Tony Harn

Tony Harn is an English jazz musician, a multi-instrumentalist, predominantly guitar but also bass guitar, synthesizers, organ, percussion, programming, and is active within the north-west English progressive rock and avant-garde music scenes.

Harn's music features elements of rock, jazz, post-punk, and experimental noise. He has released five solo instrumental albums, more recently moving towards loop music stylings, as well as maintaining a solo career. He is a member of Nerve Toy Trio and has previously been a member of , Lifebox and Spacematic. He is an active collaborator with other musicians, most notably with Tim Bowness of No-Man.

Career

Tony Harn began his musical career as the instrumental half of the Warrington duo Spacematic in the mid-1990s. Following that project's split, he began working on solo material, playing or programming all of the instruments himself. Harn released his debut instrumental album ''From the Inside'' in 1997, on his own self-produced label. This was followed by a second album, ''Lifebox'' in 1999. During this period Harn also recorded material with a fellow Warringtonian musician, Tim Bowness of No-Man, leading to an appearance and co-write on the Tim Bowness/Samuel Smiles album ''World of Bright Futures'' in 1999.

In 2000, Harn formed a short-lived trio called Lifebox in which he played guitar alongside David Jones (bass guitar, ex-Plenty) and Howard Jones (ex-After The Stranger and a contributor to the debut album by Porcupine Tree). Lifebox played new material as well as music from Harn's solo records. The band split up after releasing one EP, ''Charismatic Couch''.

Returning to solo work, Harn released his third album ''Moving Moons'' in 2001 and engaged in work with the Warrington experimental music scene via bands such as Psychiatric Challenge. He subsequently teamed up with Lewis Gill (Psychiatric Challenge, Vivahead) to form the experimental duo Resindust, who released one eponymous album in 2002. Harn's fourth solo album, ''Revealed in Black and White'' was released in 2005.

Harn's next album did not appear for another three years, when he released '' Loops'' in 2008. As the title suggested, it displayed a shift in his working methods towards further improvisation and loop music.

Harn is currently a member of Nerve Toy Trio, which also features his former Lifebox bandmate David Jones on bass guitar and drummer Henry Rogers (Touchstone, Sort Code, Final Conflict, DeeExpus). In 2011, the band released their debut EP ''The Hard Cell'', which gained them reviews in ''Classic Rock Presents Prog'' and ''Jazzwise''. In the same year the band performed at Blackpool's Electric Garden Progressive Rock festival. In 2012, Nerve Toy Trio contributed the track "The Riddle Of Anything" to the cover-mount CD of ''Prog'' magazine issue 27.''Prog'' magazine covermount CD, ''Prog'' magazine issue 27, June 2012 (Future Publishing)

Discography

Solo

*''From the Inside'' (1997, self-released)
*''Lifebox'' (1999, self-released)
*''Moving Moons'' (2001, self-released, distributed by Burning Shed)
*''Revealed in Black and White'' (2005, self-released, distributed by Burning Shed)
*''Loops'' (2008, self-released, distributed by Burning Shed)

with Lifebox

* ''Charismatic Couch'' EP (2000, self-released)

with

*' (2002, self-released)

with Nerve Toy Trio

*''The Hard Cell'' EP (2011, self-released, distributed by Burning Shed)

Guest appearances

*Tim Bowness/Samuel Smiles: ''World of Bright Futures'' 1999, Hidden Art) ''(co-write/guitars/bass guitar/organ on 'Red Eye Removal')''

References

External links

Tony Harn @ MySpace

Tony Harn @ Burning Shed

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harn, Tony
Living people
Progressive rock guitarists
English rock guitarists
English jazz guitarists
English male guitarists
English bass guitarists
British male bass guitarists
English keyboardists
English multi-instrumentalists
English experimental musicians
Musicians from Warrington
British male jazz musicians
Year of birth missing (living people)