The Children of Marx and Coca-Cola

The first two t-shirts from the Les Femmes series are now available to buy! The first shirt features Belgian pop-star Lio, of Sage Comme Une Image fame! The second features Françoise Hardy. Each run of shirts is limited to 50 pieces, and are going fast! The oversized image is printed on white, small (unisex), sweat-shop free, American Apparel t-shirts and is hand silk-screened by Kayrock, NY. The price including international shipping is $29. You can order the shirts from my ETSY STORE

If there's one record I can barely listen to...

then it has to be Big Star's 3rd otherwise known as Sister Lovers. I always find it pretty funny when people say that some music is too depressing to listen to. I very rarely think that, but Big Star's third record is something that I find hard to put on. It just seems devoid of anything positive and sounds like death to me. This was the last Big Star record I heard after falling in love with the first two albums. I guess I was hoping for more of the same and did relish being able to have another Big Star album to listen to. But, I've probably listened to it ten times in ten years and every time is like going through a war. There are some pretty songs on the album though, such as "Blue Moon" and Jody Stephens' "For You", but the prevailing mood is one of hopelessness. Maybe it lacks the sweetness of any Chris Bell songs, but Radio City didn't feature any either... If you haven't heard this record then on first listen it might sound quite nice, but believe me, there is darkness and only darkness between the grooves of this record!

Music Inspired By The Film Scott Walker: 30 Century Man

Lakeshore Records are releasing the tribute/soundtrack CD Music Inspired By The Film Scott Walker: 30 Century Man on April 21st. You can order it here and find out more info on The Playlist You can find audio samples on the soundtrack's MySpace page

In Bed With Chris Needham

Some time ago I posted the video In Bed With Chris Needham, in six parts, on YouTube. I've had the video laying around since 1992 when it was first broadcast and watched it over and over again, usually when friends would come over and demand to see it! Anyway, it is some sort of classic, on a par with The Decline of Western Civilization Part II, in my opinion, and completely hilarious! The video has received quite a lot of attention since I uploaded it. The Guardian newspaper wrote an article about it and clips were shown on the Russel Brand show (apparently). It seems that most of my youth was spent around kids wanting to be in bands, so sometimes it's a bit difficult for me to watch. In time a biopic will be based on it. Mark thee words...

West Coast Tour

I'm heading out on tour with Scout Niblett in May for a west coast tour. Scout has recorded two songs for the "It's Time My Beloved" single, released by Drag City on April 14th.

06/05/09 Underground Coffeehouse, Bellingham, WA
07/05/09 Tractor Tavern, Seattle, WA
09/05/09 Rotture, Portland, OR
14/05/09 Spaceland, Los Angeles, CA
15/05/09 Fernwood Resort, Big Sur, CA
16/05/09 Hemlock Tavern, San Francisco, CA

Design Won't Save The World

Probably true, but it can definitely shape the world. See below...

Hitler & The Power of Aesthetics

In recent years there has been a trend in popular culture to humanize Adolf Hitler. This revisionism is important, I think, in order to understand, and come to terms with, the ethos of National Socialism. The 2004 movie Downfall and, more recently, Frederic Spotts' book Hitler and the Power of Aesthetics have attempted to shine new light on Hitler’s persona. Spotts’ fascinating book discusses the cultural aspect of Nazism as well as Hitler’s love of opera, his skill as an architect and even as a performer. If only the Vienna Academy Of Fine Arts had taken on Hitler as a student then we would live in a very different world! It's possible to argue that the horrors of the Holocaust were a direct result of Hitler's rejection from art school and Hitler's failure as an artist.

One thing that blows my mind is the fact that this book will not be published in Germany. How long can Germany bury its head in the sand? This is a book of great cultural importance, in my opinion, and should not be sanctioned. Germany’s denial of this subject is on a par with its refusal to confront the atrocities of the Holocaust. Surely a time will come where the subject of the Third Reich is not what Robert Hughes called “radioactive”. The fact that Hitler could have been a civil human being with typical human traits seems shocking to many people.

The truth is that Hitler revered the arts above all else and his biggest ambition was to create a state of high culture after the war. But at what a cost! Such a Utopia is obviously not worth the life of six million Jewish people and a bloody war. Ultimately his infatuation with, and dictatorship of, the arts killed off Europe as the world's cultural centre.

The current Mythos Germania exhibit (see picture) in Berlin reveals the proposed regeneration of the city at the end of the war as well as Hitler's megalomania. Having seen the exhibition I can understand Albert Speer's father's quote "you've all gone completely insane!" However, there is little left of Hitler’s Berlin. The Olympic Stadium has been refurbished and the swastika’s filled-in with plaster. Tempelhof airport is soon to be closed. The Reich Chancellery Building was flattened four years after the war (but the marble from the reception hall is in use, to this day, at Karl Marx Platz U-Bahn station). The Führerbunker still exists, buried underground. In its place stands a nondescript apartment block, a Chinese take-away and a supermarket where I used to buy groceries. It really is crazy to think that this is all there is to show of Hitler’s grandiose schemes. A few ruins and some architectural models...

Modular Paintings

I'm selling canvases from the Modular Painting series. They are available in black on white or white on black. The 40" x 30" canvases are only available to people in the States. The 36" x 24" canvases are available worldwide. The total cost for one painting is less than $150, including shipping, but please message me for specific prices.

Unmaking The Joshua Tree

I've written an essay about U2's Joshua Tree album. As most of my friends know, I hold this album in high regard, it's my Rosebud! Frances and I listened to the album on quite a few road trips last summer and she is the one who encouraged me to write something about it. I feel a bit uncomfortable writing about music, or any art for that matter. But for better, or for worse, you can find the essay HERE

Between You & Me

Amber Fresh has just published her first book of poetry entitled Between You & Me. I was happy to be asked to design the cover for it. It's a lovely book and I'd really recommend that you get a copy as soon as you can because it's a limited press. You can order a copy HERE

For The Love Of Harry

I really do feel that Harry Nilsson's mid-Sixties albums were almost unrivaled in the pop world at that time. Pandemonium Shadow Show, Aerial Ballet and Aerial Pandemonium Ballet are all great examples of Sixties music at its best. These days he seems to be remembered as the drunk who got John Lennon into fights and for his mega-hit "Without You". There are many more sides to Nilsson though and the For The Love Of Harry blogspot is a pretty definitive site and a great place to dig further into his world.

Scott Walker Signs

Scott Walker road signs in Greensboro, NC. Well spotted Frances!

Scott Walker: 30 Century Man Poster

Theatrical one-sheet posters for the U.S. release of Scott Walker: 30 Century Man are now available to buy from the Scott Walker Film Website

Stephen Kijak Homepage

Please take the time to visit the website I created for my friend Stephen Kijak. He is the director of Scott Walker: 30 Century Man, Never Met Picasso and the brilliant Cinemania. You can find more information on his work as well trailers for his movies HERE

New Look Homepage

My new homepage is now up with a different look and navigation. You can also find my work archive page here and my iLike pages which are a collection of images that I find visually inspiring. Check it out!

Double-Exposed South Bank

I'm happy that two of my photographs are going to be used in Schmap's Guide To London. The double exposed pictures date back to 2001, so it's nice that they're going to be used for something. I've been fascinated with London's South Bank since I first visited there years ago. For some reason the monolithic and brutalist architecture makes me feel right at home. There are always reports of the area being pulled down and regenerated. I can understand that some people would see it as a blot on the landscape, but there is something magical about seeing these structures on the banks of the Thames. Unlike the proposed extension to Tate Modern, I think that the South Bank Centre will withstand the test of time.

Ron Asheton R.I.P.

I'm really sad to hear the news of Ron Asheton's passing. I did get to meet him briefly when Scout Niblett opened up for The Stooges as part of Jarvis Cocker's 2007 Meltdown Festival in London. He seemed really at peace with himself and the world around him. My friend, Adam, put it best when he said that Ron plugged the guitar directly into his "bored and confused soul". Here are a couple of pictures from the Royal Festival Hall Show:

There She Goes... Again

Well, I've just been reminded that its twenty years to the day since the release of "There She Goes" by The La's. It came out the year that I left school and was one of the records that made me want to form a band. Actually, I wanted to be in The La's and sent Lee Mavers a letter at one point asking him that if he ever needed a drummer then he should get in touch. I never did get a call...

Former Icicle Works drummer, Chris Sharrock, played on this recording. I really do love Chris' playing and he has been an inspiration to me. He's a very underrated drummer in my opinion. The clip below highlights just how rhythmical his playing is, with just two drums and no cymbals.



Unfortunately, Chris left the band before their debut album was released and the following line-up never again reached the heights of "There She Goes". The band drove engineers crazy in their search for organic sounds and were ultimately bound to doom. Stories of aborted recording sessions are legendary with one engineer saying that the vintage mixing desk the band were using didn't sound right because there was no dust on the valves. The band subsequently sent a friend out on a search for some "real Sixties dust, la."

The dissolution of The La's still causes me pain. Along with The Stone Roses and Spacemen 3, they are probably the only British band of the last twenty years worthy of attention. They were a pre-cursor to Brit Pop, which is an unfortunate legacy to have. What makes "There She Goes" so great is that it doesn't just remind people of certain records from the Sixties, it is better than records made in the Sixties.

Is It?

I've always put-off doing a blog because of the word "blog", but I've decided to go ahead and set one up. I spend far too much time worrying about having a MySpace, Facebook and Flickr account... so hopefully this will be a way to consolidate those things and make an archive of what's happening in my world. You can also bookmark my homepage and find this blog under the news section of the site!