Tim Thornton is a writer and musician from London, who was born over 40 years ago in Darlington. At the age of four he started drumming on things and, despite his parents bribing him with a guitar, has rarely stopped since. In 2005, after years farting about with pop groups of varying genre and gruesomeness, he began drumming for onetime DJ and producer Fink, who promptly added bass player Guy Whittaker and became a band. The trio have toured relentlessly and released seven studio albums for Ninja Tune, including 2011’s Perfect Darkness, described by the BBC as “a writhing, surprisingly meaty addition to the over-crowded singer-songwriter genre”. Along the way Tim did what most drummers have threatened to do but have rarely managed: write a novel about being an obsessive alcoholic superfan. The Alternative Hero was published by Jonathan Cape in 2009, described by The Guardian as “the indiest book of all time”; a second book, Death of an Unsigned Band, followed in 2010.

Tim’s third novel, crowdfunded through the publishers Unbound, was released in June 2018, entitled Felix Romsey’s Afterparty.

In 2016 Tim scored the music for the short film The Five Wives And Lives Of Melvyn Pfferberg, directed by and starring Damian Samuels. The theme song, also composed by Tim, was sung by Spice Girl Melanie C.

In 2019, Tim and his cousin, record producer Chris Sheldon, began the Game Changing Podcast, a series of conversations with fellow producers and musicians. The series so far includes episodes with Flood, Stephen Street, This Is The Kit, Anna Meredith, Field Music and Dave Eringa.

Conversations can continue @timwthornton on Twitter.