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Tim Arnold
“For me, the main ambition is, by the time I am 30 not to be able to hold all of my musical works in one hand in CD form. I write so much and I just hope that I get the opportunity to release as much as I write.”
Tim Arnold, May 1997
This is a quote that Arnold gave to the music press prior to the release of ‘No Coincidence’ (Sony BMG), his first album. He was 20 years old. It’s an important quote that drives the heart of one of England’s most curious and fascinating singer songwriters.
His childhood was a rollercoaster ride (mostly in a VW Camper Van!) through Europe, as his mother (‘60’s singer Polly Perkins) performed cabaret in theatres and nightclubs. Hailing from a working class theatrical family, the smell of the grease paint was so strong that at 14 years old he decided to leave his mothers home in Spain and return alone to England to study at the Rudolf Steiner School and join the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids. Arnold was the youngest initiate ever to join the ancient order of which the poet William Blake had been a former chief. Bizarrely enough, Arnold completed the Orders’ Bardic teachings in 1990 and so, therefore, is actually a ‘Bard’ (no doubt influencing a director to appoint Arnold as a composer at Shakespeare’s Globe in 1999). This clashes quite violently with the popular perception of his ‘Soho-savvy’ street image for which he is now known, but he expertly uses both sides of this unusual mixture to create something completely unique with his music.
“I have family history in Soho but entertainment was never my thing. I liked to read old literature about Pagans, Alchemists, Greek Mythology and quietly write 60 page poems about it, until I discovered The Pixies and The Smashing Pumpkins. That’s when I began writing songs with more focus and found, as I still find now, that my songs come ready made. It’s both a blessing and a curse because, although I have every component of my music in my head, for many years after Jocasta I did not have the luxury of being able to reproduce it. Now I’m fortunate enough to have a marvelous team of musicians who understand my creative process, particularly with the string arrangements. Throughout my life, strings have been the starting point for almost all of my compositions. ”
The theatrical gene was obviously still at large as Tim Arnold started gigging at the age of 16. At 18, he was thrown out of school for being somewhat of a ‘pied piper’. He was administering far too much rock ‘n’ roll during school time according to the reports.
However, although music had completely taken over his life, he was accepted in to St. Martins School of Art and Design in 1994 to study fine art. He turned them down and got a record deal with Sony instead.