Music provided him with a youthful entry into Wellington's bohemian and intellectual scene as he played the drums in several bands including the University Jazz Club.
Inspired by his discovery of Charles Olson's 'Maximus Poems' and new ideas on poetics such as those promoted by the L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poets, Loney's own work continued to develop along progressive lines.
Several recordings of Loney's lectures and readings are available on PennSound[4] Running parallel to this work as a poet, his printing developed after moving back to Wellington with a new press called Black Light in 1987.
At this time Loney founded a new literary journal, A Brief Description of the Whole World (the title based on a publication of 1634 by Bishop George Abbott) on an unconventional model.
Selected writers, several of whom were not regularly published in New Zealand literary magazines, were invited to submit whatever they wished with absolutely minimal direction or interference by the editor.
In Melbourne he met his partner Miriam Morris (a viola da gamba player and cello teacher) and established Electio Editions to print works by himself and others including poet Chris Wallace-Crabbe and artist Bruno Leti.
Loney's career as a printer has moved from traditional letterpress printing and publishing poetry in small and affordable editions to expensive fine press books employing his own and others’ design and illustrative skills.
As a writer, he has spanned the period when the theories and techniques of postmodernism have contested older paradigms and forms of literature, and been at the forefront of critical and creative writing in Australia.