New album from an exciting new group - check the Norman Bisley artist link. Norman Goes Off Norman Bisley needed more excitement in his life. At 39, and despite having landed his dream job as deputy purchase ledger clerk at a local firm of biscuit merchants, the daily thrill of matching invoices and writing out cheques for other people's money was not drenching him in inspiration. By night he fronted Trembley's rising beat combo, The Trousers of Satan, but his songs about delivery notes and missing purchase order references failed to ignite a following. Girls did not come to his performances. Or boys. After one particularly desperate gig at "The Garibaldi", attended only by the bar staff and the bass guitarist's aunty Denise, an ageing potboy took Norman gently to one side and said: "You need some adventure in your life, sonny - some experience to really write songs about." And so it was that one day in the Trembley Gazette (for this was in the days before Teletext) he spotted a classified advertisment promising just the sort of thing he was after - a chance to enliven his drab existence before it was lost to subsidence. Well the very next afternoon, following a light but nutritious lunch of lysergic tofu burgers, Norman found himself setting off on a trip to a strange and marvellous place he had never even known existed - THE NORTH. The sights he saw, and the sensations he experienced were so far beyond anything he'd ever known before - he felt life could never get better than this and he never ever wanted to leave. And then the insects came. Creeping, crawling, invading everywhere he turned, Norman couldn't bear them. Although they did no real harm, and in fact were a more of an essential part of the natural world than Norman himself, he felt them just too creepy looking and they'd ruined everything. Alarmingly soon, other voices joined in with Norman loudly complaining about odd-looking strangers and sundry outsiders coming in and disrupting the pleasant order of things. How dare they! Norman's new friends were very eager to blame all their complaints on someone else and quickly singled out a gentleman named Terence as the prime example. As a group they decided the best way to deal with Terence was to be as horrible as possible to him. That would do it. As tensions began to escalate, Norman noticed everyone gradually beginning to melt in a strange way until they all became cats. At this point he started to get the inkling that this trip was actually an allegorical dream rather than a physical experience, but he went along with it because the cats all seemed so happy and pleasant. They still had bitter differences and a propensity for blaming each other for every problem - especially those they had caused themselves. "Can't you all just be nice?" he pleaded. "Oh no, where would be the fun in that?" they grinned, and they all seemed relaxed and content so he sang along with them. Well by now the illusion was well and truly shattered and Norman came to his senses, still in Trembley after all, but flushed with bright new visions and knowledge from his adventure. He picked up his notepad and biro and set about writing them all into song. "I'll call it an album" he cried, and if he had any concept of what an album was perhaps it would be a concept album. Oh dear. And ever afterwards, if he found himself lacking spark, he knew he could find his way back to the garden that wasn't there at all, where the sky was always in a state of astronomical twilight. The rest, as they say, is the rest.

It’s becoming a bit of an annual tradition this, but the albums keep coming! Odd Harmonics is a collection of 10 songs spanning multiple genres and topics, hopefully none of them on a predictable path. Still mining the rich vein that was 2021, these tunes were all written in that year and there are still a few more to do before I move on to 2022, 3 & 4. Hopefully there will be some new developments in 2025 if I can get my s*** together but meanwhile please head over to my music page and have a listen to Odd harmonics. Best listened to in a darkened room - you might need a lie down afterwards I know I did

So we're finally on the move - leaving Staffordshire which has been our home for 35 years and relocating to our beloved Northumberland. To mark the occasion there's a new song up on my music page - "Wild Blue Wherever" take a listen!

[media] Well here it is (cheesy fanfare) - the 17th Smivets album all ripe and ready to rock your various worlds. A bit earlier than my usual December release slot - I've been writing songs much faster than recording them so I'm trying to catch up a bit. That said I've still got about 3 years' stuff already in the queue and more keeps appearing somehow, so must press on. Most of these tunes were written in 2021 and, although not intended as any kind of concept album, they do seem to hang together nicely as a song collection with some common themes running through. A lot of it concerns the nature of dreams of various sorts and whether they end up becoming your reality at some point. Plus the usual rantings of a grumpy old bugger. Anyhoo, here it is, exclusively released as a free download on Soundclick and Bandcamp, with wider release to all major streaming platforms due later in the month. Hope you enjoy it - please let me know.

WE. ARE NOT. COSMONAUTS As disappointingly true as this might be, the good news is that the new Smivets album is now available for your listening pleasure. 10 brand new songs songs written over the course of 18 months between 2019 and 2021. So I suppose it could be my Lockdown album, and there are a couple of tunes that deal with that, but most are on other themes. A bit proggier perhaps than some of my previous efforts but that's just how the songs fell out this time rather than any grand design. Anyway hope you'll listen and hopefully enjoy it - head over to The Smivets artist page and you'll see it on the Albums tab.