Tim Arnold (musician)
Encyclopedia
Tim Arnold is an English
singer-songwriter
, composer
, producer
and musician
from Soho
, London. He is currently a solo artist, but first achieved success as the singer and songwriter of Britpop
band Jocasta
in the mid-1990s. He runs the record label TA Music and has released thirteen albums, one with Jocasta and twelve solo albums. He is also author and composer of the musical Secrets of Soho
.
At fourteen years old, he enroled as a bard in The Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids
. The teachings inspired him to leave his mother's home in Spain and return alone to England to study at the Rudolf Steiner School, where he formed the band Jocasta
with best friend Jack Reynolds.
's V2 Music. he also became Master of Music at Shakespeare's Globe
Theatre, composing original music for Peter Oswald
's 'Augustine's Oak', a new verse play written especially for the Globe.
In 2000 he briefly begun a new band called Spearshaker. The band recorded several songs at Rockfield Studios
in Monmouth, Wales, which would later be released on Arnold's 3rd solo album 'En Route'.
In 2001, Arnold left V2 and signed to Universal Music Publishing. For two years, he wrote and produced music for newly signed artists at Universal, mostly pop
, R&B, garage
and hip hop
.
In 2003 Arnold travelled to the Wat Tham Krabok
Buddhist
monastery in Thailand
, the trip financed by his godmother
, the actress June Brown
, where he was successfully treated for crack cocaine
addiction. Life at the monastery had a profound effect on Arnold who subsequently left London and moved to Thailand to live in the monastery, where the monks built him a recording studio.
He recorded his debut solo album Lokutara with the monks who cured him, in which the music was created by following cracks in the earth, which metamorphosed into pop rock melodies.
Brown and Arnold subsequently set up a fund to help other addicts receive treatment at Wat Tham Krabok.
A Tham Krabok success story, Arnold returned to the UK in 2004. Over the following 18 months, he recorded and released 6 solo albums, including Secrets of Soho
recorded in Francis Bacon
's spiritual home (The Colony Room
). A companion to Secrets of Soho, Soho Confidential featured seven live tracks recorded throughout venues in Soho in 2006 including Tim and his ensemble's rendition of the Edith Piaf
classic "Je Ne Regrette Rien". The album also features an interview by BBC London
DJ Gary Crowley
.
In 2006, Arnold got together with Chilean lyricist and journalist, Antonio Ramirez and embarked on writing new lyrics to selected tracks that Arnold had previously recorded in English. The result is a collection of Spanish versions of songs from Arnold's first three solo albums, including a song called "Perfectos" (originally recorded with Jocasta as "Perfect") and a cover of the famous Mecano
song "Hijo De La Luna
", which literally means 'Moonchild'.
Arnold then recorded Clever Ain't Wise (2007), an album of Pete Doherty
songs.
Another World is Tim Arnold's eighth solo album, produced by former Jocasta guitarist Jack Reynolds. Contributing musicians include cellist Nick Holland (Michael Nyman, Balanescu Quartet), violinist Jonathan Hill (Feeder, Travis) and Anna Phoebe
(Nitin Sawhney, Oi Va Voi).
Restrung is a collection of Arnold songs, re-recorded instrumentally and re-arranged for strings and piano. It was released exclusively as a free Christmas album by Peter Gabriel
's label, We7.
Oaky Dokey, his 10th solo album, features thirteen tracks, with musicians including Steve Rushton (Imelda May
), Ben Castle (Duke Special, Beth Rowley), and Nick Holland (Balanescu Quartet
).
Arnold embarked on his 11th solo album Sonnet 155 by writing over 30 letters to Shakespearean actors, including Ian McKellen
, Derek Jacobi
, Pete Postlethwaite
, Richard Briers
, Janet Suzman
and Emma Thompson
in the hope that they would provide further inspiration and help turn ideas into songs. The responses he received became the basis for many of Arnold's songs. The album is a rock/classical crossover all driven by Shakespearean themes.
The single 'Hurly Burly' was a co-write with Michael Nyman
.
Sonnet 155 previewed to standing ovations at the Almeida Theatre
, London (2 & 9 May 2010), a cross-media performance, including contributions from actors Richard Briers
, Paul McGann
, Benedict Cumberbatch
and Lisa Dillon
. The album also re-interprets classical pieces of music by Mozart, Rimsky-Korsakov
and Michael Nyman
- each song a contemporary response to a Shakespearean theme. B7 Media are currently developing the format of the stage show with a view to taking Sonnet 155 on tour.
In 2011, Arnold reassembled the musicians he worked with at Shakespeare's Globe, to record the music he had composed for the 1999 anniversary season. Augustine's Oak is Arnold's 12th solo album and features contributions from The Dufay Collective
's William Lyons.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
, composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
and musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
from Soho
Soho
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster and part of the West End of London. Long established as an entertainment district, for much of the 20th century Soho had a reputation for sex shops as well as night life and film industry. Since the early 1980s, the area has undergone considerable...
, London. He is currently a solo artist, but first achieved success as the singer and songwriter of Britpop
Britpop
Britpop is a subgenre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom. Britpop emerged from the British independent music scene of the early 1990s and was characterised by bands influenced by British guitar pop music of the 1960s and 1970s...
band Jocasta
Jocasta (band)
Jocasta were a Britpop band formed in London in 1994. They had two minor hit singles and released one album before splitting up in the late 1990s.-History:...
in the mid-1990s. He runs the record label TA Music and has released thirteen albums, one with Jocasta and twelve solo albums. He is also author and composer of the musical Secrets of Soho
Secrets of Soho
Secrets of Soho is a solo album by British singer songwriter Tim Arnold that was released in 2006. Arnold went on to write an original story derived from the themes and characters on the album, resulting in the new stage musical Secrets of Soho...
.
Early life
Tim Arnold's childhood was spent travelling through Europe, as his mother,1960s singer Polly Perkins, performed cabaret in theatres and nightclubs. Between the ages of eight and fourteen, he lived in France, Spain and the UK.At fourteen years old, he enroled as a bard in The Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids
Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids
The Order of Bards, Ovates & Druids or OBOD is a Neo-Druidic organisation based in England, but based in part on the Welsh Gorsedd of Bards...
. The teachings inspired him to leave his mother's home in Spain and return alone to England to study at the Rudolf Steiner School, where he formed the band Jocasta
Jocasta (band)
Jocasta were a Britpop band formed in London in 1994. They had two minor hit singles and released one album before splitting up in the late 1990s.-History:...
with best friend Jack Reynolds.
Jocasta
In 1994, Arnold and the band moved from Hertfordshire to London. Jocasta had chart hits with "Go" and "Change Me" in 1997. The band's only album, No Coincidence was released in June 1997, but they disbanded soon after its release.Solo career
In 1999 he signed a publishing deal with Richard BransonRichard Branson
Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson is an English business magnate, best known for his Virgin Group of more than 400 companies....
's V2 Music. he also became Master of Music at Shakespeare's Globe
Shakespeare's Globe
Shakespeare's Globe is a reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, an Elizabethan playhouse in the London Borough of Southwark, located on the south bank of the River Thames, but destroyed by fire in 1613, rebuilt 1614 then demolished in 1644. The modern reconstruction is an academic best guess, based...
Theatre, composing original music for Peter Oswald
Peter Oswald
Peter Osvald is a well-known English playwright. He is married to the poet Alice Oswald, with whom he has three children. They live in Devon, South West England....
's 'Augustine's Oak', a new verse play written especially for the Globe.
In 2000 he briefly begun a new band called Spearshaker. The band recorded several songs at Rockfield Studios
Rockfield Studios
Rockfield Studios, near Monmouth in Wales and just outside the village of Rockfield, Monmouthshire are where many of British rock music’s most successful recordings have been made.-History:...
in Monmouth, Wales, which would later be released on Arnold's 3rd solo album 'En Route'.
In 2001, Arnold left V2 and signed to Universal Music Publishing. For two years, he wrote and produced music for newly signed artists at Universal, mostly pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
, R&B, garage
UK garage
UK garage is a genre of electronic dance music originating from the United Kingdom in the early-1990s. UK garage is a descendant of house music which originated in Chicago and New York, United States. UK garage usually features a distinctive syncopated 4/4 percussive rhythm with 'shuffling'...
and hip hop
Hip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
.
In 2003 Arnold travelled to the Wat Tham Krabok
Wat Tham Krabok
Wat Tham Krabok is a Buddhist temple in Thailand, located in the Phra Phutthabat district of Saraburi Province.The temple was first established as a monastery in 1958 by the Buddhist nun Mae Chee Boonruen. It was upgraded to temple status 17 years later, in 1975...
Buddhist
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
monastery in Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, the trip financed by his godmother
Godparent
A godparent, in many denominations of Christianity, is someone who sponsors a child's baptism. A male godparent is a godfather, and a female godparent is a godmother...
, the actress June Brown
June Brown
June Muriel Brown, MBE is a British actress, best known for her role as the busy-body, chain-smoking gossip Dot Cotton in the long-running British soap opera EastEnders and for making other high profile television appearances on shows such as Doctor Who, Coronation Street, Minder, The Bill and...
, where he was successfully treated for crack cocaine
Crack cocaine
Crack cocaine is the freebase form of cocaine that can be smoked. It may also be termed rock, hard, iron, cavvy, base, or just crack; it is the most addictive form of cocaine. Crack rocks offer a short but intense high to smokers...
addiction. Life at the monastery had a profound effect on Arnold who subsequently left London and moved to Thailand to live in the monastery, where the monks built him a recording studio.
He recorded his debut solo album Lokutara with the monks who cured him, in which the music was created by following cracks in the earth, which metamorphosed into pop rock melodies.
Brown and Arnold subsequently set up a fund to help other addicts receive treatment at Wat Tham Krabok.
A Tham Krabok success story, Arnold returned to the UK in 2004. Over the following 18 months, he recorded and released 6 solo albums, including Secrets of Soho
Secrets of Soho
Secrets of Soho is a solo album by British singer songwriter Tim Arnold that was released in 2006. Arnold went on to write an original story derived from the themes and characters on the album, resulting in the new stage musical Secrets of Soho...
recorded in Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Albans, KC was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist, author and pioneer of the scientific method. He served both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England...
's spiritual home (The Colony Room
The Colony Room
The Colony Room was a private members' drinking club for artists and other creative people in Dean Street, Soho, London. It gathered a reputation akin to famous clubs of the past such as the Kit-Cat Club. According to Anthony Haden-Guest, it is "one of the fiercely eccentric clubs that make all the...
). A companion to Secrets of Soho, Soho Confidential featured seven live tracks recorded throughout venues in Soho in 2006 including Tim and his ensemble's rendition of the Edith Piaf
Édith Piaf
Édith Piaf , born Édith Giovanna Gassion, was a French singer and cultural icon who became widely regarded as France's greatest popular singer. Her singing reflected her life, with her specialty being ballads...
classic "Je Ne Regrette Rien". The album also features an interview by BBC London
BBC London
BBC London is the BBC English Region producing local radio, television, teletext and online services in London and parts of the surrounding area. Its output includes the daily BBC London News and the weekly Politics Show on television, the BBC London 94.9 radio station and local coverage of the...
DJ Gary Crowley
Gary Crowley
Gary Crowley is an English broadcaster and DJ.When he was at school in the late Seventies Crowley started a punk fanzine titled The Modern World, interviewing some of the most important bands of the day including the Sex Pistols, the Clash and the Jam.After leaving school he took up a junior...
.
In 2006, Arnold got together with Chilean lyricist and journalist, Antonio Ramirez and embarked on writing new lyrics to selected tracks that Arnold had previously recorded in English. The result is a collection of Spanish versions of songs from Arnold's first three solo albums, including a song called "Perfectos" (originally recorded with Jocasta as "Perfect") and a cover of the famous Mecano
Mecano
Mecano was a Spanish pop band whose debut coincided with La Movida Madrileña , a sociocultural movement that occurred in Madrid, Spain during the 1980s...
song "Hijo De La Luna
Hijo de la Luna
"Hijo de la Luna" is a song written by José María Cano performed originally by the Spanish band Mecano with lead singer Ana Torroja. It appeared on their 1986 album, Entre el cielo y el suelo and had great success all over the Spanish speaking world, as did the album...
", which literally means 'Moonchild'.
Arnold then recorded Clever Ain't Wise (2007), an album of Pete Doherty
Pete Doherty
Peter Doherty is an English musician, writer, actor, poet and artist. He is best known musically for being co-frontman of The Libertines, which he reformed with Carl Barât in 2010. His other musical project is indie band Babyshambles...
songs.
Another World is Tim Arnold's eighth solo album, produced by former Jocasta guitarist Jack Reynolds. Contributing musicians include cellist Nick Holland (Michael Nyman, Balanescu Quartet), violinist Jonathan Hill (Feeder, Travis) and Anna Phoebe
Anna Phoebe
Anna Phoebe , is a London-based violinist, who is known for her proficiency in many musical genres, including rock, folk, jazz, Celtic, and Middle Eastern music.-Biography:...
(Nitin Sawhney, Oi Va Voi).
Restrung is a collection of Arnold songs, re-recorded instrumentally and re-arranged for strings and piano. It was released exclusively as a free Christmas album by Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel
Peter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...
's label, We7.
Oaky Dokey, his 10th solo album, features thirteen tracks, with musicians including Steve Rushton (Imelda May
Imelda May
Imelda Mary Higham, Clabby , known as Imelda May, is an Irish vocalist and musician. She began her career in music at 15 and released her debut album in 2005. She also plays the bodhrán and guitar...
), Ben Castle (Duke Special, Beth Rowley), and Nick Holland (Balanescu Quartet
Balanescu Quartet
The Balanescu Quartet is an avant-garde string quartet founded in 1987 by Alexander Bălănescu that achieved fame through the release of several complex cover versions of songs by German experimental electronic music band Kraftwerk on their album "Possessed"....
).
Arnold embarked on his 11th solo album Sonnet 155 by writing over 30 letters to Shakespearean actors, including Ian McKellen
Ian McKellen
Sir Ian Murray McKellen, CH, CBE is an English actor. He has received a Tony Award, two Academy Award nominations, and five Emmy Award nominations. His work has spanned genres from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction...
, Derek Jacobi
Derek Jacobi
Sir Derek George Jacobi, CBE is an English actor and film director.A "forceful, commanding stage presence", Jacobi has enjoyed a highly successful stage career, appearing in such stage productions as Hamlet, Uncle Vanya, and Oedipus the King. He received a Tony Award for his performance in...
, Pete Postlethwaite
Pete Postlethwaite
Peter William "Pete" Postlethwaite, OBE, was an English stage, film and television actor.After minor television appearances including in The Professionals, Postlethwaite's first success came with the film Distant Voices, Still Lives in 1988. He played a mysterious lawyer, Mr...
, Richard Briers
Richard Briers
Richard David Briers, CBE is an English actor whose career has encompassed theatre, television, film and radio.He first came to prominence as George Starling in Marriage Lines in the 1960s, but it was in the following decade when he played Tom Good in the BBC sitcom The Good Life that he became a...
, Janet Suzman
Janet Suzman
Dame Janet Suzman, DBE is a South African-born-British actress and director.-Early life:Janet Suzman was born in Johannesburg to a Jewish family, the daughter of Betty and Saul Suzman, a wealthy importer of tobacco....
and Emma Thompson
Emma Thompson
Emma Thompson is a British actress, comedian and screenwriter. Her first major film role was in the 1989 romantic comedy The Tall Guy. In 1992, Thompson won multiple acting awards, including an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award for Best Actress, for her performance in the British drama Howards End...
in the hope that they would provide further inspiration and help turn ideas into songs. The responses he received became the basis for many of Arnold's songs. The album is a rock/classical crossover all driven by Shakespearean themes.
The single 'Hurly Burly' was a co-write with Michael Nyman
Michael Nyman
Michael Laurence Nyman, CBE is an English composer of minimalist music, pianist, librettist and musicologist, known for the many film scores he wrote during his lengthy collaboration with the filmmaker Peter Greenaway, and his multi-platinum soundtrack album to Jane Campion's The Piano...
.
Sonnet 155 previewed to standing ovations at the Almeida Theatre
Almeida Theatre
The Almeida Theatre, opened in 1980, is a 325 seat studio theatre with an international reputation which takes its name from the street in which it is located, off Upper Street, in the London Borough of Islington. The theatre produces a diverse range of drama and holds an annual summer festival of...
, London (2 & 9 May 2010), a cross-media performance, including contributions from actors Richard Briers
Richard Briers
Richard David Briers, CBE is an English actor whose career has encompassed theatre, television, film and radio.He first came to prominence as George Starling in Marriage Lines in the 1960s, but it was in the following decade when he played Tom Good in the BBC sitcom The Good Life that he became a...
, Paul McGann
Paul McGann
Paul McGann is an English actor who made his name on the BBC serial The Monocled Mutineer, in which he played the lead role...
, Benedict Cumberbatch
Benedict Cumberbatch
Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch is an English film, television, and theatre actor. His most acclaimed roles include Stephen Hawking in the BBC drama Hawking ; William Pitt in the historical film Amazing Grace ; the protagonist Stephen Ezard in the miniseries thriller The Last Enemy ; Paul...
and Lisa Dillon
Lisa Dillon
Lisa Dillon is Critics Circle Award-winning English actress.-Theatre:Whilst training at RADA, Dillon appeared in several training productions, including: Hamlet and The Tempest by William Shakespeare, The Devils by John Whiting, The Devil's Law Case by John Webster, Yentl by Leah Napolin and The...
. The album also re-interprets classical pieces of music by Mozart, Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five.The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful or The Mighty Coterie, refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856–1870: Mily Balakirev , César...
and Michael Nyman
Michael Nyman
Michael Laurence Nyman, CBE is an English composer of minimalist music, pianist, librettist and musicologist, known for the many film scores he wrote during his lengthy collaboration with the filmmaker Peter Greenaway, and his multi-platinum soundtrack album to Jane Campion's The Piano...
- each song a contemporary response to a Shakespearean theme. B7 Media are currently developing the format of the stage show with a view to taking Sonnet 155 on tour.
In 2011, Arnold reassembled the musicians he worked with at Shakespeare's Globe, to record the music he had composed for the 1999 anniversary season. Augustine's Oak is Arnold's 12th solo album and features contributions from The Dufay Collective
Dufay Collective
The Dufay Collective is an early-music ensemble from the United Kingdom, specializing in Medieval and Renaissance music. Founded in 1987, it was named after the Renaissance composer Guillaume Dufay. The group is directed by William Lyons...
's William Lyons.
Discography
- Jocasta - No Coincidence (1997)
- Seeker's Serum (1998)
- Lokutara (2004)
- En Route (2005)
- Secrets of Soho (2006)
- Soho Confidential (2006)
- Hijo de la Luna (2007)
- Clever Ain't Wise (2007)
- Another World (2007)
- Restrung (2007)
- Oaky Dokey (2009)
- Sonnet 155 (2010)
- Augustine's Oak (2011)