Stu Rowe

Stu Rowe is a musician based in Swindon UK. He plays guitar, bass, drums and keyboards, and has produced, mixed and mastered music for hundreds of artists from his studio, the Lighterthief Bunker.

He has worked on projects with Andy Partridge, TC&I, The Amorphous Androgynous, Peter Blegvad, Jen Olive, Ruby Confue, Shriekback, George Wilding, The Alfonz, Cinzano Taylor, Circu5, Alice and the Lovers, and many others. His guitar playing has been sampled and used by many different artists including The Future Sound of London, Paul Weller and Rob Szeliga.

He runs Lighterthief Music where he releases his own musical ideas,remixes other artists’ work and makes promotional films.

He has played guitar and bass for many live bands including playing festivals with The Amorphous Androgynous in Russia, Sweden and Australia, improvising with dancers from the Rambert School of Dance in London, making abstract guitar noises with Trip Dress, bass for several years in The Bob Bowles Blues Band, was the musical director for Ruby Confue’s Psychedelic Urban Circus, and produced the TC@I Shows at Swindon Arts Centre in 2018.

Since 1999 he has lectured in Digital Music Production at New College Swindon. He was a tutor at Swindon School of Contemporary Music from 2000 to 2006, and has taught over a thousand musicians from the Swindon area how to improve their skills in guitar, bass, music theory, programming and production.

He started playing music in the late 1970s with his two brothers on a remote farm in rural Buckinghamshire. In the 80s and 90s he played guitar in a range of punk, rock, blues, jazz and funk bands in Buckingham, Aylesbury, Nottingham, London and Swindon including Spitting Image, The Escapees, The Lipstick Killers, Big Bandit, The Coathangers, The Wild Bikinis, The Vindaloo Brothers, Cosmic Rays, and The Advocates.

He spent the late 80s and early 90s selling rare punk, funk, blues, jazz and rockabilly records from the cellar of The Rockin’ Emporium in Swindon, and flea markets throughout the South West Of England.

He lives in Old Town, Swindon with his wife Nick, an artist and counsellor, and their two cats Sid and Nancy.