Tim Scott's Biography

Biography
Bald On The Inside Biography

Tim, aged 15 decided that playing lead guitar was what life was about; so he begged, borrowed and stole, selling everything of value he owned to buy his first electric guitar, even selling the cheap electric bass he’d been playing for the past year.

The day he purchased his first electric guitar it remained in his hands for 11 hours, not willing even to put it down to eat! The next day was trickier with his fingers so sore, two hours was all he could muster.

On the days that Tim took his guitar into school he regularly jammed in the Music Block at break times with kids hanging through the windows to listen to his wailing blues jamming through an old K’s catalogue amp that unfathomably sounded smoothly overdriven when you turned it up

Professional Sound Europe:

Leaving School at 16 Tim landed a summer job building custom Flight Cases and Speaker Cabinets for Pro Sound Europe. The company also did sound reinforcement for large tours including: Live Aid, U2, The Four Tops, The Supremes, The Commodores, Senita, Big Country, Brother Beyond, The Georgia Satellites, and The Icicle Works plus many more…

Besides performing a variety of tasks in the workshop form equipment maintenance to routing speaker baffles, Tim also found himself helping out as a sound crew rohdie on a number of gigs and festivals throughout the summer.

This time was not only memorable for the drink and drug crazed antics of some of the crew but for one incident that is still most vivid as Billie (monitor engineer who eventually ended up as George Michaels world Tour Manager) almost destroyed a club as he pressed a button in the DJ booth hoping to make the stage descend to the basement to roll the gear out to the waiting Articulated lorry.

He hit the wrong button the floor went down and the clubs lighting rig slowly began descending onto the show lighting rig, stairs appeared from the balcony like some angry kid poking their tong out forcing Pete (Mild mannered Punk rohdie) of the step ladders he was on as he clung perilously to the end of a lighting bar he scrambled up the appearing stairs to the safety of the balcony as the step ladders clattered into the now descending hole in the floor as the stage lowered to the basement area.

There were several almighty cracks as things began to get crushed with everyone now running for cover in all directions; luckily one of the venue staff came over and stopped the destruction with the press of a button and a hail of expletives toward Billie.

This was an amazing experience as Tim moved from innocence to manhood seeing life in all its Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll craziness; and although sound was one of Tim’s passions deep down he knew his only true desire was to write and record original compositions and so used almost all the money he had earned over the summer to buy some guitar effects pedals and related accessories.

Salford Collage of Music

In the autumn Tim attended the esteemed Salford Collage of Music and Technology. This was the first time he had experienced any formal one-to-one guitar tuition and under the watchful guidance of Liverpool based jazz guitar wizard Les Bolger he learnt a tremendous amount in a very short time.

Unfortunately after only completing one year Tim was asked to leave after running naked through the refectory at lunch time! Although this was a fantastic Rock & Roll educated year with untamed mayhem like you have never seen! (Drama students are officially hazardous and their parties really are legendary!).

This year of learning helped Tim a great deal; exposing him to everything from arrangement, going the pub at lunch time followed by sight singing and opera training (not the best combination but funny all the same…) as well as master classes by Bill Backer who was famed for writing the hit single/commercial jingle “I’d like to teach the world to sing” and Dire Straights rhythm guitarist David Knopfler

L.B.S. Studios

Leaving Salford Collage of Music with his clothes back on, Tim immediately set about approaching commercial studios looking for an apprenticeship. After some searching he gained a place at the award winning L.B.S studios and music production house; experiencing all areas of commercial audio production and post production.

At that time he was taught many things by then in house producer, song writer and session guitarist Martin Abbott who was producing work on the side for Stock, Aitken and Waterman with artists including Sam Fox, Big fun and the B side for the PWL Cliff Richard single.

Martin left during this time to set up his own company ASAP Music which ultimately gave Tim the umisable opportunity to make his session guitar debut on network TV commercials.

Seriously Large Cocktails topped with L.S.D. Dreams:

Around this time Tim had joined a band called Single Point which in no time claimed the runner-up prize of one day’s recording time at Courtyard Studios in a local Battle of the Bands competition. As part of the prize the finished track received numerous plays on local radio station Imagine FM.

Single-minded in his quest to become the finest guitarist/composer he worked evenings in a local bars so he could practice during the day this worked out fine provided he avoided the five day Stella benders were you climb scaffolding and dance on the roof of a listed building at 4:37am and then wake up in a yellow builders skip at 6:30am on the A6 someplace in Great Moor.

During his “any cocktail you can dream up, I swear I can drink twice as many…” phase; Tim started performing solo instrumental blues/rock guitar improvisation alongside the old style free and easy organ, drums and Compare that performed in The Five Ways Pub where he worked.

On each and every occasion he performed it was received to a rapturous response, occasionally to a standing ovation with the punters who watched, still recalling his mesmerizing blues playing to this day.

He also kept striving to develop his session career being more and more regularly called upon to play for TV and radio commercials during this time.

While continuing working in bars he gradually slipped more and more into residual drinking binges that sometimes lasted for weeks with even his close friends commenting on his rough state and encouraging him to calm down, although he had also started experimenting with various drugs including: Marijuana, L.S.D. and sometimes Amphetamines but he never took it to any great extent he vows that some of these experiences were creatively incredibly beneficial.

Although in the short term this was a symptom that was systematic of his sheer boredom and frustration generated by his constant internal struggle with dyslexia which incidentally he had refused time and time again to acknowledge.

He tried to pretend it didn’t affect his life career but as he struggled to hold down anything but a minimum wage job by now, deep down he knew that music was his only hope for any kind of stable and a fulfilling future profession as well as being the only thing that he was truly gifted at and moreover enjoyed the most

Europe’s Prestigious Guitar Institute, Acton, London:

At the age of 21 he applied to study on the first full time professional level guitar performer’s course to run outside of America. Then based in Acton, London; headed up by director Alan Limbrick who had previously studied and subsequently taught at the esteemed M.I.T., in Hollywood, California for several years before moving back to England to found The Guitar Institute (now ICMP).

Tim effortlessly passed the purely practical based entrance exams, but now crucially required extra funding to attend his place. Determined to set out on his chosen vocation he approached various chartable bodies for a grant and also approached the local press with some publicity stunts to highlight his cause.

He ultimately found the support he needed closer to home as his parents steeped in to lend him the moral and financial support he urgently needed now realizing this was the right opportunity to set him on his way.

The Guitar Institute Tutors 1992-1993:

The course was one of the greatest experiences of his career, setting the level of playing he wished to attain. The teachers included Shaun Baxter; who happened to be recording his fantastic seminal album ‘Jazz Metal’ during this time. Dave Kilminster (now of the Roger Waters Pink Floyd band) joined the Institutes coaching team about half way through the course and regularly jammed with Tim inside and outside of Lectures.

On the mischief front Tim hardly drank during his year this was mainly down to his determination to achieve. But he did roll a joint of freshly mown grass clippings from the local park and leave it on the head tutors desk! This led to him being publically accused of having more front than Hanley’s (Very large toy shop in central London). This made a welcome change from the accusation of being “A loud northern Bastard!” although both were probably both quite applicable on numerous occasions.

Other teachers included (Listed by the styles they specialized in): Blues/Funk by Iain Scott, Rob Burns (Dave Gilmore - solo project studio bass sessions), Country by Lee Hodgson (Albert Lee and columns in Guitar Techniques and Guitarist magazines), Top 40 by Max Milligan (UK singer songwriter Jayne Taylor - Liberty X, Beverly Craven, Sugababes), Terry Gregory, Jazz Improvisation, Sight Reading by Barry Langton, Rhythm section workshops by Nick Beggs (Kajagoogoo sessions – Michael Bolton).

With master classes by: Mega Jazz Guitarist - Adrian Ingram (Nigel Kennedy), Acoustic Master Steve Howe (Yes), session guitarist Doug Boyle (Robert Plant Band) and Guitar Tech Genius Brinsley Schwarz (Chandlers Guitar Shop – Repairs).

The final show was judged by the famed instrumental Guitarist - Hank Marvin (Cliff Richard) and the heavy weight Session Drummer - John Cambridge (David Bowie) Tim played a funk fusion composition of his own called Mr Resistor named after an electrical supplier in central London.

He worked exceedingly hard all year Graduating in late June, 1993 when he moved back to Manchester and started teaching the private students he’d began to build over the previous year.

Brighton Rock:

By August he spotted an opportunity to join a band with a drummer he had met in London at Drum Tech (Drum Tech was the sister school to the Guitar Institute) and moved to Brighton to follow a path to find the winning formula.

He worked his way by teaching part time and taking various jobs including, fatefully, a stockroom assistant in the Argos store in Lewis town center. He was sacked for failing to attach a 24 piece dinner service securely enough to the goods escalator/conveyer belt that ran from the stock room on the 1st floor to the shop floor at street level. It subsequently rolled building up some momentum before hitting the wall behind counter with some force as the awaiting customer looked on in horror as it bounced to the floor with the best sound effect of breaking china you’ve ever heard in your whole life.

After five months of rehearsals and gigs the band broke up due to musical differences and so Tim headed back to Manchester. He soon joined another band called Mr. Whiz. Who had just been offered a £250.0000 record deal but their coke head guitarist had bottled it and walked so Tim filled the breach for a short time to see if it would go.

19th Nervous Breakdown:

By the end of September 1994 Tim started suffering from anxiety attacks so severe that he rapidly became unable to work. He gave up playing guitar for almost a whole year following this near total breakdown of confidence as his refusal to acknowledge his binding but unseen disability finally caught up with him and his mental psyche went into melt down.

“The only way I can describe the feeling is; it’s as though someone has taken all the fuses out of the back of your head and put them back in the wrong slots.”

The white lightning fueled binge drinking and occasional drug mayhem could no longer hold back his inner most fears and deepest anxieties as he had to sit back for a while and learn to live with his dyslexia which had made his life extremely problematic from day one.

Unable to suppress the musical creativity that poured out no matter how ill he may have felt he managed to accumulate enough money to buy an RY20 Yamaha drum machine and started learning how to program stellar sounding drum tracks.

Not content with just rhythm he started composing entire pieces using the on board bass sequencer and tuned percussion. This was a great distraction as he still needed to create music because when he stopped playing guitar he could not help himself from tapping rhythms on anything as an almost essential release for the music inside.

The first piece of many he composed at this time was The Fair which reflects his dark mood and features on his debut album Bald on the Inside. The way he composed at this time very much suited his very soul because he controlled all the parts just like a classical composer and soon longed to do comparably intricate work with his guitar and other live instruments.

This may have been one of the darkest moments in Tim’s career when any lesser man would have lost their nerve, but through this dark testing came a steeled unflinching determination to succeed which could not be weakened. You see, when you’ve played knock and run on the gates of hell you aren’t afraid no matter what.

Yamaha Star:

Several years later the pieces that where formed on the RY20 alone were sent to the head office of Yamaha U.K. who were so impressed by the high standard of the compositions, considering the limitations of the equipment, that they immediately sent them to Yamaha’s international head quarters in Japan.

Tim started honing his producing credentials by putting some well planned tracks together with live guitar and the RY20; he borrowed some equipment including a Mackie Desk and two DAT (Digital Audio Tape) players and started constructing some intricately arranged tracks by bouncing between the two machines, mixing as he went just as early Beatles recordings were made.

He started selling the basically packaged but professionally duplicated tape copies he had made to friends, family and to unsuspecting punters around the local pubs. This first EP has become very rare as there were only a small number made and so they are now quite highly sought after.

Taking Bands to the Next Level:

In the next few years Tim worked very hard to build his teaching business constantly improving the service and with the number of students and his turn over growing each year things were picking.

Tim was head hunted by Graham the lead singer of The Beavers, a local band that had a very respectable following of loyal supporters and this soon led to numerous gigs in Pubs, Clubs at Private Functions, Festivals and occasionally Radio Road Shows which including supporting Suzi Quatro in front of 24,000 people on one occasion.

At some of these gigs he took opportunity to play the instrumental pieces that were inspiring him during the half time break and although this caused tensions within the band but he began to see with great clarity where he wanted to be.

Tim was soon approached to join The Jason Isaacs band up to that time had already supported AM and The Alarm on their U.K. tours and Jason had also recorded a single with The Alarm to back one of Jason’s songs. The band now formed of new members changed its name to A Few Good Men.

He also played in local Blues outfit for good measure, but was soon to drop The Beavers, and the Blues band to concentrate on learning a set of solo instrumental guitar covers as this is what he had aspired to all along featuring works by the likes of Jeff Beck, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Eric Clapton, Toto, Booker T. and the M.G.’s, Hank Marvin, The Ventures, and Eric Johnson to name but a few.

Bald On the Inside Initial Ideas:

As Tim started writing for his debut artist album he realized he needed to face his inner most fears to be able to focus fully on the task that lay ahead. So after a monumental eight day drinking bender between Christmas and New Year he found the courage to quit drinking and smoking all at the sometime. This was pretty horrendous for those around him but he is still on the wagon to this day.

He started buying some basic recording equipment initially to make some backing tracks for the aforementioned covers set but soon realized that it would take as much work to learn and record the covers backing tracks as it would to write and record an album of his own stuff and so the ‘Bald On The Inside’ project was born.

Continuing on with ‘A Few Good Men’ for just over a year before coming to the overwhelming realization that song writing and being part of a song writing band was not a place the true soul of his extraordinary talent could be expressed fully. No longer could his gift for composing and arranging the very best instrumental guitar music be suppressed. This considered he left song bands for good to concentrate on his growing solo project.

Endorsement Clinic for Jackson Guitars:

During 2002 Tim was asked to lead a Jackson endorsement clinic by then demonstrator Geoff Beauchamp in conjunction with Dawson’s music. Tim performed works by Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Eric Clapton for the event to a fantastic response from the small but tightly packed venue.

As part payment he took delivery of a brand new custom shop SL2 snake skin finish Jackson which you can see in the Guitar Gallery section of the Gallery page.

The Building Of Acer Studios:

Tim started gathering together the strongest and most recent compositional ideas he had, as well as developing some very exciting new ones. He spent a great deal of time researching what would be the most suitable equipment he could purchase to create the album in the most professional sounding way with out using any outside commercial studio facilities in order to keep a tight creative control and save money.

Selecting an ex-demo Yamaha AW4416 professional audio workstation with motor faders and full mix automation (internal processing 32-bit except for the EQ stages, which use 54-bit processing) for beautifully clear resolution and reproduction topped off with a couple of very nice mic pre-amps. All based on the famous Yamaha O2R mixer. But with a 16 track 24 bit 48Khz hard disk recorder built in.

He also bought a variety of 19” rack out board including a couple of Lexicon reverbs and a TC electronic multi FX unit used for fold back and mixing. At the same also purchasing a Joe Meek stereo compressor and a BBE 362 sonic maximiser for use laying sounds down and sometimes spinning tracks out, to beef them up or add sparkle.

At this time he carefully selected and purchased a Warwick 4 string bass and wide variety of Latin Percussion including: Tambourines, Indian Finger Cymbals, Bongos, Shakers, Claves, Jam Bells, Tri-Tone Samba Whistle, Flex-A-Tone, Chimes, Vibra-Slap, Bell Tree, Castanets, Agogo Bells, Cabassa, Cowbells, Sambago Bells, Jam Blocks, Triangles and also a Roland V-Drum kit, but with full set of Zildjian Crash, Splash and China Trash Cymbals, Ping Ride, Earth Plates, and Mastersound Hi-Hats.

Musical Paintings:

Tim now enthused by his lifelong idea of being able to successfully paint pictures in sound. Just like an artist creates an image, by selecting the right material’s he creates an image without consultation on say what color the sky should be and sells it. This focused his mind and he immediately set about learning to play the variety of instruments he had purchased, whilst beginning to write and record this truly extraordinary debut album.

He worked from as early as 5am in the morning till 9 or 10pm some days in order to learn, write, record, and teach all in the same day with his mind focused on the end goal.

The album took about 10 months to complete with the next task to be CD mastering, sleeve art work, and pressing. The cover photo was taken in a botanical cactus garden on the island of Fuerteventura in the Canneries. The personal photography was shot on Alderly Edge near Manchester; during a freezing Easter afternoon as the sun was setting by Scott Barlow.

‘Bald on The Inside’ was mastered at The Cottage Studio near Macclesfield by producer Roger Boden. Once this was done Tim avidly set about selling CD’s to friends, relatives and even out of a shoulder bag to strangers in bars and on the street.

Printing posters and flyers he self promoted by handing them out in the street, and leaving them in Sandwich Bars, Take Away’s, and Music Shops. Initially he busked the album and then booked a few gigs in local bars to a good response but realized he needed to get to a much wider, but most of all, sober audience

Tim Scott wins the award “Guitarist Of The Year 2003”:

Tim was invited to perform at the Birmingham N.E.C. by journalist Ben Bartlett on behalf Guitarist Magazine as part of the “2003 Guitarist of the Year” competition by playing two songs from his ‘Bald On The Inside’ CD one to open the competition and one as the judging took place.

In a later 2005 guitar press article about Tim’s work he was crowned the real winner of the coveted “Guitarist of the Year 2003” award.

Another real break came from Marek Bublik (Drummer and song writer with space rock band Litmus) who brought the opportunity to get his CD distributed through the high street chain Borders Music & Book Shops by performing in store to promote the product.

National reviews came with a self release through Borders…

This gave Tim the leverage required to gain national press attention. The first national reviews of ‘Bald On The Inside’ featured in Guitarist magazine, with Guitar Techniques and Guitar magazines swiftly following suit, all with glowing reports of Tim’s spectacular take on the solo rock/jazz instrumental guitar record.

Booking showcase appearances in Borders stores up and down the country throghout 2004 this generated enough sales to send it shooting into their top 200 sellers list on several occasions.

Radio 1 Fall Out:

A journalist who was in touch with Tim at this time mentioned his guitar skills to Radio 1 DJ Judge Jules during an interview, and as luck would have it he was looking for a guitar player to collaborate with on an instrumental guitar track for his debut artist album Proven Worldwide.

This recording took place at Jules bespoke London Studio in early 2005. The initial guitar was laid down in a few hours giving Jules and his engineer Richard Bowl plenty of strands to create the final composition from.

Techno Flamenco Cross:

About a month later Tim re-recorded the initial guitar that had now been finely arranged into the recognizable tune of ‘Puesta Del Sol’ over Jules’ full on banging music bed at his private production facility Acer Studios and returned the master in just under 48 hours.

This involved working from 9am to 4pm in the studio, breaking from recording to teach from 4:00pm till 9:30pm, then continuing on in the studio till 5:30am the next morning in order to get the job out first thing the following day. “This can often be what it takes to achieve the superb performance you hear on a finished recording.” Muses Tim.

Live Guitar Mashing at Judgement Sundays Ibiza:

At in the initial ‘Puesta Del Sol’ session Tim asked Jules if he would consider having him improvise over his funky set in the back room at Judgement Sunday, Ibiza, much like his outstanding Cuban sax player Rocky currently performed. He was very keen on the idea as he’d never played live with a guitar player before, but his final decision was deferred until the season start in Ibiza later that year.

In the end Jules offered to fly Tim out for the weekend of his choosing during the 2005 season to play alongside his funky set in the back room; so he chose the Radio 1 weekend in which is always in early August. This performance was so well received that he was flown back out to play the closing party in mid September that same year.

Here is an Excerpt from Judge Jules on-line diary, 23rd August 2005:

“Each week I also play a backroom funky set, accompanied by Cuban live saxophonist Roque. On this occasion my guitarist friend Tim Scott replaced Roque, playing a flashing pink guitar straight out of the glam rock era along to the tracks I was spinning. Guitar works well with a vast range of different music styles- assorted pedals and effects can make the same instrument generate a huge spectrum of sounds. Tim’s guitar playing was very well received to say the least.”

In 2006 Tim was again flown out to perform alongside Judge Jules, this time as part of the extended week of special events to celebrate 10 years of live shows from Ibiza by Radio 1.

Guitar Institute Master Class:

Tim was invited back to the Guitar Institute where he initially studied to take a lecture demonstrating his guitar mash-up exploits and revealing his secrets for playing along side DJ’s in the summer term of 2005.

Also covering his work on the theory of modern day parentless chord progressions and how he intends to front this super post modern movement in music and how this is changing the sound of the music we hear every day.

During 2005 Tim commenced the recording of his second album but this time taking much more care in the writing and recording process with the aim of producing a musically creative instrumental guitar album that would have super post modern arrangement and production but with insanely catchy melodies as well as his trade mark extravagant playing.

Unquestionably creating a modern day masterpiece with true mass appeal this would be the perfect cross over album for 2008, that is loved by the general public, and admired by musicians alike.

2nd Judge Jules Collaboration/Guitar Mashing Cross:

Tim wrote the track Ibiza’s Secret Garden initially for his stunning second album ‘Guitar Mashing’ and also as an idea for his second collaboration track with Radio 1 DJ Judge Jules. Jules liked the idea so much that he wrote his track City Rockers around Tim’s idea remixing the main hook in his own inimitable style. He played this out in his in the main room set at Judgement Sunday, Eden, Ibiza across the entire summer season of 2007 to a jumpin’ response, City Rockers is set for international release on Jules second artist album in late 2008.

Guitar Mashing:

‘Guitar Mashing’ is Tim’s second artist CD and features catchy melodies over devastatingly funky riffs all mashed-up with Stella drums, percussion with large rolling Funky House influenced bass lines that twist the very edges of what is possible with harmony within the constraints of equal temperament. This album is set to take the World by storm with its imminent December 2008 release.

This truly super post modern album has already had comparisons drawn to be a Mike Oldfield meets Jeff Beck to go for a Mashed up holiday in Ibiza as Tim Writes, Plays, Records and Produces everything himself; plays awe inspiring guitar with ease and brings it all together with an underlying Balearic feel. ‘Guitar Mashing’ is as at home pumping out of Café Del Mar or Café Mambo on Sunset Strip, Ibiza, as it would be gracing the pages of The UK Guitar Magazines. This is truly a cross over album of great importance so beware… ignore it at your peril.

Make sure you get a first pressing copy as soon as it arrives as undoubtedly it will be soon snapped up by a Major Label and will surely look different when it is. This will leave first pressed editions going for good money on EBay no doubt.

Future Mega Success:

‘Guitar Mashing’ contains perhaps the world’s most creative guitar playing to date with a totally new sound and style all of its own. It is defiantly in a new and exciting genre box all of its own. Those who say everything in music has been done will indeed be eating their words when they hear this potentially monumentally world changing album.

This is as rebellious as the punk movement of the 70’s. Thought rather than being raw and aggressive it sees the more than welcome return of original musical talent. The public has been crying out for a new direction in music that contains pure unadulterated talent, and this may be just what they are looking for.

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