Charles Hayward, who fronted the groundbreaking experimental ensemble This Heat, first picked up the drums at age 11. He soon experimented with home recording and joined Mal Dean's Amazing Band in the early 1970s. After connecting with guitarist Charles Bullen, the two performed in Radar Favourites and Dolphic Logic; Hayward also played live with Phil Manzanera, including appearances in the Quiet Sun project and with Gong.
Hayward and Bullen began rehearsals in 1976 with bassist Gareth Williams, establishing This Heat. Although the trio possessed outstanding instrumental skills, they explored tape loops, found sounds, and keyboards during sessions captured between 1976 and 1978 yet issued only in 1982. This Heat delivered its self-titled debut album in 1981. Williams exited immediately afterward, leaving Deceit, also from 1981, as the group's last new recording. While Bullen moved into studio engineering, Hayward contributed to sessions for Lora Logic, the Raincoats, and Everything But the Girl before launching Camberwell Now with bassist Trefor Goronwy and tape manipulator Stephen Rickard. The trio issued several albums on the Swiss Recommended label, yet Hayward turned toward solo work by the early 1990s. Signed to Sub Rosa, he made his solo bow with My Secret Alphabet in 1993.
