Retromania is a book by Simon Reynolds, where he describes the current world of pop music as a coming together of past present and future. This seems to describe where I am at the moment
The Internet has made everything available at once. You can watch and download music from any era at the click of a few buttons.
When James re-formed in 2007 and asked me to re-join the band it was like stepping into the past. I never ever thought I would be playing in James at 50 years of age.
Thankfully in my absence the band have been creative and kept their fans interested by coming up with new ideas and new songs all the time. So it is not simply a visit to the past, and the period since the reformation has been one of the most enjoyable and creative in the bands history.
Dislocation Dance were invited to Japan in 2000 and reformed for the occasion. The entire back catalogue has been re-issued on LTM label as is the Diagram Brothers, who have been getting a lot of radio play and even a picture in the BBCs Radio Times magazine (2011).
The Pale Fountains reformed for two gigs in Liverpool and London in February 2008. Grown men were in tears at the gigs … the power of nostalgia!
Times were getting tough with austerity and recession – and I was getting busy
