About
Introduction
I am one of the Elder Bards of Glastonbury, despite not being very old. I play a mixture of UK Festival Psychedelia and British Folk either solo or with my band The Anarchetypes.
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I'm a 21st century bard - a digital artist who uses coding, graphics, music and anything else I can lay my hands on to tell stories and create beautiful and inspiring works of art. Although I am primarily a musician, I also write, make videos, artwork and design games.
I'm interested in helping others to develop their creative talents and co-creative storytelling and I'd love to able to give time, energy and resources for free to those who need it.
If you'd like to support my work, please consider joining my Patreon team or making a one-time donation via Paypal.
I have lots of music available download via Bandcamp,
And a YouTube channel with a range of videos available.
Somewhat longer version
Just as punk was about to overtake the world, I discovered Rachmaninov. Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music.
I was taught music by composer and pianist Neville Bower (full biog), and learned to play bass (in secret), joining my first band The Urban Schoolgirls with Richard van Spall in the early ’80s. Went travelling, met Max Pashm under the sacred oak at Glastonbury Festival and subsequently formed Tribal Laughter with Max and Danni Speekman.
Tim’s lyrics betray a beautiful intelligence, a mixture of deep emotional, intuitive, other-dimensional and mental understanding and tenderness melded together with the power to reach in and enchantingly transport you to another plane.
A growing interest in Celtic spirituality led to Bardic Folk band Silver on the Tree in 1988; contributing material to Eye of the Aeon, Mystic Spiral and Morning Glory. I was one of the founders of the Avalonian Free State Choir in 1992, principally with the intention of performing “Pagan Carols”. We recorded Carols for Solstice with a smaller group, The Silver Twiglets in 1996. Recorded solo projects The Isle of the Dead and Born with Masks in 1992. I also joined Invisible Opera in the same year, originally intended to be a Gong tribute band that wasn’t a tribute band, recording Jewel in the Lotus and Open for Isness. I got involved with Tribal Voices, a collective of acoustic musicians, eco-buskers and protest singers in 1998, which seriously immanentised my political eschaton.
I’m proud to have had the opportunity to collaborate with artists such as Joie Hinton, Daevid Allen, Brian Gulland, Dave Goodman, Jana Runnalls, and Brian Abbott; I have also enjoyed playing bass with Dragonsfly, ici maintenants, Altered Native, Space Pirates, Mother Gong, Circulus, and Tantric Panic; as wel as appearing as guest vocalist with Shom and Rubber Bus. I held the Bardic Chair of Ynys Witrin (Glastonbury) from 2005 to 2007; going on to become one of the Elder Bards of Gorsedh Ynys Witrin.
A rousing and life-affirming rattlebag of song! Stirring, searching, soulful and beautiful; sung and played with passion as well as artistry.
I recorded my solo acoustic album, Charm in 2003 and a digital tone poem, Flutter. I’m currently performing with The Anarchetypes and Carols in the appropriate season with Silver Twiglets along with irregular solo shows.
The End Of Words album was recorded in 2013 (finally released in 2020) in a live performance at St Dunstan’s House. Live In Your Psyche was recorded at Kozfest 2016 (released in 2017). The Anarchetypes recorded Just over lockdown, releasing that in 2021 and followed it up with an album of cinematic remixes Space Tourist.
Influences
Probably my first love was Rachmaninov, and I have a particular love of 20th century orchestral music. I went through an avant-garde phase, listening to Stockhausen as a teenager before discovering Deep Purple just in time for the New Wave of British Heavy Metal.
I was brought up listening to Joan Baez, the Seekers and the Galliards as some kind of surrogate folk roots. My interest in folk music definitely tended towards the pagan or psychedelic – Gryphon, Pentangle, Trees, The Watersons, Anne Briggs, Dom DufF, Robb Johnson, Leon Rosselson and Roy Harper have all informed my approach to music in different ways. Vocal harmony is very important to me. Robert Wyatt, Nick Drake and Sandy Denny gave me insight into how to sing my own songs.
Band-wise Gong, Here & Now, Can, Grateful Dead, Steve Hillage, Daevid Allen and Nik Turner were really the people that made me want to play music. My bass playing style was strongly influenced by Keith Bailey, Jack Casady, Holger Czukay and Mike Howlett in particular, also people like Tina Weymouth, Jah Wobble, Peter Hook, Carol Kaye and Lemmy. Although I rebelled against punk some of the stuff from the eighties like Cocteau Twins, Talking Heads, Elvis Costello, Pulp and Sunny Ade also went into the mix.
liquid gold for the soul.