The Scene, Godley & Creme, Ian Anderson, James Matheos, Kevin Godle, New Tim Bowness album, Peter Hammill, Steven Wilson, XTCA gap and then some! This constitutes the second blog entry this year and only the third over an eighteen month period. Below, find some reasons for my protracted ‘slow blog’ absence. ———— Work is now complete on T-Bo solo al...
1st January 2018
Diary, It Could Be Home, Lost In The Ghost Light, no-man, PlentyHappy New Year and thanks to everyone who’s supported my music over the past 12 months. 2017 was a great year for Lost In The Ghost Light which gained the most reviews and sales of any of my work outside of no-man. The album’s artwork ...
11 August 2017
DiaryTwo blogs in a month. Clearly a sign of bad things to come or a serious mental decline! This diary entry is partly prompted by Jakub Kurek and Piotr Zdunek, two very enthusiastic and knowledgeable no-man fans from Poland. Not only did th...
2nd August 2017
DiaryAnother belated blog and a belated thank you. Lost In The Ghost Light was released in February to the best reviews and best sales of any of my work outside of no-man. Given the fact that the album was a time-consuming labour of love that...
Jan 30 2017
DiaryIf you’re reading this, like me, you’ve survived 2016. Congratulations! ———— As mentioned in the Lost In The Ghost Light Album Notes blog, ‘2016 has been a bruising year in terms of societal divisions being exposed in the Wes...
September 2016
DiarySeven months on from the last diary entry and it’s still a case of multiple works in progress. 2016 may be the first year in some time in which I haven’t released anything, but 2017 looks likely to unleash a torrent of sonic abuse. As ...
April 19 2016
DiaryThe last few months have been a strange combination of me being creatively busy and occasionally ground to a standstill (one bad Winter cold left me unable to sing for two months which felt like forever), so it’s very much been a time...
September 11 2015
Diary, Bill Nelson, David Rhodes, Gentle Giant, King Crimson, Nick Beggs, no-man, Peter Hammill, Prog, Prog awards, Steven Wilson, Theo Travis, Tim Bowness liveThe waiting is over and the results are in (sort of, anyway). The last few months have seen a whirlwind of activity, with a new album release, a (by my standards) extensive ‘World’ tour (of 4 dates in 2 countries, no less!), a ten ton ...
may 12th
Diary, New Tim Bowness album, Stupid Things That Mean The WorldStupid Things That Mean The World, my third solo album, was finished in mid-April. Compared with Abandoned Dancehall Dreams, the making of the album was a bit of a long slog with many obstacles (illnesses, recording problems, moving hous...
Nov 20th
Diary, Abandoned Dancehall Dreams, California, David Bowie, Henry Fool, Norfolk, Peter Hammill, Pink Floyd, Sue (or In A Season Of Crime), The Endless RiverThe usual workload plus two house moves and the release and promotion of Abandoned Dancehall Dreams has meant finding gaps to write or record hasn’t been particularly easy since the early part of the year. Luckily, things have finally se...
7 July
Diary, Abandoned Dancehall Dreams, Bowness diary, Burning Shed, Eppyfest, Genesis, Henry Fool, no-man, Pink Floyd, Prog, progressive, Steven Wilson, Tim BownessI’ve been really grateful for all the positive comments about ADD. Thanks to everyone who’s bought the album and left feedback about it. After such a long time living with the music and obsessively trying to make it what I wanted it to...
25th September
DiaryThanks for all the supportive emails about my last online diary post. To clarify some things, I didn’t mean to say that no-man is over. The band has had protracted periods of silence in the past and I genuinely believe that at some point...
22nd September
Diary2013 has simultaneously been an inspiring and frustrating year. Creatively it’s arguably been the best since 2006, with a lot of (what I consider to be) strong new material being written and a personal sense of anticipation and excitemen...
no-man 2012 Tour Diary
Diary26/8/12, Krakow – Klub Studio The Krakow experience was even better than I was expecting. As it was the first time I’ve played in Poland, I was hoping for something wonderful and I got it. The music came together well and the band had th...
16th April
DiaryAlong with the release of No-Man’s Love And Endings, April 2012 marks 30 years since I started singing in bands. My Album Notes blog has two new and pretty comprehensive entries on both subjects, but as always, there’s a wealth of inform...
22nd October
DiaryThe October 14th No-Man live performance at the Leamington Spa Assembly has been an inspiring highlight of 2011 so far. As confident and hard-hitting as any show I’ve ever been a part of, from the first rehearsal onwards it was clear tha...
9th December
DiaryThus ends another year with no major releases and only a handful of gigs to my name (more of which later). Rumours of a descent into chronic alcoholism, daytime TV addiction, and a forthcoming Bowness/Chilvers Justin Bieber tribute act...
15th January
Diary2009, the year of no blog, turned out to be a mixed experience. The completion of the No-Man DVD and the release of the Judy Dyble album, despite delays, went as well as I’d have hoped, while the ongoing gestation of several other projec...
22nd December
DiaryAs Christmas shoppers fall over one another in the hope of finding that elusive bargain or a limited edition ‘Hannah Montana sings Magma’ doll, I guess now is as good a time as any to provide an update on my various nefarious activities:...
2nd October
DiaryIt’s 2am and it’s a Friday morning in Düsseldorf. With the last performance of the No-Man mini mini-tour of 2008 over, the members of the band that are still awake go in search of life and strong coffee. Explorers all, excitement is hig...
18th March
DiaryA busy few months has seen trips to San Francisco (which rapidly ascended to favourite city status for me), Baron Bennett’s lovely Swedish hideaway, and Borg Central, London. Add to that heady brew, convulsive syncopes on planes, earthqu...
11th September
DiaryCrack open the egg creme and dish out the Hershey Kisses! Against all odds, I’ve managed to survive the inhuman intensity of a Summer in New York with some semblance of my pasty-faced Brit heritage intact. An achievement so rare, a lette...
8th August
DiaryIt’s 115 degrees in the shade and my once (very) cool English exterior is dissolving in the afternoon Coney Island heat. Sadly, the fact that I’m paler than the new improved Dulux ‘Brilliant White’ has failed to reflect the devil sun and...
17th March
DiaryLaid low with a persistent cold and a badly broken rib, I’ve finally decided to add to the ongoing chronicles of despair and rampant debauchery that are ‘the Bowness diaries’. So here goes: The year has definitely been a productive and p...
13th December
DiaryUp The Junction: Omnipresent cigarette smoke, constant idle banter and the presence of a few pissed-up punters who clearly mistook The Junction for The Dog And Scrote. Welcome to the heart of the British gigging circuit. Subtle, atmo...
12th December
DiaryBack in a dour, rain splattered, Blighty and I’m going through one of my regular phases of constantly questioning why it is I do what I do. Preferring reading, watching films and eating copious amounts of Polish chocolates to the idea of...
9th December
DiaryAgainst all the odds, The Spitz gig turned out to be something of a success. Predictably, my four day flu hit its peak on the morning of the gig and by the time we reached London, I could barely speak. A first! I overdosed on a heady com...
17th October
Diary2005 has so far been a year of weighing up options and re-assessing the past (the recent No-Man re-issues), so sadly, other than Lord Chilvers transformation from the Nutty Professor of contemporary Electronica to the man-shaped nano iPo...
3rd October
DiaryThe ongoing adventures of Centrozoon provided a wonderful early September diversion. The 5 days spent at the ARS Electronica Festival in Linz, Austria were relaxing, enjoyable and an ideal way to contextualise recent emotional upheavals ...
16th August
DiaryRehearsing for retirement? Although the lack of diary entries may have suggested that I’d taken a permanent vacation to Lowestoft or Florida, behind the scenes there’s been a lot of recording and writing that’s yet to find a suitable hom...
13th August
DiaryWeeks of anticipation, e-flurries and raw slices of life have seen me go through a period of intensely questioning most aspects of what I do. With my moods following the incredible fluctuations in the British weather this Summer (driftin...
27th April
DiaryIt’s 4pm and I find myself wandering around somebody’s back garden somewhere on the Dutch/German border. I’ve seen the landmark local windmill and water tower, so this seems like as good a place as any to be. A face stares at me from the...
25th March
DiaryIt’s 2am and just after the after show meal at the Hyatt. An Italian ‘society’ photographer, who obviously thinks I must be someone if I can walk around here without being arrested, asks if he can take a photograph of me. Looking worse t...
24th March
DiaryIt’s 3am in the hotel bar and Steve Jansen, pleasantly drunk and pleasantly intense, keeps on asking, “But are you balanced?” to anyone who’ll listen. Guru Jansen’s lessons in life and love abound in this faintly surreal post-rehearsal g...
20th March
DiaryOn Thursday I’ll be performing my first ever gig in Italy. I’ll be joining Alice (and Steve Jansen) in the fantastic Milano Duomo, as part of an ambitious event which the organiser tells us ‘sets out to combine poetry, film and music in ...
27th February
DiaryWith three more songs and four ‘musical miniatures’ completed over the last week, it’s been a fairly productive time as regards the development of the prospective solo album, which now seems to be developing a strong and emotive identity...
1st February
DiarySaturday saw Centrozoon performing as a part of a festival of electronic music which also included UK band, Radio Massacre International (genuinely nice people making a fine noise in the style of the early-mid 1970s work of Tangerine Dre...
30th January
DiaryIt’s 2am Helsinki time and despite being up since 5am, The Man Mountain, Die Mensch-Maschine and myself are led semi-willingly into a late-night disco by Tanya and her ten words of English. After enduring a half hour walk in sub-zero tem...
29th January
DiaryEscaping a snowbound, gridlocked country to fly to another snowbound, gridlocked country, doesn’t make too much sense, but to compound the agony, I’m off to frosty Finland for four days on Friday (depending on whether there are still any...
9th January
DiaryNine days into the year and, bizarrely, No-Man have already had four tentative approaches regarding making a career-overview compilation album. As, like Highlander, in the end there can only be one, we await the results of the subsequent...
4th January
DiaryBooked to play at an event in Helsinki on the 31st of this month, so far 2004 holds the enchanting possibility of Centrozoon being collectively frozen to death in the wintry wastes of Finland (probably mid-song!). As the closing images o...
2003 in review
DiaryFor me, No-Man’s ‘Together We’re Stranger’ still represents the best work I’ve done, or at the very least the work that’s closest to my idea of what I want to do with music. Simultaneously, expansive and intimate, electronic and organic,...
December 13th
DiaryWith my plans for a British currywurst franchise temporarily on hold, I’ve been doing some mixing and project assessment with The Butler and Stephen Bennett. ——- The ‘voiceloops’ album is probably complete, but now comes the difficult pa...
3rd December
DiaryThis is the first posting that finds me on the wrong side of 40. Pass the suicide pills, kids! ——- Despite me suffering from a debilitating migraine and a grotesque facial rash that re-cast me as pop’s most eligible Elephant Man lookalik...
26th November
DiaryIn between bouts at the studio with Mixmeister Modo and Markus, I’ve been wandering around the streets of central Hanover. Everything’s Christmas light pretty and incredibly relaxed. The old town, City Hall and mainline station are ornat...
24th November
DiaryAlong with Markus (in his furious Frank from ‘Blue Velvet’ mode), I arrive in Hanover for four days of mixing and recording for the new Centrozoon album. We’ve agreed loosely on what’s staying and what’s going and at this point, have eno...
23rd November
DiaryA joint Centrozoon performance with Einslive DJ , Klaus Fiehe, was probably the worst trio gig in memory. Playing to a crowd more interested in talking, dancing, smoking and drinking than listening to music is always difficult. We didn’t...
20th November
DiaryA pleasant and uneventful flight to the ‘fake’ Dusseldorf, Niederrhein. A much more interesting time on the train to Stansted, however, where my former dealings with the elderly mentally and physically infirm came in very handy. A confus...
21st October
DiaryAmidst interminable bouts of singing ‘Angel Of Berlin’ and playing intensely competitive games of bar football (England 10 Germany 3, in case you’re wondering), Centrozoon actually managed to perform as part of the ‘Nine Teeth’ art exhib...
16th October
DiaryWednesday’s Centrozoon performance was polished and confident, but the emphasis on the more beat-orientated aspects of our work, made it a less charming and satisfying experience than usual for me. Sunday’s church setting provided an ide...
14th October
DiaryDesigned as a means of linking the disparate sites containing information about the various musical projects I’m involved with, another addition to the senseless clutter along the information highway comes in the form of the brand new ww...
29th September
DiaryTypically ironically, in the week in which I was going to discontinue the diaries and erase all my past entries, I wrote more than I usually do. Whether in terms of art or material comfort, for me, periods of accumulation are always foll...
25th September
DiaryCold steel, concrete and stink. Ah, London! Courtesy of the nice Mr Jansen and Ms Zornes, I go to the Royal Festival Hall to see David Sylvian and Steve Jansen perform. Before the gig, myself and the Lord chat merrily over tea and cakes ...
24th September
DiaryWith the potential legal problems now out of the way, we’ve received confirmation that No-Man’s early albums will be reissued by One Little Indian in the Spring of 2004. The last fortnight’s strongly worded emails and threatening phone c...
22nd September
DiaryListening through to the master of the vinyl version of No-Man’s ‘Together We’re Stranger’, I become suddenly paranoid that I may never be able to do something quite so emotionally and musically complete again. In many ways this was an a...
12th October
DiaryIt’s Sunday night in Gütersloh and it’s freezing. The only refuge from the harsh elements is that high water mark of German culture, Köchlöffel. Two coffees later, served by a visibly shocked waitress who obviously equates my falterin...
12th September
DiarySeems like old times (parts 1 to 5): The long, long journey into London, the crush and rush of the sweat-drenched underground and the familiar business discussed with familiar faces in all too familiar spaces. Not to mention the expected...
5th September
Diary“Fantastic idea! Let’s sort it out over lunch next week. Can you pass the sugar, please?” Meetings, meetings and more meetings. This week has witnessed lots of talk about intriguing future possibilities over coffee and doughnuts, but lit...
1st September
DiaryStephen Bennett’s video for No-Man’s ‘Things I Want To Tell You’ is, in accord with the mood of the track, haunting, evocative and lovingly lingering and slow. Given our mixed and frequently embarrassing history with film, it’s possibly ...
29th August
DiaryMy first day back in the land of the lager louts started appropriately enough with a highly competitive indoor soccer game at the UEA. Despite the potentially lethal combination of having had no exercise for three weeks and being subject...
24th August
Diary“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 ...
22nd August
DiaryFrom 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 ...
5th August
DiaryA 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...
28th April
Diary“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...
23rd April
DiaryThree 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...
22nd April
DiaryAfter 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, Toro...
5th January
DiaryAfter 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 bein...
5th November
DiaryProbably 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 (torrentia...
26th September
DiaryConsider 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...
23rd August
DiaryHow 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 vacillat...
12th August
DiaryLiase 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 Yo...
5th August
DiaryGet 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 (Bj...
August 4th
Diary2.00pm: 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). T...
3rd August
DiaryThe 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 Smile...
2nd August
DiaryInnerviews 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 21...
1st August
DiaryA 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. ...