History
In 1975, Tim Smith played guitar in a nameless punky, psychedelic instrumental band with school friends Mark Cawthra (Drums) and David Philpot (Keyboard). Tim was taken aback by the sound of David’s Korg synthesiser and would later use the sound early on in Cardiac Arrest/Cardiacs.
In mid-1977, Tim Smith founded The Filth (sometimes erroneously referred to as Philip Pilf & The Filth ) before changing the act’s name to Cardiac Arrest. Also in the band were his brother, Jim (Bass Guitar), former Fleetwood Secondary school friends, Peter Tagg (Drums) and Michael Pugh (Vocals), and Colvin Mayers (Keyboards) and Ralph Cade (Saxophone). They played their first concert at The Kaleidoscope in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey. Tim would humiliate his brother, Jim, on stage and this would become a token part of all further concerts.
In 1979, Tim helped record a 7”, A Bus for a Bus on the Bus, at Elephant Studios in London. He was later forced to look for a new vocalist and drummer after Mike Pugh, Ralph Cade and Peter Tagg left the band. He decided to take over the vocals himself and invited Mark Cawthra in to play drums. 1980 saw Tim recording the first and only Cardiac Arrest album, The Obvious Identity. As he had little cash to invest in the project, he recorded the album onto as many old cassette tapes as he could find. Tim says of the venture that "he recordings were so shit it wouldn’t matter if they were copied onto washing up sponges". Eventually, 1000 cassettes were recorded, but only sold at concerts to save on expenditure.
Tim 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, Tim recruited Tim Quy (Percussion), Sarah Cutts (Saxophone) and Dominic Luckman (Drums) into the fold.
In 1983, Tim saw William D. Drake performing on a piano in a public house and drafted him into the ranks of Cardiacs as keyboard player. He also married Sarah Cutts this year.
The low budget label Alphabet Business Concern was created in 1984. Tim often refers to the label as a totalitarian organisation, saying that they were in control of the band up until 1989. They would be responsible for distributing most of Tim’s recordings with various outfits. Tim was asked by vocalist Fish to support his band Marillion on their forthcoming tour near the end of the year. Tim 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, Tim 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, but Tim was unhappy with the resultant footage and canned the project. The students then assisted Tim with making a promotional video, produced and directed by Tim himself, called Seaside Treats, which would include a 10-minute feature called "The Consultant’s Flower Garden" and three music videos. This was successful and the video was released.
In March 1987, Tim and his wife, Sarah, were embroiled in a scandal started by The Sunday Sport newspaper. The headline ran, "In the bizarre world of music… anything goes - even INCEST." The paper tried to say that Tim and Sarah were, in fact, brother and sister and that their relationship was incestuous. This was shown to be nonsense, although then manager, "Spitty" Mark Walmesley, was thought to have started the whole rumour to gain some publicity for the band. In 1989, unrelated to the Sunday Sport 'scandal', Tim and Sarah separated.
During the 1990s, Tim 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, estranged wife Sarah (now said to be practising as a white witch) 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. Tim also performed with ex-Cardiacs guitarist Bic Hayes in Panixsphere in 1993 (although no official recordings exist yet) and with love interest 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 Tim (with Cardiacs) release one single, "Ditzy Scene", in 2007. 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.
On 25 June 2008 Tim Smith suffered a combined heart attack and stroke (see http://www.cardiacs.com/index.php), and is currently in the process of recovering. 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 http://www.thegenepool.co.uk/items/597.htm There is also a companion album available: http://www.thegenepool.co.uk/items/627.htm
Read more about this topic: Tim Smith (musician)
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