There is a new album dedicated to the late Tony Sawford. It includes music by Airsculpture, Ian Boddy, Paul Nagle, Free System Projekt, John Hickey and many more …. the album is available as of July 6th and can be found on bandcamp.
Tony Sawford was a friend of the guys of Kubusschnitt and he was there when Kubusschnitt performed at the 6th Alfa Centauri Festival. Some of you will have known Tony Sawford very well, some of you will remember having met him at one of the many electronic music concerts around the UK or Europe, and some of you will be wondering who he was.
So, for the benefit of that last group, Tony Sawford was a true friend to the electronic music scene and the artists that make it happen. He was an enthusiastic fan of the music, always willing to travel to the various concerts. As is noted by many of the contributing artists here, he was the sort of person that bands love to have as a fan – always willing to travel to concerts that are often a financial risk, always willing to buy their music, always willing to tell others to buy their music, and always generous with their time if any kind of help is required.
Tony’s help was high quality. He recorded a lot of the live releases that you will have listened to over the last 25 years and if you look closely, you’ll often see his name in the credits. He also applied his own patented fairy dust to many recordings. Again, you’ll see his name dotted around many releases. He has rescued many recordings for artists, quietly working on them in the background, helping the listener to have the best possible listening experience.
Tony was also one of life’s genuinely nice people, always quick to help generally and just be there as a friend should you need it. Those who knew him well will also have witnessed his wicked sense of humour, his infectious laugh and his excellent use of his native Anglo-Saxon.
The last time I communicated with Tony Sawford was the evening of 10th December 2021 and I miss him, and our chats, very much – as I’m sure do many people. We couldn’t just let his passing go without an appropriate marker, and fortunately a lot of artists felt the same and so we have some fresh releases (with all proceeds going to charity) on the Stonker Productions label, which last saw action with the two GoldTri compilations from 1998.
Everything here is unique to this issue and there is just shy of 2.5 hours of music to enjoy. I know Tony would have had this in his collection within minutes of its release. Everyone on it has written a small piece about Tony and you will get that with the download.
Produced by Stonker Productions: set up by Tony Sawford and Andy Bloyce in 1998. It’s being resurrected in memory of Tony, who died unexpectedly in Dec 2021. Tony gave a lot to the UK EM scene for nearly 30 years; he loved the music and he was a genuinely nice person. All money goes directly to Addenbrooke’s hospital. Tony visited it regularly and thought himself lucky to have it local to him.