N D Austin is a session musician (keyboards) and vocalist. He was a member of the Celtic band "Peatbog Faeries" for seven years. Now recording and performing in his own right.
Recent project... A new hip hop album recorded in Oregon USA with young rap artists... http://buriedhead.com.
Currently playing in the reggae band Undrtow - http://undrtow.com
Latest News
Two cruise ship (piano entertainer) contracts completed. Married a passenger and moved to the States. Now separated.
Embarking on new career / relationship move - joining forces with the amazing vocalist/actress Laura Derocher.
N D Austin - Biography
Born Norman David Austin on 8th November 1955 in Surrey. Norman learned classical piano from the age of six. Won a scholarship at the age of 12 to attend Trinity College of Music, London. Continued learning contemporary styles - particularly blues and jazz ... self taught beyond this point.
First public performance aged 10 ... Various solo performances until joining band at the age of 16 called 'Petroleum Blownapart', band blew apart after one gig. His next band was formed when about eighteen years old having eked enough cash to buy a Fender Rhodes and a dirty great big amp. Much experimenting in fairly hard rock culminated in no gigs. He went to Germany for several months playing in a band called 'Connection' around the American army and air force bases, gigging 6 nights a week. Came back to Britain and joined a rock band called Lip Service, who had just performed on the last Marc Bolan TV show before his death alongside David Bowie. After a year or two the band split, having recorded extensively with no releases.
Age 23 Norman joined a new-age band called Flix, gigged around London and developed a following. Recorded a single about Hitchcock called 'Hitch', which coincidentally was released at the same time as Hitchcock's death. Joined the first of several Irish bands and played extensively on the Irish circuit throughout the UK and USA. Austin contributed to several albums, mostly Irish.
During the ten year period from age 23 to 33, apart from Irish gigs, Norman took part in numerous recording sessions inc Sandy Shaw and Level 42. During this period Austin helped to develop some small spun aluminium coned studio monitors that could handle 400W each (unheard of in those days for a monitor with a four inch driver) and sounded phenomenal. They are still commercially produced and are marketed under the name of Acoustic Energy. Later Norman also did some recording with his friend Yusef (Cat Stevens).
Norman moved to Skye in 1988, gave up music for four years and became thoroughly depressed. So he bought a synth and started gigging with a singer/guitarist called Neil Stone, who wisely moved away from Skye when he realised that the only available females on the island were sheep. Around this time Norman heard of the band called the Peatbog Faeries and decided that a band with a name as good as that needed him. So when the band was in a state of dissemblance he joined forces with Ali Pentland, Innes Hutton and Peter Morrison. From then on the band developed and was joined by various other members (some stayed, some left). They toured extensively throughout the world and whilst he was with the band they recorded three albums; 'The Great Ceilidh Swindle', 'Mellowosity' and 'Faerie Stories'. Norman (then under the name Nurudin) stayed with the Peatbog Faeries for about seven years and never got rich, so he left and moved to southern Spain via Dumfries and Galloway.
In January 2001 Norman started work on his first solo album 'Beard & Sandals'. This writing/recording process continued whilst living in six different locations in Scotland and Spain, and was finished and released in July 2002, having returned to Skye in January. The album was a reflection of much personal change and unrest during this period.
In 2004 Norman worked on a new album with a new band called Buried Heads with influences from Scotland and the Far East whilst retaining a darkish rock undertone. Other band members included ex-Peatbog guitarist Ali Pentland, also on fiddle, mandolin and bouzouki. The drummer, Paul Hayward used a combination of electronic and acoustic drums. Doug Lister (bass) brought with him much experience of gigging in rock/grunge bands, so added a non-Celtic influence. Buried Heads was buried a few months after it's birth, but the recorded material lives on in the title track "Bury Our Heads"... a notable landmark in the history of Norman's vocal debut!
Norman now lives in Oregon USA and plays in two bands - Undrtow and One Way Out.