What is Scatterbrained?

Scatterbrained began with an unexpected brain tumour diagnosis at early in 2024. I’ve worked in the music industry for thirty plus years and have been a gig goer since I was 10 (first one: Saxon at Cardiff Sophia Gardens shortly before the building fell down; last: Steven Wilson at the London Palladium).

The first few months after the diagnosis were chaos - a strange mix of death sentence dread and the kind of 3am euphoria you’d hope to find in the right nightclub as the right record goes on. In October 2024, the bulk of my brain tumour was removed and the next stages of a recovery process followed.

Scatterbrained is an attempt to document those processes as best I can. In the coming months, I’m looking to explore the aftermath of surgery on the brain and on my now permanently damaged hearing.

Scatterbrained is written (and badly photographed) by Robin Turner, author of Believe in Magic: Thirty Years of Heavenly Recordings and Paused in Cosmic Reflection: the definitive story of The Chemical Brothers. Robin is a freelance music PR who is very proud to work for Underworld, The Chemical Brothers, Steven Wilson, The Mary Wallopers and Gruff Rhys.

Robin (right) and Isambard Kingdom Brunel in Bristol.

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Writings about a brain tumour and all the places that that diagnosis ends up taking you.