Bio

Tom Plender is a musician, artist, and writer from London UK. He had music lessons from the age of seven initially on piano and later on drums, studying with Peter Hockings of the London Sinfonietta and then with John Taylor and Trevor Tomkins. After leaving school at 16 he spent a year at Blake College studying fine art and went on to study drums, percussion and piano at The Guildhall School of Music. He spent his late teens and 20s working as a professional musician, mostly in the field of jazz but also in every conceivable musical genre from pop/rock, funk, hip-hop, contemporary classical , electronica , salsa, Brazilian and West African music , he was also called on many times throughout the 90s to provide live drums for various drum and bass sessions. 

Plender has performed throughout the UK and Europe most notably at Ronnie Scott’s, The Vortex Jazz club, London’s Southbank centre, The Barbican Centre, PizzaExpress Dean Street, Fete de la Musique in Paris, and The London Jazz Festival. He has played with many musicians including Jim Mullen, Pete King, Jean Toussaint ,Julian Joseph, US free jazz trombonist Roswell Rudd and European pop/rock artist Dan Black. Plender also studied and performed with Brazilian percussion maestro Bosco D’oliveira and through his collaboration with saxophonist/percussionist Barak Schmool, was an early member of the group of musicians that went on to form the critically acclaimed ‘F-ire Collective’.

At the end of the 90s Plender’s playing was severely curtailed by what initially appeared to be overuse injuries to his wrists and knees and later developed into Functional Neurological Disorder [FND]. Over the next few years he continued to deteriorate to the point where he was unable to use his arms or walk, and for many years was profoundly disabled. It took a long time to find a diagnosis and treatment for this poorly understood condition but finally in 2012 he met the neurologist Professor Mark Edwards, a world leading researcher in the field. He was admitted to the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery and was fortunate to be part of the first wave of patients to receive groundbreaking new treatment for the condition, mostly comprising of intensive physiotherapy and movement retraining. 

Plender is now an active campaigner for the charities FND Hope and FND Action, and is committed to promoting greater awareness, speaking publicly and has had several articles published about FND.

In more recent years Plender worked on composing music for the lottery funded documentary film ‘Burnleigh People’ and also with electronic music artist ‘Only Rays’.

At the present time he is focusing on his art for which there has been great initial interest from private collectors and art dealers, as well as skateboard and clothing companies. In addition to this he has been trying to finish his first novel - a constantly expanding philosophical fantasy trilogy, as yet untitled. 

As an expert on Gothic literature and vintage horror films he has for a great many years been a member of ‘The Dracula Society’ who have frequently published his articles and used his artwork.

He currently lives in Camberwell, South London, with his girlfriend and cat Denari.