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Amelia’s Magazine | Illustrator Johanna Basford talks about being #TwitterPicture girl and more

JohannaBasfordProfilePic

Johanna Basford specialises in finely detailed monochrome pen and ink illustrations, and and last year came to the media’s attention after she conceived #TwitterPicture, pills a crowd-sourcing exercise in which she asked tweeters to suggest images that she then compiled over a 48 hour period into one giant montage, nurse letting those involved follow her progress using the picture-sharing site Twitpic. Here she talks to recent collaborator Neil Ayres about working with the Edinburgh Fringe, the ongoing success and continuing permutations of #TwitterPicture, agency representation and making sure, when it comes to her work, that she’s always a little bit scared.

Johanna Basford_BotanicalRhapsody
Botanical Rhapsody, commissioned by Queensberry Hunt Ceramicists to create hand drawn surface patter designs for tableware collection, 2008.

For those that don’t know, and at the risk of making you cringe, you’re the ‘#TwitterPicture girl’. The first #TwitterPicture was a big success, but it was evident to anyone who was following your progress that it was pretty exhausting. You decided to follow it up with an even more gruelling version. Was this really sensible?
I’m a firm believer that if something isn’t challenging, it’s not worth doing. I work in a huge industry saturated with talent. My thoughts are that you have to put yourself on the edge a little bit to make yourself stand out. There’s nothing captivating about mainstream.

Johanna Basford_DialogueOfTheDogs
Detail from an illustrated interpretation of Cervantes’ The Dialogue Of The Dogs, for The New Goodbye iPhone app, 2010.

You recently used the #TwitterPicture premise to create artwork for the Edinburgh Fringe. You’re also illustrating all of the literature for the coming festival. What other work has this involved?
I’m working with Edinburgh-based design agency Whitespace to create a series of illustrations for the programme, as well as having produced the final artwork which was the result of the #FringeCover #TwitterPicture. As the Fringe is the world’s largest arts festival, it’s obviously been a privilege to work on the project. I’ve tried to capture the bubbly sense of excitement and eccentricity which is at the heart of the Edinburgh Fringe. I managed to smuggle a few little quirks and surprises into the final artwork which I hope will delight and intrigue the audience.

Johanna Basford_Fashion_Vogue
Hand drawn images layered over fashion photography for Vogue, 2009.

And any more #TwitterPictures on the horizon? I’m sure it’s nice to be the go-to person for something, but are you in danger of becoming typecast?
Every time I finish a #TwitterPicture, I get a little over emotional and swear, ‘never again’. Yet I find myself being drawn back to the format of live drawing and crowd sourcing just a few months later. I would never run the same project twice, but I do believe evolving an idea to fit different formats and meet new challenges is both positive and interesting. Whether it’s adding the webcam, the non-stop 24 hour drawing or teaming up with a commercial client, each evolution of the #TwitterPicture has explored something new in the idea and pushed the concept to more extreme levels. As for the danger of becoming typecast, one look at my desk would reveal the dozen or so projects I am working on at any one time. Be it textile designs, custom packaging, illustrations, limited edition prints, website graphics or tattoos – my practise is diverse and always developing, the only constant thread is my love of monochrome.

Johanna Basford_Heartbreak
Heartbreak Pen and ink illustration, later screen printed as part of a limited edition print series created with Heartbreak Publishing, 2009.

Tell us a bit about how you came to do what you do. Have you drawn pretty much since you were knee-high to a pencil?
More like a Crayola crayon. I’ve always drawn, much to the peril of my parents who had to put up with a toddler who drew on walls. It’s a cliché, but I’ve always known I was going to end up drawing, I just wasn’t quite sure of the exact format. I went through phases of wanting to be an architect and a fashion designer, but at the core of everything was this passion for drawing.
After school I went to art school and studied printed textiles, specialising in silk screen printing. I graduated and spent a couple of years making hand-printed wallpapers and fabrics, feeling a bit confused and very unhappy about the direction I seemed to be heading in. Then, thank God, the credit crunch hit. The recession was the best thing that has happened to me. It forced me to seriously rethink what I was doing, to be completely brutal with myself. I re-evaluated my business and the work I was producing and made some big decisions. I stopped messing about making and selling products. I set myself up as an illustrator, focused on the one thing in life which never fails to inspire and delight me. I’ve not looked back since. Life is good.

Johanna Basford_MoonlitWalks_chapillo
MoonlitWalks, Chapillo illustration for iPhone app The New Goodbye, 2010

And how have you managed to carve a career in what’s a notoriously difficult industry to break into. Did you start out with any form of game-plan?
I’m very conscious that my industry is jam-packed with talent and ambition and that each year a new wave of eager graduates swarm into the pool of illustrators competing with each other. I’ve always thought it was better to do something different, something a little unusual, which would help me stand outside the crowd and be different. So I concentrated on creating the most detailed, intricate, hand-crafted designs, done almost exclusively in monochrome. I can’t compete with everyone on every level, so I focus on creating the best work I can for a specific niche. That’s not to say I’m not flexible in my work, and I would never limit myself on a brief, but for the main part, I want to be known as the girl who does ‘the-super-detailed-hand-drawn-black-and-white-drawings’.

Johanna Basford_PunkPeacock
PunkPeacock first shown at 100% Design, 2008.

We’ve worked together on a project recently, to republish a novelette, The Dialogue of the Dogs, by Miguel Cervantes [author of Don Quixote] as part of an iPhone app. Illustrating an old, respected text must have proved a different challenge to the type you’re used to. How did you go about it? There are hundreds of different elements in the finished illustration—is there much preparation involved?
Reading is not my strong point, so I did have to plough my way through the story a few times to really get to grips with it. I then made lists of important events, main characters and iconic images from the text and started time lining them together into a sequence which mirrored the narrative of the story. Using my trusty lo-fi methods, I stuck together lots of sheets of paper to make one long canvas and started drawing in the top left hand corner. The drawing process was unplanned. I just followed the flow of the story, sketching in the characters and scenery as I came to them, working from left to right. As the paper filled up, I stuck another sheet on. The creative process was organic and rambling, which I felt fitted the narrative thread of the story. As the drawing grew, I moved off my desk and worked on the floor, finally, several metres of paper later, the artwork was complete.

Johanna Basford_SweetNothings_chapillo
SweetNothings Chapillo Chapter illustration for iPhone app The New Goodbye, 2010,

You’ve worked with some interesting clients, particularly high-profile in the creative industry (aside from the Fringe there’s Heal’s, the V&A, BBC, among others). Do you have any particular ambitions in regards to your illustration?
I love the challenge of working with new clients in mediums and contexts which are unfamiliar to me. I’ve just finished working with Oxford University Press on my first book cover which was brilliant. My primary aim is to keep things scary. The anxiety of working on a project in which I may be a little out of my depth always inspires my best work. Looking forward, I’d like to work with some more big name clients; I’d like to see my drawings come to life through animation; I’d be keen to work on some more multimedia projects. And as specific examples, I’d love to get my hands on a Selfridges’ shop window and a Boutique Hotel. I’d also love to tackle more installation projects and supersize my artwork. I have a lot of plans. I just need more hours in the day.

You’re represented by NB Illustration, and this is a relatively recent arrangement, right? How’s that working out?
I signed with NB at the start of the year as a way of opening up my work to a new audience. NB has been crucial in introducing my work to a segment of the industry I just wasn’t able to tap into alone. They handle all the horrible or slightly boring stuff and leave me to the joyful task of drawing. They warned me when I signed with them that it might take a few months for the first piece of work to come in, but we had just a week to let the ink on the contract dry before they lined me up with my first job. For an illustrator, they’re a great agency. Not so large that my work is lost in the chatter, but big enough to have a firm standing in the industry. If the first four months is anything to go by, it’s going to be a fruitful partnership.

Do you still feel the urge to push your work as well as relying on the agency?
Most definitely. I think you have to work in tandem with your agent to ensure you are reaching as wide an audience as possible, not just sit back and wait for them to come to you with work. I’m always working on numerous other projects direct with clients alongside the work I’m producing for NB, and usually have a few self-initiated and collaborative projects on the go too. I like it busy. I believe keeping the mix of work, clients and collaborators constantly evolving forces me to learn new skills, develop my craft and push my work to new levels.

Johanna has a website and blog at HYPERLINK “http://johannabasford.com” http://johannabasford.com; or find her on Twitter: @johannabasford; The New Goodbye, the app that includes her illustrated narrative of The Dialogue of the Dogs is released on the App Store at the end of May and the Edinburgh Fringe takes place 6-30 August.

Written by Neil Ayres on Thursday April 29th, 2010 10:42 pm

Categories ,#TwitterPicture, ,edinburgh, ,Edinburgh Fringe, ,Heals, ,illustration, ,iphone app, ,Johanna Basford, ,NB Illustration, ,Selfridges

Amelia’s Magazine | In Basho’s Footsteps: the art of Anya Gleizer and writing of Pablo Fernández Velasco

In Bashos Footsteps, The Hunt.

This summer artist Anya Gleizer and writer Pablo Fernández Velasco set off on an adventure inspired by the life and travels of the Japanese poet Matsuo Basho. The intrepid twosome have worked on some incredible artistic projects already, and are hoping to fund this one by fund raising on Kickstarter. Find out more in my exclusive interview below, by watching their video, and on their own website Streams and Mountains here.

Who was Matsuo Basho?
In his youth Matsuo Basho was many things, he tried to be a scholar and he entered the service of a court, but soon enough all those took a back seat to his true nature. He was a poet. And being a poet he became many other things. For Basho one has to “learn about pines from the pine, and about bamboo from the bamboo”, one has to seek for the essence of things, to become one with them. He became the cherry blossom, the bamboo stalk and the banana tree that he took his name from (Basho means banana tree in Japanese). His name was Matsuo Munefusa, until a disciple presented him with a banana tree to honour him. From then on he carried its name, and the tree itself to anywhere he travelled. And he travelled! Basho wandered all over Japan, carrying little more than pen and paper, always off the beaten track. In travelling and in contact with nature, Basho found the inspiration for art. Today Basho is known as the most celebrated poet to have come out of Japan.

In Bashos Footsteps, What The Thunder Said.

When did you first come across the work of Matsuo Basho, and what drew you to replicate his journey?
I was looking for a book for Pablo. We are very similar in that when a story catches our interest it occupies all of our attention, and takes a front seat in our lives, as would a new friend with whom everything is interesting and new. Last summer, for Pablo, it was the Epic of Gilgamesh. So it was quite by accident that I strode upon Basho – he was sitting neatly beside Gilgamesh on the shelf of multi-cultural classics. Basho, a traveller and a poet. I read the first page of The Narrow Road and it was clear. I bought both. In the months that followed Basho´s haikus and travel journals enthralled us more and more. His simple aesthetic, and his wandering spirit caught hold of us. This winter, while hiking in Scotland, we had the idea to retrace his footsteps, and ever since we have been working to make it happen.

How did you come to work together and how does this process of collaboration work?
We began working together in Dublin in 2011, where we met in our study abroad. We were working with the French director Matthieu Tricaud in a play called There Will Be Time based on a poem by T.S. Eliot. After that we took different paths. This summer we met again, travelling first together, then each to a different part of the arctic, and then travelling together again until North Africa. This experience was a great source for art. This year we have been living together in Edinburgh to make that art happen. We have collaborated in different pieces in different ways (we even had an exhibition), but our main work is Titleless Mythology, which combines Pablo’s poetry with Anya’s illustration, something similar to what we intend to do in Japan.

What do you hope will be featured in your own artists’ book?
We don’t want to have expectations, as they often ruin art. However, there is always an element of planning what we want to attain abstractly. We want this project will reflect on two aspects. The first one is Basho’s way of art and travelling, which we hope to come in touch with by retracing his trail. The second aspect is to acknowledge how far Basho is from us. Japan has changed a lot since 1689 and our western mentality is far from Basho’s Zen awareness. We aim to portray not only Basho’s way, but also the changes that have occurred in Japan, and it will be a study of the contrast between West and East.

Which part of the trip are you most looking forward to and why?
Taking off. The moment you know you are going on an adventure, you can’t wait. To put on the backpack, hit the road, and leave everything else behind.

Alaska.

What other adventures have you two embarked upon and what did the outcomes look like?
We have a lot of them! We go exploring whenever we have the chance. The mountains closed to home if we have a weekend, the arctic if we have a whole summer. Anya is the youngest person to circumnavigate lake Baikal in Siberia, the biggest in the world by volume. As you can see on her site, this inspired a lot of her paintings. She has also been in expeditions to Glacier Bay in Alaska, and in Chukotka (the Russian arctic) as part of an ornithology team. Pablo hitchhiked to Nord Cape (the furthest northern point in Europe), hiked in the arctic, and then hitchhiked down to North Africa (meeting Anya for the last part of the trip). Anya has a series of silkscreen prints and drawings about it, and Pablo a lot of poems, some of which you can find in Titleless Mythology. Besides, we are about to finish a novel that includes art and poetry inspired by this events.

How are you fundraising for your trip?
The project won the Barnson Bequest Award, which gave us a bit of money. Mainly, this May 16th we launched a Kickstarter! Kickstarter is a crowdfunding platform: Individuals pledge money for the projects they like and receive rewards from the project (we are giving away silkscreen prints, Titleless Mythology, the book we will produce after Japan, and paintings of different sizes, depending on your pledge). If the project reaches its funding goal, the backers give the money and receive the rewards. People have showed a lot of support, and in the first four days we received $4000! That covers the travelling and maintenance costs, but only some of the publishing costs, so we are trying to let people know about the project. The more people that back the project, the more books we can publish! If you want to back the project, you have until June 4th.

What do you hope to work upon on your return?
The artists’ book. We will have a lot of material to go over, edit and put together. There will be a lot of work involved turning the writing and sketches in a notebook into the beautiful work we want to produce. Besides that, Anya will have a lot more to do, as she has some large paintings to prepare as a reward for the great people that back our Kickstarter.

Written by Amelia Gregory on Tuesday June 3rd, 2014 1:37 pm

Categories ,Alaska, ,Anya Gleizer, ,Barnson Bequest Award, ,Chukotka, ,Crowdfunding, ,Dublin, ,edinburgh, ,Epic of Gilgamesh, ,Glacier Bay, ,japan, ,japanese, ,Kickstarter, ,Lake Baikal, ,Matsuo Basho, ,Matsuo Munefusa, ,Matthieu Tricaud, ,Nord Cape, ,North Africa, ,Pablo Fernández Velasco, ,scotland, ,Siberia, ,Streams and Mountains, ,T.S. Eliot, ,The Narrow Road, ,There Will Be Time, ,Titleless Mythology, ,Zen

Amelia’s Magazine | Mike Inglis presents Transmit at the Axolotl Gallery, Edinburgh

mike inglis - the fall
All photography by Calum Ross.

Exploring the primitive need for belief systems in an increasingly confusing world, Culross based artist Mike Inglis presents Transmit: a series of stark, graphic and narrative based screen prints. Juxtaposing ancient and modern religious icons from voodoo rituals, catholic symbolism and contemporary graffiti, Transmit portrays and alternative moral code for a modern disconnected population.

Connecting all the pieces together is the omnipresent ‘spaceboy‘ character. A figurative symbol of disenfranchised youth, the ghost-like character appears introverted, presented in a variety of foetal, anti-social stances. Often depicted alone or with his equally disconnected female counterpart (based on the artist Kirsty Whiten) spaceboy hides inside his space helmet, shutting out the barrage of conflicting messages surrounding and consuming the world he inhabits.

mike inglis - triptych

“Spaceboy is very much a part of how I feel or have felt in my darker moments,” explains Inglis, “But he is also a cypher exploring how many people feel. Viewers really relate to the character and that can only be because they recognise or relate to him. Everything I make, all the characters, contain something of me but often it’s not a dominant emotion.”

mike inglis - cigar box shrine

But will the enigmatic Spaceboy ever reveal his true identity? “Spaceboy will never reveal his face, it’s not important how he looks, just how he feels and how we all relate to him. How he changes in relation to the spaces he inhabits and how he makes us think about our own relationships with places and people.”

In addition to his series of screen prints is Inglis’ intriguing Cigar Box Shrine, a mixed-media assemblage piece created out of found objects and pasted text. Pushing further the theme of contemporary graffiti icons as street culture replacements for their older religious counterparts, the box highlights societies fascination with religious artefacts and the interchangeable nature many of these faiths possess. The most curious items within the Shrine are the Pharmaceutical Bottles which Inglis had blessed by a bona-fide voodoo priest in Amsterdam.

mike inglis - pharmaceutical bottle

“The voodoo priest was a total revelation!” Inglis reminisces, “Although from my research I knew the true profile of the religion was very complex and most of the portrayals of Voodoo priest (Santeria) were Hollywood horror movie hokum, I still had preconceived notions. The guy was a very camp white Dutchman, incredibly helpful and warm and instantly reversed all thoughts and fears I had. We had a very interesting morning together and he performed a ceremony preparing the powders for the shrines, all the time chatting away.”

The Axolotl Gallery will no doubt be feeling the positive effects of the blessed powders, which are said to bring about spiritual benefits, as Transmit is yet another successful addition to a list of unique and highly innovative installations in their New Town gallery. Transmit will run until the Saturday the 29th May.

Written by Calum Ross on Wednesday May 19th, 2010 6:23 pm

Categories ,amsterdam, ,Axolotl Gallery, ,edinburgh, ,Hollywood, ,Kirsty Whiten, ,Mike Inglis, ,Spaceboy, ,Transmit, ,Voodoo

Amelia’s Magazine | Announcing: The ACOFI Book Tour. Please join me as I visit some of the UK’s best design shops!

Press Days March 2011-ACOFI
ACOFI at the Forward PR press day in March.

WOO HOOO Grafik magazine have beaten me to an official announcement of dates for my ACOFI Book Tour. But here’s everything you need to know if you would like to join me somewhere in the UK.

The #ACOFI Book Tour
On Tuesday 10th May I will be embarking on a mini book tour across the UK to promote Amelia’s Compendium of Fashion Illustration. In case you haven’t visited my website before this is what you need to know about my new book, dosage which is otherwise known as #ACOFI (especially on twitter):

Amelia’s Compendium of Fashion Illustration: the Book.
Amelia’s Compendium of Fashion Illustration *featuring the very best in ethical fashion design* was published at the end of 2010, approved and is the second publication from Amelia’s House, order the book publishing wing of Amelia’s Magazine. It is a showcase for the work of thirty up and coming fashion illustrators who have interpreted the work of 45 exciting new ethical fashion designers, as well as plenty of good independent design that was first featured online at Amelia’s Magazine.

What I’ll be doing:
I’ll be visiting various wonderful independent art and design shops around the country to talk about the rise of eco fashion, the illustration process and social media for creatives and I will also be offering portfolio crits. I’m hoping to meet lots of creative people en route, so if you think you might like to take part don’t forget to bring your portfolio along with you: personal crits will be free on purchase of both my books at a special tour discount. Not to worry if you can’t bring your portfolio along in the evening though! At some shops I’ll be doing a 24 Hour Crit, so you can come along and talk to me personally the next day if you prefer.

Press Days March 2011-ACOFI

ACOFI illustrators to join me en route, plus more:
I’ll be accompanied at various points by some of the fabulous illustrators featured in my blogs for Grafik this week, and alongside my informal chat there will be lots more creative excitement at each shop: at the Tatty Devine Covent Garden shop participants will be invited to help paint the shop windows and at Tatty Devine in Brick Lane there will be the opportunity to learn how to ice biscuits with Biscuiteers. Not only that but guests will be able to enjoy complimentary organic juices from top juice mixologists Juiceology, fine teas from Lahloo and there will be plates laden with traditional biscuits and cakes for you to munch on. Once again the fabulous folks at Dr. Hauschka will be providing yummy free samples for participants to take away.

Press Days March 2011-ACOFI

Here’s a full list of all the dates – all talks are free but space is limited in some shops so please book where necessary to ensure your place. I’ll be tweeting about my adventures on the #ACOFI hashtag and you can follow me on @ameliagregory. I have also linked to the six associated facebook events. Six of ‘em, oh yea baby. Please do join if you would like to be kept updated about a specific event. Bring on The ACOFI Book Tour.

Tatty Devine in Covent Garden, London: Tatty Devine in Covent Garden 24 Hour Crit and Window Painting on Tuesday 10th May 6-10pm, then continuing into Weds 11th May as part of the 24 Hour Crit.
Tatty Devine blog about the event.
Please book your place here admin@tattydevine.com
Facebook event and Twitter.
44 Monmouth Street, London, WC2H 9EP, 0207 836 2685

The Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh on Tuesday 17th May, 6.30-10pm, no booking necessary. 24 Hour Crit continuing into Wednesday 18th May.
Facebook event and Twitter.
Fruitmarket, 45 Market Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1DF, 0131 226 8181

Castor and Pollux in Brighton on Tuesday 24th May, 6-10pm.
To book your place email: april@castorandpollux.co.uk
Facebook event and Twitter.
165 King’s Road Arches, Lower Prom, Brighton BN1 1NB, 01273 773776

Comma in Oxford on Wednesday 25th May, 6-10pm.
To book your place email: hello@oxfordcomma.co.uk
Facebook event and Twitter.
247 Iffley Road, Oxford, OX4 1SJ, 01865 202400

Soma Gallery in Bristol on Thursday 26th May, 6-10pm, 24 Hour Crit continuing into Friday 27th May. To book your place email: fiona@somagallery.co.uk
Facebook event and Twitter.
4 Boyces Avenue, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 4AA, 0117 973 9838

Tatty Devine in Brick Lane, London: 24 Hour Crit and Biscuit Decorating with Biscuiteers on Tuesday 7th June, 6-10pm, continuing into Wednesday 8th June. Please book your place here admin@tattydevine.com
Facebook event and Twitter.
236 Brick Lane, London, E2 7EB, 0207 739 9191

Read more about my ACOFI launch party in January.

Reviews of Amelia’s Compendium of Fashion Illustration:

Champions the art form and gives a thorough insight into working practices… and it looks stunning, which is not a suprise considering the calibre of the work included. Design Week

Beautiful and informative as each interview and feature takes you on a personal journey, understanding where each artist and designer get their inspiration from and why ethical fashion is important to them. Ecouterre

A coffee-table book with a difference… perfect for dipping in and out of for both artistic and fashion inspiration. The Young Creatives

ACOFI has been featured in many publications including I-D online, Vogue, Digital Arts, Style Bubble, Cent Magazine and The Ecologist to name but a few. Why not click on the links and find out?

You can buy Amelia’s Compendium of Fashion Illustration online here. I hope to meet you soon!

Written by Amelia Gregory on Wednesday May 4th, 2011 3:22 pm

Categories ,24 Hour Crit, ,ACOFI, ,Amelia’s Anthology of Illustration, ,Amelia’s Compendium of Fashion Illustration, ,Amelia’s House, ,art, ,Biscuiteers, ,Biscuits, ,Book shops, ,Book Tour, ,Brick Lane, ,brighton, ,bristol, ,cakes, ,Castor and Pollux, ,Cent Magazine, ,Comma, ,Covent Garden, ,design, ,Design Week, ,Digital Arts, ,Dr.Hauschka, ,Eco fashion, ,Ecouterre, ,edinburgh, ,Facebook, ,Forward PR, ,i-D, ,illustration, ,Juiceology, ,Lahloo, ,Lahloo Tea, ,london, ,Oxford, ,scotland, ,Social Media, ,Soma Gallery, ,Style Bubble, ,Talk, ,Tatty Devine, ,the ecologist, ,The Fruitmarket Gallery, ,The Young Creatives, ,twitter, ,vogue, ,Window Painting

Amelia’s Magazine | An interview with Pumajaw and review of new album Demonmeowmeow

Pumajaw by Tiana Dunlop.

The enigmatic Pumajaw are a male/female duo who hail from Scotland, and their new album Demonmeowmeow is a must hear slice of new wave electronica with heart. From the throaty openings of the epic song Mazy Laws, Demonmeowmeow sets out its wares with style: hypnotic vocals from singer Pinkie Maclure set off against the sparsest of musical arrangements by John Wills (formerly of Loop), resulting in a spooky, otherworldly glory: think sleazy synths mashed up with jazz inflected brass buzzing. I promise you that Demonmeowmeow is quite unlike anything else you will have heard in 2011. Buy it now.

Pumajaw by Sam Parr.

Who is Pumajaw?
Pinkie Maclure & John Wills, we’ve been working together for eleven years – John was working as an engineer and producer, I was a solo electronic artist. We worked together on a solo album of mine, From Memorial Crossing, which quickly evolved into a mutual project because we had so many ideas in common. After an arts council project called Lumen, we settled on the name Pumajaw, which comes from our initials.

Pumajaw-demonmeowmeow-cover
Your new album Demonmeowmeow came out last month, what has been the reception so far?
Gideon Coe on 6 Music has been playing Outlands a lot and we’ve had plays by Max Reinhardt on Radio 3′s Late Junction. There’s been some fantastic press, with a big feature in the Herald Scotland and a 4 star review in Uncut. There have been quite extreme reactions, some people love it immediately, but other people seem confused – I like to use 3 or 4 octaves and sing torch songs with great, irresistible melodies, but the arrangements are not just the usual instruments – John creates beautiful atmospheres from unusual sources, such as a page being turned, hinges rattling or the flapping of birdwings. It’s what we’ve always done, so it seems natural to us.

Pumajaw
What does Demonmeowmeow mean?
Rebellious, dark and sensuous and a little bit cheeky.

Your sound is a mix of jazz, folk and alt blues, with a healthy dollop of electro on top. How did this come about?
It’s evolved over a long time – the first two Pumajaw albums were built around acoustic guitar loops and my rather minimal concertina playing, because we wanted to create a very simple music that could be performed live without much equipment. But as time went on, we felt restrained by it, we wanted to speed it up and make more noise, I wanted to stretch my vocal chords more. John used to be known as a drummer as well as a producer, so using new technology, he has started programming rhythms and that’s where the electro bit has come in, along with the purchase of some rather exciting synthesizers. I have to admit, we did rebel somewhat against what has started to feel like a tidal wave of bland, twee folk music – living in rural Scotland, you are surrounded by acoustic guitar balladeers and it gets really tiresome after a while. Demonmeowmeow is a bit of a reaction to all that.

Pumajaw by Vicky Fallon.

Despite so many influences your sound has been described as timeless, which I think can be both a blessing and a curse. How do you think it has come to sound this way?
We are both inspired by what you might call great classic songs. As a teenager I listened to a lot of jazz, French chanson, blues and folk singers. We’ve never tried to be fashionable, just creative, ambitious. I would hate to think our music could lost its appeal over time. Duke Ellington said ‘there are only two types of music – good and bad.’ We’re trying to do the good stuff.

pumajaw_colour
You’ve been busy producing videos. Why is it so important to you to create good visuals and is it quick to produce these videos?
John makes the videos, although we often both direct them. Visual performance has always been an important part of music for me, the imagery in the songs is very strong in my mind. The lyrics are like paintings and the videos are an extension of that. The plan is to film the whole album eventually – next up is the Mazy Laws, our 8 minute, sexy slowburner that has picked up a lot of airplay, despite its length. There’s a famous star-shaped maze near here we’re looking forward to filming and getting lost in.

What is happening in the Outlands video, and were you actually underwater for a great period of time?
Outlands was made in a day, because we already had the footage. We went to Pompeii during our Italian tour last January. It was very wet and we noticed bubbles constantly popping up from the puddles, which must have been volcanic gas. It was magical and dreamlike. When John asked me what Outlands was about, I said it’s like a lullabye, about drying your eyes, finding peace, solace, comfort, healing. He overlaid the bubbles over some footage of me, so I didn’t have to be underwater! I think I look like a weird, innocent, adult baby playing with the bubbles, like when tiny babies first discover their hands.

Mask is a similarly simple but eerily evocative video, how was it put together and what was the idea behind it?
Mask is about greed, vanity and dishonesty, the way people try and hide the truth with flippancy. At the moment, clever, talented people are being ignored and wasted while the well-connected few appear to be getting away unscathed. Mask is a comment on this.

Pumajaw by Janneke de Jong.

What can the audience expect when you play the album live?
We love playing live, it’s the reason I became a singer in the first place. Over the years we’ve learned to choose our shows carefully – there’s no point in us playing grungey indie venues, I won’t stand being talked through. I just stop and confront people if that happens. I see us almost as a kind of theatrical performance. The songs are so deep, they need to be listened to, onstage we’re quite intense and demanding, things happen we can’t always predict – although there’s been a fair bit of dancing going on at our recent gigs, so it’s a bit of a party as well. We played at the Cafe Royal in Edinburgh recently, it’s all fairylights and decadent decor – perfect!

You’re off on tour of Italy in early 2012 – why Italy?
We do well in Italy, we’ve toured there a few times now. They’re a bit more open to music as ‘art’. I think our music suits their culture and temperament, they’re not scared of self-expression.

Billy Rose

When can people in the UK see you again? Which smaller festivals are on your hit list to play next year?
We’ll be doing more UK gigs in the spring, but we’re going to choose carefully. We’d like to do some small festivals, we hate the big corporate rock ones. There’s one called Lounge on the Farm we’d like to do, also a Scottish one called Doune the Rabbithole, we played there last year, it has a lovely idealism and positive atmosphere about it, they’re not scared of trying something different.

The Safe Inside (live in Genoa)

Any other exciting plans you can share?
We’re already writing the next album, also we’re about to sign a licensing deal with an American label, so 2012 could be a busy year for us.

Demonmeowmeow by Pumajaw is out now on Bedevil Records.

Written by Amelia Gregory on Monday December 12th, 2011 9:51 pm

Categories ,6 Music, ,Bedevil Records, ,Billy Rose, ,blues, ,Cafe Royal, ,Demonmeowmeow, ,Doune the Rabbithole, ,Duke Ellington, ,edinburgh, ,electronica, ,folk, ,French Chanson, ,From Memorial Crossing, ,Gideon Coe, ,Herald Scotland, ,Italy, ,Janneke de Jong, ,jazz, ,John Wills, ,Late Junction, ,Loop, ,Lounge on the Farm, ,Lumen, ,Mask, ,Max Reinhardt, ,Outlands, ,Pinkie Maclure, ,Pompeii, ,Pumajaw, ,Radio 3, ,Sam Parr, ,scotland, ,Sleaze, ,The Safe Inside, ,Tiana Dunlop, ,Uncut, ,Vicky Fallon

Amelia’s Magazine | Fuck Buttons: Stereo, Glasgow: Live Review

For me, page the majority of fashion week involved being squished like a sardine in regimented rows watching models strut up and down a well lit runway. While this is all well and good, rx sometimes it’s fun to break from the norm…

from what I can gauge, prescription Nasir Mazhar is a headwear designer, with very theatrical taste.

To view his presentation at London Fashion Week s/s10 we descended into the vaults of Somerset House, entering a strobe lit room, where at the end of the corridor a stunning and SEXY model posed around a pole in an almost fetichistic nude mask that covered her mouth and eyes……

This was the opening taste of the world of Nasir Mazhar that is visceral, amusing, unique and downright hot. As I am predominately a photographer, I feel the images illustrate the experience better than anything I could write!

All photographs by Elizabeth Johnson

For me, troche the majority of fashion week involved being squished like a sardine in regimented rows watching models strut up and down a well lit runway. While this is all well and good, website sometimes it’s fun to break from the norm…

from what I can gauge, sick Nasir Mazhar is a headwear designer, with very theatrical taste.

All photographs by Elizabeth Johnson

For me, thumb the majority of fashion week involved being squished like a sardine in regimented rows watching models strut up and down a well lit runway. While this is all well and good, viagra dosage sometimes it’s fun to break from the norm…

from what I can gauge, information pills Nasir Mazhar is a headwear designer, with very theatrical taste.

All photographs by Elizabeth Johnson

For me, sildenafil the majority of fashion week involved being squished like a sardine in regimented rows watching models strut up and down a well lit runway. While this is all well and good, sometimes it’s fun to break from the norm…

from what I can gauge, Nasir Mazhar is a headwear designer, with very theatrical taste.

All photographs by Elizabeth Johnson

For me, nurse the majority of fashion week involved being squished like a sardine in regimented rows watching models strut up and down a well lit runway. While this is all well and good, health sometimes it’s fun to break from the norm…

from what I can gauge, Nasir Mazhar is a headwear designer, with very theatrical taste.

All photographs by Elizabeth Johnson
A few months back, price Amelia’s Magazine was asked to produce a piece of artwork as part of a collaboration with the housing and homeless charity Shelter for their House of Cards campaign. The aim was to highlight the issue of Britain’s housing problem; this year alone, salve 65, order 000 people will lose their homes, joining the hundreds of thousands on the streets already. It became somewhat of an in-house event. Amelia’s cousin Simon French, an animator at Framestore, created the hard hitting images of houses and buildings, flimsy as a pack of cards, fluttering away in the breeze. Created in association with the Leo Burnett Agency, all involved, including the directors Dom and Nic; Radiohead, who provided the soundtrack and Samantha Morton as the narrator, provided their services for free to support the cause.

Our submission was entitled Two of Hearts. We asked that it would be made up by contributions from illustrators and received a deluge of submissions. The artwork was put together like a patchwork quilt of cards in many different styles and designs, all depicting the two of hearts. It was big too, A0 size, and perfectly displayed the different styles of our illustrators.

Last Thursday we were finally able to see the fruits of our labour – and of the hardworking illustrators who answered our brief. Held at the Central London art gallery The Haunch Of Venison, the event also served as an auction, with all the artworks available to bid for. All proceeds were to go the Shelter Charity. Given the high caliber of work, and the high profile artists who were involved, its a given that the bidding would have achieved a fever pitch. Lending their names to the exhibition were artists such as Marc Quinn, David Bailey, Damien Hirst, Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood, Jake and Dinos Chapman, Rob Ryan, Giles Deacon and Nick Park, who had all designed a card in either the Hearts, Clubs, Spades or Diamonds suits. All involved were given free reign in creating a new design, and as our pictures show, imaginations ran riot.

Ace of Hearts by Damien Hirst

Queen of Spades by Vivienne Westwood

King of Diamonds by Rankin

Eight of Spades by Ben Flynn

The event was filled to the rafters, and it was wonderful to see so many of the illustrators for Amelia’s brief attend. The Two of Hearts submission had a continuous crowd gathered around; a mixture of spectators and proud illustrators. We managed to get plenty of pictures with our illustrators, as you can see.

Emmi Ojala, Thereza Rowe, Sarah Kirk, Rosalie Harris – other illustrator, please get in touch and remind us of your name!

Illustrators include Nozomi Inoue and Chris Cox. Other illustrators, please get in touch and remind us of your names!

Sina Becker, Jenn Pitchers, Leona Clark
Amy Rhian, Louise McLennan, Roberta Boyce

Amelia Gregory strikes a pose

I’m fascinated by Polly Morgan‘s Ten Of Diamonds

The auction was held a few days ago, with every piece of art work receiving a bid. Our Two of Hearts submission, which had been estimated to go for between £1,000-£2,000, ended up selling for £2,200 to a mystery bidder. We are so pleased with the results, especially as that goes towards the £100,000 that was raised for Shelters campaign through the auction.

While the exhibition was only on for a short time, it is still possible to purchase a limited edition A5 replica pack of the final exhibited pack of cards. Only 1,000 packs will be produced, so it is likely that they will sell out soon. Again, all profits will go to the Shelter campaign. The cards cost £70 and will be on sale at the Haunch of Venison gallery, and online, through Shelterhouseofcards.org.uk
A few months back, there Amelia’s Magazine was asked to produce a piece of artwork as part of a collaboration with the housing and homeless charity Shelter for their House of Cards campaign. The aim was to highlight the issue of Britain’s housing problem; this year alone, this web 65,000 people will lose their homes, joining the hundreds of thousands on the streets already. It became somewhat of an in-house event. Amelia’s cousin Simon French, an animator at Framestore, created the hard hitting images of houses and buildings, flimsy as a pack of cards, fluttering away in the breeze. Created in association with the Leo Burnett Agency, all involved, including the directors Dom and Nic; Radiohead, who provided the soundtrack and Samantha Morton as the narrator, provided their services for free to support the cause.

Ace of Hearts by Damien Hirst

Queen of Spades by Vivienne Westwood

King of Diamonds by Rankin

Eight of Spades by Ben Flynn

Emmi Ojala, Thereza Rowe, Sarah Kirk, Rosalie Harris – other illustrator, please get in touch and remind us of your name!

Illustrators include Nozomi Inoue and Chris Cox. Other illustrators, please get in touch and remind us of your names!

Sina Becker, Jenn Pitchers, Leona Clark
Amy Rhian, Louise McLennan, Roberta Boyce

Amelia Gregory strikes a pose

I’m fascinated by Polly Morgan‘s Ten Of Diamonds

Ah, page I still get misty eyed when I think back to something I’ve tagged as ‘Errors Fuck Buttons and Mogwai Tuesday’ last year. Sorry 2009, healing but no Tuesday night has come close since. Throbbing electro, adiposity screaming death metal vocals and epic, beautiful, kidney shaking post-rock all on one bill, as they played Edinburgh’s Corn Exchange last October. For a mid-week gig, it was pretty sublime, and the first time I’d seen Fuck Buttons live.

Last year’s album, Street Horrrsing was one of my 2008 favourites, and still regularly pops up as a loud, exhilarating, droney soundtrack for my walk to work. On a morning when you can’t quite wake up, it has sort of the same effect as sniffing a Vicks menthol inhaler on a really cold, frosty day.

After my very first listen to Tarot Sport, the upcoming album from the Bristol boys – Andrew Hung and Benjamin John Power – it wasn’t quite hitting the same highs as their debut. That’s not to say it’s bad though. It just means Street Horrrsing will take some beating. A swelling fifty-minute roar of pretty bleeps, twinkling bells, shrieking monkey howls and battering tribal drums – sublime!

The more I play Tarot Sport though, the more hooked I’m getting. It’s the noise of euphoric, urgent electronica clashing slowly with rolling, distorted squall, that’s got me. And just when I thought the single and album opener, Surf Solar, couldn’t really be improved upon, I saw their video for it – penguins doing frantic laps of an ice-blue, aquarium rave.

Fuck Button’s set at Glasgow’s Stereo last Thursday blazed through the first and second albums, in one glowing, unbroken hour. Apart from a quick thank you at the end, the pair of them kept their heads down, standing opposite each other at a table piled high with fluorescent cables, and a suitcase full of pedals, keyboards and gadgets, including their well-played Fisher Price cassette player. Gripping the yellow mic in his teeth, while using his hands to play keyboard and, well, fuck with some buttons, Benjamin screamed vocals through it, while Andrew fiddled with a laptop and lunged and pogoed back and forth at the table. A lot of people find this kind of deep-in-concentration, on-stage behaviour annoying, as it’s not bringing much spectacle to the noise, but personally I think a couple of cheesy Glasgow-aimed gags would kill the mood of their primal, industrial mix dead, and I’m quite happy for them to let the crowd get carried away without interruption.

Playing with their love of a slow climax, where they take techno beats and hypnotic, doom-laden rhythms then bring them to a screaming, brutal crescendo. A bit more confrontational than Animal Collective, maybe if they’d hung out with Earth during the heroin years, and listened to a lot of Neu! and (the not yet invented) Andrew Weatherall together. (Weatherall produced Tarot Sport funnily enough.) Colourful, pulverising, beautiful and brutal. Maybe next year I’ll get misty eyed about Fuck Buttons Thursday.

Tarot Sport is released on ATP Recordings on 12th October.

Written by Claire Sawers on Wednesday September 30th, 2009 6:26 pm

Categories ,animal colectove, ,edinburgh, ,errors, ,fuck buttons, ,gig, ,glasgow, ,mogwai, ,neu!

Amelia’s Magazine | Fuck Buttons: Stereo, Glasgow: Live Review

from what I can gauge, prescription Nasir Mazhar is a headwear designer, with very theatrical taste.

All photographs by Elizabeth Johnson

from what I can gauge, sick Nasir Mazhar is a headwear designer, with very theatrical taste.

All photographs by Elizabeth Johnson

from what I can gauge, information pills Nasir Mazhar is a headwear designer, with very theatrical taste.

All photographs by Elizabeth Johnson

from what I can gauge, Nasir Mazhar is a headwear designer, with very theatrical taste.

All photographs by Elizabeth Johnson

from what I can gauge, Nasir Mazhar is a headwear designer, with very theatrical taste.

Ace of Hearts by Damien Hirst

Queen of Spades by Vivienne Westwood

King of Diamonds by Rankin

Eight of Spades by Ben Flynn

Emmi Ojala, Thereza Rowe, Sarah Kirk, Rosalie Harris – other illustrator, please get in touch and remind us of your name!

Illustrators include Nozomi Inoue and Chris Cox. Other illustrators, please get in touch and remind us of your names!

Sina Becker, Jenn Pitchers, Leona Clark
Amy Rhian, Louise McLennan, Roberta Boyce

Amelia Gregory strikes a pose

I’m fascinated by Polly Morgan‘s Ten Of Diamonds

Ace of Hearts by Damien Hirst

Queen of Spades by Vivienne Westwood

King of Diamonds by Rankin

Eight of Spades by Ben Flynn

Emmi Ojala, Thereza Rowe, Sarah Kirk, Rosalie Harris – other illustrator, please get in touch and remind us of your name!

Illustrators include Nozomi Inoue and Chris Cox. Other illustrators, please get in touch and remind us of your names!

Sina Becker, Jenn Pitchers, Leona Clark
Amy Rhian, Louise McLennan, Roberta Boyce

Amelia Gregory strikes a pose

I’m fascinated by Polly Morgan‘s Ten Of Diamonds

Tarot Sport is released on ATP Recordings on 12th October.

Written by Claire Sawers on Wednesday September 30th, 2009 6:26 pm

Categories ,animal colectove, ,edinburgh, ,errors, ,fuck buttons, ,gig, ,glasgow, ,mogwai, ,neu!

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