Although I have known Tim for around a quarter of a century now through reviewing and the occasional collaboration, we had never actually met in person. So, I thought it was high time to make the trip down to Penrith, actually staying in Alston in which coincidentally Tim used to live. Ironically, I never got around to doing the interview when I was actually there, but e-mailed these questions afterwards. The accompanying pictures show Tim, his son James and I in the Cumberland Arms pub in Alston.
What keeps you motivated to keep writing music?
TIM: Other people keep me motivated, the other musicians/artists in Stone Premonitions and the constant encouragement of Falling A Records who release our music. It’s a melting pot of ideas. I count myself very lucky to be able to continue working with so many superb musicians, most of whom are old friends. The exchange of ideas, creativity and art for art’s sake is what we continue to do. Also, it’s the people who listen to our music, make a connection and give us feedback. That is vital, making a connection with people. If you can connect with just one person through a song or piece of music, then it’s all been worthwhile. Radio stations and magazines that support us, most of which are online these days, are very important too. My son James is extremely supportive of my efforts and does all kinds of technical and creative stuff for Stone Premonitions now. To be honest, I would be lost without him.
What are the main messages you are trying to convey in your music?
TIM: There has been a constant message since the beginning really. Peace, love and harmony, empowerment, truth and what that means exactly. We comment a lot about the system we live in. In this digital age, there is no alternative but to live in this system but don’t ask me to vote for it because it is no utopia. When I was a young man, I used to think that things were pretty bad at the time but they would get better at some future time when all we have in reality is this very moment. It’s a lesson to learn, the idea of living in the moment but hard to hold on to because there are so many traps set to distract us. Bread and circuses…
Over the years what would you say the highlights of your time in music have been?
TIM: There have been so many, like getting my first electric guitar. It was like a sacred object! Then, receiving a wah wah pedal for Christmas. Wow! There was the release of Neon’s first seven-inch vinyl EP on Sensible Records in 1978 with a picture sleeve. The John Peel session that followed at Maida Vale in London and generally being played on his show. There was the time we played the City Hall in Newcastle, a revered venue where I had seen so many fantastic, classic bands. Then in 1986, there was the offer to make a 15-minute film consisting of three separate videos for Channel Four Television in the UK and the live band, single and LP under the ‘Somebody Famous’ moniker. A pivotal moment was the formation of the Stone Premonitions music collective in 1994 with Terri B. Getting involved with Demi Monde Records and Hi Note Music and all of the releases that followed. I could go on and on.
Turning to “The Nonsense Machine” specifically: I have written my review but wondered what your thoughts on how it turned out are, and what songs in particular you would direct listeners to in order to get a flavour of Census of Hallucinations in 2024
TIM: We are all delighted with the way the album turned out. I say without reservation that “The Nonsense Machine” is what we used to call in the old days (literally last century), a concept album. I’m not embarrassed by that fact because I love concept albums! It was fantastic to play with Mark, Paddi, Martin, John, Max and Laurence again. Like I said previously, we are all old friends and it’s always a great pleasure to be creative with them. I am absolutely delighted with the artwork too which was designed by another old friend, Kevin Heard from an original idea by my son James. As regards tracks to listen to, “The Nonsense Machine” is meant to be listened to as a whole, to get the message. There is now LOADS of stuff on fallingarecords.com to listen to. It’s a fantastic label and there will be a lot more to listen to again soon.
What would you say your main influences are and how do they affect your music stylistically?
TIM: My musical influences are everything I have ever heard, from Beethoven, to Anthony Newley, to Gong. From Debussy, to Miles Davis, to Hawkwind. From all of those classic record labels like Vertigo, Deram and Harvest. Although we kind of broke through in the Punk/New Wave era, we were making music for some years before that and I was very influenced by the rock and contemporary folk music of the late sixties and early seventies. I saw so many wonderful bands in that period such as Jethro Tull, Led Zeppelin, Rory Gallagher, John Martyn, The Groundhogs, Yes, Hawkwind and on and on. Everything I’ve ever heard gets filtered and processed in my brain and hopefully results in producing something original. There are so many musical influences over the years. The idea should surely be to mix all of those influences together into something new. That’s the quest anyway. Like pulling rabbits out of hats…
I note you covered the song Edwin Starr and others made famous, 'War'. Why this particular song and was this in particular response to current events or mankind's general inclination towards violence?
TIM: Doing a version of ‘War’ was Mark‘s idea and to be truthful, I found it to be a bit daunting at first from a singing point of view. The vocal on the original is just tremendous so I didn’t see any point in trying to copy it, so I went for my own approach vocally. We are pleased with the result and hopefully it does the song justice. It seems the perfect time to put out the song as all the world knows right now is war. There are lots of politicians these days but no statesmen, unfortunately. Diplomacy is dead. The politicians stick their heads in the sand and pretend there’s nothing they can do about it. It’s all about money at the end of the day: who gets paid what to do or say what by whom. Lobbyists. The media feed The Nonsense Machine on a daily basis and the first casualty of war is the truth. I like the Jimi Hendrix quote, “Gimmicks? Here we go again. I'm tired of people sayin' we rely on gimmicks. What is this? The world is nothin' but a big gimmick isn't it? Wars, napalm bombs and all that. People being burned-up on TV...Yes, we do.”
Tell us some more about the musicians and others involved in the making of "The Nonsense Machine".
The musicians involved in the creation of The Nonsense Machine are Paddi, Mark Dunn, Martin Holder and me who have played together since the seventies in Neon, augmented by John Simms and Maxine Marten from legendary band Clear Blue Sky. My old friend and singer songwriter Laurence Campling kindly provided acoustic guitar on our version of Lesley Duncan’s beautiful composition Love Song.
What does the future hold in terms of Census of Hallucinations and other projects?
We have already started recording the follow up to “The Nonsense Machine, with the working title ‘Rewriting the Narrative’. I’m working on various other projects with people in Stone Premonitions. I’ve just finished mastering the new Beloved Alice album and am currently working with Kevin Hodge on new projects. There is also another Rabbit’s Hat album currently being recorded. All of these will of course be released through the excellent Falling A label. Meantime, I continue to remix/remaster previous Stone Premonitions releases for reissue on Falling A. This is a long-term project as there is so much to do in this regard. As I said previously, everything can be found at www. fallingarecords.com and there is a load of information available thanks to my dear old friend Jerry Kranitz here: https://aural-innovations.com/stonepremonitions/ The History section is especially detailed. Jerry and I spent years putting that website together and the more you click on things, the more you will find. I must thank you for all of your contributions over the years too, Phil.
It’s been a pleasure. The best of luck with these future ventures!
Great interview with Tim.Thoughtful and incisive.