BIOGRAPHY
Clockwork Flowers are an exiled British Psychedelic pop / Baroque pop / Power pop / New wave / R&R duo formed in Dharamsala, India in 2005 by a London based musician / composer / artist John Bliss and a London based artist / designer / musician Anthea Bliss after having lost all their hope and possessions and moved to the Himalayas from London in the mid 1990’s.
They spent a decade for meditating on GOD and VOID equally and finally realised that ‘Life means nothing without MUSIC & ART’. Hence Clockwork Flowers were born as a unit in order to express and share their ideas, feelings and experiences. After having experienced both HEAVEN & HELL in India, they concluded that it’s time to leave India.
John & Anthea as Clockwork Flowers returned to the world in the late 2007 by arriving Tokyo and played extensively in Tokyo’s international music scene. In 2009, their song ‘Autumn Afternoon’ made Japanzine’s Gaijin Sounds Top 10 and performed for the 1st Gaijin Sounds Live both in Osaka and Tokyo. Their first album 'FLASHBACK - Beatles Tribute’ (unreleased) received a brilliant review from the magazine and also performed at the 1st International Japan Music Week in November.
In 2010, their song ‘Here We Go Round Avebury’ from their second original album 'Wonderland’ (unreleased) was awarded at Mike Pinder’s (The Moody Blues) Songwars songwriting competition and also performed at the 2nd International Japan Music Week in November. In 2011, their songs ‘Good Morning, Lord Kitchener’, ‘Take Off’ and ‘The Time’ also from 'Wonderland’ were awarded at Songwars songwriting competition.
Clockwork Flowers stopped performing live in 2012. After having spent more than 5 years of regular live performances, they confirmed that no one needs their music (and art) and no one appreciates their presence in Japan and realised that it is much more beneficial and constructive therefore practical for them to spend their time and energy on creating music (and art) for people who need and appreciate it outside Japan. Meanwhile a poet / musician / radio-personality Ronnie Would introduced their music for the first time in the US (also worldwide streaming) in his radio show 'Acoustic Nation’ on WRFA-LP 107.9FM, Jamestown, NY. Since then, WRFA constantly playing their songs.
In 2013, Clockwork Flowers went electric and completed a co-written project 'Clockwork Flowers’ and ‘Moonlight in the Sky’ with a British 60’s psych legend songwriter / musician Keith Law from Velvett Fogg / Jardine. These 2 songs were played exclusively on 'Acoustic Nation with Ronnie Would’ for the first time in March 2014.
As the second incarnation of 'Clockwork Flowers’, completed their 4th original album 'Clockwork Flowers’ (unreleased) and released a single - 'Upside Down’ / 'Lady Shady’ for the band’s 10th anniversary in June 2015. To conclude the 10th anniversary, started a special project 'Colours' (a series of 4 mini-albums - vol.1 Red, vol.2 Blue, vol.3 Yellow, vol.4 Green) including songs written in the 1980s by John Bliss. The idea of this project 'Colours' is that to face the past that was forgotten and lost in despair by re-recording / releasing those hidden songs John Bliss wrote 30 years ago.
In June 2017, as part of the band's 12th anniversary, they as 'Pepper Children' proudly released a special single 'Uncle John' exactly 50 years after the most influential Beatles album ‘Sgt. Pepper’ was released in 1967 as well as their first-ever self directed / produced music video. Also, another single 'A Butterfly In The Rain' was released on December 1st 2017. The single is dedicated to late British songwriter / musician Keith Law (Velvett Fogg / Jardine) who sadly passed away in July 2017.
The band completed their 2nd self directed / produced music video 'A Butterfly In The Rain' and released their first-ever 7" lathe cut single record - Side A: 'Uncle John' / Side B: 'A Butterfly In The Rain' as part of 'CF Super Deluxe Ultra Limited Edition' including 7" lathe cut record with lyric sheet, CD, DVD, 3 buttons and signed photo in April 2018. The band completed and released their 3rd self directed / produced music video 'Out Of My Mind' from 'Colours Vol.3 Yellow' for their 13th anniversary in June 2018.
The 3 year-long 'Colours' project started in 2015 finally completed by releasing 'Colours vol.4 Green' in November 2018 (vol.1 Red - 2015, vol.2 Blue - 2016, vol.3 Yellow - 2017 and vol.4 Green - 2018). In addition, an extra edition ‘Colours Unplugged: Black & White’ - John Bliss Plays ‘Colours’ including unreleased song ‘Crying Shame’ also written in the 80‘s was released in March 2019. They also released another three self directed and produced moving images / music videos from the album 'Colours vol.4 Green', 'Why' on the band's 14th anniversary in June 2019, 'In My Shoes' in August 2019 and 'Luminous Spinning Discs' in February 2020. 'Luminous Spinning Discs' made top 10 at “This Is Rock ‘n’ Roll Radio’s 83 Most-Played Tracks in 2019” at the end of the year.
Meanwhile, the band participated in a special compilation album project 'Yesterday's Sunshine Today' - New Magical Covers of a legendary British psychedelic pop rock band “Nirvana” from the 1960‘s (songs from 1967-1969). They recorded a previously unreleased Nirvana song 'Flowers For Friday' written by Patrick Campbell-Lyons and Alex Spyropoulos for this special project. A limited-edition (500) vinyl-only album released in June 2020.
To celebrate the band’s 15th anniversary, they released the 1st single ‘Whatever The Weather’ from their upcoming original album ‘Assorted Gemstones’ on July 7th 2020 and the 2nd single ‘Sour Grapes’ from the album on December 21st 2020.
In addition to regular rotation on WRFA-LP in Jamestown, NY, ‘The Strange Brew’ in the UK, ‘This Is Rock ‘n’ Roll Radio’ at Westcott Radio in Syracuse, NY, ‘3rd Street Garage Radio Show’ at WRFA-LP in Jamestown, NY, ‘Oracle’ at CJAM in Windsor, Canada / Detroit, MI, 'I Don't Hear A Single Radio Show' at KOR Radio, Liverpool, UK, ‘Tuning Up’ at Mad Wasp Radio, Manchester, UK and 'Free Yourself with (Stiff Records') Dave Robinson' at Boogaloo Radio, London, UK also joined to support Clockwork Flowers.
Lastly, we would like to add a few words to this biography…
For more than 20 years, we have been trying our best to create good music and art without having 'Home' therefore we are 'A band from Nirvana'. We are still in the process of getting our life back and desperately seeking a place where we can settle and focus on creating good music and art.
Clockwork Flowers
are
John Bliss ..... Vox, Guitar, Bass and Keyboard
Anthea Bliss ..... Drums and Percussion
Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Clockwork_Flowers
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© the Clockwork Flowers 2020