Andy Diagram

Andy Diagram

Andy Diagram performing with James at Haldern Pop 2013
Background information
Genres rock music, experimental rock, jazz, pop
Occupation(s) Musician
Instruments trumpet, vocals
Years active 1980s–present
Associated acts James, David Thomas & Two Pale Boys, Pale Fountains, The Spaceheads, The Diagram Brothers, Dislocation Dance, The Honkies

Andy Diagram (born London 1959)[1] is a British musician and trumpet player. He has worked with the instrument in a variety bands and contexts ranging from pop and rock to experimental jazz, art rock and dance music. He is best known for his work with James (having been a member from 1989 to 1992 during the band's popular peak in the UK, and rejoining for the ongoing band reformation in 2007), with Spaceheads and with the Pere Ubu singer David Thomas.[2]

Biography

Andy Diagram has been a unique voice on the trumpet for more than 25 years. He developed his own style over that time in a variety of very different projects. Creating large soundscapes of brass with the use of electronics, looping his trumpet in multiple echo machines, and with the ingenious use of harmonisers he builds not just luscious washes of sound but also pulsating and infectious rhythms.[3]

Spending much of the 1980s in Manchester, England, he recorded and toured with a range of bands on the rock, pop and jazz scenes (from The Diagram Brothers, Dislocation Dance and the Pale Fountains) before joining James in 1989. Andy stayed on for two of the band's most successful albums (Gold Mother and Seven) before leaving James in 1992.[4] (He made a special return for the band's farewell tour in 2001 at the MEN Arena.)

Moving to London in 1992 he became a founder member of The Honkies (Diagram, Richard Harrison, Caroline Kraabel and Kathy Hulme, whose high energy style, reminiscent of post-punk, was married to an experimental approach derived partly from the more adventurous American jazz such as Ornette Coleman, Albert Ayler and the Art Ensemble of Chicago, and had an acknowledged kinship with such bands as The Pop Group and This Heat - which found a certain success/notoriety in the London improvised music scene of the early 1990s. He now records and tours the world with his own, much acclaimed band The Spaceheads, where his unique sound and melodic sense are complemented by the emotive rhythms of drummer Richard Harrison. He has also been recording and touring with David Thomas as a regular member of Two Pale Boys for the last ten years.

Following the reunion of James in 2007, Andy returned to the band during their festival tour in the summer of that year and played on the new album Hey Ma, released on 7 April 2008. He is now a full-time member of the band again, featuring on every live performance from 2008 to 2014 (with odd occasions when only 4 or 5 members attended live appearances), and has featured prominently on the new album, La Petite Mort, released June 2014 and accompanying the band on their UK and Portugal tour in November 2014.

Andy performed with the Pale Fountains at their 25th anniversary reunion concerts in Liverpool and London on 2 and 3 February 2008 and is rumoured to be working with Shack (band) on their next record.

Andy currently lives in London, where he is active on the jazz and improvised music scenes.

Discography (selected)

with The Diagram Brothers:

with Dislocation Dance:

with The Pale Fountains:

with Yargo:

with James:

with The Honkies:

with Spaceheads:

with David Thomas and Two Pale Boys:

External links

References

  1. ↑ Andy Diagram Discogs.com entry
  2. ↑ Strong, Martin C. (1999). The Great Alternative & Indie Discography. Canongate. ISBN 0-86241-913-1.
  3. ↑ "Pere Ubu Biographies". Ubuprojex.net. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 30 August 2011.
  4. ↑ Maconie, Stuart (2000). Folklore (1st ed.). London: Virgin Books. p. 159. ISBN 0-7535-0494-4.