ABOUT US

mobiUS Biography

 

 

Tim Newcombe Keyboards, Piano, Organ.

 

Tim began his musical career from the age of 5 when his parents bought him a second hand piano. Many notes were missing and it couldn’t be tuned higher than about 3 semitones under concert pitch, but was perfect for piquing his interest in the instrument

 

From that point, Tim gained his grades through the Associate Board of the Royal School Music. His classical training and interest in the fugues and preludes of Bach contrasted with a passion for improvisation within the blues rock and jazz genres.

 

Tim attended a blues club in a vaulted brick ceiling cellar in an Inn called “The Scotgate” in Stamford in Lincolnshire in the early 1980s where he played weekly with the resident blues band.

 

From that time he has been fully occupied playing and recording with many bands and musical styles, gaining a recording contract in the late 1980s with Clash records, where he recorded in their Golders Green studios, who spawned such artists as Trevor Horne and of course “The Clash”. He embarked on a theatre tour as part of the show’s band in the UK with the acclaimed show ‘General Micky’ 

 

From this time he played session with a variety of artists, from Billie Davies, through to Alan Warner of the Foundations, where he performed the hits “Build me up Buttercup” and “Baby, Now that I’ve found you” to huge theatre audiences and has more recently become the keyboard player for the premier Celtish Rock band - The Clan Of Celts

 

During his session work, his passion for progressive rock music never faltered, with King Crimson, Pink Floyd, Camel and Genesis occupying an important space in his music collection.

 

Tim founded the group mobiUS in the lockdown of 2021 and composed and recorded the tracks in remote collaboration with the other band members.

 

 

Alistair McCaig Bass, Production

 

Around the age of 15 Alistair first picked up a bass guitar so he could form a band with high school mates. His early music influences were Motown, funk & soul. With a diet of James Jamerson, Bernard Edwards & Lois Johnson filling the house, Alistair became very aware of the role of the bass in music. 

 

Ironically though it was the his new found love of British heavy rock bands that really got under his skin. So Geezer Butler, Lemmy, John Paul Jones etc were his new heroes & influences. At the age of 16, his high school band Sweet Revenge were lucky enough to get a slot on the rock stage at  the infamous Luton Carnival. 

 

By the age of 17 he formed The Founded, now considered part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement, The Founded were signed to management & small record label. They released a limited quantity of a 7 inch vinyl double A side featuring the track 'Run to Hell'. Copies of this single fetch up to $300 on rare vinyl auction sites. 

With early influences of funk mixed with metal, the band started to adopt an early Red Hot Chilli Peppers   vibe before they were heard of in the UK. A near fatal car accident suffered by the lead vocalist spelt the end for this very promising band. 

 

Alistair had made a bit of a name for himself locally with his unique 'slap n tap' bass style & was recruited by rock pop jazz fusion band Black Taxi. 

Black Taxi cut a demo at a top London studio in the Barbican. It was this experience that started the fascination with the recording process. 

The band, out of necessity converted the first floor of factory unit into a rehearsal space & then later on into a commercially run 16 track recording studio. 

Around this time, doing his stint in the studio, a young songwriter & a drummer came in to run through some of his songs. Knowing he was a bass player, they asked Alistair to join the session. After recruiting a guitarist & keyboard player, the band Azure was born. 

One of the signature sounds of the band, along side brilliant song writing was Alistair's custom built fretless bass with a brass percussive plate on the neck for slapping onto. 

Around a year later he had chance meeting with well known synth & moog player Tigger at the studio. Although Tigger was know for his experimental & prog work, he was also in a busy gigging cover band 'Napoleons'. 

 

Alistair was asked to play bass when they heard he was available & was soon joined by ex 'Then Jericho' lead man. 

Napoleons toured UK &  Europe for a couple of years until a opportunity of a Canadian tour starting in Montreal came up. They toured Canada for 4 months, including highlights of a three night headline at the Quebec City Palladium. 

Back in the UK, Alistair spent the next 20 years playing in top London cover bands peppered with extensive touring of Europe,  Scandinavia, Israel & of course the whole of the UK. 

Out of cover the band, Evil Puppies, Celtic rock original band Clan of Celts were formed. Following the release of their debut album they were invited to play at various events including Paddy Wagon festival in Germany & headlined the Triskell festival in Italy near Venice. 

A shake up of the band lead to the recruiting of keyboard player & brainchild behind mobiUS, Tim Newcombe. Tim invited Alistair to play bass & help with production on the debut mobiUS album, Make the Promise and is now the driving force as part of the backbone of the band.

 

Andy Clifton Drums 

 

Andy began playing drums in 1982 after seeing the great Eric Delaney play at The Blackpool Tower Ballroom. Shortly afterwards joined his first band with some school friends which quickly  developed into the band SLEEK. By the age of 12 he was regularly gigging and at the same time began playing drums and percussion for local amateur dramatics productions. By the age of 15 he’d played in a lot of great venues including BBC TV Centre, The Empire Ballroom Leicester Square ( as part of the Soho Jazz Festival ) and the Pizza Express chain of jazz clubs in London. Over the next few years he played in as many bands and different styles as possible and progressed from amateur to professional engagements. Over the years he has performed with numerous bands and has backed many “named" artists in theatre / cabaret / gig situations both in the UK and abroad. 

 

He was introduced to prog at an early age when one of the productions I was working on employed Rick Wakeman’s sound crew. They introduced him to the music of Rick and Yes and at the same time he discovered It Bites. From then on Prog formed a regular part of his music listening.

As well as working in a live situation, he also does studio / session work, with the lockdown of 2020 leading him to record remotely for artistes from home.

 

Andy Hughes Guitar, Vocals 

 

Andy has been gigging proactively since the age of 15, with influences consisting of: Black Sabbath, The Who, Rush, Manic Street Preachers, Pink Floyd and many more. 

 

He is now 27 years old, a multi instrumentalist, songwriter and producer. He runs his own home studio 'Personal Noise' and has recorded extensively, with 5 solo albums released, various EP's and singles. He has also produced other various artists and has performed as a sessions musician on different instruments (Live on stage and remotely in the studio). Known for his high vocal range, soaring rhythm and lead guitar parts from influences such as: Eddie Van Halen, Slash, Pete Townshend, Alex Lifeson and many more. He has toured all across the UK playing shows with bands paying tribute to the likes of The Who and AC/DC.