I feel that I'm quite lucky as I work in Research Science as an Electron Microscopist and Protein Crystallographer within the Molecular Biology & Biotechnology Department of Sheffield University and I actually find my job very interesting. When I'm not at work though I like to get out of the city for walks in the nearby mountains. Until February 2007 I was mainly occupied outside of work with my band Wounded Marsupial (RIP). Basically everyone called us a stoner rock band and that's fine by me. I sang in the band and was responsible for lyric writing. I also used to play in Pink Sharabang, where I was the violinist. Currently I play violin with Ashley and Shawn in the outfit Prometheus Project which is a progressive math-folk band with doomy tendancies and is great fun. I also play with improvised outfit Sweat Bees and we should have our first album 'News For The Hive' out sometime in 2008. Playing on the Sheffield improvised scene is something I do as often as possible. As well as playing music I enjoy watching live bands and just listening to music and keeping informed about the local and global music scenes as a whole. I also hope to go to at least one festival every year from now until I die as festivals really are the only places that you can truly feel free. My UK recommendations on this front are Glastonbury (for the atmosphere alone) and Bulldog Bash (as both the atmosphere and musical preference are to my tastes). Folk festivals are also ace and to be recommended. Also, European music festivals are far better than UK ones if you ask me. More music stuff follows I think so I'll fill you in then. As for the rest of the time I'm always interested in finding myself a good woman but usually absolutely p*ss poor at doing so. So, to sum me up I guess what I really am interested in, primarily, if at all possible, is having a good time all the time. I reckon I'd be happy with that.
Obviously I want to meet all manner of different folk. I would say that if you like the same music as me then I'm widely considered to know my stuff. I'm really interested in chatting to other musicians and I help to run an ambient improvised night about once a month which anyone is welcome to come along to. Anyone wanting to put on any of my various different bands should get in touch too.
I tend to try and be as open about what I listen to as possible but there are definitely some styles of music to which I listen most of the time. As I grew up I can remember listening to some brilliant classic rock and progressive rock albums of my Dad's. Then when I was just 12 years old I fell in love with the grunge scene but I was sadly too young to go enjoy it and as I now realise also too late to have really caught the scene at its peak. I comfort myself in the knowledge that very few outside of Seattle at that time actually did catch it properly anyway. So from that tight knit scene I gradually moved towards listening to the collection of bands that form the expansive genre of stoner rock. What appeals to me with this music is that there are bands which are grouped together within the genre which sound nothing alike (a lot like the grunge scene really but in more than one place). Its all about the groove and the flow of the songs. Of course my favourite stoner bands combine aspects of all the other music which I've mentioned above and play it with that groove. I also listen to bands from every other genre you can think of and of late since picking up my violin more often again I've been enjoying a lot of traditional sounds from around the World. Just a few of my favourite bands then, in a rough order as its always changing with my mood, the weather, how tired I am, what I'm doing etc...are: Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, Hangnail (The UK one obviously), Kyuss, Pearl Jam, Orange Goblin, Monster Magnet, Spiritual Beggars, Clutch, Mudhoney, Wounded Marsupial. I am also found regularly listening to: Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Nirvana, Fu Manchu, Excelsum Superbum, The Mirimar Disaster, Flatlands, Isis, Neurosis, Red Sparowes, Pelican, Mare, The Pirate Ship Quintet, Sweat Bees, Ahymsa, Cosmic Vortex of Doom, The Cure, Russian Circles, Men-An-Tol, Sieben, Axis Dynide, Capricorns, Mastodon, Baroness, Opeth, Green River, Alabama Thunderpussy, Mad Season, Stone Temple Pilots, Mother Love Bone, Temple Of The Dog, Dinosaur Jr., Blind Melon, PJ Harvey, El Caco, Screaming Trees, Unida, Hermano, Queens Of The Stone Age, Tool, Dyonisis, Portishead, Davy Graham, Fairport Convention, Pentangle, Luminescent Orchestrii, Alamaailman Vasarat, BBC Radio 2 and BBC 6 Music and stonnerrock.com radio. I would recommend trying to find out about any of the above bands that you don't already know about as they are all amazing in my honest opinion. Even though this list isn't definitive as to what I listen to it should give you a good idea and any further recommendations for me will be gladly recieved. I always want to hear something new and if its something that I really like then thats all for the better.
My personal favourite has to be "Withnail and I" starring Richard E. Grant & Paul McGann. Every single line of the script is a quote in itself and the whole piece is beautifully done on a nothing budget. Other than that, lots of films are good even more are total rubbish but either way I'm not a film fan, more of a musician, so I tend to enjoy Rockumentary style fims. I also tend to watch more music DVDs and videos than films anyway. If you liked the grunge scene Cameron Crowe's film entitled "Singles" which is set in early nineties Seattle is awesome. There are some notable cameos and the soundtrack throughout is second to none. Other than that, I like films about gangsters and organised crime, that kind of thing. "Godfather" and "Godfather II" are still my favourites of the lot. I'm a firm family man myself so to me Vito Corleone is a pretty heroic and honourable character. He understands.
I sometimes catch myself watching television and to be fair most of it is total crap. Proper music programs are occasionally worth a watch. I like Later with Jools Holland when I manage to catch it, although of late it has been going downhill towards mediocrity. I can also sit happily through documentaries and interviews about and with musicians. I really enjoy watching Never Mind The Buzzcocks aswell, they're some clever chaps those regulars and they make me laugh. Apart from that, I watch cartoons a fair bit and quite enjoy satirical television. I enjoyed 'The Thick Of It' on BBC2 and I have high hopes for future series. I also enjoyed 'Party Animals' so maybe political drama / comedy is my thing? Channel 4 News is also on in my house daily at 7p.m. so I have a small window into the rest of the World and maybe an opportunity for a good old rant about 'How things should be' with the rest of my housemates. I quite like the newer sort of 'Reality Sitcom' programs aswell like The Office, Phoenix Nights and more recently Peep Show. I can't express enough how much I hate new Sketch shows though. Little Britain is utter turd. It is two jokes, one is a gay joke (not funny but it makes up over 95% of their sketches) and the other is a joke on any poor fool who watches it. I don't mind a bit of classy drama though, Hustle and Murphy's Law are very good 'easy-watching' on BBC1. I am also a fan of The Sopranos and Lost, which is quite surprising to me actually since I've never really got on with American T.V. I have also religiously watched every series of Shameless.
I have always read Historical Fantasy mainly, but I will read anything that appeals to me really. (I am currently eagerly waiting to get my hands on the final installment of Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" and the next book of George R.R. Martin's "A Song Of Ice And Fire").I've been reading a lot of Hunter S. Thompson of late too. He has a very engaging writing style and it kind of sucks you in. Very Real seems the best way to describe it I suppose.I like to read about the music scenes that I listen to aswell. This I do extensively online but I have also read a lot of good books about the grunge scene. If anyone can recommend any really good stoner music scene books it'd be appreciated though, as I haven't got round to buying any as yet.I also do quite a lot of reading of scientific papers for my job and I occasionally read scientific/genetic thrillers which mostly have a laughable grasp of the actual science, making them no end of fun for me!
Hero worship is actually a pretty lame way to pass one's time!! I do have a lot of respect and love for my parents and my brother though. I'll include my extended family and friends in there as well, you all know who you are and you usually rule! As a vocalist (I'm hardly a singer) I have a lot of time for the great rock singers listened to by my generation - Chris Cornell, Eddie Vedder and the harmonies of Layne Staley (R.I.P) and Jerry Cantrell stand out particularly for me although the list is certainly much more extensive. Also Charles Darwin was quite an important bloke as the widely recognised but oft disputed Father of my studies. There are lots of other notables in the past of course but then most of these are well established as heroic in their fields already!