HELLO 2016!

Hi folks,

Happy new year to everyone. I hope you had a good Xmas break and you're ready for the new year!

Many things are being planned for 2016... firstly, the Sirkis/Bialas IQ band featuring Frank Harrison on piano, Kevin Glasgow on bass, Sylwia Bialas on vocals and myself on drums will be touring in throughout the year .. mainly in May as it looks at the moment. I'm working for some more dates and places to play (any suggestions welcomed!).

Me and Sylwia are planning a new Sirkis/Bialas IQ album - we've been sharing some ideas and concepts and will start writing new music soon. We wanted to make the music reflect more of our influences this time and explore a wider sonic range; Polish folk, ECM, Indian music, church organ, modern classical composers, middle eastern music, some tuned percussion instruments, and many more things to throw in the mix. We're hoping to try some of the new music in 2016 on tour and record it in the end of the year.

Tim Garland's new album and tour will be also happening in 2016. Tim has written some lovely tunes exploring the more electric side of things recently which has been exciting for me and for the guys in the band (Jason Rebello on keyboards, Ant Law on guitars and guests).

Another album & tour I'm looking forward to is the Celine Bonacina new album featuring Celine on reeds, Gwilym Simcock on piano, Chris Jennings on bass and myself on drums/percussion.

Very much looking forward to start playing with guitarist Ant Law who's call me up to do a tour with his band in the spring of 2016.

Can't wait to record another album with guitarist Mark Wingfield in February! I will also be recording with Markus Reuter (off Stick Men) and guitarist Dusan Jevtovic. These recordings will be released on Moonjune records by Leonardo Pavkovic who has put me in touch with so many new exciting musicians (thanks Leonardo!) such as Indonesian keyboardist Dwiki Dharmawan and Arabic fusion guitarist Kamal Musallam.