Automatic Dlamini is the experimental ever-changing vehicle for the songs of guitarist/percussionist/singer/independent producer John Parish

In the late 1980s the original line-up released three singles and an LP The D Is For Drum picking up a clutch of "Single of the Week" awards plus a fair amount of gushing press nonsense:

"Brilliant - the William Burroughs of pop" - Record Mirror
"The wittiest self-analysis this side of Woody Allen" - Underground

In the Summer of '88 a new core nucleus was formed - Jeremy Hogg (the man who single-handedly re-introduced the slide guitar to the popular music front, also known as guitar player with Bristol pop group Grape) and PJ Harvey (bona fide West Country rock star) joined John Parish and toured around Europe a few times, concentrating on the (then) Eastern Bloc because it was more interesting.

An unreleased but much bootlegged album Here Catch, Shouted His Father was recorded during Winter '88/'90 followed by a 12" E.P. Water featuring Becketts guitar player Michael Chinaski.

In early '91 Automatic Dlamini was temporarily distracted when John Parish took four months out to assist (as guitar player and producer) old friend and shamefully unrecognised genius Marc Moreland (Ex - Wall Of Voodoo guitarist) with his seedy American/French combo The Ensenada joyride. At the same time, PJ Harvey, eager to perform her own burgeoning and excellent song collection, began gigging with former Dlamini members Rob Ellis and Ian Olliver.

The immense success (and resulting workload) of PJ Harvey has meant that her contributions to Dlamini are now confined to the recording studio - see "new LP"...

There are 12 songs on From A Diva To A Diver, with an extra track - Water from last year's unreleased E.P. - on the CD. All the songs are John Parish compositions with the exception of Roland Barthes Didn't Do Country and Upside Down Baby which were written by John Parish and Jeremy Hogg.

The LP was recorded in Yeovil's legendary Icehouse studio where John has just finished producing the forthcoming Becketts LP Myth, new singles by Basinger and Grape, and adding his distinctive metal percussion to the underground dance Auto-Reload E.P..