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The tunes on the above audio player are either High Cigar mixes or remixes or one of the bands I've been in.

I am an Anarcho-Socialist who believes that we are in desperate need of a second industrial revolution in order to transfer to environmentally safe methods of propulsion & production.

I am an internationalist & a situationist.

I am utterly opposed to international warfare & believe no country has the right to occupy another.

I believe in every human being's right to migrate around the planet without restriction.

I am opposed to factory farming & am a great believer in reforestation.

High Cigar is a solo project that I have been running since 2002. Having been in bands since 1984 I thought it was time to fashion some home-spun DJ based material covering themes & experimental styles that seem relevant to the 21st century. As with most of the bands I have been in & the line-ups I play in at the moment the music is almost impossible to categorize. I believe this is essential as a precursor to new categories being developed. On that note I believe High Cigar is an attempt to avoid the present obsession with 20th century nostalgia. In a world where Drum & Bass is still seen as the most recently evolved musical form I believe it is essential that we split from tradition. I went to my first Drum & Bass event nearly 16 years ago! I still love the genre & it's influence on High Cigar is obvious but I am confounded as to why newer forms of musical creativity have not come along & impacted in all that time. I thought revivalism was rife in the early 1980's when I used to go to a Mod Club on one night of the week, a Rock & Roll gig on another, a Heavy Metal club on another & a Punk gig to finish the cycle off at the end. The dabbling in earlier genres was an obsession back then but was as nothing compared to the derivative & repetative music scene as it exists today. I therefore hope that the music on this site is as new to you as it seems to me & I welcome any comments on this issue.

Within the bands I have performed in I have first & foremost been a singer & lyricist. For the last fifteen years {of the twenty four that I have been playing live} I have also played clarinet, tin whistle, tenor recorder, percussion of various kinds {particularly the African djembi drums}, keyboards, guitar, thumb piano, bass guitar, zuti box, overtone flute, harmonica & kazoo.

I have been in numerous bands. In chronological order some of them include The Hornets, State 53, Psycho's Mum, The Weird Happenings Organisation, Dangerous Bend Mirrors, Fuzznation, Whip The Minister, Revoltage, Sunsnake, The Missing Puddings, Lord Snooty, Lord Snooty Deceased, Underdog, Pnevma, Delegate Zero, The Druid's Revenge Collective, The Kreative Action Network and Not The Only Clown In The Village. For in depth info on all past bands, line-ups and many past events go to www.highpanch.org.uk

I have been in countless pick-up bands some of which include The Wicked Faeries of Chaos, The Queen Mum's Balsa Wood Teeth Experience, Goatbeard The Dry Leper, Kill Debt, Dorsal Root Ganglion & The Roadkill Toadskin Revue. I have guested in untold bands such as Headjam, The Bikinis, The Feckin' Ejits, The Hoochie Coochie Band, Impossible Stress Factor, Triptych, & Running On Empty.

I have played with plenty of boundary breaking musicians some of which include Nik Turner, Nick {The Bevis Frond} Saloman, Mick Crossley from The Flyte Reaction, Chris Bowsher out of RDF, Dave Skull from The Dispossessed, Billy Jenkins from The Voice of God Collective, Joe Bazouki from The Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain, Gypsy Phil Barrett, Jason from Johnny Action Finger & The Monty Pirates, Alice & Dave from The Monty Pirates, Cosmic Andy from The Space Pirates, Colin & Molara Powerstepper of Zion Train, Jason Terrestrial, Paco Terrestrial of Conflict fame, Mike Barry from Easter & The Totem, Bari Watts from The Outskirts of Infinity, Fran Terrestrial, Phil P.A.I.N. & Maggie Nichols.

At present, apart from High Cigar, I am playing music with The Druid's Revenge Collective and, until recently, was playing in Not The Only Clown In The Village. "The Druid's Revenge Collective" is a jamming beatnik orchestra with a fluctuating line-up from week to week. Anywhere from between 10 and 20 poets and musicians gather every Tuesday at various locations to play and record 21st Century hybrid music with instruments ranging from guitars, bass guitars, Djembi drums, clarinets, saxophones, tin whistles, recorders, Jew's Harps, Keyboards, harmonicas, clackamores, trombones, trumpets, flutes, aguiras, octave flutes, and more vocal styles than you could shake a stick at. Members often include myself on percussion, clarinet, whistles, tenor recorder, harmonica and vocals, Bertie on trumpet, Nik Turner on clarinet, saxophone and flute, Betty on clarinet, Steve Pyat on octave flute, harmonica, percussion, Jew's Harp, Gentleman Jim keyboards, Dai Wyn Jones on guitar and trombone, Jan on sax, Gareth on sax, Tuesday on trumpet, Cliff the Riff on electric guitar and the stringmeister Mr Pete Wey on guitars plus, and not forgetting Ervine the Bard on Space Poetry.

Craig's inaugural gig with The Clowns was at The Queen's Hall in Narberth, West Wales in Dec 2007 in front of a couple of hundred punters. Sendelica, Order 66, Regime and The Monty Pirates were also on the line-up. I compered the event and gave away chocolate Santas on sticks, Hawkwind and Devo DVDs, clown masks and tangerines as big big prizes.. "Not The Only Clown in The Village" have been through a few line-up changes over the two years since their creation at the beginning of 2007. Jonsky out of the band Leggofingers played bass for a while and a line-up of Robin on guitar and vocals, Jonski and Tessa French on drums hit the road with guest appearances by Jason out of Johnny Action Finger. Nik Turner has also guested on saxophone and flute. At the start of 2008 a new line-up reared its head. Robin Benson {one time anchor man of TidyLike Records and The Narberth Rock School} on guitar and vocals, Tess {formerly the singer with Brother Vegetable} on drums, melodica, accordian and vocals, Bowen {guitarist of Order 66} on bass and myself on vocals, clarinet, tin whistle, tenor recorder, percussion and harmonica. Our first gig with the 08 line-up was at Letterston Memorial Hall in West Wales on March 8th with Nik Thunder Rider Turner of Hawkwind and Inner City Unit fame on sax and flute and Ervine The Bard reciting space poetry. 2008 saw this Dubfolk Punk ensemble play a plethora of interesting events. Some included The Blue Rock Festival in The Preseli Mountains of West Wales, The Triple C Classic Truck Traveller's Free Festival in Camarthenshire, The Queen's Hall in Narberth, on the same line-up as such local luminaries as Sessionhead, Supergene and Johnny Action Finger, The Cardigan Castle Cafe Cellar Bar with the Surf-Punk band The Ray Guns and a sustainable energy traveller's conference in the town hall in Newport near Fishgaurd. The Clowns also played Bonkersfest in and around Camberwell Green in London as part of The Mad Pride organisation. Other bands on the bill included Gertrude, Powersteppers {ex Zion Train}, Unity and Devision, Fuck Off Batman and the inimitable Maggie Nichols. In 2009 we had yet another line-up which included Raggin Charlie on drums and Catagramma Zelphante on bass. The Clowns played many gigs in 2009. Other bands on the same line-up have included Sicknote, Johhny Action Finger, The Powersteppers Jah Free at three different gigs at The Queen's Hall in Narberth, Sendelica & The Nik Turner Band at a Pagan Summer Camp in West Wales and The Beatzers, The Mamaku Project, De Gringos, The Suicide Birds and The Ken Parson's Band at The ADM Traveller's Festival in Amsterdam. The Clowns also played street gigs in Amsterdam, Bruges and Swansea with 30 watt battery powered amplifiers taking it to the public with issue based songs and their own brand of electric eclectic mayhem. The Clowns have one cd LP and one cd EP released. The LP {"Smilin Yer Cancer"} was released as a tribute to Robin's brother Ben who has died of cancer. His attitude and resilience was an inspiration to us all. The EP features the last line-up I was involved in and had three tracks from what is hopefully a forthcoming LP.

I am writing copius amounts of autobiographical, semi-autobiographical & Fictional literature. Along with other writers and artists I have published a compilation of stories involving the transgenderational assassin Jerry Cornelius who is the creation of the godfather of multiverse fiction Mr Michael Moorcock. Michael has provided us with an introduction and this project is almost complete thanks to his encouragement and support. For some of the stories in this mammoth exploration into the twisted head-spaces of various time-streams visit the blog section of this site. For all of the stories in hard copy do a search for "The Fluxxus Paradigm" on www.lulu.com Take a Cornelius trip! Turn on, tune in and freeeeeek out!

I also make films, music videos & produce static works of art.

Lastly I would like to thank friends, family & partners for inspiration {particularly my wife Kiran, & my Mum & Dad.... Pam & Norman High}, for help with archiving & the necessary encouragement to create & perform. Most of the photos in the slide-show above are down to them. Also a very special thanks to Mark "Skip" Courtney for taking my designs seriously & constructing this site layout for me. For further information about his work visit www.GITinternational.co.uk The two animated videos below featuring the music of Not The Only Clown In The Village were made by Dave Eyre http://www.myspace.com/vjflickeringlight The films below that are courtesy of Craig "Cloumbo" Davies who happened to be passing by while Not The Only Clown In The Village were performing an impromptu street gig in Swansea, Wales in June 09.

DON'T LET THE BASTARDS GRIND YOU DOWN!

For further info.

www.highpanch.org.uk