Tuesday 30 January 2018

Steve 'Smiley' Barnard, The Man Behind Smiley's Friends In The Afterglow, Features In Bowel Cancer Charity Book


This week I received this cracking CD in the post. Smiley's Friend In The Afterglow is the 5th album from drummer, and music producer Steve 'Smiley' Barnard. Among the many artists he has banged the drums for include Robbie Williams, Joe Strummer, The Mock Turtles, and From The Jam. He currently is drumming for Archive and The Alarm, and it is through my love of The Alarm that I have got know more about him.


The original plan was to do the book stuff with him at the 2017 Gathering in Llandudno, but we kept missing each other, so in the end I met Smiley at his recording studio in Fleet a few months later. At the time he was in the early stages of recording his album, which he was very excited about, as well being kept very busy with recording and touring commitments with The Alarm and Archive. We chatted for over an hour, and he couldn't have been nicer, and was a true gent. As you can see he was also a great sport donning the bowel cancer tie. The new charity book is still some way from completion, but with chapters like this one, I can assure you that it will be worth the wait.

The new album is quite brilliant, and his albums just seem to get better and better. The songs are superbly crafted, and have energy, passion, great melodies, and not surprisingly high production values. It's simply pure class, and is available from his Sunshine Corner Studios website ,and the CD is only a tenner.. He is also a little more old school, in that he is managing to release an album each year, which is a kind of throw-back to the bands we grew up listening to in late 1970s, where an album a year from them was more the norm. Times have certainly changed on that score... Hopefully album number 6 this time next year? 😉


I took the photo of Smiley and bassist Craig Adams when I joined them and the rest of The Alarm at the Abbey Road recording studios for The Scriptures project. To find out more about that amazing experience you will need to buy the Lives & Times book, my previous bowel cancer charity book, published in 2015.


My mother passed away after in August 2016 after a four year battle with bowel cancer, and all proceeds raised from the new book and everything else I do are donated to the Beating Bowel Cancer charity. The photo of Mum was taken a few days before her bowel operation in September 2012. Bowel cancer is the second biggest cancer killer in the UK, but if detected early it can be successfully treated in over 90% of cases. Increasing awareness about this awful disease is key to reducing the numbers being lost to it. Early diagnosis gives patients a really good chance of beating it, but these rates are still too low. All proceeds raised form sales of the forthcoming book will be donated to Beating Bowel Cancer / Bowel Cancer UK, the UK's leading bowel cancer charity. There are lots of items currently for sale on my www.bowelcancerfundraising.co.uk website.


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