Personal best

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Cardiffian Stuart Moxham was born in 1955 the year rock n roll arrived in the UK in the form of Bill Hailey and his Comets. He benefitted from a rich musical family environment, with old school hymns in church; a classical/operatic parental record collection c/o the mighty Bush mono gramophone; a Dad, Terence Moxham, who sings and, in those days also performed, in local musicals and light opera and an elder brother, Richard, whose pivotal musical influence was extended by the fact that he introduced stereo and headphones in the early 70 s. Stuart s first bought 7 single: Pinball Wizard by The Who; album: Blind Faith by Blind Faith; and first gig: The Edgar Broughton Band. Casually introduced to learning the guitar by a friend, Matthew Davis, in 1975, Stuart was galvanised by the idea that it could become the vehicle to enable him to escape the provinces as a singer songwriter. After learning the ropes as a child onstage with his father in various musical productions Stuart sang and played guitar with a local covers band, formed by Matthew and including his brother Phil Moxham on Bass and Alison Statton on backing vocals, called True Wheel, before forming Young Marble Giants in 1978. The times were right when, following a year of writing their material, YMG approached Rough Trade. The outcome was a continuing success story revolving around their small but perfectly formed body of work, in particular the album Colossal Youth . Towards the end of 1980 Stuart booked the same studio YMG used to record tracks as The G!st, a solo project with invited contributions from various friends like Lewis Mottram and the studio owner and Producer Dave Anderson. After the implosion of YMG following tours of the UK, Europe and the US, Stuart squatted in London with friends, from the also defunct Essential Logic, where Phil Legg introduced him to multitrack recording. A serious motorcycle accident, followed shortly afterwards by eviction, then led Stuart to live in Nottingham where he responded to a year in plaster and on crutches by recording what became the G!st album "Embrace The Herd". Once his health had recovered Stuart relocated to Cardiff and began an ongoing musical relationship with his younger brother Andrew Moxham, initially as The G!st, having converted a room in their shared house into a studio. It was during this time that Stuart met his wife to be and they eventually moved back to London. Stuart had begun a career in animation paint and trace, with the esteemed Cardiff based company Siriol, and continued it when Walt Disney came to London to make "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" At this time Stuart also began recording a new solo album on hired equipment at his home on Streatham. There was then a four year interlude of living on a narrowboat in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, commuting into town and working for the U.S. label Feel Good All Over in Chicago. For three consecutive years Stuart travelled to The Windy City to gig, record and produce variously for folks like Barbara Manning and K Records' Beat Happening and Lois. He also released three solo albums; the London sessions, which saw the light of day in 1992 as "Signal Path" on FeelGood All Over; his first collaboration with Louis Philippe and Ken Brake, "Random Rules", commissioned by Parisian Patrick Fevret and "Cars In The Grass" a project which drew together the considerable firepower of Phil Moxham, Andrew Moxham, and Spike Reptile and marked the beginning of a relationship with the London based label Vinyl Japan. A fourth solo album was recorded in Chicago, produced by the excellent Dave Trumfio, to be called "Plan A" but which never saw the light of day after Feel Good All Over ceased operating. With three very young children at home a multi-million selling cover of his YM.