Garden of Surreal Dreams

Eclectic experimental music project; using a cornucopia of instruments; encompassing a multitude of genres; referred to by my tongue twister Ambiavantelectroexperifolkgothjazzprogpsychewave. All tracks on Soundclick are the original first idea mixes from long ago and will hopefully be fully remixed at some point in the future for release on Bandcamp. All music/lyrics/images are original creations and therefore copyright of the artist.

For latest releases please click BANDCAMP link here on Soundclick.

Fortune has favoured six of the currently loaded tracks, with one reaching no.1 position in a main Soundclick chart and five reaching no.1 in various sub-genre charts.

Physical Releases :

'Children Everywhere' released on various artists limited edition 'Diary of a Madman' cassette (which sold out in 2 minutes), organised by Stuart McClean of The Dark Outside.

'Sail The Stars On A Ship Filled With Wonder' released on various artists limited edition 2CD set 'Professional Secrets' (artists inspired by Bill Nelson). A few CD sets plus T-shirt & poster, all of which were kindly signed by Bill Nelson, were auctioned for charity at a Nelsonica event in 2012.

'The Eternal Light Of Will' released on various artists limited edition 3CD set 'Confessions of Young moderns' (tribute to Bill Nelson of Be-Bop Deluxe fame).

Originated/played analogue Synthesizer part as guest musician on Purple Hearts 4th 7" vinyl single 'My Life's a Jigsaw' (Safari Records), which made it on to the BBC Radio One playlist and received regular airplay, reaching no.23 in the national UK independent charts. Listed in Record Collector magazine's 'Rare Record Price Guide' book. The track has had several re-releases, first on various artists vinyl albums and then in 2002 on the CD titled '25th Anniversary Commemorative Album Of Safari Records', alongside Toyah, Wayne County & The Electric Chairs, Gary Holton, The Boys, Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple bassist). The track was released again on the 2009 Purple Hearts singles collection CD.

Previous Bands :

Looking back through the time machine I have played in a number of bands such as:

guitar - Orange Moon (4-piece indie rock-ish); synth/vocals - Movements In Art (analogue synth duo previously known as Plaza); guitar - One Hit Wonders (5-piece pop punk-ish); guitar/vocals - The Clique (4-piece punky new wave-ish); guitar - Coral Strands (5-piece alt prog-ish); guitar - Stars (5-piece alt rock-ish); guitar - Red (3-piece experimental prog-ish); guitar/vocal - La Lanterne (avant experimental psych prog-ish duo); vocals/various instruments - ancient solo works (various ish-genres).

Played live with various bands many years ago. Unlikely to play live in the future but, if so, it would likely be fairly experimental and improvisational.

Dreamings; Mother Nature; Mysterious Phenomena; Osmosis; Spiritual Possibilities; Life, the Universe and Everything. Far too many musical influences to mention but they come very broadly under my own term Ambiavantelectroexperifolkgothjazzprogpsychewave.

Plus theme & incidental music from film & television.

Electric 6 & 12 string guitars; fretted & fretless bass guitars; steel-strung & nylon-strung acoustic guitars; various other stringed instruments; synthesizers & other electric keyboards; blankenstein antique piano; various wind instruments; human voice; acoustic percussion; drum machines; sequencers; electronics; field recordings; found sounds. Effects/Processing by Zoom; Boss; Electro Harmonix; Coloursound; Ebow; MXR; Wem; plus audio plugins from subtle to extreme. Recording on Apple Mac; Tascam digital; Tascam field recorder; Tandberg reel to reel.

Snippets from the past that may be of interest :

Mark Laff, one of my early band Coral Strands' occasional rehearsal drummers, was meant to play with me in The Clique but auditioned for The Clash and ended up being offered the drummer role in Vic Godard's Subway Sect. After supporting The Clash on the famous 'White Riot' tour, he became drummer in Billy Idol's band Generation X and had international success with top 30 hit singles and albums (well done Mark!). In 1980 he formed Empire with guitarist Bob 'Derwood' Andrews, in 1985 he formed Twenty Flight Rockers, in 2019 he toured as drummer for LAMF (with Walter Lure of The Heartbreakers). In 2025, Mark formed XGENERATIONX with Steve Norman of Spandau Ballet on guitar and singer Elizabeth Westwood of 80s band Westworld, with a tour and new material to come.

During auditions for my band The Clique, a drummer named Jim Walker agreed to join us (after he'd auditioned for The Damned) but before we had the chance to rehearse with him, he changed his mind and became the drummer with John Lydon's Public Image (and who can blame him?). International success and hit records followed, with Jim playing on the first Public Image album and early singles, and touring with the band.

From my band The Clique, our second bass player Nick Welsh went on to much success and initiated the reforming of ska band The Selecter, in which he was bassist, songwriter and producer. He played in 3 Men & Black (with Pauline Black, Bruce Foxton of The Jam, Jean Jacques Burnell of The Stranglers) and collaborated with Lee 'Scratch' Perry on the reggae album 'Jamaican E.T.', which won a grammy. The Clique recorded four studio tracks with Nick on bass which remain unreleased (including one of his own songs).

Some time after I played on their 4th single, Purple Hearts worked with Paul Weller as producer of a few studio tracks intended as a demo for record label attraction. Paul also played piano on one track. These original recordings have since been released.

Producer for the Purple Hearts single was Andy Arthurs, who was also producer for The Stranglers, Joe Jackson, Wilco Johnson, The Alarm, Advertising, 999, Tom Robinson and many others. He was recording engineer for top artists including Marc Bolan, Bryan Ferry, Paul McCartney, Todd Rundgren, Harry Nilsson, Cat Stevens, Waterboys etc. Andy trained at The Beatles producer George Martin's Air Studios in London (inc. 6 month's training from George) and as producer/engineer at EMI Abbey Road. Andy sang backing vocals on the 'My Life's a Jigsaw' single.

My younger sister initiated/organised the first Ultravox fan club during the time of the first two albums (John Foxx era). She later organised the Purple Hearts fan club.