THE ODD COUPLE

Tim Bowness used to sing so loudly he’d cough up blood after shows. Long-haired and aggressive of voice, the no-man singer’s formative live experiences – as a performer and punter – were fuelled by much heavier, shoutier material than he’s known for now. Sneaking into gigs as a teenager in the north of England, the similarly underaged Diamond Head would smuggle him backstage to chat about… prog classics.

“They were very nice. They loved [Yes’s] ,” he enthuses brightly. “Where I lived in the North-West the music we really got was NWOBHM, so all my early gigs, when I was about fifteen, it was going to see