Hello, I'm under the impression that I'm a writer and a musician. I currently write the technology column for The Independent, and have been paid to be informative verging on funny by The Observer, the Radio Times, The Guardian and many others. I've written a book about wasting time on the internet called FWD This Link, and there's another out soon called The Next Big Thing which is a history of things that seemed like a good idea at the time. I'm also a copywriter guaranteed to stop your corporate messages from making readers either angry or sleepy.
I've been in so many terrible bands I've lost count, but these days I play with Scritti Politti, Keith John Adams and occasionally Frank Sidebottom. If you have the inclination to know more about me, you could go here.
I've been in so many terrible bands I've lost count, but these days I play with Scritti Politti, Keith John Adams and occasionally Frank Sidebottom. If you have the inclination to know more about me, you could go here.
Some things you could read
"How tedious things would be if we didn't make absurd decisions such as jumping in a fountain, belching at a christening, writing a song about an errant tortoise or marrying our cousin."
» A forthcoming book published by Rough Guides: The Next Big Thing: A Rough Guide To Things That Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time. You can pre-order a copy here.
"Slight poverty is the only thing that drives music forward. You've never felt so alive as when you've maxed out your credit card to get your band on a ferry for a one-off gig in Antwerp."
» A talk entitled Please Buy My Record: The Futility Of Flogging Music, which was delivered at Oxford Geek Night and is the most-read post over at the Music Think Tank blog.
"While properties across the country are stubbornly failing to sell, what on earth are these people doing all day? Flicking paperclips? Defacing mousemats? Crying in the toilet?"
» A bad day at the office: How the credit crunch is hitting estate agents; one of many cover stories penned for The Independent's daily features supplement.
"Laboureur's combination of down-at-heel decor, draught lambics and ping pong gave us the perfect place to give a final toast to all the gueuze I'd loved before (with apologies to Julio Iglesias)."
» A day spent crawling (almost literally) around the best bars that Brussels has to offer, for the BBC's wonderful food magazine olive.
"When they finally catch a lobster, Yvan doesn't say "Oh look, great, we've got one." Well, he might do, but what we actually hear is "Ah, it has crept out of its bathroom so let us envelope it in a towel."
» One particularly marvellous and badly-dubbed cable TV show called Le Breton Gourmand, reviewed as part of a stint as the daily blogger for the Radio Times.