Rob Diament

Robert Diament (born 1980 in Reading, Berkshire, England) is an English singer-songwriter best known as the lead singer of UK electronic rock band Temposhark. Diament also runs his own UK record label Paper and Glue.

Early life

Diament grew up in Berkshire and began to play classical piano (his first instrument) at the age of four. Diament's classical training continued in piano and violin, whilst at the same time he learnt to sing in a local church choir. Songwriting soon followed but Diament only began to record his music at the age of thirteen. At his secondary school in Reading, Diament met Luke Busby for the first time, his later collaborator in Temposhark, but interestingly the two never collaborated until leaving school many years later. Diament and Busby also studied alongside Hollywood actress Natalie Dormer. However, Diament sang in a number of rock bands and became a regular concertgoer in the town, best known for the annual rock festival Reading Festival. In his later teens, Diament's live performances in London and Reading had attracted much interest from both high profile musicians and music industry professionals alike, which led to the recording of his debut EP.

Early musical career

Diament first arrived on the music scene in 1999 with his debut piano-oriented solo EP 'Seven Years Running' produced by Anthony Amos. Following this release, he further developed his sound on tour in North America and returned to London in 2000 to record a selection of new songs with producer Stuart Epps (Elton John/Robbie Williams) before spending the following two years writing and recording with Killing Joke member and award winning producer, Youth aka Martin Glover. In 2000, British pop culture magazine The Face highlighted Diament as an artist to watch and "songwriter of genius". Around this time, Diament began to spend time in Brighton collaborating on a number of art, music and performance projects with old Reading school friend Luke Busby and Busby's fellow art student Natasha Kahn, now known for her project Bat for Lashes. This led Diament and Busby to study music in London at University of Westminster where Temposhark was formed in 2004. Diament and Busby both graduated in 2005 with First Class Honours. Other key bands/artists that studied alongside them were The Departure, Pure Reason Revolution, Kevin Mark Trail (The Streets) and Emmy The Great.

Temposhark

In 2004, Diament emerged as lead singer/principal songwriter with Temposhark, the critically acclaimed UK electronic rock band. Diament formed the band developing a distinctive blend of epic filmscore and late 70s/early 80s synth pop. His first nationwide released UK single It's Better To Have Loved came out on December 12th 2005 produced by acclaimed producer Guy Sigsworth (Madonna/Bjork/Frou Frou) on Diament's own record label Paper and Glue.

Temposhark finished recording their debut album The Invisible Line during February 2007 in London with producer Sean McGhee as well as recording a new song with Guy Sigsworth. The album will be released worldwide in early March 2008. Temposhark were in New York on a UK music industry trade mission in June 2006 and started performing live in Europe including a sold out headline gig in Paris the following July. In November 2006, Temposhark began performing with their live band, Mathis Richet on drums and Mark Ferguson on bass. The four live musicians travelled to the USA to Austin, Texas in March 2007 for two live showcases at the SXSW festival. Temposhark head out on their first USA clubs and theatre tour in June 2007 performing alongside Diament's friend, the popstar Darren Hayes

As part of Temposhark, Diament has written songs and sung with a diverse array of musicians from Frou Frou's Guy Sigsworth and Imogen Heap, Kate Havnevik, Sophie Solomon, Sean McGhee, Cursor Miner, Avril (FCommunications), Metronomy, Mark Moore(S'Express), M.I.A., Camille, Hellogoodbye, Matthew Jay, Akira The Don, Noblesse Oblige, Princess Julia, Richard Norris (The Grid), Melnyk, Kevin Freeman, Border Crossing and Masashi Naka (Escalator Records, Japan).

In 2005, Diament said that his band name Temposhark was thought up when he "woke up in the midst of a dream one night, at like 4am, and just said the word Temposhark. So it came from my subconscious I guess. Honestly it was that simple. I wanted a name that sounded strong. I liked the idea that music could be a weapon. Something powerful."

Writer

As well as a songwriter, Diament has written for music magazines such as Blowback in the UK and BPM and Redefine magazines in the USA. In December 2007 and January 2008, he wrote as guest blogger on the USA music blog ArjanWrites.com including the exclusive first review of Alanis Morissette's album Flavors Of Entanglement. He is also credited as contributing interviews and research for Lucy O'Brien's music-focused biography Madonna: Like An Icon about Madonna published in 2007 by Bantam Press.

Art

Diament has mentioned in interviews that another passion for him, aside from music, is modern art. He has a background of working for artists including Banksy and other influential graffiti artists. He is an art collector and explained in a recent interview that unlike most art collectors, who are often wealthy individuals, he managed to start collecting art by selling his stuff on Ebay including various graffiti prints and Madonna music memorabilia he had collected since childhood, and saving up any spare money for many months to eventually afford works by artists he loves.

Diament has a keen interest particularly in women in art such as Tracey Emin, Anne Hardy, Stella Vine, Annie Kevans, Jessica Rankin, Gillian Wearing, Louise Bourgeois, Elke Krystufek, Phillipa Horan, Ruth Claxton, Tracey Rose, Luisa Lambri, Sarah Jones, Rachel Kneebone, Susan Collis, Tatiana Echeverri Fernandez, Candice Breitz, Katherine Bernhardt, Mari Eastman, Julie Mehretu, Helene Appel, Marta Marcé, Frida Kahlo, Marnie Weber, Julie Verhoeven, Anj Smith, Cris Brodahl and Paula Rego. He has also expressed a love of Grayson Perry, Simon Popper, Michael Fullerton, Graham Durward, Seb Patane, Harland Miller, Hurvin Anderson, Donald Urquhart, Matthew Barney, Fred Tomaselli, Francis Bacon, John Stezaker, Wolfgang Tillmans, James Welling and Gilbert and George's art.

Discography

CD EPs

• Sketches (January 2000 promo 3 track EP · RDM)
• Seven Years Running ( July 1999 5 track EP produced by Anthony Amos · RDM)

Temposhark

• The Invisible Line (2008 debut album)
• For the complete Temposhark Discography (click here)

External links

• Robert Diament's official MySpace page
• Temposhark's official band website
• Temposhark's official MySpace page
• Robert Diament from Temposhark interviewed on Nokia's free Podcast, November 2006