Tim Smith (Cardiacs)

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For other persons named Tim Smith, see Tim Smith (disambiguation).
Tim Smith
Born July 3, 1961
Genre(s) Art Rock
Psychedelic Pop
Progressive Rock
Punk Rock
Occupation(s) Vocalist
Lyricist
Lead Guitarist
Instrument(s) Vocals
Guitar
Years active 1976 - Present
Label(s) Alphabet Business Concern
Associated acts Cardiacs
The Sea Nymphs
OceanLandWorld
Spratleys Japs
Panixsphere
Website http://www.cardiacs.com

Tim Smith was born in Chessington, Surrey on 3 July 1961, and is one of the founding members of the unique Progressive Art Punk outfit, Cardiacs, in which he is lead vocalist and guitarist. His lyrical style is bizarre, ambiguous, cryptic and unique; employing the use of strange symbolism, surrealism and unconventional word structures. Vocally, he employs a unique high pitched punkesque style. He is also directly responsible for The Sea Nymphs and OceanLandWorld (his solo project) and is a member of Panixsphere and Spratley's Japs. He also owns his own recording studio, Apollo 8, and has a long list of production credits to his name. Many younger musicians such as Mike Vennart of Oceansize and Mike Patton of Faith No More and Mr Bungle have cited Tim Smith's work as a major influence. He is believed by his many fans and various members of the music press to be a musical genius.

Contents

[edit] History

In 1975, Tim Smith played guitar in a nameless punky, psychedelic instrumental band with school friend’s Mark Cawthra (Guitar) and David Philpot (Keyboard). Tim was taken aback by the sound of David’s Korg synthesiser and would later use the sound early on in Cardiac Arrest/Cardiacs.

In mid-1977, Tim Smith founded The Filth (sometimes erroneously referred to as Philip Pilf & The Filth [1]) before changing the act’s name to Cardiac Arrest. Also in the band were his brother, Jim (Bass Guitar), former Fleetwood Secondary school friends, Peter Tagg (Drums) and Michael Pugh (Vocals), and Colvin Mayers (Keyboards) and Ralph Cade (Saxophone). They played their first concert at The Kaleidoscope in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey. Tim would humiliate his brother, Jim, on stage and this would become a token part of all further concerts.

In 1979, Tim helped record a 7”, A Bus for a Bus on the Bus, at Elephant Studios in London. He was later forced to look for a new vocalist and drummer after Mike Pugh, Ralph Cade and Peter Tagg left the band. He decided to take over the vocals himself and invited Mark Cawthra in to play drums. 1980 saw Tim recording the first and only Cardiac Arrest album, The Obvious Identity. As he had little cash to invest in the project, he recorded the album onto as many old cassette tapes as he could find. Tim says of the venture that "(t)he recordings were so shit it wouldn’t matter if they were copied onto washing up sponges [2]". Eventually, 1000 cassettes were recorded, but only sold at concerts to save on expenditure.

Tim decided to change the name of the band to Cardiacs in 1981. He helped record the band’s first album, Toy World, in the same manner as the Cardiac Arrest album – on cassette tape – at a small basement studio known as The Crow. After another line up change, Tim recruited Tim Quy (Percussion), Sarah Cutts (Saxophone) and Dominic Luckman (Drums) into the fold.

In 1983, Tim saw William D. Drake performing on a piano in a public house. He was so impressed he drafted him into the ranks of Cardiacs as keyboard player. He also married Sarah Cutts this year.

The low budget label Alphabet Business Concern was created in 1984. Tim, in his dark humorous style, often refers to the label as a totalitarian organisation, saying that they were in control of the band up until 1989. They would be responsible for distributing most of Tim’s recordings with various outfits. Tim was asked by vocalist Fish to support his band Marillion on their forthcoming tour near the end of the year. Tim agreed but was not prepared for the hostile audience that awaited them on all legs of the tour (forcing them off the final three days of the tour) [3].

In 1985, Tim was approached by students Mark Francombe and Nick Elborough with an offer to shoot footage of them at one of their live concerts as part of their coursework project. The Surbiton Assembly Rooms was chosen, but Tim was unhappy with the resultant footage and canned the project. Tim then agreed to the students making a promotional video, called Seaside Treats, which would include a small 10 minute feature called "The Consultant’s Flower Garden" and three music videos. This was successful and the video was released. [4]

In March 1987, Tim and his wife, Sarah, were embroiled in a scandal started by The Sunday Sport newspaper. The headline ran, "In the bizarre world of music… anything goes - even INCEST. [5]" The paper tried to say that Tim and Sarah were, in fact, brother and sister and that their relationship was incestuous. This was shown to be nonsense, although Tim was thought to have started the whole thing to gain some publicity for his band.

During the 1990’s, Tim took a break from Cardiacs to perform with various other projects. He got together with ex-wife, Sarah, who was now a white witch, and William D. Drake to create The Sea Nymphs, who are a folkier, more ethereal and relaxed version of Cardiacs. The threesome had already recorded before in 1984 and had released a cassette album, Mr and Mrs Smith and Mr Drake. Tim released a solo album, Tim Smith's Extra Special OceanLandWorld, in 1995, which comprised of songs he had written during 1989 and 1991 that he had not intended to be used by Cardiacs. He also performed with Panixsphere in 1993 (although no official recordings exist yet) and Spratleys Japs from 1995. Since the early nineties Smith has produced other groups extensively, many of whom belong to the so called 'Cardiacs family', these include Levitation, Sidi Bou Said, Eat, The Monsoon Bassoon, Silver Ginger 5, Stars in Battledress, Ginger, Oceansize, Howling Willie Cunt, William D Drake, The Shrubbies, Scaramanga Six and The Trudy. Recently bands have been recorded in Apollo 8, his studio in Salisbury, Wiltshire, as well as setting up a new record label, All My Eye And Betty Martin Music.

The 21st Century has seen Tim (with Cardiacs) release one single, Ditzy Scene, in 2007. He has used most of the time again touring and working on new recording output for the near future. In March 2006, he toured with Ginger & The Sonic Circus as their support act, performing acoustic versions of Cardiacs songs, along with his own material.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Cardiac Arrest

[edit] Cardiacs

[edit] The Sea Nymphs

[edit] OceanLandWorld

[edit] Spratleys Japs

  • Pony CD (2001) AME CD001
  • Hazel CD Single (2001) AME CD002

[edit] References

http://www.cardiacs.com/

http://www.cardiacs.org/

http://www.myspace.com/cardiacs

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