Cardiacs

**Cardiacs** were an English rock band formed in 1977, originally as Cardiac Arrest, led by Tim Smith. Noted for their complex, varied and intense compositional style and for their eccentric, theatrical stage shows, they have been hailed as an influence by bands as diverse as Blur, Faith No More and Napalm Death.

Cardiacs released eight studio albums plus a number of live albums, compilation albums and singles between 1980 and 2007, and are best known for the 1988 minor hit single 'Is This the Life?'. They are also noted for attracting strongly diverse responses: they remained one of Britain's leading cult rock bands during their four-decade-spanning career, but also attracted virulent critical attack (including a lengthy editorial ban from the British music magazine *New Musical Express*).

Cardiacs were placed on indefinite hiatus following the 2008 hospitalisation of Tim Smith, after a cardiopulmonary arrest which subsequently led him to develop the rare neurological disorder dystonia. Smith continued to receive medical treatment and rehabilitation, before his death in July 2020.

## History

### 1977–80: Cardiac Arrest

Brothers Jim and Tim Smith grew up in Chessington, Surrey, UK and formed their first musical groups in neighbouring Kingston upon Thames, Greater London. In 1975, a teenaged Tim was playing guitar in a nameless "punky-psychedelic" instrumental band with two of his schoolfriends – Mark Cawthra (on drums) and David Philpot (on keyboard). The sound of Philpot's Korg synthesizer was to have a strong impact on Smith and the development of the Cardiacs' sound.

The band which would eventually become Cardiacs began life in 1977. The initial lineup was Michael Pugh on lead vocals, Tim Smith on guitar and backing vocals, and Peter Tagg on drums. The lineup was completed by Jim Smith, who joined on bass guitar and backing vocals. The Smith brothers, Tagg and Pugh played their first live concert in 1978 at The Kaleidoscope in Kingston upon Thames, under the name of **The Filth** (sometimes incorrectly remembered as **Philip Pilf & The Filth**). By the time of their second concert (also at The Kaleidecope later in the same year) the band had changed their name to **Cardiac Arrest**.

Cardiac Arrest produced a seven-song demo at Elephant Studios in London and subsequently expanded to a sextet, adding Colvin Mayers (keyboards) and Ralph Cade (whose contribution was mainly theatrical, involving manic dancing and posturing with a saxophone). The band honed their craft playing a mixture of pubs, youth clubs, schools, hotels and free festivals. In the early years, the band's line-up was flexible according to availability and circumstances – for example, Cardiac Arrest played the 1979 Stonehenge Free Festival as a three piece of Tagg, Mayers and Tim Smith (Smith played both guitar and bass while Mayers alternated between guitar and keyboards). A subsequent concert at Surbiton on 6 July 1979 apparently featured "about eight to ten people on stage" (including both Peter Tagg and his brother Derek Tagg).

The debut Cardiac Arrest release was a 7" single recorded at Elephant Studios called 'A Bus for a Bus on the Bus', released in 1979 on Tortch Records. Later in the year, both Peter Tagg and Ralph Cade left the band (going on to form The Trudy with Derek Tagg) and the multi-instrumental Mark Cawthra was drafted into Cardiac Arrest to play drums. Michael Pugh also left the band shortly afterwards, and Tim Smith took over lead singer duties as well as guitar playing. By this time, Cardiac Arrest operated like a jazz band or football side, keeping various musicians in reserve to cover absences. Many of these people had other roles as part of the technical crew. Future Cardiacs percussionist Tim Quy first performed with the band (as a stand-in bass player) at Snoopies nightclub in Richmond at the start of 1980: this period also saw the arrival of saxophonist Sarah Cutts. When recalling Cardiacs' early collective organisation, Tim Quy said:

> *Dominic Luckman and I were sound/lights/roadies. I was reserve bass player, but not actually in the band – Jim (Smith)'s job at the time meant that he couldn't make every gig. Sound reserve bass player, when I couldn't make it either, was Jon Bastable from The Trudy.*
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Later in 1980, Cardiac Arrest released a self-produced cassette album called *The Obvious Identity*. The album was produced by Tim Smith with the punk/DIY ethic in mind: as he had little cash to invest in the project, it was recorded onto as many old cassette tapes as he could find. An anonymous member of the band has been quoted as commenting that "the 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. Shortly afterwards, the band discovered that another band was using the name Cardiac Arrest. After a number of experiments with alternative names (including **The Alphabet** and **The Obvious Identity**), they finally decided to rename themselves **Cardiacs** and played their first concert under that name in April 1981.

### 1981–83: Early Cardiacs

In 1981, Cardiacs self-released the cassette album *Toy World,* featuring both new material and recordings dating back to the Cardiac Arrest period. (Consequently, some tracks featured Michael Pugh as lead singer rather than Tim Smith).

During 1981, Colvin Mayers left the band to join The Sound (a group led by Adrian Borland and with whom Tim had previously collaborated). Sarah Cutts briefly covered live keyboards as well as saxophone, before Mark Cawthra swapped drums for keyboards and Dominic Luckman was recruited from the road crew as the new drummer. At around the same time, percussionist Tim Quy became a full-time member (also doubling on bass synthesizer). In July 1983, Tim Smith married Sarah Cutts – taking his surname, she was henceforward known as Sarah Smith.

In mid-1983, Mark Cawthra left the band to be replaced on keyboards by William D. Drake. Tim Smith had previously met Drake in 1982 at the debut performance of Drake's band **Honour Our Trumpet** (who promptly invited him to join as bass guitarist.) Following Cawthra's departure, Smith returned Drake's favour by inviting him to join Cardiacs. Drake played his first concert with the band on 31 August 1983. Later in the year, Cardiacs added Marguerite Johnson (alto saxophone) and Graham Simmonds (guitar), and for about a year the band worked as an octet. Both Johnson and Simmonds left during the following summer (in July and August respectively), although Simmonds stayed on as Cardiacs' sound engineer.

### Mid-1984–85: The "classic lineup" established: *The Seaside* and *Seaside Treats*

By autumn 1984, the band lineup had settled as the sextet generally referred to as "the classic line-up" – Tim Smith (lead vocals and guitar), Jim Smith (bass and vocals), William D. Drake (keyboards and vocals), Sarah Smith (saxophones and vocals), Tim Quy (percussion and bass synth) and Dominic Luckman (drums).

The first Cardiacs release featuring the "classic" line-up was their third album, *The Seaside* (although Cawthra featured throughout on drums, keyboards and voice; and Simmonds and Johnson also appeared on several tracks). The album was released on Cardiacs own record label, Alphabet (which later became Alphabet Business Concern). The bizarre and sinister "Alphabet Business Concern" mythology now began to become a significant part of Cardiacs' artistic presentation, and the band members would promote and add to it at every opportunity. The band evolved an elaborate and theatrical stage show, involving "bandsmen's uniforms, make-up, Sarah's music stand, (and) Tim's mile-wide grin". The finale included sprayed champagne, confetti cannons, appearances by The Consultant and Miss Swift (on behalf of the Alphabet Business Concern) and a mock-heroic/distressed exit for Tim Smith.

Between November 5 and December 21, 1984, Cardiacs performed their first major British support tour, supporting Marillion at the personal invitation of Marillion’s vocalist, Fish. Whilst the tour afforded the band a new level of publicity, generally they were not well received by Marillion's fanbase. On most dates of the tour, the band was pelted with a variety of makeshift missiles. During the 13 December show at the Hammersmith Apollo, Fish himself was indignant enough about the Marillion fans and their hostile behaviour to come onstage during Cardiacs' set and berate the audience about it. The band eventually ducked out of the last three days of the Marillion tour. Tim Smith in Time Out of Mind said:

> *A lot of people find our act disturbing because it brings out something in you that a lot of people won't admit to. It's the weirdness in everyone whether you like it or not. Some people think it's dead funny, wonderful, beautiful, genius, and others hate it. It's strange when people hate us – they really do hate us, it brings out something odd in people.*
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A Cardiacs spin-off project – Mr and Mrs Smith and Mr Drake – emerged in 1984. As the name suggests, this featured Tim and Sarah Smith plus William D. Drake and consisted of a quieter, more acoustically-orientated take on Cardiacs' music. The project released a self-titled cassette album which was only available via the Cardiacs fan club. Later on, the project would be renamed The Sea Nymphs.

On April 1, 1985, an attempt was made to film Cardiacs at a live concert at the Surbiton Assembly Rooms. The band had been approached by film-maker Mark Francombe (later a member of Cranes) and his colleague Nick Elborough, both of whom were at that time students at Portsmouth College of Art and Design. Francombe and Elborough offered to film the band for free as part of their coursework project. However, when the band viewed the resultant footage, they decided against releasing it. Instead, they retained Francombe and Elborough for a new video project which would become *Seaside Treats*, named after the EP that was released at the same time. As well as containing three music videos, *Seaside Treats* contained a ten-minute film named *The Consultant's Flower Garden*. The latter featured Cardiacs (and various people connected with them) in bizarre, comedic situations which continued to propagate the absurdist Alphabet Business Concern mythology which surrounded the band.

### 1986–89: On the verge of success: *Big Ship*, *A Little Man and a House* & *On Land and in the Sea*

In 1986, Cardiacs released the EP *Big Ship* (the title track would prove to be one of their most enduring anthems). The band played the Reading Festival on 24 August, releasing the very rough audio footage as the *Rude Bootleg* album.

In March 1987, a British tabloid newspaper, *The Sunday Sport*, ran a story claiming to be an exposé and revealing the supposedly incestuous relationship between Tim and Sarah Smith, in which the couple were portrayed as brother and sister. The headline ran, "In the bizarre world of music … anything goes – even incest." (The article ultimately debunked the story by including a corrective quote from Tim Smith's mother). Band manager Mark Walmesley is thought to have started the whole rumour to gain some publicity for the band, predating the superficially similar strategy later employed by The White Stripes twelve years later. (Tim and Sarah Smith eventually separated in 1989, although this was entirely unrelated to *The Sunday Sport* "scandal").

On April 17, the band's music video for 'Tarred and Feathered' (from the *Big Ship* EP) was broadcast on Channel 4's groundbreaking music show *The Tube*, giving Cardiacs their first exposure on national television. Later in the year, Cardiacs released a 12-inch single called 'There's Too Many Irons in the Fire'. In October, a live-in-the-studio session was recorded and broadcast by BBC Radio Leeds, followed in December by a similar session on BBC Radio 1 for Janice Long's *Night Track* show.

In 1988, Cardiacs released their fourth studio album, *A Little Man and a House and the Whole World Window*. The single from the album, 'Is This the Life?', saw brief chart success due to exposure on mainstream radio, and garnered the attention of a wider audience when it entered the Independent Top 10 in the UK. The band followed up this burst of success with another single, a cover of The Kinks' 'Susannah's Still Alive' with a video directed by Steve Payne. Strange Fruit Records also released a 12-inch vinyl EP of the band's BBC Radio 1 session from the previous year, under the title *Night Tracks (The Janice Long Session)*. By this time, Cardiacs concerts were drawing hundreds of audience members and they were well on their way to becoming a hit underground band. On 15 May, the band played a concert at the Paradiso in Amsterdam, which was recorded for later release as *Cardiacs Live*.

Later in the year, Cardiacs recorded tracks for what would become their fifth studio album, *On Land and in the Sea* which was released in 1989. The album successfully consolidated the intricate style and unusual songwriting vision of *A Little Man and a House and the Whole World Window*, but the stable line-up which the band had enjoyed for four years was now beginning to weaken.

### 1989–91: The "classic line-up" fractures – *Mare's Nest* and multiple departures

Over the following two years, the Cardiacs lineup began to disintegrate. Sarah Smith left the band suddenly in April 1989 and was not replaced, removing saxophone from the standard Cardiacs sound. Although Sarah would not rejoin the band, she would retain a long-term connection with Cardiacs by playing on future albums and would very occasionally appear as a special guest for live concerts. Tim Smith brought in a second guitarist – Christian 'Bic' Hayes, formerly of Ring and The Dave Howard Singers – and the new two-guitar line-up toured extensively around the UK and Europe for the rest of the year (with Sarah Smith making the first of her special guest appearances at a Brixton Fridge concert on 17 September). During this period, the band also released *Archive Cardiacs*, a collection of material from the 1976–83 period (some of it previously unreleased).

Cardiacs toured and gigged intermittently during 1990, culminating in a shared concert with Napalm Death at Salisbury Arts Centre on 30 August. The Cardiacs half of the concert was filmed and released as the video *Mare's Nest* (produced by Steve Mallet and directed by Steve Payne, and eventually also released as the 1995 live album *All That Glitters Is a Mare's Nest*). The band performed as a seven-piece, with Sarah Smith making a one-day return as a band member. Although the concert has achieved legendary status amongst Cardiacs fans, it was problematic for the band. Among other things, Tim Smith's guitar fell apart and keys fell off Sarah Smith's saxophone. Tim Smith, when recalling the Salisbury *Mare's Nest* concert, said:

> *It* *was horrible, really like one of those yellow panic nightmares where everything's going wrong and you can't stop it, but I kept thinking it was a nightmare, then about halfway through the evening I tried to wake up and I realised this was actually happening, right? (S)o I panicked, but nothing was going right and nobody could hear anything and Sarah's sax kept cutting out, and I think that's on the video, me shouting to myself that I can't stop it … but everyone else said it was a really good gig!*
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After the Salisbury concert, Tim Quy left the band to pursue other projects. Like Sarah Smith, he was not replaced: the removal of live tuned and untuned percussion from the lineup further altered the established Cardiacs sound. Quy's departure was commemorated by a message at the end of the *Mare's Nest* video stating "this film is dedicated to Tim Quy who left our world 30/8/90". (At the time, this was widely misinterpreted as an announcement of Quy's death).

The band was quiet for the first four months of 1991, during which time two more members departed. William D. Drake played his final concert with the band on May 2 at The Venue in New Cross (going on to join the band **Nervous** and, in 2001, embarking on a long-delayed solo career). Christian Hayes (had joined up-and-coming indie-psychedelic band Levitation) played his own final gig as a Cardiac in Oxford on 16 May: although Cardiacs and Levitation were friendly with each other and had even toured together, Hayes had finally found it impossible to balance the demands of both bands. Both Hayes and Drake would continue to be associated with Cardiacs, and would occasionally guest with the band at selected live concerts many years later.

### 1991–94: The power quartet established: *Heaven Born and Ever Bright* and the Rough Trade debacle

Although the band had historically been well-used to line-up changes, Cardiacs were profoundly affected by the multiple departures taking place between 1989 and 1991. A particular blow had been the departure of Drake, whose virtuoso keyboard skills and compositional input had made him one of the backbones of the band. Drake was considered irreplaceable and Cardiacs opted not to look for a new keyboard player, remaining as a quartet of two guitars, bass and drums (with Christian Hayes being replaced as second guitarist by Jon Poole who had previously played with the Cardiacs-inspired Milton Keynes band **Ad Nauseam**). While Cardiacs was still able to record more fully orchestrated music in the studio, a lack of suitable personnel (or the budget to keep them in place) meant that the live band had to change drastically. Abandoning several signature musical features (saxophone, assorted percussion and virtuoso keyboards), Cardiacs' live music shifted away from the wider instrumentation of the past and moved towards a more guitar-heavy, power-rock sound in line with the remaining quartet lineup. However, the music remained complex, if narrower in focus, and Smith recorded additional keyboard and percussion parts onto backing tapes for the band to play over.

Before 1991 was over, the revitalised band had released a new single, called 'Day Is Gone', and played several concerts from October to December. This year also saw the release of *Songs for Ships and Irons*, which compiled material from various singles and EPs. Also making an appearance in 1991 was the debut release by the Cardiacs spin-off, The Sea Nymphs. Their debut single, 'Appealing to Venus', was a free bonus item with the first 500 copies of 'Day Is Gone' and was subsequently sold through the fan club. The debut Sea Nymphs album, *The Sea Nymphs*, was released in 1992. Cardiacs remained active during 1992, touring frequently within the UK, including a double-headed tour with Levitation. On one notable occasion, at a 4 June gig at the London Astoria, Cardiacs were supported by future British rock megastars Radiohead, then at the start of their career.

Prior to the departure of Hayes, Cardiacs had recorded an album called *Heaven Born and Ever Bright* (which featured several of Hayes' guitar and vocal parts, plus a track he had co-written called 'Goodbye Grace'). This was released as the new Cardiacs album in the summer of 1992, the first fruit of a new distribution deal with Rough Trade Records. However, disaster struck when Rough Trade ceased trading shortly after the release of the album. This ensured that *Heaven Born and Ever Bright* could neither be stocked nor ordered by record shops, with the result that Cardiacs were left thousands of pounds in debt and unable to recoup their recording expenses. (The album was eventually reissued on a revived Alphabet Business Concern in 1995 – it featured a picture of Jon Poole on the cover, although he had not actually played on the album when it was recorded.)

Despite this crippling blow, the band soldiered on, but by July 1993 yet another long-term member – drummer Dominic Luckman – had decided to quit. He played his last concert as a Cardiac member on July 20 at Camden Palace, London (and would later join Shrubbies). In December 1993, Cardiacs revealed their new drummer, Jon Poole's former Ad Nauseam bandmate, Bob Leith. However, the following year proved to be Cardiacs' quietest year for a long time, with only four concerts played in total.

### 1995–99: The comeback: *Sing to God* & *Guns*

After three years without any new releases, 1995 saw the release of the *Bellyeye* single on ORG Records (the record-releasing wing of long-term Cardiacs' supporters Organ Magazine). This was a taster for Cardiacs' most epic recorded effort to date. *Sing to God* was a double album, due to the sheer amount of material that Tim had written over a number of years. The album was notable for a change in Cardiacs' working methods – whereas most previous material had been written and arranged by Smith, the *Sing to God* sessions saw extensive contributions from Jon Poole who played a strong role in orchestrating Smith's basic material with detailed riffs and keyboard parts (and contributed several songs entirely written by himself). Drummer Bob Leith also made significant contributions to the album's lyrics. Jon Poole said:

> *Tim would have drums and rough keyboard chords on tape and would ask me to come up with guitar and bass riffs. I was literally allowed to do pretty much anything I wanted. Tim would then do the production bit and get the best out of me … I remember Tim had programmed the weird bit in the middle of 'Odd Even' and left me to find a guitar line amongst the chords so I was sat on my own dropping myself in. When he came back it was done and he was very happy … particularly with my choice of last note! We would both make suggestions then Tim would edit the ideas into something that worked. Tim would chip in with ideas for my songs too like the string arrangement on 'Manhoo' which was lovely.*
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*Sing to God* was released in two formats – as a limited edition double CD, and as two separate CDs. At the same time, the band reissued almost their entire back catalogue on CD. This constituted all of the albums from *The Seaside* onwards, CD issues of live album *All that Glitters is a Mare's Nest* and the *Archive Cardiacs* compilation, and a new compilation, the *Cardiacs Sampler*.

In April 1995, Cardiacs performed a BBC Manchester radio session on Mark Radcliffe's show. During May, they toured with Pura Vida and Sidi Bou Said and recorded a live acoustic session for GLR Radio. On 17 June, they appeared as special guests of (and concert openers for) Blur at their triumphant London Mile End Stadium concert. From 31 October to 18 November, Cardiacs performed a long support stint on Chumbawamba's UK tour.

In June and November 1996, Cardiacs embarked on two UK tours of their own, most significantly filling the London Astoria 2 on 2 November. The June tour was promoted by a second BBC Manchester radio session with Mark Radcliffe, aired on June 11.

The next two years saw no new music from Cardiacs and reduced live activity. However, there were three more London concerts in 1998 – at one of these (the Garage concert on December 4) the band was joined for an encore by William D. Drake. During the same year, Cardiacs also played several performances in Germany and the Netherlands, and made appearances in Brighton and at a festival in St Austell in Cornwall. 1998 also saw renewed activity by The Sea Nymphs, with the 'Appealing to Venus' single reissued with extra tracks by ORG Records, and a rare concert at the Camden Falcon in north London.

At the start of 1999, Cardiacs played three nights in a row at the Camden Falcon, London between 29 and 31 January: on the final date, Sarah Smith and William D. Drake joined in for the encore. On 20 and 21 March, the band played two concerts at the Garage with support from Dark Star (a new band featuring ex-Cardiac Christian Hayes) and Camp Blackfoot. Cardiacs toured the UK in June 1999 to support the release of their new album, *Guns*, described by some of the music press as being their most accessible album to date. The band performed another radio session on 13 June for "Inside Tracks" (on BBC Choice digital radio). Three more concerts followed in October.

### 2000–02: Rare sightings, family gatherings and aborted recordings

During 1999 to 2000, Cardiacs began work on a new studio album that remains incomplete and unreleased. Only one song slated for inclusion ('Faster Than Snakes With a Ball and a Chain') has ever been released to the public (it appears on the band's 2002 compilation *Greatest Hits*). Another song, the Jon Poole-penned 'Silvery', appeared regularly in the band's live repertoire, and was later re-recorded by Jon Poole himself for The God Damn Whores' second album (albeit under the title 'Sparkly Silver Sky'). While Tim Smith's given explanation for the album's nonappearance was that it had been rendered "broken" in some manner. Bandmate Kavus Torabi has since stated that, while the band did record around this time, the concept of a "lost album" was apocryphal. Cardiacs concerts were rare over the next few years, although the band played the Glastonbury Festival on 23 June 2000 and played two subsequent Whitchurch Festivals on August 5, 2000 and August 3, 2001.

Counterbalancing the lack of tours, the band set up an annual tradition of one-off large-scale London concerts (the first of which took place on November 11, 2000 and the last in 2007). These usually took place in November at the London Astoria, and soon became a kind of Cardiacs family gathering in which the band was joined by various guests including former members and newer Cardiacs-inspired supported bands. During these concerts, Sarah Smith, William D. Drake, Christian Hayes and Dominic Luckman all appeared onstage with the band on various occasions, as did The Consultant and Miss Swift. Support bands were always musicians with a professed Cardiacs connection or influence, and included Oceansize, The Monsoon Bassoon, The Scaramanga Six, Stars in Battledress and Jon Poole's hard-rock band GodDamnWhores.

### 2003–08: The Garage Concerts, lineup changes and re-establishment

Between October 17 to October 19, 2003, Cardiacs recorded three special concerts at the Highbury Garage venue in London. As Jon Poole was by now also the bass player for The Wildhearts (and busy rehearsing for the upcoming Wildhearts tour) he was replaced for the concert by Kavus Torabi (formerly guitarist and singer for Monsoon Bassoon, Torabi was also a long-standing Cardiacs' associate who'd served as their guitar technician since the mid-1990s.)

For these concerts, the band delved back into their distant past, abandoning virtually all of their available back catalogue in favour of exclusively playing songs that had been performed prior to 1983. These were taken mostly from the cassette albums (*The Obvious Identity* and *Toy World*, but also included songs such as 'An Ant', 'Hopeless', 'Gloomy News' and 'Hello Mr Minnow' (which had never been officially recorded before and had only ever been played at concerts in the late '70s/early '80s). A two-volume CD set of recordings from the three shows – *The Special Garage Concerts Vol I* and *The Special Garage Concerts Vol II* – was eventually released in 2005. Professional video camera equipment was apparently seen being used to record the band during the concerts, leading to a rumour that members of ORG Records had filmed the entire three nights for later video release. This was debunked by Torabi in a 2009 interview, in which he stated that no such recordings existed. (However, a session referred to as the "Garage Rehearsals", was filmed: a mix of live studio playing and humorously surreal scenes between the band members. Four clips have been uploaded to YouTube, with the full film as of yet unreleased, although reported to be "90% finished" and screened at the 2013 Alphabet Business Convention).

In the autumn of 2004, Torabi officially replaced Poole as Cardiacs' second guitarist, and made his formal debut as a full group member at the annual London Astoria concert on November 12 (Poole would go on to concentrate on GodDamnWhores, various Wildhearts-related projects, Crayola Lectern and others). A number of other new members were drafted into the Cardiacs line-up at the same time – three backing singers (Claire Lemmon and Melanie Woods of Sidi Bou Said, plus former Shrubbies and current North Sea Radio Orchestra singer Sharron Fortnam) and two percussionists – Cathy Harabaras and Dawn Staple – playing mostly bass drums. (The official status of most of these additional members remains unclear, although Sharron Fortnam is known to have left the band.)

After several years of limited live activity in front of established fans, Cardiacs made another attempt to recapture their momentum and play to fresh audiences by supporting long-terms fans The Wildhearts for the latter's tour between December 8 and December 15, 2004. This tour saw another substitution – drummer Stephen Gilchrist (Graham Coxon, The Scaramanga Six, Stuffy/The Fuses) stood in for Bob Leith, who had previous tour commitments with art-punk band Blurt. Smith would later perform as a live acoustic trio with Ginger Wildheart and former Cardiac Jon Poole. Around this time a "Diary" was begun and updated for the majority of 2005 on the official Cardiacs website, chronicling the band's exploits in typical absurd fashion. Three more annual Astoria gigs passed (the 2005 edition having been professionally shot, currently existing in an unedited state awaiting Tim Smith's involvement until 2007 when Cardiacs released their first new material for eight years: the *Ditzy Scene* single. Released on ORG Records as a limited edition of 1,000 copies, 'Ditzy Scene' was also the first release by the new lineup: on record this included Claire, Melanie, Cathy and Dawn, but the 2007 winter tour featured only Melanie and Cathy, both of whom were now playing percussion and singing.

### 2008–10: Tim Smith's heart attack and end of band activity

At the end of June 2008, Tim Smith collapsed from a Cardiopulmonary arrest after leaving a My Bloody Valentine concert. This led to hypoxic brain damage, leaving Smith severely debilitated by the rare condition Dystonia. All Cardiacs-related releases and activity (including a work-in-progress album, provisionally entitled *LSD*) were immediately shelved until further notice. A year of silence followed during which Smith recuperated in private. In June 2009, a new announcement appeared on the official Cardiacs website, letting readers know that, after a year of rehabilitation, Tim Smith's mind had returned to full functionality and that "no part of **your** favourite pop star’s intellect or personality has been found to be absent **whatsoever**." It thanked fans for their kind thoughts and made clear Smith's interest in returning to playing music with Cardiacs at such time as his physical rehabilitation allowed. However, it became clear that such rehabilitation would be a long process; and in August 2010, Kavus Torabi stated in an interview podcast that Cardiacs would never play live again.

### 2010–20: Hiatus, fundraisers and related activities; death of Tim Smith

Despite the enforced halt in Cardiacs' work as an active band, the group's influence and presence has been sustained by various concerts and campaigns. While most of these have been primarily aimed at raising money for Tim Smith's medical rehabilitation, they have also served both to raise awareness of the band's work and the growing body of musicians influenced by it.

In December 2010, two tribute CDs, *Leader of the Starry Skies: A Tribute To Tim Smith, Songbook 1* and its limited edition companion *Leader of the Starry Skies - A Loyal Companion*, were compiled by former Cardiac Christian Hayes and former Spratleys Japs singer Jo Spratley. These were released on Kavus Torabi's record label Believers Roast, with all proceeds going directly to the continuing care of Tim Smith. The albums featured cover versions of Smith-penned material (originally for Cardiacs, The Sea Nymphs, Spratleys Japs and Smith's solo album OceanLandWorld) by musicians including The Magic Numbers, Steven Wilson, Oceansize, Robert White/Andy Partridge, Sidi Bou Said and North Sea Radio Orchestra as well as former Cardiacs including Hayes himself (as Mikrokosmos), Torabi (as Knifeworld), William D. Drake, Mark Cawthra and Peter Tagg (with The Trudy).

In 2013, after a long period of radio silence, the official Cardiacs website relaunched with many pieces of merchandise for sale. Among other updates, an amendment to the 'History' section of the site humorously addressed Tim Smith's accident, subsequent incapacitation and the band's hiatus:

> *And so for five years, history ceased to be created by Cardiacs. Unless we consider the undignified shenanigans of Tim Smith who 'fell' into a pool filled with shit and is still crawling and scratching his way out of it. The ALPHABET BUSINESS CONCERN wishes it to be known that, whilst maintaining complete control of his artistic output, they disassociate themselves ENTIRELY with his recent illness and, in fact, fail to recognise it as an excuse for not fulfilling his duties.*
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A message was also posted from Tim Smith's personal Facebook account:

> *Hello Kidz! (You will notice that I spelled the word kidz with a 'z'). I have been bowled over and knocked back by the outpourings of love, posted on here. Every one of them. You have no idea what this means. Really though. While I would love to respond to each message, you are doubtlessly aware, my body is my enemy and my hands are cunts. Nonetheless it means the world to me, thank you all so much. I am truly blessed.*
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Sporadic status updates continue to be posted on Smith's Facebook page, which readily accepts friend requests of fans.

In the coming years, various Cardiacs releases would and continue to be added to the online shop, most notably a *The Seaside* boxset containing the original album remastered and with the original 4 "missing" tracks restored, as well as various supplementary material related to the era.

In 2013 and 2015, events dubbed "The Alphabet Business Convention" were held in celebration of and with all proceeds going towards Tim Smith's rehabilitation. They featured Cardiacs-related groups in performance such as Knifeworld, William D. Drake, and Redbus Noface. Several smaller benefit concerts were held from time to time in this period and moving forward.

In a 2016 feature via *The Quietus*, Kavus Torabi shed light on several past, present, and future Cardiacs projects.

> *It was an extraordinarily interesting and brilliant time for me because we'd already talked a great deal about what the plan was for the next few years for Cardiacs. We were going to make a film. Tim and I were planning out loads of treatments and scripts. Tim wanted to share the burden of Cardiacs a bit with someone and I was more than happy to do that. The way things stand, [LSD] is nearly done but needs vocals and eyebrows and some of them need a few other touches. What there is does sound great but there's far more stuff completed that hasn't come out yet, that needs to come out. Tim is a perfectionist, and rightly so. Because his melodies make so much sense of everything, it would be ridiculous to put out these recordings, as exciting as they are, without the melodies. We have talked about people who Tim would approve of adding vocals, under his direction. I think Tim just wants to be well enough to really be producing it. I think his big drive at the moment is to finish off things that were started. There are a lot of loose ends that need tying up.*
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Later the same year, teaser images began appearing on Cardiacs' website and Facebook group, culminating in the announcement of the long-awaited next Sea Nymphs album, *On the Dry Land*, whose songs had been recorded around the same time as the first album but were left unreleased for over 20 years. The album was released in November 2016 in CD and vinyl formats. The completion of *On the Dry Land* was made possible thanks to a turn for the better in Tim Smith's health; he was able to return to the studio to supervise production and additional recording necessary to the album's completion between 2015 and 2016. In an interview with Uncut, Smith revealed that even more Sea Nymphs material beyond *On the Dry Land* will be released at some point. He also stated that he was "deeply touched" by the efforts of those who had contributed toward the Cardiacs tribute album, *Leader of the Starry Skies* (the sales of which went directly toward rehabilitating Smith) and that he had since "made a pledge to [him]self to get better".

In November 2016, Jo Spratley gathered several musicians of Cardiacs-influenced origins and "reformed" her and Tim Smith's band, Spratleys Japs (albeit without Tim due to his health, although Smith did attend as an audience member), for a one night show in which the band performed the entirety of the Japs' sole album, *Pony*, as well as the remaining tracks from the Hazel EP (and ended the set with Cardiacs' own 'Flap off You Beak'). A second show was announced shortly afterward for January 2017, as a double billing with Kavus Torabi's band Guapo.

In December 2016 Tim, Sarah, and William D. Drake were interviewed for Prog magazine, detailing more of Tim's current condition, the sessions behind On The Dry Land's creation and completion and confirming "at least an album's worth" of Sea Nymphs material that is yet to be finished. Smith said:

> *Cardiacs will always be there. As for me, I'm still fighting them critters who are trying their best to stop me. But they are losing.*
>
>

In early 2017, a third Alphabet Business Convention was announced, to be held on 26 August, featuring Cardiacs-related and inspired bands, in the spirit of the preceding conventions.

In September 2017, the Alphabet Business Concern released the long-awaited "Some Fairytales from the Rotten Shed" DVD to the public. It features Cardiacs rehearsing early songs (mixed with surrealist comedy similar to the "Mare's Nest" DVD) in preparation of "The Special Garage Concerts"-era live shows. Prior to this, only four clips had been available to the public via the "abcglobus" YouTube channel, with a nearly-complete version of the DVD having been screened at the 2013 Alphabet Business Convention. During this time, the unreleased film was commonly referred to as "The Bumming Shed video" or "The Garage Rehearsals video".

In January 2018, almost 10 years since Tim Smith's cardiac arrest, an interview and full explanation of his condition were published in multiple major news publications as well as the official Cardiacs website. A donation campaign was simultaneously launched, its goal being to facilitate improved care for Tim with the hope that the proper neurological treatment it would fund would help him regain control of his body, as he had responded positively to similar, but minimal and inconsistent treatment in the past. The initial donation goal of 40,000 GBP was breached in less than 24 hours, and a new goal of 100,000 GBP was instated, which would fund treatment for 1 year.

In March 2018, almost all of the Cardiacs back catalogue (including all of the post-1990 singles and EPs, plus the OceanLandWorld, Spratleys Japs, Sea Nymphs and Mr & Mrs Smith & Mr Drake spinoff projects) was reissued on Bandcamp as digital downloads.

Following twelve years of living with dystonia, Tim Smith died on 21 July 2020, with his death being announced the following day.

### Fictional history

A ficticious recount of the band's history is included on the Cardiacs website. Many parts are not to be taken as factual. The site states:

Far be it from the Alphabet Business Concern to decide how you spend your free time, but here, in its crudest detail, we have generously provided a specially commissioned complete history of Cardiacs' adventures into the world of pop.

One day, Geoff Shelton buys a real electric guitar. It's all painted in flowers and it is about 1972. Geoff is a boy who lives over the road from brothers Jim and Tim Smith in Chessington Surrey, England … so, Jim is made to buy a bass guitar from the shops so that he and Geoff can play a blues riff at each other over and over again in the garage. Jim's fat little eleven-year-old brother Tim owns a snare drum and spoilt the boys fun by drumming along with them with one stick in one hand on one drum, and in his other hand, his face. Then a cymbal and stand came.

Then they didn't play anymore.

Another time, maybe a year or so later, Geoff Shelton lends Tim Smith a 'how to play the guitar' long playing record, and during one of his visits, teaches him the G chord. From the record, Tim learns how to play 'Frankie and Johnny'. He forces his mum to sing it for him while he strummed and strummed and strummed and his fingers bled red. He later hears a section of a record by someone that makes his stomach go 'funny' and gives him goosebumps. "So, music can do this then, can it!?" he probably realised.

This made Jim stop playing the bass.

At secondary school, Tim had a friend called Colvin Mayers. They were friends from the age of five; we join them now aged 14 in the playground at Fleetwood Secondary School, Chessington. Someone fat who they don't know yet bounds up to them all sweaty and in a high pitched not-broken-yet voice says something like "I hear you like the Mahavishnu Orchestra?", and Colvin Mayers bursts out a shriek of high pitched laughing. It is Mark Cawthra and he would file his front teeth with a heavy-duty metalwork file, leaving bits of tooth all along it. He had just been expelled from his other school and nobody ever found out why. On the other side of the playground is Peter Tagg, hanging about with his older friends. All of these people talked about so far (except Geoff Shelton) would at one point or another end up playing in Cardiacs.

But before all that Cardiacs rubbish, Tim Smith and Mark Cawthra would play in a group with a mad organist friend called David Philpot, Tim on bass and Mark on drums. It's about 1975. They would attempt to write and play stupidly fast and unnecessarily taxing instrumental weird shit which apparently sounded a bit like that band way back when called 'Egg'. They never gave their band a name and never did a gig. Dave Philpot was weird and died a few years later. He had frizzy black hair and a little frizzy black beard and was the first owner of the mini Korg synthesiser that Cardiacs inherited and became an integral part of that early Cardiacs sound.

Mark Cawthra gets kicked out of school again and moves away to York after living for a short while in a strange hostel in Kingston Surrey called 'The Kaleidoscope' (the place where Cardiacs played their first ever gig). Tim and him keep in touch sending each other tapes of themselves doing whatever. For example, Tim’s dog 'Sally' dies and Mark sends him an unkind song about it, Mark's three-legged poodle dog 'Tingaling' dies and Tim sends him an unkind song about that, etc.

It's 1976 and Tim and his pal Adrian Borland (who at the time was in a punk band called 'The Outsiders' and later on fronted a band called 'The Sound') and an amazing rock drummer called Bruce Bizland (currently drumming for that glam rock band 'The Sweet' now) make a band and do about two gigs; then stop … they sounded a bit like the rocky instrumental bits on that David Bowie album 'The Man Who Sold The World', didn't they? They never gave their band a name either. And now it's 1977.

Tim Smith thinks, Peter Tagg has got a whole drum set and my brother Jim has got a bass and I've borrowed a guitar and Jim's friend Mick Pugh has got a shouty voice. Then, they all go and write and play a song called 'Icky Qualms' and then a few more tunes emerge, bit by bit, usually written ten minutes before each rehearsal time. "Oops, we got a rehearsal today … better write a song" or something like that. Sometimes, Peter Tagg’s brother Derek would go along and shriek along to the songs, but really really shriek, all high pitched, like a woman in a horror film will shriek. He did it at some early gigs too.

As mentioned earlier, the first Cardiacs gig was in 1977 at a place in Kingston upon Thames Surrey called The Kaleidoscope (a hostel for misfits and that). Derek shrieked along at that gig along with Colvin Mayers and Ralph Cade (the Cardiac-ettes) who then officially joined Cardiacs, Colvin playing David philpot's old synthesiser and Ralph would just hold a saxophone that he had no idea how to play and 'dance'.

Cardiacs had begun. They were called 'Cardiac Arrest' back then. They didn't even know what 'Cardiac Arrest' meant. Contrary to popular belief, they were never called 'Philip Pilf and the Filth'. Why would they want to be called that? It is said that Tim formed the band merely as a revenge to take on his brother Jim for all the unkind things he would do to him as an infant. It is true. It all backfired for Tim, though. His cruel idea was to form a band playing a kind of unpalatable "music" that no one in their right minds would enjoy very much, thus humiliating his brother and forcing him to look as foolish as possible on stage. But Jim became popular, as did the band eventually, and at the concerts Jim's name was and still is chanted with joy to this very day. "Jim … Jim … Jim …" It is said that Tim counts the "Jims" and for each one, a different punishment is brought down upon his brother who apparently has no idea why this is so. It is also said that Tim sometimes encourages the chants for obvious reasons, or will not go back onto the stage for an encore until he's almost lost count of the "dividends" as he calls them.

Cardiacs at this time knew that they were in their 'infant' stages and were aware that they were still very inept at playing their instruments, so it was decided that their uniform, for the time being, would simply be the Romper Suit, a dashing different colour for each member of the band. This uniform would be worn until they had earned their 'pop star' clothes. Lovely glitter maybe? Smashing solid gold shoes? Who could possibly know?

Cardiacs made a single called 'A Bus for a Bus on the Bus' in 1979 at an embryonic 'Elephant studios' in London. It was released on Tortch Records … oh, and then Mick Pugh left and Tim Smith started singing because no one else wanted to.

Pete, convinced he was from the planet 'Miron', left with Ralph in 1979 and formed a band with Pete's brother Derek called 'The Trudy' and Mark Cawthra moved down from York to live with Tim and Jim and took Peter's place on them drums … So, the band now is Tim Smith on guitar and singing, Jim Smith on Bass, Colvin Mayers on synth and Mark Cawthra on drums and it's time to do some more recording.

Not far away in a very tiny basement was a recording studio called 'Crow'. "Let's go there and record some of our tunes," someone probably said. This they did. They didn't know what they were doing and the recordings sounded very bad and the band were as happy as Larry. So happy, in fact, that they released the recordings on a cassette album called *The Obvious Identity*. It's about 1980 now by the way and they would find any old, or worn out cassette tapes to copy the albums onto for sale at their few and far between gigs such was the quality control. "The recordings were so shit, it wouldn't matter if they were copied onto washing up sponges," someone later said, probably.

Now it's about 1981, and for some reason, Mark Cawthra was given a sort of 'job' in Crow studios. While the owner was away, he'd break in through the windows, let Cardiacs in and record them. These recordings ended up being Cardiacs' second Cassette album. This album, it was decided, would be called *Toy World*, which also sounded rubbish. Cardiacs were as delighted as can be and loved the recordings. "Every time the door bell went or the phone rang, it would put a massive crackle on the tapes."

Mark got fired from Crow after he drilled into the owner's car's petrol cap because it was locked.

Colvin Mayers left Cardiacs to join Adrian Borland's band 'The Sound' just before the *Toy World* recordings, but left behind in his place a girl called Sarah Cutts who had a saxophone. No one has ever found out where she actually came from.

Between the years 1982–1984 a few changes happened. Mark Cawthra swapped playing the drums for getting up front and showing off in front of some keyboards and singing. Dominic Luckman, who was already a part of Cardiacs' loyal crew at the time, joined playing them drums. Tim Quy, also a member of the loyal crew, enlisted himself into the band in a fit of jealousy, playing anything he could get his hands on.

Cardiacs slipped out of their dirty romper suits and into something a bit more grown up. They felt they had earned this after the completion of their third cassette album, *The Seaside*, which was also recorded at Crow. (Cawthra was forgiven by the owner and allowed back in if he wore only red shorts however cold the weather might be, and on condition that Cardiacs actually pay for the recording this time.)

During all this time, Cardiacs gradually became uncomfortably aware that they were being continually watched. But by who? Everything they did was done with terrible feelings of dread. No one knew why.

In 1983, William D. Drake was spotted by Tim Smith playing the piano in a small back room of a public house. William was accompanied by a girl singing her heart out and playing the trumpet. Her name was Lansi Lorrens (she played the trumpet on *The Seaside*). Tim, liking William's music, quickly wrote out a tune on a bit of paper and stuck it in front of William. "Play that!" he probably snapped. After William had effortlessly played the tune, Tim told him that, like it or not, he was now in Cardiacs! William wasn't sure what he meant by this but found himself in the band anyway.

Again, that feeling of being watched … those feelings of dread … Mark Cawthra mysteriously disappearing … a badly written and vulgar letter from someone called 'THE CONSULTANT' … an extremely courteous visit from a small lady called 'Miss Swift' … Cardiacs didn't know it then, but Mercy Alive, were things about to change!

Mark Cawthra was still missing. Apparently, no one really noticed.

One day the front door flies open. Some boy with a guitar strapped around him is held by his shirt collar by a very tall and greasy man shouting "THIS BOY WILL DO FOR YOU! THIS BOY WILL DO FOR YOU!" and shaking him like a ragdoll. The boy was Graham Simmonds. The tall man was THE CONSULTANT who'd been spying on Cardiacs for some time. Graham never wanted to be in Cardiacs but he was made to join. THE CONSULTANT made him. He had no choice. Cardiacs had no choice. It was Cardiacs' first meeting with THE CONSULTANT and was so not to be the last. It was around this time that a girl called Marguerite Johnston was asked to join the band to make up the other half of a saxophone section with Sarah and to fill the space that Mark Cawthra had mysteriously left. (It turned out that THE CONSULTANT had "misplaced" Mark in order to "introduce" his boy Graham into the band and was furious when Marguerite joined and made it virtually impossible for her to stay very long. She went missing in early 1984.)

For reasons known only to the band, (or not), Cardiacs remained under the tyranny of THE CONSULTANT and Miss Swift for years to come. They supplied Cardiacs with new brown clothes. "Shit brown uniform … where's my glittery uniform.?" one of the band was heard to timidly mumble under his rotten breath, but THE CONSULTANT insisted and said the uniforms were smart and tidy. Makeup was introduced to make the band more attractive. After the makeup was applied, it was insisted upon that it must remain on their faces day and night. In time, it smudged and started to smell putrid, and the brown uniforms became sweat-ridden and tatty. They were never washed.

Miss Swift would console Cardiacs whenever she could and give them the guidance and the words of wisdom they so badly needed. Miss Swift, although very wise, was also very sensitive, so any vexed questions put her way would have to be filtered through another unknown source, (an organisation called THE ALPHABET BUSINESS CONCERN). For reasons known only to him at the time, THE CONSULTANT insisted that Alphabet's name should appear on all Cardiacs releases and insisted that they be contacted before any decisions, however trivial, were made. It is thought that it was Alphabet's decision to rid the band of Graham Simmonds without consulting anyone. Not even THE CONSULTANT. But the more popular theory is Graham walking off into the distance in a sulk because everyone had forgotten him. No one actually witnessed this. If Alphabet was anything to do with this action, then it was to be the first of many liberties to be taken.

Always an invisible entity in the background, THE ALPHABET BUSINESS CONCERN demanded that THE CONSULTANT and Miss Swift should appear on the stage with Cardiacs at the end of their shows to celebrate the closing of another triumphant evening, if they had earned it. This wasn't popular with the band, as it marked the end of the show. It was, back then, the only way to make them stop playing. Miss Swift and THE CONSULTANT would sometimes have to drag a blubbing Tim Smith off the stage. It was all getting very ugly. Before long, THE ALPHABET BUSINESS CONCERN took offence to the large white decorative Daisy backdrop that Cardiacs used to perform in front of and insisted that it be replaced by the Alphabet banner still used to this day.

At around the end of 1989 THE CONSULTANT and Miss Swift received a telegram from THE ALPHABET BUSINESS CONCERN and were not seen again.

Throughout all this time (1984-1989) Cardiacs managed somehow to record a Mini album called 'Big Ship' (1986), do a few TV appearances, accidentally make a short film called 'Seaside Treats', record an EP called 'There’s Too Many Irons in the Fire' (1987) and record their first "proper" album, *A Little Man and a House and the Whole World Window* (recorded between 1985 and 1987 and released in 1988).

Cardiacs manager Mark Walmesley somehow managed to sort out the recording of this album. It was recorded at a studio called 'The Workhouse' in the old Kent road in London. The studio belonged to Manfred Mann. It is not known how this was paid for.

Mark Walmesley worked in mysterious ways. He was seen spitting in THE CONSULTANT’S face in anger on more than one occasion. THE CONSULTANT was witnessed punching Mark Walmesley square in the face very very often. It was not a good time. One time Miss Swift was so upset when Mark spat in her face that she started her period.

Mark was an independent manager who was nothing to do with THE ALPHABET BUSINESS CONCERN, and this obviously didn't sit right with THE CONSULTANT or THE ALPHABET BUSINESS CONCERN. Cardiacs have no idea how he came to end up managing them. They'd never even met him before he allotted himself to the thankless task and did their best to avoid him there after.

Mark recruited the band's loyal crew including Big Jon Daniel, who was to become Cardiacs' "Dad" and Mr Murder who was to do Cardiacs live sound and many other skilled people too numerous to mention in this history.

Between 1988 and 1989 Cardiacs recorded their album *On Land and in the Sea* at 'The Slaughterhouse studios' in Yorkshire. It was released in 1989. Mysteriously, both 'The Workhouse' and 'The Slaughterhouse' burned down shortly after Cardiacs had finished there.

Now it's 1990. THE ALPHABET BUSINESS CONCERN have secured their grip on Cardiacs. Cardiacs still don't really know who THE ALPHABET BUSINESS CONCERN are. They are somehow fooled into thinking that they, Cardiacs, are in control of their own doings. But it is clear that they are not.

Little Sarah Smith, formally 'Cutts' but now 'Smith' (this was due to THE CONSULTANT forcing her to marry Tim Smith as a punishment, saying it was to cover up a sordid story about the pair of them that was published in a newspaper called 'The Sunday Sport'), left Cardiacs to be a full time Witch and live in the woods with the snails. An album was recorded in these woods under the name of 'The Sea Nymphs'. (The Sea Nymphs were Tim Smith, Sarah Smith and William D. Drake who'd recorded another album together in secret some years before under the name of *Mr and Mrs Smith and Mr Drake*).

A girl called Christian Hayes was brought in to take Sarah’s place, but instead of turning up with a Saxophone, she brought an electric guitar by mistake, so ended up playing that. A Live concert called 'All That Glitters Is a Mare's Nest' was filmed in a spooky church in Salisbury that year and it was Little Sarah's last appearance with Cardiacs. It was also Tim Quy's last appearance. He was very still after the concert and everybody thought he'd died. He had broken the nausea rule laid down by THE ALPHABET BUSINESS CONCERN several times that day and so was disappeared. Today, somewhere, he is alive and well.

Several months later, it was realised that Christian Hayes was not a girl after all, just a strange looking boy. Upon this discovery, he felt he had to leave Cardiacs and joined 'Levitation', a band he'd formed in secret with, among others, Terry Bickers who had just left 'The House of Love' because he was insane. The remainder of Cardiacs, not knowing what to do, sat and awaited orders from THE ALPHABET BUSINESS CONCERN, but no orders came. William D. Drake took this opportunity to "jump ship" and went missing without a bag. And so, Cardiacs were now just Tim and Jim Smith and Dominic Luckman.

They sat and waited for what seemed like an eternity for any instructions. Finally, they came through and Cardiacs were told to write and record an album in glorious praise of THE ALPHABET BUSINESS CONCERN. They were told that the album must be called *Heaven Born and Ever Bright*. This they did and their hearts were lifted and filled with awe and power! They found a guitarist to take Christian's place. Jon Poole was his name. Being *not quite right* was his game. Cardiacs were now a proud four-piece. During the 'Heaven born' sessions, Little Sarah dropped in and added some saxophones. William D. Drake came and played his Television Organ (that he accidentally built out of an old television), and Christian Hayes took time out from his recordings with Levitation to sing on many of the tracks. All in glorious praise of THE ALPHABET BUSINESS CONCERN! Cardiacs finally understood the significance of all this … THE ALPHABET BUSINESS CONCERN! *The caring concern!* Or so they thought.

The next few years proved to be very strenuous. Ritualistic duties were laid upon Cardiacs and a gruelling work schedule was forced into place. Gone were the brown uniforms. Stinking and half decayed, they were stolen from out of the back of a van. The rotten thieves, obviously thinking they were stealing a trunk full of equipment, were disappointed with their swag and so left a note of complaint. Because of this, a new regime of hygiene was enforced upon Cardiacs, but enforced to such extremes that, when they weren't touring or attending functions, took up most of the band's time. One morning in 1993, as Cardiacs sat down to their lumps of food, they noticed there was someone missing. It was Dominic. He was not in his room either. He had run away for good. In his place sat a stranger, a bemused Bob Leith. He was to take Dominic's place on the drums. Cardiacs were refused permission to record anything for the next five years.

In early 1995, Cardiacs were finally given the go-ahead to record an album. The time of their chastisement had come to an end. They were never really sure why they had been so punished, but that time was over and it was now a time for rejoicing! They recorded their album *Sing To God* at 'Apollo 8' and 'Sally Birthday House' studios. So many songs, it had to be a double album. (It was later split into two separate albums due to a mistake.) They also re-released their entire back catalogue onto super-CD format.

Over the next few years, Alphabet gave the impression that they had "loosened the reigns" a little, so the band toured a lot and recorded their next album *Guns* which was released in 1999. It was probably a good time.

It was during these supposedly "good times" that Tim Smith took unfair advantage of Alphabet’s impartiality and went AWOL to write and record with strangers! He wrote an album with an peculiar bunch he'd been taken in by who all lived in a forest or something. The band was called 'Spratleys Japs'. It was when Tim boasted that it was one of the best things he'd ever worked on, and then released the album on a different label, that THE ALPHABET BUSINESS CONCERN re-tightened their invisible hold. Another five-year penalty was enforced. No recording and hardly any gigs were permitted. Maybe one concert per year? Or two if the band's behaviour had been exemplary.

For obvious reasons, any information on the years that passed is a little difficult to come by.

However, in 2003, Cardiacs were permitted to record some concerts they did, but only if the concerts consisted entirely of the songs they played when the band very first started when they were children. Whether this was a punitive action taken by THE ALPHABET BUSINESS CONCERN or not is anyone's guess, but record the concerts they did. These concerts were to be the first with new guitarist Kavus Torabi. Alphabet thought it best if Jonny Poole left the band and joined another band called The Wildhearts and told Kavus, who had already been working alongside Cardiacs as a member of their loyal crew for some years, to take his place.

The live albums are due for release in 2005 when the curfew is finally lifted.

Throughout 2004, as the curfew began to relax a little. Cardiacs felt confident enough to ask some more people on board. They wanted singers to sing out high notes and sing them out loud, so they invited three of their associates, Claire Lemmon, Melanie Woods and Sharron Sadington to do this for them. They wanted their drums to sound bigger and louder so they invited drummers to hit huge drums. Cathy Harabaras (already a drummer) and Dawn Staple, a competition winner. Dawn had won a competition granted by THE ALPHABET BUSINESS CONCERN back in 1994. The first prize was to have the winner's winning story included on the Cardiacs album *Sing to God*. The second prize was to have to appear live with Cardiacs as often as THE ALPHABET BUSINESS CONCERN saw fit whether the lucky winner liked it or not. Dawn was the only person aware of the competition due to an administration error, and so won both prizes. All the girls now hang out together. They keep themselves to themselves.

Anyway, now it is the year 2005. With the curfew abolished, Cardiacs were officially given authorisation to record another studio album.

They began the recordings earlier in the year.

That's all for now.

#### **History update August 2013**

*And so for five years, history ceased to be created by Cardiacs. Unless we consider the undignified shenanigans of Tim Smith who "fell" into a pool filled with shit and is still crawling and scratching his way out of it. The ALPHABET BUSINESS CONCERN wishes it to be known that, whilst maintaining complete control of his artistic output, they disassociate themselves ENTIRELY with his recent illness and, in fact, fail to recognise it as an excuse for not fulfilling his duties.*

## Discography

* Albums
* Singles

#### Studio albums

**A Little Man and a House and the Whole World Window**
(1988)**On Land and in the Sea**
(1989)**Heaven Born and Ever Bright**
(1992)**Sing to God**
(1996)**Guns**
(1999)

#### Demo Albums

**The Obvious Identity**
(1980)**Toy World**
(1981)**The Seaside**
(1984)

#### Compilation Albums

**Archive Cardiacs**
(1989)**Songs for Ships and Irons**
(1991)**Sampler**
(1995)**Greatest Hits**
(2002)

#### Extended plays (EPs)

**Seaside Treats**
(1985)**Big Ship**
(1987)**Night Tracks**
(1988)**Day Is Gone**
(1991)

#### Singles

**A Bus for a Bus on the Bus**
(1979)**A Cake for Bertie's Party**
(1979)**Food on the Wall**
(1979)**There's Too Many Irons in the Fire**
(1987)**All Spectacular**
(1987)**Loosefish Scapegrace**
(1987)**Is This the Life?**
(1988)**Goosegash**
(1988)**I'm Eating in Bed**
(1988)**Susannah's Still Alive**
(1988)**Blind in Safety and Leafy in Love**
(1988)**All His Geese Are Swans**
(1988)**Baby Heart Dirt**
(1989)**I Hold My Love in My Arms**
(1989)**The Safety Bowl**
(1989)**Day Is Gone**
(1991)**Bellyeye**
(1995)**A Horse's Tail**
(1995)**No Gold**
(1995)**Manhoo**
(1995)**Spinney**
(1995)**What Paradise Is Like**
(1995)**Odd Even**
(1995)**Hurricane**
(1995)**Devils**
(1995)**Signs**
(1999)**Sang 'All Away Away!'**
(1999)**Dog-Like Sparky (Instumental)**
(1999)**Ditzy Scene**
(2007)**Gen**
(2007)**Made All Up**
(2007)**Vermin Mangle**
(2020)

#### 12" singles

**A Bus for a Bus on the Bus**
(1979)**There's Too Many Irons in the Fire**
(1987)**Is This the Life?**
(1988)**Susannah's Still Alive**
(1988)**Baby Heart Dirt**
(1989)**Bellyeye**
(1995)**Manhoo**
(1995)**Odd Even**
(1995)**Signs**
(1999)**Ditzy Scene**
(2007)

## References

1. ↑ The Dreaded Press Editor (November 27, 2007). "Live review: Cardiacs - The Wedgewood Rooms, 22nd November 2007". *The Dreaded Press*. Archived July 17, 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
2. ↑ Goodhand, Tom (November 9, 2007). "Meet the most influential band you've never heard of". *The Yorkshire Post*. Retrieved February 10, 2021.
3. ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 Buckley, Peter (1999). *The Rough Guide to Rock*. Rough Guides (3rd ed.). Rough Guides Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85828-457-6.
4. ↑ Gittins, Ian (February 3, 2011). "Cardiacs tribute album to raise money for paralysed singer Tim Smith". *The Guardian*. Retrieved February 10, 2021.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Eede, Christian (July 22, 2020). "Cardiacs' Tim Smith Has Died, Aged 59". *The Quietus*. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Bendel, Graham (May 4, 2010). "Why A Heart Attack Must Not Arrest The Cardiacs". *The Quietus*. Retrieved February 10, 2021.
7. ↑ "History - CARDIACS" *Cardiacs*. Retrieved February 10, 2021.
8. ↑ Kelsey, Jake. "Tim out of Mind Magazine Iinterview 1987 or 1988". *Cardiacs Museum*. Archived from the original on June 30, 2009. Retrieved October 6, 2009.
9. ↑ Smith, Tim (July 1, 2007). "Your Vexed Questions October 2005". Archived from the original on July 1, 2007. Retrieved April 7, 2018.
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Torabi, Kavus (November 24, 2014). "Cardics-where to start? - Page 38". *Progressive Ears*. Retrieved August 7, 2016.
11. ↑ Voorvelt, Martijn (April 2004). "Cardiacs at the Garage: it's history". *Perfect Sound Forever*. Archived December 15, 2010 at the Wayback Machine.
12. ↑ "Diary - CARDIACS". *Cardiacs*. Retrieved February 10, 2021.
13. ↑ "Tim Smith Health Statement 2018". *Cardiacs*. Retrieved October 19, 2018.
14. ↑ Smith, Tim (April 29, 2013). "Hello Kidz! (You will notice that I spelled the word kidz with a 'z')." *Facebook*. Retrieved October 31, 2019.
15. ↑ Kitching, Sean (May 10, 2016). "The Golden Age Is Now: The Strange World Of Kavus Torabi". *The Quietus*. Retrieved October 31, 2019.
16. ↑ Unknown (November 23, 2016). "Imgur". *Imgur.* Retrieved October 31, 2019.
17. ↑ Drake, William D. (December 4, 2016). "Prog magazine says ...". *William D. Drake*. Retrieved October 31, 2019.
18. ↑ "abcglobus". *YouTube*. Retrieved October 31, 2019.