Rhodri Marsden (born October 1, 1971^[1] ) is a London-based journalist, musician and blogger.^[2]

Journalism

Rhodri Marsden currently writes The Independent's "Cyberclinic" column on technology issues. He previously wrote The Observer Music Monthly's "Guitarist Wanted" column, which required him to go undercover to audition for bands that he had no intention of joining. Apart from music and technology writing, Marsden is well known for his humorous offbeat features written in an understated, self-deprecating style. Other publications he has written for include The Guardian, Time Out and Olive magazine.

Music

Marsden played guitar in The Keatons. They put out a couple of singles, a couple of EPs and a couple of albums, and notably supported Blur on their first tour of the UK, but were thrown off for being unprofessional – as documented in Blur's biography. Subsequently he sang with Gag, who recorded a Peel Session – although Marsden had an earlier run-in with John Peel when he was interviewed by him at the tender age of 17 concerning the fanzine Marsden was writing; in addition to thanking Marsden for coming into the studio, Peel thanked Marsden's father for giving him a lift.

In 2007 he worked on a DIY music project called "The Schema"^[3] — an attempt to get a single written, recorded, released and promoted on the internet in the space of a month. The accompanying video, directed by Alex de Campi and starring Marysia Kay, became a hit on YouTube, but the single sold poorly.^[4]

He writes songs, sings and plays bass in a band called the Free French, and has produced recordings for Spearmint, amongst others. He is also, at present, keyboardist in Scritti Politti.

References

External links

• Rhodri.biz, Marsden's official site
• Blog at LiveJournal.com
• The Free French official band site
• Interview with Rhodri

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