I'm John Pierpoint: a musician, writer, artist and computer engineer living in Cofton Hackett, near Birmingham, England.

This site will collect together some of my music, along with poems, other writings and art. The idea is that it fills in the cracks between what you can find on my other (mostly music-related) sites.

Please check back often - and please take a look at my other sites too!

Music

In past times, I've been a member of local groups including Dusk, The Earthmovers and Randolph Flagg. For most of the last two decades I've been playing bass, guitar, bouzouki and mandolin (and dabbling with other instruments) with "Nineteentwelve" and "Omenopus".

Nineteentwelve

Nineteentwelve (AKA 1912) is the traditional "live" band. That is, five guys playing together in real time, rehearsing songs, recording albums and playing gigs. We play what is known as "Progressive Rock", which is the handy tag applied to any rock music which features intelligent, complex, technically difficult music. But that would be selling us short: 1912 music is also powerful, emotional and damn catchy!
With four great song-writers, three excellent vocalists, and most members able to play several instruments, this is a band that's producing some genuinely exciting music!

We began playing together in 2006, but I had already played with the other members in other projects many years before then.

We have produced five albums so far, with a sixth being recorded currently.

All albums are available on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/artist/7eGWa3zsn0IxPOePeakeHf
. . . and as a YouTube topic:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5RnIxFRsmhbuHaQuEdjSOA

In addition, you can find albums available to buy as below. . .

Waiting For No One

Our debut album, released in 2011, including the highly-acclaimed song "Please Take Me Away From Here", which was featured on the 2011 "Allies & Clansmen" multi-artist compilation.

Amazon MP3 download: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005UK5LNQ
Bandcamp: https://nineteentwelve.bandcamp.com/album/waiting-for-no-one

Elegy

Our second album was released on 1st September 2013. This album builds on the band’s reputation for writing intriguing lyrical stories wrapped in quality music, and introduces some more experimental ideas, including samples and “found sounds”.

Amazon MP3 download: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00EP8I4PQ
Bandcamp: https://nineteentwelve.bandcamp.com/album/elegy

New World Order / The Hybrid Project

Our third album, released on 1st February 2016, reflects the progressive development of Nineteentwelve’s music. The central elements of the band’s sound remain consistent beneath an evolution of melody and lyric that is broad and ambitious in scope.
Included as part of the same double-CD set, The Hybrid Project is a dazzling reworking of Nineteentwelve tracks from across their career, brought together with imaginative vision by Omenopus’s Lee Potts, blending the ribbons of Nineteentwelve’s music into a new and thought-provoking tapestry: a dystopian struggle for survival, with unsettling echoes of the present. The music offers a radically different approach to Nineteentwelve, an approach in line with the consistently shifting rhythms of Omenopus.

Amazon MP3 download: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01AMK9XHI
Bandcamp: https://nineteentwelve.bandcamp.com/album/new-world-order

No Place Like Home

Our fourth album was released on 17th September 2022. This is an exhilarating collection of nine new and original songs. Showcasing the band’s talent for compelling song writing, the album offers a fresh and energetic blend of powerful melodies, memorable hooks and emotive lyrics.
"No Place Like Home" is a triumphant statement of everything the band represents: arresting musicianship, passionate vocals and the craft of songwriting.

Amazon MP3 download: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0B8NV9YDD
(Not available on Bandcamp)

Nineteentwelve

Our fifth album, with no text on the cover, was released in October 2025 (available now on digital services) which sees the band exploring hooks and melodies in a tighter, punchier song format. The band embraces a broader palette of instruments and sounds, and welcomes guest vocalists keen to be involved with the growing reputation of Nineteentwelve.

Amazon MP3 download: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0FSTGN1TH
(Not available on Bandcamp)

Sample tracks are also available at:
https://soundcloud.com/1912nineteentwelve
https://nineteentwelve.com/free_downloads.html

Our web site:

www.nineteentwelve.com

Omenopus

Omenopus is the "virtual" band. That is, we collaborate over the Internet and never meet or play as a complete unit. Therefore gigs are completely out of the question at this stage in the game (but, you never know. . .). We send each other messages and music files, sometimes chat over the phone, then our leader and chief audiovisual architect Lee Potts assembles our contributions into stunning aural experiences - sometimes beautiful, sometimes disturbing, always flying in the face of expectations! The core of Omenopus is Lee, myself and singer Bridget Wishart, with contributions from Sarah Panton, Sheriden Starr, David Speight and others.

We have created three albums of music (with our second album "The Plague" containing a bonus disc of music featuring guest artists, called "Scars").

Portents

Although our first work was on our debut album (see below), the first release from the Omenopus project was "Portents". To fill the gap until the new album could be finished and released – and to test the water – Lee produced this EP which featured two tracks from the forthcoming album (“Hen” and “Night Twist”) partnered with two remixes of other artists’ work.
One was Bangtheory’s “One By One”. Lee had got to know Atlanta-based songwriter and musician Sheridan Starr over the Internet, and the two had started to work on some music together. This was the first fruit of that collaboration, being based on an original recording by Sheridan, but with a new arrangement by Lee, and additional instruments played by Lee and myself.
The other was “Always” by Don Falcone’s “Spirits Burning” collective (featuring our own Bridget Wishart on vocals). In this case, Lee remixed and re-arranged the song.

Time Flies

Our 2010 debut album. Although it was begun before "Portents" was released, it What began as a bit of fun for Lee and myself gradually mushroomed into a full-blown album project when we realised that we had almost enough material for the job. Lee asked well-known singer Bridget Wishart if she would like to get involved. Bridget responded favourably, first supplying lyrics and later coming on board as singer and playing her trademark Electronic Wind Instrument (EWI).

Initially, another singer and lyricist was also involved, but she left the project abruptly when it was almost complete, obliging us to remove her contributions and find another way to finish the album. However, Bridget came to the rescue by adding more vocal parts and writing new lyrics. We also brought in singer Sarah K Panton to help with one of the songs, which really benefitted from having the two female vocalists.

Allies & Clansmen

Over the course of the debut album's development, Lee had made contact with a great many musicians and fans. His next project was to capitalise on this and produce a compilation of tracks by artists connected to – or friends of – Omenopus. The compilation was to be given away free; the incentive for the contributors being the potential cross-fertilisation of their fan-bases. A surprising number of well-known artists (including Nineteentwelve) came forward to provide tracks, many of which were previously unreleased.The album was called "Allies & Clansmen" and was released in 2011.

The opening Omenopus track is a strange and somewhat unrepresentative song “Call Your Name” which began life as a piece of my bouzouki music. Lee took my original rambling recording and chopped it to produce a more coherent song with verse and chorus, to which I added bass and "guitar" (see below). Then guest drummer David Speight added his drums. Finally, Bridget added lyrics and vocals.

Fun fact: when the guitar comes in halfway through the song, it's actually the bouzouki again, played through a fuzz box! I think this is the piece of music I'm most proud of in my entire career!

The Plague / Scars

A double-CD set, released in 2012. CD one is entitled “Plague”, and has four linked tracks on that theme, ending with a glorious evocation of Thomas Nashe’s poem “A Litany in Time of Plague”.
CD two is entitled “Scars” and features a pot-pourri of unrelated tracks. Several guest musicians came aboard to help out, including Nigel Potter (guitar), Gavin Saunders (guitar), Mark Wadsworth (digeridoo) and Sheridan Starr on vocals.

The Archives

A 2014 concept album largely based on a science-fiction story by Sheriden Starr, but also bringing in a song inspired by H.G. Wells' "The Time Machine", a memorial piece dedicated to the Soviet space dog "Laika" and a cover of Ron Grainer and Delia Derbyshire's "Doctor Who" theme! This tune (entitled "The Physician") was also released as a CD single.

The Compendium of Souvenirs

Also in 2014, Lee brought out an Omenopus compilation EP, "The Compendium of Souvenirs", which included new mixes of Omenopus songs.

Woek on the next album (working title, "The Madhouse") petered out after a while, as everyone involved had other matters to attend to (in my case, including being a new parent and then looking after my ailing partner). So Omenopus is currently on hiatus, as our main man Lee pursues other projects (including writing and drawing books and multimedia projects), and as a result, we no longer have a dedicated web site. However, you can find our music at:
omenopus.bandcamp.com

Spirits Burning

Spirits Burning is a well-established and much loved Spacerock collective, founded by musician Don Falcone in 1986, building over the years to bring in like-minded musicians from around the world (including many famous names from iconic bands) for live performances and recording. They have released many albums over the decades, including several with Bridget Wishart.

In April 2026 I was surprised to hear that I was also a contributor to the latest album by Spirits Burning and Bridget Wishart.This came about when Bridget resumed work on her unfinished ideas that were intended to be on the next Omenopus album, bringing them to Don Falcone for inclusion in their next album together. Don and other SB musicians added new parts to finish off the tracks, but as the music that Lee and I had laid down was still there, we were added to the roster of SB members, and credited on the album. I provided bass on the song "Tides" and guitar plus bass on "Dark Eyes" (and get a solo!) .

Fun fact: on the spoken-word piece "Birth (Aoife's Get"), I'm credited as providing the "washing machine". This is a reference to my habit of recording interesting "found sounds" to spice up the Omenopus music. In this case, it was the sound of my washing machine in distress, grinding away and sounding quite ill!

Solo

You can find examples of my solo music (mostly demo quality, unfortunately) on this site, or at my Soundcloud page. I was lucky to have the help of Omenopus main man Lee Potts, who made excellent re-arrangements of some of my demos and compiled them into an album that he dubbed "Jet Rhino In Pop" (it's an anagram. . .)

For more information on any of my past and present projects, go the Links page where you can jump to all the relevant sites. . .

. . . and of course, you can always find me on that Facebook thingy. . .

That's all for now,

John

Last update: 16/05/2026

www.johnpierpoint.com

Site design by John Pierpoint
Older photos and initial design assist by Julie Hatton