‘The Warm-Up Man Forever’ includes a powerhouse drumming performance from King Crimson’s Pat Mastelotto, a string arrangement from classical composer Andrew Keeling and a dazzling guitar solo by Michael Bearpark.
The animated video was created and directed by Miles Skarin of Crystal Spotlight Design, whose previous work includes visuals for The Pineapple Thief and Ian Anderson/Jethro Tull.
“The Warm-Up Man Forever started out as a demo I’d written for No-Man. With the benefit of three decades of technology and life experience, it was a song that contained aspects of the music that inspired me when I first started playing in bands (in that far off universe, the early 1980s!),’ says Tim. “Although I hope I did something fresh and different with the source inspirations, I had things like Peter Gabriel’s 3, Kate Bush’s Hounds Of Love, The Icicle Works and The Michael Nyman Band in mind when I was writing the piece.
Knowing he could give me the power I was looking for, I asked Pat Mastelotto to play on the song, and Andrew Keeling to provide a string arrangement that worked in sync with Pat’s drums. Pete Morgan energetically replaced my original bass, and Mike Bearpark added a great guitar solo (acting on the suggestion, ‘Sound like a wild dog having a street fight with a conger eel.’). Conger eel disposed of, I liked what I heard!
The lyric echoes some of the themes dealt with on No-Man’s Wild Opera (about victims of fame and victims of the pursuit of fame) and has elements of people I’ve come across on the fringes of the music, literary and art worlds over the last couple of decades.
Miles Skarin’s video very nicely evokes the lyrics in tangential and unexpected ways. I really like his use of colour, and there are parts for me where the music and images collide incredibly powerfully. The explosion of lights accompanying the guitar solo works particularly well for me.”