A message from our patron... Glyn Bailey has had a varied career, erstwhile egg-delivery man, former MP's assistant, one-time soft-furnishings salesman, an unlikely civil servant...and songwriter. Raw material for the music is drawn from the eclectic soup of such varied life experience, with themes from internet cannibalism and abusive relationships, to a communist feast and Laurel & Hardy in heaven. Bailey's songs are peppered with references to perverted clowns, anti-heroes, moonwalkers, communist rock stars...and even the odd reassuring love song thrown in for good measure (but we do mean ODD). His cited influences range from Jacques Brel to Nick Cave (with a vocal style most frequently drawing comparisons with David Bowie), Bailey has been placed squarely within the tradition of very British outsiders like Robyn Hitchcock, Julian Cope and Neil Hannon. Reviewers do struggle to classify, try imagining alt-folk-pop subjected to several degrees of perversion and you're coming close. After years of playing a supporting role in various bands from his Lancashire base, he moved centre stage in 2005 with the launch of debut solo album Toys From Balsa. This generated interest from underground media and there was a notable success with track 'The Plastic Bag Song' featuring on a CBC documentary. 2007 brought forth a new album Songs From The Old Illawalla, described by one reviewer as "maybe one of Lancashire's weirdest concept albums yet" [Manchester Music.co.uk]. All of life is here, or at least the darker side. Opener 'Yahoo!' is a spaghetti-western inspired swipe at big corporations and their threat to the planet, a theme echoed later in the haunting 'Doomed Ship Allegory'. There are contrasts from the heartbreaking 'Glory', to the Beach-Boys vibe of 'Down Amongst The Living'. Things get weird and dark too. 'Kafkaesque World' goes under the skin of a torturer and there's coercion and abuse in 'Groomed'. For light relief, the FIFA World Cup Final is revisited for a rousing 'Zizou's Big Day', before stopping off for an uncomfortable 'School Reunion'. The album concludes with an 8 minute narrative based on the true story of American singer and cold-war defector Dean Reed, which has received the endorsement of being featured on the singer's official website [www.deanreed.de]. Current single Moonwalkers is taken from the album, with an official release on July 1st 2009 timed to mark the fortieth anniversary of the very first moon landing in 1969. It's a poignant homage to those brave men who travelled to the Moon in a foil-covered tin-can, placing their faith in a computer of less sophistication than a microwave oven. At live shows, Bailey is supported by his band The Many Splendid Things, featuring Phil Senior (guitar), John Gardner (bass), Owen Wright (drums) and Jamie Singleton (keyboards). Recent gigs have included supports for Karima Francis, Alan Price, Emily Maguire and Vincent Vincent & The Villains, plus appearances at various music festivals.