Tim Smith (Cardiacs)

In 1975, Tim Smith played guitar in a nameless punky, psychedelic instrumental band with school friends Mark Cawthra (Drums) and David Philpot (Keyboard). Smith was taken aback by the sound of David's Korg synthesiser and would later use the sound early on in Cardiac Arrest/Cardiacs.

In 1979, Smith helped record a 7", A Bus for a Bus on the Bus, at Elephant Studios in London.[4] When Ralph Cade and drummer Peter Tagg left the band he invited Mark Cawthra to take over on drums. Singer Mick Pugh subsequently left and Smith decided to take over the vocals himself. 1980 saw Smith recording the first and only Cardiac Arrest album, The Obvious Identity. Eventually, 1000 cassettes were recorded, but only sold at concerts to save on expenditure.

Smith decided to change the name of the band to Cardiacs in 1981. He helped record the band's first album, Toy World, in the same manner as the Cardiac Arrest album – on cassette tape – at a small basement studio known as Crow Studios (owned and run by Peter Kunzler). After another line up change, Smith recruited Tim Quy (Percussion), Sarah Cutts (Saxophone) and Dominic Luckman (Drums) into the fold.

In 1983, Smith saw William D. Drake performing on a piano in a public house and drafted him into the ranks of Cardiacs as keyboard player.

The low budget label Alphabet Business Concern was created in 1984. Smith was asked by vocalist Fish to support his band Marillion on their forthcoming tour near the end of the year. Smith agreed but was not prepared for the hostile audience that awaited them on all legs of the tour (forcing them off the final three days of the tour).

In 1985, Smith was approached by students Mark Francombe and Nick Elborough with an offer to shoot footage of them at one of their live concerts as part of their coursework project. The Surbiton Assembly Rooms was chosen and the gig was recorded on 18 April 1985, but Smith was unhappy with the resultant footage and sound quality and canned the project.[5]

The students then assisted Smith with making a promotional video, produced and directed by Smith himself, which would include a 10-minute feature called "The Consultant’s Flower Garden" and three music videos. The video was released.[6]

During the 1990s, Smith took a break from Cardiacs to work on various other projects. During 1989 and 1991, he wrote songs for a solo album, Tim Smith's Extra Special OceanLandWorld, eventually released in 1995. He, former wife Sarah Smith, and William D. Drake were reunited as The Sea Nymphs, a folkier, more ethereal and relaxed version of Cardiacs. The threesome had already recorded before in 1984 and released a cassette album, Mr and Mrs Smith and Mr Drake. Smith also performed with ex-Cardiacs guitarist Bic Hayes in Panixsphere in 1993 (although no official recordings exist yet) and with Jo Spratley in Spratleys Japs from 1995. 1999 saw the release of the latest Cardiacs studio album, Guns, on the Alphabet label.

The 21st Century has seen Smith (with Cardiacs) release one single, "Ditzy Scene", in 2007.[7] He has used most of the time again touring and working on new recording output for the near future. In March 2006, he toured with Ginger & The Sonic Circus as their support act, performing acoustic versions of Cardiacs songs, along with his own material.[8]

On 25 June 2008,[9] Smith suffered a heart attack, which caused brain damage through hypoxia and led him to develop the rare neurological condition dystonia, from which he is currently in the process of recovering.[10] As such, all plans for the new Cardiacs album and other future work have been postponed indefinitely. However, a tribute album was released in December 2010 on the website of The Genepool.[11]

In 2013, 2015 and 2017, events dubbed "The Alphabet Business Convention" were held in celebration of and with all proceeds funding Smith and his ongoing recovery. Among other things, they featured live music from bands within the Cardiacs circle.[12][13][14]

In July 2016, a special one-day concert took place in Preston, England, called The Whole World Window with all the funds going towards helping Smith get better. A cassette and CD album of the same name was also released via Hyena Inc containing performances by the same bands.[15]

In November 2016, the long-awaited second Sea Nymphs album, On the Dry Land, was released. This was achieved in part due to Smith's health being well enough to return to the studio in 2015 and 2016 to supervise completion of the album.[16]

In January 2018 an appeal was launched on the crowdfunding website JustGiving with the aim of raising £40,000 to fund Smith's ongoing care. The target amount was exceeded in the first day and a new target of £100,000 was set to provide for a year's care.[17][18]

On 25 October 2018, Smith received an Honorary Degree as Doctor of Music from The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. His brother Jim accepted the honour on his behalf.

Smith owns and operates his own recording studio – Apollo 8, currently based near Salisbury, Wiltshire – and has a long list of production credits to his name.[19]

Since the early 1990s, Smith has produced recordings for a variety of musicians and musical groups, many of whom belong to the so-called "Cardiacs family". These include Levitation, Sidi Bou Said, Eat, The Monsoon Bassoon, Wildhearts frontman Ginger (including his Silver Ginger 5 and Howling Willie Cunt projects), Stars in Battledress, Oceansize, William D. Drake, The Shrubbies, The Scaramanga Six and The Trudy.

Smith has created and/or edited pop videos for various bands including Sepultura, Dark Star and The Frank and Walters, as well as Cardiacs.[20]

In 2008, Smith created a film called The Wildhearts Live in the Studio: A Film By Tim Smith, featuring The Wildhearts playing their self-titled album along with surreal interludes.[21]

• Cardiacs homepage
• Cardiacs Museum (tribute page)
• Cardiacs Lyrics Organ (searchable lyrics database)
• 2016 Sea Nymphs interview with Prog Magazine, Tim's first interview since his accident