Contrary to all appearances, Robin Storey is a man far removed from the ordinary. Having spent five years of his life withdrawn and without communication, he later became addicted to heroin. This punctured holes into all sense of time and propelled him into even deeper experimentation. He has not listened to contemporary music for the last ten years. Now entering a fourth decade, life is no less ambiguous for this young father, husband and producer of some of the most evocative audio ever nurtured from a bedroom studio.

Chain-smoking roll ups, the complexity unravels. Born in 1955, he grew up in Cumbria before undertaking a degree at Sunderland, where he chose an experimental option on a Fine Arts course. Together with two colleagues he switched mediums and began to explore sound. Softly spoken and warily downbeat, Storey recounts his previous lives. As a painter, print-maker, and visual artist his work has been exhibited all over the world: Russia, Norway, Germany, England. His painted animation has been broadcast on Canadian television and syndicated to America and Europe. Two of his hand made works are displayed in the Berlin Museum of Modern Art. As a musician he co-founded Zoviet France and instigated an era of ardent analysis that will never be repeated. To the four young men who shared a 24 hours a day active involvement, between 1979 and 1993 Zoviet France was a means of living. Inspired by the cut'n'paste strategy of late '70s new wave, and influenced by Holger Czukay and Stockhausen, they bought dismantled cello parts, wired up ready made objects, utilised found sounds and provoked adaptability. A few electric guitars and sparse amplification impelled with the anxious energy of that era, characterised early Zoviet France material.

Storey speaks very slowly, placing words one after another as though bridging a stream by memory. Their live debut occurred upstairs at the Strawberry, a Newcastle pub. This committed application eventually cultivated a series of recordings released on 24 CDs, and generated an international reputation. Zoviet France performed at the 1989 Festival of Modern Music in Vienna, the Avant-Garde multimedia festival in Berlin the following year, and embarked upon an intense three month American tour in 1991. One final live performance in 1992 at Surfer's Bar in Tynemouth, was ill received by a hostile audience. These exponential extremes infused with a fascination for intra-dimensional realities, took Storey's consciousness to a place where "thoughts came faster than words ever could."