Amelia’s Magazine | Fashion in Film Festival: Dreams of Darkness and Colour

Dry the River by Avril Kelly
Dry the River by Avril Kelly.

How did you folks all meet up? Can you describe a bit more about the formation of the band?
I’d like to say it was an epic tale of overcoming obstacles and triumph in the face of adversity but it was actually a pretty run-of-the-mill thing, viagra approved order haha.




Amelia’s Magazine | Fashion in Film Festival: Dreams of Darkness and Colour























Listings

    No events to show

Follow

Twitter

|

Facebook

|

MySpace

|

Last.fm

RSS



Subscribe












Top 25 Art Blog - Creative Tourist




Fashion in Film Festival: Dreams of Darkness and Colour

In the last of our reviews from the Fashion in Film Festival, here’s the lavish Rapsodia Satanica – a classic from the Italian silent movie era, accompanied by live music…

Written by Matt Bramford

Dry the River by Avril Kelly
Dry the River by Avril Kelly.

How did you folks all meet up? Can you describe a bit more about the formation of the band?
I’d like to say it was an epic tale of overcoming obstacles and triumph in the face of adversity but it was actually a pretty run-of-the-mill thing, viagra approved order haha. I (Peter) had taken some time out of music to do some other stuff but before I knew it I’d kind of unconsciously started writing a record. One weekend I recruited some musicians I knew from old bands etc. and we spent a weekend recording. The day after we finished recording I went off on an acoustic UK tour and the band was kind of built out of that.

Dry The River by Karina Yarv
Dry The River by Karina Yarv.

How do you describe your music to people who have never heard it?
Actually it’s changed a lot – at the start it was very lo-fi folky stuff because the songs grew out some acoustic bedroom recordings, stuff but now that we all live together and are all involved in the writing process we’ve opened the door to a lot of different influences. I think the songs still resemble folk music thematically – I write a lot about family, capsule relationships, the things that a lot of us deal with day to day – but in the practice room we all get the chance to pull the arrangements in different directions. I guess the short answer is that it’s folky gospel music played by a post-punk band.

Dry The River by Mags James
Dry The River by Mags James.

You share a home in Stratford – is this ever hard work? Who does the most washing up (and the least)?
I think living in a confined space with other people is always a tricky business. At least in our case we have a mutual understanding of each other’s situation. That said, some days are obviously harder than others. We’ve been on tour for six weeks now, mostly cooped up in a van – I think after our Nest show on Wednesday we’ll all go back to our respective family homes for some time apart. Jon (drums) does the most washing up, he likes to keep things tidy. I think I probably do the least, or Scott (bass)…

YouTube Preview Image

You are known for utterly lush harmonies… is it hard to get these right and how do they come about?
It’s funny, it was never our intention to be a band that feature prominent harmonies. We were in the studio working on a new recording and I asked Scott whether he could sing. He had a go at singing a third or a fifth on top of what Matt and I were singing and it seemed to work. It really was that haphazard – we rarely spend time crafting harmony parts, Matt and Scott just sing where it seems to make sense. Sometimes we get to recording a song and realise what we’ve been singing doesn’t even work, and have to sit at a piano working out what the lines should be!

dry the river by Gaarte
dry the river by Gaarte.

Were you all musical children? Did you learn to play instruments from a young age?
Aside from Will, we’re all first generation musicians. None of us come from particularly musical families. I think we actually all grew up at a time when being in rock bands was just what kids did. Certainly in Newbury where I took up music in earnest, almost everyone tried their hand at it. That said, I’m at the other extreme to Will – I never studied music formally at all and one day I’d like to. The other guys all have at least a pretty solid (if rudimentary) understanding of music theory.

Stephanie Thieullent-dry the river
Dry the River by Stephanie Thieullent.

Does Peter write all the lyrics, and where do you draw inspiration from?
Writing lyrics is a separate endeavour to writing songs, for me. I write chord progressions and vocal melodies and have a pretty formed idea of where a song is going, then I go away and spend a long time writing lyrics. I think experience informs the way everybody behaves – it’s the lens that everybody views the world through and music is no different. In my case the songs are rarely based on a specific event or a candid message that I desperately want to deliver. They’re more a collection of responses to environments I’ve found myself in – periods of time, people, places… So I guess in that respect they include images of my childhood in Norway and the UK, reflections on my time at University, and a whole load of other stuff that influences my worldview on any given day.

YouTube Preview Image

Your songs are very intense emotionally – is this intentional and why do you think they come across like this?
I think there are probably two reasons for that. Firstly, whether it’s an event or a feeling or a situation, something has to motivate an artist enough to write a song or paint or whatever. I think the vast majority of artworks are created as an emotional response, so the subject matter is always going to be emotional in nature. Secondly, though, we are grew up listening to post-punk and metal and so on, which is traditionally played in a very intense way. I think the way we play probably magnifies the emotional content in the lyrics.

We first met at Glastonbury when you played for Climate Camp this year… what was your highlight of this year’s festival?
Snooooooooooop!

YouTube Preview Image
And on youtube using one of my photos from Glastonbury… without permission of course! In fact my pictures of Dry the River are crawling all over the web without credits…

You will be playing a lot more festivals next summer, can you tell us which ones they will be, and are there any in particular that you are looking forward to?
I think we’ve confirmed quite a few now but I’m not sure which we’re meant to reveal! The other day we were announced alongside Midlake and Wild Beasts in the first batch of names for End of the Road, which we’re super stoked about!

You’ve decided to release your debut single on Transgressive – what made you decide to go with this label and what will the single be?
Tim and Toby at Transgressive really put their faith in the music at an early stage when everything was uncertain. A lot of people see a band with potential and sit in the wings, waiting to see how they’ll fare. Transgressive were the opposite – they met us straight away, told us they loved the music and believed in it, and set about moving mountains to help us become a full time band. Aside from all that, they’re a great label and we’re really proud to be adding to the discography. As for the song, you’ll have to wait and see!

YouTube Preview Image

Your recent youtube video gained more than 100,000 hits – why do you think it has proved so popular?
There are a variety of a reasons I suppose – firstly it was on the YouTube front page as part of a YouTube Music Tuesdays promotion, which I think put it in front of a lot of people who wouldn’t normally have seen it. Also Watch Listen Tell, who filmed that session, have a really loyal following, and maybe there was a word of mouth element too – I guess it’s quite memorable with Matt’s broken arm and so on!

You’ve just played the Forum, what was the highlight of the gig? What can the audience expect at your headline gig at the Nest in Dalston?
The Forum was our biggest show ever – there’s no substitute for experience on big stages in front of lots of people! That said, we love the more intimate settings where we can see familiar faces and talk to people. I hope The Nest will be a really special event – for us it’s our homecoming show after six weeks on the road, as well as our 100th show and a celebration of all that’s come about in the past year.

You can find the wonderful Dry the River on Myspace here, and at home on their website here where you can download three songs for free. You can also follow them on twitter here, and of course do not forget their headline show, which is on Wednesday 15th December at The Nest. Full listing info here.

Dry the River by Avril Kelly
Dry the River by Avril Kelly.

How did you folks all meet up? Can you describe a bit more about the formation of the band?
I’d like to say it was an epic tale of overcoming obstacles and triumph in the face of adversity but it was actually a pretty run-of-the-mill thing, capsule haha. I (Peter) had taken some time out of music to do some other stuff but before I knew it I’d kind of unconsciously started writing a record. One weekend I recruited some musicians I knew from old bands etc. and we spent a weekend recording. The day after we finished recording I went off on an acoustic UK tour and the band was kind of built out of that.

Dry The River by Karina Yarv
Dry The River by Karina Yarv.

How do you describe your music to people who have never heard it?
Actually it’s changed a lot – at the start it was very lo-fi folky stuff because the songs grew out some acoustic bedroom recordings, order but now that we all live together and are all involved in the writing process we’ve opened the door to a lot of different influences. I think the songs still resemble folk music thematically – I write a lot about family, relationships, the things that a lot of us deal with day to day – but in the practice room we all get the chance to pull the arrangements in different directions. I guess the short answer is that it’s folky gospel music played by a post-punk band.

Dry The River by Mags James
Dry The River by Mags James.

You share a home in Stratford – is this ever hard work? Who does the most washing up (and the least)?
I think living in a confined space with other people is always a tricky business. At least in our case we have a mutual understanding of each other’s situation. That said, some days are obviously harder than others. We’ve been on tour for six weeks now, mostly cooped up in a van – I think after our Nest show on Wednesday we’ll all go back to our respective family homes for some time apart. Jon (drums) does the most washing up, he likes to keep things tidy. I think I probably do the least, or Scott (bass)…

YouTube Preview Image

You are known for utterly lush harmonies… is it hard to get these right and how do they come about?
It’s funny, it was never our intention to be a band that feature prominent harmonies. We were in the studio working on a new recording and I asked Scott whether he could sing. He had a go at singing a third or a fifth on top of what Matt and I were singing and it seemed to work. It really was that haphazard – we rarely spend time crafting harmony parts, Matt and Scott just sing where it seems to make sense. Sometimes we get to recording a song and realise what we’ve been singing doesn’t even work, and have to sit at a piano working out what the lines should be!

dry the river by Gaarte
Dry the River by Gaarte.

Were you all musical children? Did you learn to play instruments from a young age?
Aside from Will, we’re all first generation musicians. None of us come from particularly musical families. I think we actually all grew up at a time when being in rock bands was just what kids did. Certainly in Newbury where I took up music in earnest, almost everyone tried their hand at it. That said, I’m at the other extreme to Will – I never studied music formally at all and one day I’d like to. The other guys all have at least a pretty solid (if rudimentary) understanding of music theory.

Stephanie Thieullent-dry the river
Dry the River by Stephanie Thieullent.

Does Peter write all the lyrics, and where do you draw inspiration from?
Writing lyrics is a separate endeavour to writing songs, for me. I write chord progressions and vocal melodies and have a pretty formed idea of where a song is going, then I go away and spend a long time writing lyrics. I think experience informs the way everybody behaves – it’s the lens that everybody views the world through and music is no different. In my case the songs are rarely based on a specific event or a candid message that I desperately want to deliver. They’re more a collection of responses to environments I’ve found myself in – periods of time, people, places… So I guess in that respect they include images of my childhood in Norway and the UK, reflections on my time at University, and a whole load of other stuff that influences my worldview on any given day.

YouTube Preview Image

Your songs are very intense emotionally – is this intentional and why do you think they come across like this?
I think there are probably two reasons for that. Firstly, whether it’s an event or a feeling or a situation, something has to motivate an artist enough to write a song or paint or whatever. I think the vast majority of artworks are created as an emotional response, so the subject matter is always going to be emotional in nature. Secondly, though, we are grew up listening to post-punk and metal and so on, which is traditionally played in a very intense way. I think the way we play probably magnifies the emotional content in the lyrics.

We first met at Glastonbury when you played for Climate Camp this year… what was your highlight of this year’s festival?
Snooooooooooop!

YouTube Preview Image
And on youtube using one of my photos from Glastonbury… without permission of course! In fact my pictures of Dry the River are crawling all over the web without credits…

You will be playing a lot more festivals next summer, can you tell us which ones they will be, and are there any in particular that you are looking forward to?
I think we’ve confirmed quite a few now but I’m not sure which we’re meant to reveal! The other day we were announced alongside Midlake and Wild Beasts in the first batch of names for End of the Road, which we’re super stoked about!

dry-the-river-gaarte
Dry the River by Gaarte.

You’ve decided to release your debut single on Transgressive – what made you decide to go with this label and what will the single be?
Tim and Toby at Transgressive really put their faith in the music at an early stage when everything was uncertain. A lot of people see a band with potential and sit in the wings, waiting to see how they’ll fare. Transgressive were the opposite – they met us straight away, told us they loved the music and believed in it, and set about moving mountains to help us become a full time band. Aside from all that, they’re a great label and we’re really proud to be adding to the discography. As for the song, you’ll have to wait and see!

YouTube Preview Image

Your recent youtube video gained more than 100,000 hits – why do you think it has proved so popular?
There are a variety of a reasons I suppose – firstly it was on the YouTube front page as part of a YouTube Music Tuesdays promotion, which I think put it in front of a lot of people who wouldn’t normally have seen it. Also Watch Listen Tell, who filmed that session, have a really loyal following, and maybe there was a word of mouth element too – I guess it’s quite memorable with Matt’s broken arm and so on!

You’ve just played the Forum, what was the highlight of the gig? What can the audience expect at your headline gig at the Nest in Dalston?
The Forum was our biggest show ever – there’s no substitute for experience on big stages in front of lots of people! That said, we love the more intimate settings where we can see familiar faces and talk to people. I hope The Nest will be a really special event – for us it’s our homecoming show after six weeks on the road, as well as our 100th show and a celebration of all that’s come about in the past year.

You can find the wonderful Dry the River on Myspace here, and at home on their website here where you can download three songs for free. You can also follow them on twitter here, and of course do not forget their headline show, which is on Wednesday 15th December at The Nest. Full listing info here.

Dry the River by Avril Kelly
Dry the River by Avril Kelly.

I first encountered Dry the River when they offered to do a gig for the Climate Camp stage at Glastonbury (read my write up here). As soon as I heard them I was absolutely blown away by this talented five some, link and seeing them live only cemented my feelings. On the eve of their sold out headline gig at The Nest in Dalston, viagra order I caught up with singer Peter Liddle.

How did the band get together?
I’d like to say it was an epic tale of overcoming obstacles and triumph in the face of adversity but it was actually a pretty run-of-the-mill thing, haha. I had taken some time out of music to do some other stuff but before I knew it I’d kind of unconsciously started writing a record. One weekend I recruited some musicians I knew from old bands etc. and we spent a weekend recording. The day after we finished recording I went off on an acoustic UK tour and the band was kind of built out of that.

Dry The River by Karina Yarv
Dry The River by Karina Yarv.

How do you describe your music to people who have never heard it?
Actually it’s changed a lot – at the start it was very lo-fi folky stuff because the songs grew out some acoustic bedroom recordings, but now that we all live together and are all involved in the writing process we’ve opened the door to a lot of different influences. I think the songs still resemble folk music thematically – I write a lot about family, relationships, the things that a lot of us deal with day to day – but in the practice room we all get the chance to pull the arrangements in different directions. I guess the short answer is that it’s folky gospel music played by a post-punk band.

Dry The River by Mags James
Dry The River by Mags James.

You share a home in Stratford – is this ever hard work? Who does the most washing up (and the least)?
I think living in a confined space with other people is always a tricky business. At least in our case we have a mutual understanding of each other’s situation. That said, some days are obviously harder than others. We’ve been on tour for six weeks now, mostly cooped up in a van – I think after our Nest show on Wednesday we’ll all go back to our respective family homes for some time apart. Jon (drums) does the most washing up, he likes to keep things tidy. I think I probably do the least, or Scott (bass)…

YouTube Preview Image

You are known for utterly lush harmonies… is it hard to get these right and how do they come about?
It’s funny, it was never our intention to be a band that feature prominent harmonies. We were in the studio working on a new recording and I asked Scott whether he could sing. He had a go at singing a third or a fifth on top of what Matt and I were singing and it seemed to work. It really was that haphazard – we rarely spend time crafting harmony parts, Matt and Scott just sing where it seems to make sense. Sometimes we get to recording a song and realise what we’ve been singing doesn’t even work, and have to sit at a piano working out what the lines should be!

dry the river by Gaarte
Peter Liddle by Gaarte.

Were you all musical children? Did you learn to play instruments from a young age?
Aside from Will, we’re all first generation musicians. None of us come from particularly musical families. I think we actually all grew up at a time when being in rock bands was just what kids did. Certainly in Newbury where I took up music in earnest, almost everyone tried their hand at it. That said, I’m at the other extreme to Will – I never studied music formally at all and one day I’d like to. The other guys all have at least a pretty solid (if rudimentary) understanding of music theory.

Stephanie Thieullent-dry the river
Dry the River by Stephanie Thieullent.

Does Peter write all the lyrics, and where do you draw inspiration from?
Writing lyrics is a separate endeavour to writing songs, for me. I write chord progressions and vocal melodies and have a pretty formed idea of where a song is going, then I go away and spend a long time writing lyrics. I think experience informs the way everybody behaves – it’s the lens that everybody views the world through and music is no different. In my case the songs are rarely based on a specific event or a candid message that I desperately want to deliver. They’re more a collection of responses to environments I’ve found myself in – periods of time, people, places… So I guess in that respect they include images of my childhood in Norway and the UK, reflections on my time at University, and a whole load of other stuff that influences my worldview on any given day.

YouTube Preview Image

Your songs are very intense emotionally – is this intentional and why do you think they come across like this?
I think there are probably two reasons for that. Firstly, whether it’s an event or a feeling or a situation, something has to motivate an artist enough to write a song or paint or whatever. I think the vast majority of artworks are created as an emotional response, so the subject matter is always going to be emotional in nature. Secondly, though, we are grew up listening to post-punk and metal and so on, which is traditionally played in a very intense way. I think the way we play probably magnifies the emotional content in the lyrics.

We first met at Glastonbury when you played for Climate Camp this year… what was your highlight of this year’s festival?
Snooooooooooop!

You will be playing a lot more festivals next summer, can you tell us which ones they will be, and are there any in particular that you are looking forward to?
I think we’ve confirmed quite a few now but I’m not sure which we’re meant to reveal! The other day we were announced alongside Midlake and Wild Beasts in the first batch of names for End of the Road, which we’re super stoked about!

dry-the-river-gaarte
Dry the River by Gaarte.

You’ve decided to release your debut single on Transgressive – what made you decide to go with this label and what will the single be?
Tim and Toby at Transgressive really put their faith in the music at an early stage when everything was uncertain. A lot of people see a band with potential and sit in the wings, waiting to see how they’ll fare. Transgressive were the opposite – they met us straight away, told us they loved the music and believed in it, and set about moving mountains to help us become a full time band. Aside from all that, they’re a great label and we’re really proud to be adding to the discography. As for the song, you’ll have to wait and see!

YouTube Preview Image

Your YouTube video for Bible Belt has gained more than 100,000 hits – why do you think it has proved so popular?
There are a variety of a reasons I suppose – firstly it was on the YouTube front page as part of a YouTube Music Tuesdays promotion, which I think put it in front of a lot of people who wouldn’t normally have seen it. Also Watch Listen Tell, who filmed that session, have a really loyal following, and maybe there was a word of mouth element too – I guess it’s quite memorable with Matt’s broken arm and so on!

You’ve just played the Forum, what was the highlight of the gig? What can the audience expect at your headline gig at the Nest in Dalston?
The Forum was our biggest show ever – there’s no substitute for experience on big stages in front of lots of people! That said, we love the more intimate settings where we can see familiar faces and talk to people. I hope The Nest will be a really special event – for us it’s our homecoming show after six weeks on the road, as well as our 100th show and a celebration of all that’s come about in the past year.

You can find the wonderful Dry the River on Myspace here, and at home on their website here where you can download three songs for free. You can also follow them on twitter here, and of course do not forget their headline show, which is on Wednesday 15th December at The Nest. Full listing info here.

Dry the River by Avril Kelly
Dry the River by Avril Kelly.

I first encountered Dry the River when they offered to do a gig for the Climate Camp stage at Glastonbury (read my write up here). As soon as I heard them I was absolutely blown away by this talented five some, buy and seeing them live only cemented my feelings. On the eve of their sold out headline gig at The Nest in Dalston, I caught up with singer Peter Liddle.

How did the band get together?
I’d like to say it was an epic tale of overcoming obstacles and triumph in the face of adversity but it was actually a pretty run-of-the-mill thing, haha. I (Peter) had taken some time out of music to do some other stuff but before I knew it I’d kind of unconsciously started writing a record. One weekend I recruited some musicians I knew from old bands etc. and we spent a weekend recording. The day after we finished recording I went off on an acoustic UK tour and the band was kind of built out of that.

Dry The River by Karina Yarv
Dry The River by Karina Yarv.

How do you describe your music to people who have never heard it?
Actually it’s changed a lot – at the start it was very lo-fi folky stuff because the songs grew out some acoustic bedroom recordings, but now that we all live together and are all involved in the writing process we’ve opened the door to a lot of different influences. I think the songs still resemble folk music thematically – I write a lot about family, relationships, the things that a lot of us deal with day to day – but in the practice room we all get the chance to pull the arrangements in different directions. I guess the short answer is that it’s folky gospel music played by a post-punk band.

Dry The River by Mags James
Dry The River by Mags James.

You share a home in Stratford – is this ever hard work? Who does the most washing up (and the least)?
I think living in a confined space with other people is always a tricky business. At least in our case we have a mutual understanding of each other’s situation. That said, some days are obviously harder than others. We’ve been on tour for six weeks now, mostly cooped up in a van – I think after our Nest show on Wednesday we’ll all go back to our respective family homes for some time apart. Jon (drums) does the most washing up, he likes to keep things tidy. I think I probably do the least, or Scott (bass)…

YouTube Preview Image

You are known for utterly lush harmonies… is it hard to get these right and how do they come about?
It’s funny, it was never our intention to be a band that feature prominent harmonies. We were in the studio working on a new recording and I asked Scott whether he could sing. He had a go at singing a third or a fifth on top of what Matt and I were singing and it seemed to work. It really was that haphazard – we rarely spend time crafting harmony parts, Matt and Scott just sing where it seems to make sense. Sometimes we get to recording a song and realise what we’ve been singing doesn’t even work, and have to sit at a piano working out what the lines should be!

dry the river by Gaarte
Dry the River by Gaarte.

Were you all musical children? Did you learn to play instruments from a young age?
Aside from Will, we’re all first generation musicians. None of us come from particularly musical families. I think we actually all grew up at a time when being in rock bands was just what kids did. Certainly in Newbury where I took up music in earnest, almost everyone tried their hand at it. That said, I’m at the other extreme to Will – I never studied music formally at all and one day I’d like to. The other guys all have at least a pretty solid (if rudimentary) understanding of music theory.

Stephanie Thieullent-dry the river
Dry the River by Stephanie Thieullent.

Does Peter write all the lyrics, and where do you draw inspiration from?
Writing lyrics is a separate endeavour to writing songs, for me. I write chord progressions and vocal melodies and have a pretty formed idea of where a song is going, then I go away and spend a long time writing lyrics. I think experience informs the way everybody behaves – it’s the lens that everybody views the world through and music is no different. In my case the songs are rarely based on a specific event or a candid message that I desperately want to deliver. They’re more a collection of responses to environments I’ve found myself in – periods of time, people, places… So I guess in that respect they include images of my childhood in Norway and the UK, reflections on my time at University, and a whole load of other stuff that influences my worldview on any given day.

YouTube Preview Image

Your songs are very intense emotionally – is this intentional and why do you think they come across like this?
I think there are probably two reasons for that. Firstly, whether it’s an event or a feeling or a situation, something has to motivate an artist enough to write a song or paint or whatever. I think the vast majority of artworks are created as an emotional response, so the subject matter is always going to be emotional in nature. Secondly, though, we are grew up listening to post-punk and metal and so on, which is traditionally played in a very intense way. I think the way we play probably magnifies the emotional content in the lyrics.

We first met at Glastonbury when you played for Climate Camp this year… what was your highlight of this year’s festival?
Snooooooooooop!

YouTube Preview Image
And on youtube using one of my photos from Glastonbury… without permission of course! In fact my pictures of Dry the River are crawling all over the web without credits…

You will be playing a lot more festivals next summer, can you tell us which ones they will be, and are there any in particular that you are looking forward to?
I think we’ve confirmed quite a few now but I’m not sure which we’re meant to reveal! The other day we were announced alongside Midlake and Wild Beasts in the first batch of names for End of the Road, which we’re super stoked about!

dry-the-river-gaarte
Dry the River by Gaarte.

You’ve decided to release your debut single on Transgressive – what made you decide to go with this label and what will the single be?
Tim and Toby at Transgressive really put their faith in the music at an early stage when everything was uncertain. A lot of people see a band with potential and sit in the wings, waiting to see how they’ll fare. Transgressive were the opposite – they met us straight away, told us they loved the music and believed in it, and set about moving mountains to help us become a full time band. Aside from all that, they’re a great label and we’re really proud to be adding to the discography. As for the song, you’ll have to wait and see!

YouTube Preview Image

Your recent youtube video gained more than 100,000 hits – why do you think it has proved so popular?
There are a variety of a reasons I suppose – firstly it was on the YouTube front page as part of a YouTube Music Tuesdays promotion, which I think put it in front of a lot of people who wouldn’t normally have seen it. Also Watch Listen Tell, who filmed that session, have a really loyal following, and maybe there was a word of mouth element too – I guess it’s quite memorable with Matt’s broken arm and so on!

You’ve just played the Forum, what was the highlight of the gig? What can the audience expect at your headline gig at the Nest in Dalston?
The Forum was our biggest show ever – there’s no substitute for experience on big stages in front of lots of people! That said, we love the more intimate settings where we can see familiar faces and talk to people. I hope The Nest will be a really special event – for us it’s our homecoming show after six weeks on the road, as well as our 100th show and a celebration of all that’s come about in the past year.

You can find the wonderful Dry the River on Myspace here, and at home on their website here where you can download three songs for free. You can also follow them on twitter here, and of course do not forget their headline show, which is on Wednesday 15th December at The Nest. Full listing info here.

Dry the River by Avril Kelly
Dry the River by Avril Kelly.

I first encountered Dry the River when they offered to do a gig for the Climate Camp stage at Glastonbury (read my write up here). As soon as I heard them I was absolutely blown away by this talented five some, mind and seeing them live only cemented my feelings. On the eve of their sold out headline gig at The Nest in Dalston, cheap I caught up with singer Peter Liddle.

How did the band get together?
I’d like to say it was an epic tale of overcoming obstacles and triumph in the face of adversity but it was actually a pretty run-of-the-mill thing, haha. I had taken some time out of music to do some other stuff but before I knew it I’d kind of unconsciously started writing a record. One weekend I recruited some musicians I knew from old bands etc. and we spent a weekend recording. The day after we finished recording I went off on an acoustic UK tour and the band was kind of built out of that.

Dry The River by Karina Yarv
Dry The River by Karina Yarv.

How do you describe your music to people who have never heard it?
Actually it’s changed a lot – at the start it was very lo-fi folky stuff because the songs grew out some acoustic bedroom recordings, but now that we all live together and are all involved in the writing process we’ve opened the door to a lot of different influences. I think the songs still resemble folk music thematically – I write a lot about family, relationships, the things that a lot of us deal with day to day – but in the practice room we all get the chance to pull the arrangements in different directions. I guess the short answer is that it’s folky gospel music played by a post-punk band.

Dry The River by Mags James
Dry The River by Mags James.

You share a home in Stratford – is this ever hard work? Who does the most washing up (and the least)?
I think living in a confined space with other people is always a tricky business. At least in our case we have a mutual understanding of each other’s situation. That said, some days are obviously harder than others. We’ve been on tour for six weeks now, mostly cooped up in a van – I think after our Nest show on Wednesday we’ll all go back to our respective family homes for some time apart. Jon (drums) does the most washing up, he likes to keep things tidy. I think I probably do the least, or Scott (bass)…

YouTube Preview Image

You are known for utterly lush harmonies… is it hard to get these right and how do they come about?
It’s funny, it was never our intention to be a band that feature prominent harmonies. We were in the studio working on a new recording and I asked Scott whether he could sing. He had a go at singing a third or a fifth on top of what Matt and I were singing and it seemed to work. It really was that haphazard – we rarely spend time crafting harmony parts, Matt and Scott just sing where it seems to make sense. Sometimes we get to recording a song and realise what we’ve been singing doesn’t even work, and have to sit at a piano working out what the lines should be!

dry the river by Gaarte
Peter Liddle by Gaarte.

Were you all musical children? Did you learn to play instruments from a young age?
Aside from Will, we’re all first generation musicians. None of us come from particularly musical families. I think we actually all grew up at a time when being in rock bands was just what kids did. Certainly in Newbury where I took up music in earnest, almost everyone tried their hand at it. That said, I’m at the other extreme to Will – I never studied music formally at all and one day I’d like to. The other guys all have at least a pretty solid (if rudimentary) understanding of music theory.

Stephanie Thieullent-dry the river
Dry the River by Stephanie Thieullent.

Does Peter write all the lyrics, and where do you draw inspiration from?
Writing lyrics is a separate endeavour to writing songs, for me. I write chord progressions and vocal melodies and have a pretty formed idea of where a song is going, then I go away and spend a long time writing lyrics. I think experience informs the way everybody behaves – it’s the lens that everybody views the world through and music is no different. In my case the songs are rarely based on a specific event or a candid message that I desperately want to deliver. They’re more a collection of responses to environments I’ve found myself in – periods of time, people, places… So I guess in that respect they include images of my childhood in Norway and the UK, reflections on my time at University, and a whole load of other stuff that influences my worldview on any given day.

YouTube Preview Image

Your songs are very intense emotionally – is this intentional and why do you think they come across like this?
I think there are probably two reasons for that. Firstly, whether it’s an event or a feeling or a situation, something has to motivate an artist enough to write a song or paint or whatever. I think the vast majority of artworks are created as an emotional response, so the subject matter is always going to be emotional in nature. Secondly, though, we are grew up listening to post-punk and metal and so on, which is traditionally played in a very intense way. I think the way we play probably magnifies the emotional content in the lyrics.

We first met at Glastonbury when you played for Climate Camp this year… what was your highlight of this year’s festival?
Snooooooooooop!

YouTube Preview Image
And on youtube using one of my photos from Glastonbury… without permission of course! In fact my pictures of Dry the River are crawling all over the web without credits…

You will be playing a lot more festivals next summer, can you tell us which ones they will be, and are there any in particular that you are looking forward to?
I think we’ve confirmed quite a few now but I’m not sure which we’re meant to reveal! The other day we were announced alongside Midlake and Wild Beasts in the first batch of names for End of the Road, which we’re super stoked about!

dry-the-river-gaarte
Dry the River by Gaarte.

You’ve decided to release your debut single on Transgressive – what made you decide to go with this label and what will the single be?
Tim and Toby at Transgressive really put their faith in the music at an early stage when everything was uncertain. A lot of people see a band with potential and sit in the wings, waiting to see how they’ll fare. Transgressive were the opposite – they met us straight away, told us they loved the music and believed in it, and set about moving mountains to help us become a full time band. Aside from all that, they’re a great label and we’re really proud to be adding to the discography. As for the song, you’ll have to wait and see!

YouTube Preview Image

Your recent youtube video gained more than 100,000 hits – why do you think it has proved so popular?
There are a variety of a reasons I suppose – firstly it was on the YouTube front page as part of a YouTube Music Tuesdays promotion, which I think put it in front of a lot of people who wouldn’t normally have seen it. Also Watch Listen Tell, who filmed that session, have a really loyal following, and maybe there was a word of mouth element too – I guess it’s quite memorable with Matt’s broken arm and so on!

You’ve just played the Forum, what was the highlight of the gig? What can the audience expect at your headline gig at the Nest in Dalston?
The Forum was our biggest show ever – there’s no substitute for experience on big stages in front of lots of people! That said, we love the more intimate settings where we can see familiar faces and talk to people. I hope The Nest will be a really special event – for us it’s our homecoming show after six weeks on the road, as well as our 100th show and a celebration of all that’s come about in the past year.

You can find the wonderful Dry the River on Myspace here, and at home on their website here where you can download three songs for free. You can also follow them on twitter here, and of course do not forget their headline show, which is on Wednesday 15th December at The Nest. Full listing info here.

Dry the River by Avril Kelly
Dry the River by Avril Kelly.

I first encountered Dry the River when they offered to do a gig for the Climate Camp stage at Glastonbury. I was absolutely blown away by this talented five some, page who have since been on tour up and down the country over the past six weeks. On the eve of their final sold out headline gig at The Nest in Dalston, more about I caught up with singer Peter Liddle.

How did the band get together?
I’d like to say it was an epic tale of overcoming obstacles and triumph in the face of adversity but it was actually a pretty run-of-the-mill thing, haha. I had taken some time out of music to do some other stuff but before I knew it I’d kind of unconsciously started writing a record. One weekend I recruited some musicians I knew from old bands etc. and we spent a weekend recording. The day after we finished recording I went off on an acoustic UK tour and the band was kind of built out of that.

Dry The River by Karina Yarv
Dry The River by Karina Yarv.

How do you describe your music to people who have never heard it?
Actually it’s changed a lot – at the start it was very lo-fi folky stuff because the songs grew out some acoustic bedroom recordings, but now that we all live together and are all involved in the writing process we’ve opened the door to a lot of different influences. I think the songs still resemble folk music thematically – I write a lot about family, relationships, the things that a lot of us deal with day to day – but in the practice room we all get the chance to pull the arrangements in different directions. I guess the short answer is that it’s folky gospel music played by a post-punk band.

Dry The River by Mags James
Dry The River by Mags James.

You share a home in Stratford – is this ever hard work? Who does the most washing up (and the least)?
I think living in a confined space with other people is always a tricky business. At least in our case we have a mutual understanding of each other’s situation. That said, some days are obviously harder than others. We’ve been on tour for six weeks now, mostly cooped up in a van – I think after our Nest show on Wednesday we’ll all go back to our respective family homes for some time apart. Jon (drums) does the most washing up, he likes to keep things tidy. I think I probably do the least, or Scott (bass)…

YouTube Preview Image

You are known for utterly lush harmonies… is it hard to get these right and how do they come about?
It’s funny, it was never our intention to be a band that feature prominent harmonies. We were in the studio working on a new recording and I asked Scott whether he could sing. He had a go at singing a third or a fifth on top of what Matt and I were singing and it seemed to work. It really was that haphazard – we rarely spend time crafting harmony parts, Matt and Scott just sing where it seems to make sense. Sometimes we get to recording a song and realise what we’ve been singing doesn’t even work, and have to sit at a piano working out what the lines should be!

dry the river by Gaarte
Peter Liddle by Gaarte.

Were you all musical children? Did you learn to play instruments from a young age?
Aside from Will, we’re all first generation musicians. None of us come from particularly musical families. I think we actually all grew up at a time when being in rock bands was just what kids did. Certainly in Newbury where I took up music in earnest, almost everyone tried their hand at it. That said, I’m at the other extreme to Will – I never studied music formally at all and one day I’d like to. The other guys all have at least a pretty solid (if rudimentary) understanding of music theory.

Stephanie Thieullent-dry the river
Dry the River by Stephanie Thieullent.

Does Peter write all the lyrics, and where do you draw inspiration from?
Writing lyrics is a separate endeavour to writing songs, for me. I write chord progressions and vocal melodies and have a pretty formed idea of where a song is going, then I go away and spend a long time writing lyrics. I think experience informs the way everybody behaves – it’s the lens that everybody views the world through and music is no different. In my case the songs are rarely based on a specific event or a candid message that I desperately want to deliver. They’re more a collection of responses to environments I’ve found myself in – periods of time, people, places… So I guess in that respect they include images of my childhood in Norway and the UK, reflections on my time at University, and a whole load of other stuff that influences my worldview on any given day.

YouTube Preview Image

Your songs are very intense emotionally – is this intentional and why do you think they come across like this?
I think there are probably two reasons for that. Firstly, whether it’s an event or a feeling or a situation, something has to motivate an artist enough to write a song or paint or whatever. I think the vast majority of artworks are created as an emotional response, so the subject matter is always going to be emotional in nature. Secondly, though, we are grew up listening to post-punk and metal and so on, which is traditionally played in a very intense way. I think the way we play probably magnifies the emotional content in the lyrics.

We first met at Glastonbury when you played for Climate Camp this year… what was your highlight of this year’s festival?
Snooooooooooop!

You will be playing a lot more festivals next summer, can you tell us which ones they will be, and are there any in particular that you are looking forward to?
I think we’ve confirmed quite a few now but I’m not sure which we’re meant to reveal! The other day we were announced alongside Midlake and Wild Beasts in the first batch of names for End of the Road, which we’re super stoked about!

dry-the-river-gaarte
Dry the River by Gaarte.

You’ve decided to release your debut single on Transgressive Records – what made you decide to go with this label and what will the single be?
Tim and Toby at Transgressive really put their faith in the music at an early stage when everything was uncertain. A lot of people see a band with potential and sit in the wings, waiting to see how they’ll fare. Transgressive were the opposite – they met us straight away, told us they loved the music and believed in it, and set about moving mountains to help us become a full time band. Aside from all that, they’re a great label and we’re really proud to be adding to the discography. As for the song, you’ll have to wait and see!

YouTube Preview Image

Your YouTube video for Bible Belt has gained more than 100,000 hits – why do you think it has proved so popular?
There are a variety of a reasons I suppose – firstly it was on the YouTube front page as part of a YouTube Music Tuesdays promotion, which I think put it in front of a lot of people who wouldn’t normally have seen it. Also Watch Listen Tell, who filmed that session, have a really loyal following, and maybe there was a word of mouth element too – I guess it’s quite memorable with Matt’s broken arm and so on!

You’ve just played the Forum, what was the highlight of the gig? What can the audience expect at your headline gig at the Nest in Dalston?
The Forum was our biggest show ever – there’s no substitute for experience on big stages in front of lots of people! That said, we love the more intimate settings where we can see familiar faces and talk to people. I hope The Nest will be a really special event – for us it’s our homecoming show after six weeks on the road, as well as our 100th show and a celebration of all that’s come about in the past year.

You can find the wonderful Dry the River on Myspace here, and at home on their website here where you can download three songs for free. You can also follow them on twitter here, and of course do not forget their headline show, which is on Wednesday 15th December at The Nest. Full listing info here. Read my review of their gig at Glastonbury here.

Dry the River by Avril Kelly
Dry the River by Avril Kelly.

I first encountered Dry the River when they offered to do a gig for the Climate Camp stage at Glastonbury. On record they are fabulous, pilule but live I was absolutely blown away by this talented five some. They have since been on tour up and down the country over the past six weeks. On the eve of their final sold out headline gig at The Nest in Dalston, order I caught up with Norwegian singer Peter Liddle.

How did the band get together?
I’d like to say it was an epic tale of overcoming obstacles and triumph in the face of adversity but it was actually a pretty run-of-the-mill thing, purchase haha. I had taken some time out of music to do some other stuff but before I knew it I’d kind of unconsciously started writing a record. One weekend I recruited some musicians I knew from old bands etc. and we spent a weekend recording. The day after we finished recording I went off on an acoustic UK tour and the band was kind of built out of that.

Dry The River by Karina Yarv
Dry The River by Karina Yarv.

How do you describe your music to people who have never heard it?
Actually it’s changed a lot – at the start it was very lo-fi folky stuff because the songs grew out some acoustic bedroom recordings, but now that we all live together and are all involved in the writing process we’ve opened the door to a lot of different influences. I think the songs still resemble folk music thematically – I write a lot about family, relationships, the things that a lot of us deal with day to day – but in the practice room we all get the chance to pull the arrangements in different directions. I guess the short answer is that it’s folky gospel music played by a post-punk band.

Dry The River by Mags James
Dry The River by Mags James.

You share a home in Stratford – is this ever hard work? Who does the most washing up (and the least)?
I think living in a confined space with other people is always a tricky business. At least in our case we have a mutual understanding of each other’s situation. That said, some days are obviously harder than others. We’ve been on tour for six weeks now, mostly cooped up in a van – I think after our Nest show on Wednesday we’ll all go back to our respective family homes for some time apart. Jon (drums) does the most washing up, he likes to keep things tidy. I think I probably do the least, or Scott (bass)…

YouTube Preview Image

You are known for utterly lush harmonies… is it hard to get these right and how do they come about?
It’s funny, it was never our intention to be a band that feature prominent harmonies. We were in the studio working on a new recording and I asked Scott whether he could sing. He had a go at singing a third or a fifth on top of what Matt and I were singing and it seemed to work. It really was that haphazard – we rarely spend time crafting harmony parts, Matt and Scott just sing where it seems to make sense. Sometimes we get to recording a song and realise what we’ve been singing doesn’t even work, and have to sit at a piano working out what the lines should be!

dry the river by Gaarte
Peter Liddle by Gaarte.

Were you all musical children? Did you learn to play instruments from a young age?
Aside from Will, we’re all first generation musicians. None of us come from particularly musical families. I think we actually all grew up at a time when being in rock bands was just what kids did. Certainly in Newbury where I took up music in earnest, almost everyone tried their hand at it. That said, I’m at the other extreme to Will – I never studied music formally at all and one day I’d like to. The other guys all have at least a pretty solid (if rudimentary) understanding of music theory.

Stephanie Thieullent-dry the river
Dry the River by Stephanie Thieullent.

Does Peter write all the lyrics, and where do you draw inspiration from?
Writing lyrics is a separate endeavour to writing songs, for me. I write chord progressions and vocal melodies and have a pretty formed idea of where a song is going, then I go away and spend a long time writing lyrics. I think experience informs the way everybody behaves – it’s the lens that everybody views the world through and music is no different. In my case the songs are rarely based on a specific event or a candid message that I desperately want to deliver. They’re more a collection of responses to environments I’ve found myself in – periods of time, people, places… So I guess in that respect they include images of my childhood in Norway and the UK, reflections on my time at University, and a whole load of other stuff that influences my worldview on any given day.

YouTube Preview Image

Your songs are very intense emotionally – is this intentional and why do you think they come across like this?
I think there are probably two reasons for that. Firstly, whether it’s an event or a feeling or a situation, something has to motivate an artist enough to write a song or paint or whatever. I think the vast majority of artworks are created as an emotional response, so the subject matter is always going to be emotional in nature. Secondly, though, we are grew up listening to post-punk and metal and so on, which is traditionally played in a very intense way. I think the way we play probably magnifies the emotional content in the lyrics.

We first met at Glastonbury when you played for Climate Camp this year… what was your highlight of this year’s festival?
Snooooooooooop!

You will be playing a lot more festivals next summer, can you tell us which ones they will be, and are there any in particular that you are looking forward to?
I think we’ve confirmed quite a few now but I’m not sure which we’re meant to reveal! The other day we were announced alongside Midlake and Wild Beasts in the first batch of names for End of the Road, which we’re super stoked about!

dry-the-river-gaarte
Dry the River by Gaarte.

You’ve decided to release your debut single on Transgressive Records – what made you decide to go with this label and what will the single be?
Tim and Toby at Transgressive really put their faith in the music at an early stage when everything was uncertain. A lot of people see a band with potential and sit in the wings, waiting to see how they’ll fare. Transgressive were the opposite – they met us straight away, told us they loved the music and believed in it, and set about moving mountains to help us become a full time band. Aside from all that, they’re a great label and we’re really proud to be adding to the discography. As for the song, you’ll have to wait and see!

YouTube Preview Image

Your YouTube video for Bible Belt has gained more than 100,000 hits – why do you think it has proved so popular?
There are a variety of a reasons I suppose – firstly it was on the YouTube front page as part of a YouTube Music Tuesdays promotion, which I think put it in front of a lot of people who wouldn’t normally have seen it. Also Watch Listen Tell, who filmed that session, have a really loyal following, and maybe there was a word of mouth element too – I guess it’s quite memorable with Matt’s broken arm and so on!

You’ve just played the Forum, what was the highlight of the gig? What can the audience expect at your headline gig at the Nest in Dalston?
The Forum was our biggest show ever – there’s no substitute for experience on big stages in front of lots of people! That said, we love the more intimate settings where we can see familiar faces and talk to people. I hope The Nest will be a really special event – for us it’s our homecoming show after six weeks on the road, as well as our 100th show and a celebration of all that’s come about in the past year.

You can find the wonderful Dry the River on Myspace here, and at home on their website here where you can download three songs for free. You can also follow them on twitter here, and of course do not forget their headline show, which is on Wednesday 15th December at The Nest. Full listing info here. Read my review of their gig at Glastonbury here.

Dry the River by Avril Kelly
Dry the River by Avril Kelly.

I first encountered Dry the River when they offered to do a gig for the Climate Camp stage at Glastonbury. On record they are fabulous, dosage but live I was absolutely blown away by this talented five some. They have since been on tour up and down the country over the past six weeks, side effects and on the eve of their final sold out headline gig at The Nest in Dalston, I caught up with Norwegian singer Peter Liddle.

How did the band get together?
I’d like to say it was an epic tale of overcoming obstacles and triumph in the face of adversity but it was actually a pretty run-of-the-mill thing, haha. I had taken some time out of music to do some other stuff but before I knew it I’d kind of unconsciously started writing a record. One weekend I recruited some musicians I knew from old bands etc. and we spent a weekend recording. The day after we finished recording I went off on an acoustic UK tour and the band was kind of built out of that.

Dry The River by Karina Yarv
Dry The River by Karina Yarv.

How do you describe your music to people who have never heard it?
Actually it’s changed a lot – at the start it was very lo-fi folky stuff because the songs grew out some acoustic bedroom recordings, but now that we all live together and are all involved in the writing process we’ve opened the door to a lot of different influences. I think the songs still resemble folk music thematically – I write a lot about family, relationships, the things that a lot of us deal with day to day – but in the practice room we all get the chance to pull the arrangements in different directions. I guess the short answer is that it’s folky gospel music played by a post-punk band.

Dry The River by Mags James
Dry The River by Mags James.

You share a home in Stratford – is this ever hard work? Who does the most washing up (and the least)?
I think living in a confined space with other people is always a tricky business. At least in our case we have a mutual understanding of each other’s situation. That said, some days are obviously harder than others. We’ve been on tour for six weeks now, mostly cooped up in a van – I think after our Nest show on Wednesday we’ll all go back to our respective family homes for some time apart. Jon (drums) does the most washing up, he likes to keep things tidy. I think I probably do the least, or Scott (bass)…

YouTube Preview Image

You are known for utterly lush harmonies… is it hard to get these right and how do they come about?
It’s funny, it was never our intention to be a band that feature prominent harmonies. We were in the studio working on a new recording and I asked Scott whether he could sing. He had a go at singing a third or a fifth on top of what Matt and I were singing and it seemed to work. It really was that haphazard – we rarely spend time crafting harmony parts, Matt and Scott just sing where it seems to make sense. Sometimes we get to recording a song and realise what we’ve been singing doesn’t even work, and have to sit at a piano working out what the lines should be!

dry the river by Gaarte
Peter Liddle by Gaarte.

Were you all musical children? Did you learn to play instruments from a young age?
Aside from Will, we’re all first generation musicians. None of us come from particularly musical families. I think we actually all grew up at a time when being in rock bands was just what kids did. Certainly in Newbury where I took up music in earnest, almost everyone tried their hand at it. That said, I’m at the other extreme to Will – I never studied music formally at all and one day I’d like to. The other guys all have at least a pretty solid (if rudimentary) understanding of music theory.

Stephanie Thieullent-dry the river
Dry the River by Stephanie Thieullent.

Does Peter write all the lyrics, and where do you draw inspiration from?
Writing lyrics is a separate endeavour to writing songs, for me. I write chord progressions and vocal melodies and have a pretty formed idea of where a song is going, then I go away and spend a long time writing lyrics. I think experience informs the way everybody behaves – it’s the lens that everybody views the world through and music is no different. In my case the songs are rarely based on a specific event or a candid message that I desperately want to deliver. They’re more a collection of responses to environments I’ve found myself in – periods of time, people, places… So I guess in that respect they include images of my childhood in Norway and the UK, reflections on my time at University, and a whole load of other stuff that influences my worldview on any given day.

YouTube Preview Image

Your songs are very intense emotionally – is this intentional and why do you think they come across like this?
I think there are probably two reasons for that. Firstly, whether it’s an event or a feeling or a situation, something has to motivate an artist enough to write a song or paint or whatever. I think the vast majority of artworks are created as an emotional response, so the subject matter is always going to be emotional in nature. Secondly, though, we are grew up listening to post-punk and metal and so on, which is traditionally played in a very intense way. I think the way we play probably magnifies the emotional content in the lyrics.

We first met at Glastonbury when you played for Climate Camp this year… what was your highlight of this year’s festival?
Snooooooooooop!

You will be playing a lot more festivals next summer, can you tell us which ones they will be, and are there any in particular that you are looking forward to?
I think we’ve confirmed quite a few now but I’m not sure which we’re meant to reveal! The other day we were announced alongside Midlake and Wild Beasts in the first batch of names for End of the Road, which we’re super stoked about!

dry-the-river-gaarte
Dry the River by Gaarte.

You’ve decided to release your debut single on Transgressive Records – what made you decide to go with this label and what will the single be?
Tim and Toby at Transgressive really put their faith in the music at an early stage when everything was uncertain. A lot of people see a band with potential and sit in the wings, waiting to see how they’ll fare. Transgressive were the opposite – they met us straight away, told us they loved the music and believed in it, and set about moving mountains to help us become a full time band. Aside from all that, they’re a great label and we’re really proud to be adding to the discography. As for the song, you’ll have to wait and see!

YouTube Preview Image

Your YouTube video for Bible Belt has gained more than 100,000 hits – why do you think it has proved so popular?
There are a variety of a reasons I suppose – firstly it was on the YouTube front page as part of a YouTube Music Tuesdays promotion, which I think put it in front of a lot of people who wouldn’t normally have seen it. Also Watch Listen Tell, who filmed that session, have a really loyal following, and maybe there was a word of mouth element too – I guess it’s quite memorable with Matt’s broken arm and so on!

You’ve just played the Forum, what was the highlight of the gig? What can the audience expect at your headline gig at the Nest in Dalston?
The Forum was our biggest show ever – there’s no substitute for experience on big stages in front of lots of people! That said, we love the more intimate settings where we can see familiar faces and talk to people. I hope The Nest will be a really special event – for us it’s our homecoming show after six weeks on the road, as well as our 100th show and a celebration of all that’s come about in the past year.

You can find the wonderful Dry the River on Myspace here, and at home on their website here where you can download three songs for free. You can also follow them on twitter here, and of course do not forget their headline show, which is on Wednesday 15th December at The Nest. Full listing info here. Read my review of their gig at Glastonbury here.

Dry the River by Avril Kelly
Dry the River by Avril Kelly.

I first encountered Dry the River when they offered to do a gig for the Climate Camp stage at Glastonbury. On record they are fabulous, health but live I was absolutely blown away by this talented five some. Over the past six weeks they have been on tour up and down the country. I find out how life is treating them in my intimate interview with Norwegian lead singer and chief songwriter Peter Liddle.

How did the band get together?
I’d like to say it was an epic tale of overcoming obstacles and triumph in the face of adversity but it was actually a pretty run-of-the-mill thing, information pills haha. I had taken some time out of music to do some other stuff but before I knew it I’d kind of unconsciously started writing a record. One weekend I recruited some musicians I knew from old bands etc. and we spent a weekend recording. The day after we finished recording I went off on an acoustic UK tour and the band was kind of built out of that.

Dry The River by Karina Yarv
Dry The River by Karina Yarv.

How do you describe your music to people who have never heard it?
Actually it’s changed a lot – at the start it was very lo-fi folky stuff because the songs grew out some acoustic bedroom recordings, mind but now that we all live together and are all involved in the writing process we’ve opened the door to a lot of different influences. I think the songs still resemble folk music thematically – I write a lot about family, relationships, the things that a lot of us deal with day to day – but in the practice room we all get the chance to pull the arrangements in different directions. I guess the short answer is that it’s folky gospel music played by a post-punk band.

Dry The River by Mags James
Dry The River by Mags James.

You share a home in Stratford – is this ever hard work? Who does the most washing up (and the least)?
I think living in a confined space with other people is always a tricky business. At least in our case we have a mutual understanding of each other’s situation. That said, some days are obviously harder than others. We’ve been on tour for six weeks now, mostly cooped up in a van – I think after our Nest show on Wednesday we’ll all go back to our respective family homes for some time apart. Jon (drums) does the most washing up, he likes to keep things tidy. I think I probably do the least, or Scott (bass)…

YouTube Preview Image

You are known for utterly lush harmonies… is it hard to get these right and how do they come about?
It’s funny, it was never our intention to be a band that feature prominent harmonies. We were in the studio working on a new recording and I asked Scott whether he could sing. He had a go at singing a third or a fifth on top of what Matt and I were singing and it seemed to work. It really was that haphazard – we rarely spend time crafting harmony parts, Matt and Scott just sing where it seems to make sense. Sometimes we get to recording a song and realise what we’ve been singing doesn’t even work, and have to sit at a piano working out what the lines should be!

dry the river by Gaarte
Peter Liddle by Gaarte.

Were you all musical children? Did you learn to play instruments from a young age?
Aside from Will, we’re all first generation musicians. None of us come from particularly musical families. I think we actually all grew up at a time when being in rock bands was just what kids did. Certainly in Newbury where I took up music in earnest, almost everyone tried their hand at it. That said, I’m at the other extreme to Will – I never studied music formally at all and one day I’d like to. The other guys all have at least a pretty solid (if rudimentary) understanding of music theory.

Stephanie Thieullent-dry the river
Dry the River by Stephanie Thieullent.

Does Peter write all the lyrics, and where do you draw inspiration from?
Writing lyrics is a separate endeavour to writing songs, for me. I write chord progressions and vocal melodies and have a pretty formed idea of where a song is going, then I go away and spend a long time writing lyrics. I think experience informs the way everybody behaves – it’s the lens that everybody views the world through and music is no different. In my case the songs are rarely based on a specific event or a candid message that I desperately want to deliver. They’re more a collection of responses to environments I’ve found myself in – periods of time, people, places… So I guess in that respect they include images of my childhood in Norway and the UK, reflections on my time at University, and a whole load of other stuff that influences my worldview on any given day.

YouTube Preview Image

Your songs are very intense emotionally – is this intentional and why do you think they come across like this?
I think there are probably two reasons for that. Firstly, whether it’s an event or a feeling or a situation, something has to motivate an artist enough to write a song or paint or whatever. I think the vast majority of artworks are created as an emotional response, so the subject matter is always going to be emotional in nature. Secondly, though, we are grew up listening to post-punk and metal and so on, which is traditionally played in a very intense way. I think the way we play probably magnifies the emotional content in the lyrics.

We first met at Glastonbury when you played for Climate Camp this year… what was your highlight of this year’s festival?
Snooooooooooop!

You will be playing a lot more festivals next summer, can you tell us which ones they will be, and are there any in particular that you are looking forward to?
I think we’ve confirmed quite a few now but I’m not sure which we’re meant to reveal! The other day we were announced alongside Midlake and Wild Beasts in the first batch of names for End of the Road, which we’re super stoked about!

dry-the-river-gaarte
Dry the River by Gaarte.

You’ve decided to release your debut single on Transgressive Records – what made you decide to go with this label and what will the single be?
Tim and Toby at Transgressive really put their faith in the music at an early stage when everything was uncertain. A lot of people see a band with potential and sit in the wings, waiting to see how they’ll fare. Transgressive were the opposite – they met us straight away, told us they loved the music and believed in it, and set about moving mountains to help us become a full time band. Aside from all that, they’re a great label and we’re really proud to be adding to the discography. As for the song, you’ll have to wait and see!

YouTube Preview Image

Your YouTube video for Bible Belt has gained more than 100,000 hits – why do you think it has proved so popular?
There are a variety of a reasons I suppose – firstly it was on the YouTube front page as part of a YouTube Music Tuesdays promotion, which I think put it in front of a lot of people who wouldn’t normally have seen it. Also Watch Listen Tell, who filmed that session, have a really loyal following, and maybe there was a word of mouth element too – I guess it’s quite memorable with Matt’s broken arm and so on!

You’ve just played the Forum, what was the highlight of the gig? What can the audience expect at your headline gig at the Nest in Dalston?
The Forum was our biggest show ever – there’s no substitute for experience on big stages in front of lots of people! That said, we love the more intimate settings where we can see familiar faces and talk to people. I hope The Nest will be a really special event – for us it’s our homecoming show after six weeks on the road, as well as our 100th show and a celebration of all that’s come about in the past year.

You can find the wonderful Dry the River on Myspace here, and at home on their website here where you can download three songs for free. You can also follow them on twitter here, and of course do not forget their headline show, which is on Wednesday 15th December at The Nest. Full listing info here. Read my review of their gig at Glastonbury here.

Dry the River by Avril Kelly
Dry the River by Avril Kelly.

I first encountered Dry the River when they offered to do a gig for the Climate Camp stage at Glastonbury. On record they are fabulous, physician but live I was absolutely blown away by this talented five some. They have since been on tour up and down the country over the past six weeks, visit this site and on the eve of their final sold out headline gig at The Nest in Dalston I present my interview with their Norwegian singer songwriter Peter Liddle.

How did the band get together?
I’d like to say it was an epic tale of overcoming obstacles and triumph in the face of adversity but it was actually a pretty run-of-the-mill thing, viagra order haha. I had taken some time out of music to do some other stuff but before I knew it I’d kind of unconsciously started writing a record. One weekend I recruited some musicians I knew from old bands etc. and we spent a weekend recording. The day after we finished recording I went off on an acoustic UK tour and the band was kind of built out of that.

Dry The River by Karina Yarv
Dry The River by Karina Yarv.

How do you describe your music to people who have never heard it?
Actually it’s changed a lot – at the start it was very lo-fi folky stuff because the songs grew out some acoustic bedroom recordings, but now that we all live together and are all involved in the writing process we’ve opened the door to a lot of different influences. I think the songs still resemble folk music thematically – I write a lot about family, relationships, the things that a lot of us deal with day to day – but in the practice room we all get the chance to pull the arrangements in different directions. I guess the short answer is that it’s folky gospel music played by a post-punk band.

Dry The River by Mags James
Dry The River by Mags James.

You share a home in Stratford – is this ever hard work? Who does the most washing up (and the least)?
I think living in a confined space with other people is always a tricky business. At least in our case we have a mutual understanding of each other’s situation. That said, some days are obviously harder than others. We’ve been on tour for six weeks now, mostly cooped up in a van – I think after our Nest show on Wednesday we’ll all go back to our respective family homes for some time apart. Jon (drums) does the most washing up, he likes to keep things tidy. I think I probably do the least, or Scott (bass)…

YouTube Preview Image

You are known for utterly lush harmonies… is it hard to get these right and how do they come about?
It’s funny, it was never our intention to be a band that feature prominent harmonies. We were in the studio working on a new recording and I asked Scott whether he could sing. He had a go at singing a third or a fifth on top of what Matt and I were singing and it seemed to work. It really was that haphazard – we rarely spend time crafting harmony parts, Matt and Scott just sing where it seems to make sense. Sometimes we get to recording a song and realise what we’ve been singing doesn’t even work, and have to sit at a piano working out what the lines should be!

dry the river by Gaarte
Peter Liddle by Gaarte.

Were you all musical children? Did you learn to play instruments from a young age?
Aside from Will, we’re all first generation musicians. None of us come from particularly musical families. I think we actually all grew up at a time when being in rock bands was just what kids did. Certainly in Newbury where I took up music in earnest, almost everyone tried their hand at it. That said, I’m at the other extreme to Will – I never studied music formally at all and one day I’d like to. The other guys all have at least a pretty solid (if rudimentary) understanding of music theory.

Stephanie Thieullent-dry the river
Dry the River by Stephanie Thieullent.

Does Peter write all the lyrics, and where do you draw inspiration from?
Writing lyrics is a separate endeavour to writing songs, for me. I write chord progressions and vocal melodies and have a pretty formed idea of where a song is going, then I go away and spend a long time writing lyrics. I think experience informs the way everybody behaves – it’s the lens that everybody views the world through and music is no different. In my case the songs are rarely based on a specific event or a candid message that I desperately want to deliver. They’re more a collection of responses to environments I’ve found myself in – periods of time, people, places… So I guess in that respect they include images of my childhood in Norway and the UK, reflections on my time at University, and a whole load of other stuff that influences my worldview on any given day.

YouTube Preview Image

Your songs are very intense emotionally – is this intentional and why do you think they come across like this?
I think there are probably two reasons for that. Firstly, whether it’s an event or a feeling or a situation, something has to motivate an artist enough to write a song or paint or whatever. I think the vast majority of artworks are created as an emotional response, so the subject matter is always going to be emotional in nature. Secondly, though, we are grew up listening to post-punk and metal and so on, which is traditionally played in a very intense way. I think the way we play probably magnifies the emotional content in the lyrics.

We first met at Glastonbury when you played for Climate Camp this year… what was your highlight of this year’s festival?
Snooooooooooop!

You will be playing a lot more festivals next summer, can you tell us which ones they will be, and are there any in particular that you are looking forward to?
I think we’ve confirmed quite a few now but I’m not sure which we’re meant to reveal! The other day we were announced alongside Midlake and Wild Beasts in the first batch of names for End of the Road, which we’re super stoked about!

dry-the-river-gaarte
Dry the River by Gaarte.

You’ve decided to release your debut single on Transgressive Records – what made you decide to go with this label and what will the single be?
Tim and Toby at Transgressive really put their faith in the music at an early stage when everything was uncertain. A lot of people see a band with potential and sit in the wings, waiting to see how they’ll fare. Transgressive were the opposite – they met us straight away, told us they loved the music and believed in it, and set about moving mountains to help us become a full time band. Aside from all that, they’re a great label and we’re really proud to be adding to the discography. As for the song, you’ll have to wait and see!

YouTube Preview Image

Your YouTube video for Bible Belt has gained more than 100,000 hits – why do you think it has proved so popular?
There are a variety of a reasons I suppose – firstly it was on the YouTube front page as part of a YouTube Music Tuesdays promotion, which I think put it in front of a lot of people who wouldn’t normally have seen it. Also Watch Listen Tell, who filmed that session, have a really loyal following, and maybe there was a word of mouth element too – I guess it’s quite memorable with Matt’s broken arm and so on!

You’ve just played the Forum, what was the highlight of the gig? What can the audience expect at your headline gig at the Nest in Dalston?
The Forum was our biggest show ever – there’s no substitute for experience on big stages in front of lots of people! That said, we love the more intimate settings where we can see familiar faces and talk to people. I hope The Nest will be a really special event – for us it’s our homecoming show after six weeks on the road, as well as our 100th show and a celebration of all that’s come about in the past year.

You can find the wonderful Dry the River on Myspace here, and at home on their website here where you can download three songs for free. You can also follow them on twitter here, and of course do not forget their headline show, which is on Wednesday 15th December at The Nest. Full listing info here. Read my review of their gig at Glastonbury here.

Dry the River by Avril Kelly
Dry the River by Avril Kelly.

I first encountered Dry the River when they offered to do a gig for the Climate Camp stage at Glastonbury. On record they are fabulous, hospital but live I was absolutely blown away by this talented five some. Over the past six weeks they have been on tour up and down the country: I find out how life has been treating them in my intimate interview with Norwegian lead singer and chief songwriter Peter Liddle.

How did the band get together?
I’d like to say it was an epic tale of overcoming obstacles and triumph in the face of adversity but it was actually a pretty run-of-the-mill thing, viagra 60mg haha. I had taken some time out of music to do some other stuff but before I knew it I’d kind of unconsciously started writing a record. One weekend I recruited some musicians I knew from old bands etc. and we spent a weekend recording. The day after we finished recording I went off on an acoustic UK tour and the band was kind of built out of that.

Dry The River by Karina Yarv
Dry The River by Karina Yarv.

How do you describe your music to people who have never heard it?
Actually it’s changed a lot – at the start it was very lo-fi folky stuff because the songs grew out some acoustic bedroom recordings, but now that we all live together and are all involved in the writing process we’ve opened the door to a lot of different influences. I think the songs still resemble folk music thematically – I write a lot about family, relationships, the things that a lot of us deal with day to day – but in the practice room we all get the chance to pull the arrangements in different directions. I guess the short answer is that it’s folky gospel music played by a post-punk band.

Dry The River by Mags James
Dry The River by Mags James.

You share a home in Stratford – is this ever hard work? Who does the most washing up (and the least)?
I think living in a confined space with other people is always a tricky business. At least in our case we have a mutual understanding of each other’s situation. That said, some days are obviously harder than others. We’ve been on tour for six weeks now, mostly cooped up in a van – I think after our Nest show on Wednesday we’ll all go back to our respective family homes for some time apart. Jon (drums) does the most washing up, he likes to keep things tidy. I think I probably do the least, or Scott (bass)…

YouTube Preview Image

You are known for utterly lush harmonies… is it hard to get these right and how do they come about?
It’s funny, it was never our intention to be a band that feature prominent harmonies. We were in the studio working on a new recording and I asked Scott whether he could sing. He had a go at singing a third or a fifth on top of what Matt and I were singing and it seemed to work. It really was that haphazard – we rarely spend time crafting harmony parts, Matt and Scott just sing where it seems to make sense. Sometimes we get to recording a song and realise what we’ve been singing doesn’t even work, and have to sit at a piano working out what the lines should be!

dry the river by Gaarte
Peter Liddle by Gaarte.

Were you all musical children? Did you learn to play instruments from a young age?
Aside from Will, we’re all first generation musicians. None of us come from particularly musical families. I think we actually all grew up at a time when being in rock bands was just what kids did. Certainly in Newbury where I took up music in earnest, almost everyone tried their hand at it. That said, I’m at the other extreme to Will – I never studied music formally at all and one day I’d like to. The other guys all have at least a pretty solid (if rudimentary) understanding of music theory.

Stephanie Thieullent-dry the river
Dry the River by Stephanie Thieullent.

Does Peter write all the lyrics, and where do you draw inspiration from?
Writing lyrics is a separate endeavour to writing songs, for me. I write chord progressions and vocal melodies and have a pretty formed idea of where a song is going, then I go away and spend a long time writing lyrics. I think experience informs the way everybody behaves – it’s the lens that everybody views the world through and music is no different. In my case the songs are rarely based on a specific event or a candid message that I desperately want to deliver. They’re more a collection of responses to environments I’ve found myself in – periods of time, people, places… So I guess in that respect they include images of my childhood in Norway and the UK, reflections on my time at University, and a whole load of other stuff that influences my worldview on any given day.

YouTube Preview Image

Your songs are very intense emotionally – is this intentional and why do you think they come across like this?
I think there are probably two reasons for that. Firstly, whether it’s an event or a feeling or a situation, something has to motivate an artist enough to write a song or paint or whatever. I think the vast majority of artworks are created as an emotional response, so the subject matter is always going to be emotional in nature. Secondly, though, we are grew up listening to post-punk and metal and so on, which is traditionally played in a very intense way. I think the way we play probably magnifies the emotional content in the lyrics.

We first met at Glastonbury when you played for Climate Camp this year… what was your highlight of this year’s festival?
Snooooooooooop!

You will be playing a lot more festivals next summer, can you tell us which ones they will be, and are there any in particular that you are looking forward to?
I think we’ve confirmed quite a few now but I’m not sure which we’re meant to reveal! The other day we were announced alongside Midlake and Wild Beasts in the first batch of names for End of the Road, which we’re super stoked about!

dry-the-river-gaarte
Dry the River by Gaarte.

You’ve decided to release your debut single on Transgressive Records – what made you decide to go with this label and what will the single be?
Tim and Toby at Transgressive really put their faith in the music at an early stage when everything was uncertain. A lot of people see a band with potential and sit in the wings, waiting to see how they’ll fare. Transgressive were the opposite – they met us straight away, told us they loved the music and believed in it, and set about moving mountains to help us become a full time band. Aside from all that, they’re a great label and we’re really proud to be adding to the discography. As for the song, you’ll have to wait and see!

YouTube Preview Image

Your YouTube video for Bible Belt has gained more than 100,000 hits – why do you think it has proved so popular?
There are a variety of a reasons I suppose – firstly it was on the YouTube front page as part of a YouTube Music Tuesdays promotion, which I think put it in front of a lot of people who wouldn’t normally have seen it. Also Watch Listen Tell, who filmed that session, have a really loyal following, and maybe there was a word of mouth element too – I guess it’s quite memorable with Matt’s broken arm and so on!

You’ve just played the Forum, what was the highlight of the gig? What can the audience expect at your headline gig at the Nest in Dalston?
The Forum was our biggest show ever – there’s no substitute for experience on big stages in front of lots of people! That said, we love the more intimate settings where we can see familiar faces and talk to people. I hope The Nest will be a really special event – for us it’s our homecoming show after six weeks on the road, as well as our 100th show and a celebration of all that’s come about in the past year.

You can find the wonderful Dry the River on Myspace here, and at home on their website here where you can download three songs for free. You can also follow them on twitter here, and of course do not forget their headline show, which is on Wednesday 15th December at The Nest. Full listing info here. Read my review of their gig at Glastonbury here.

Dry the River by Avril Kelly
Dry the River by Avril Kelly.

I first encountered Dry the River when they offered to do a gig for the Climate Camp stage at Glastonbury this summer. On record they are fabulous, advice but live I was absolutely blown away by this talented five some. Over the past six weeks they have been on tour up and down the country: I find out how life has been treating them in my intimate interview with Norwegian lead singer and chief songwriter Peter Liddle.

How did the band get together?
I’d like to say it was an epic tale of overcoming obstacles and triumph in the face of adversity but it was actually a pretty run-of-the-mill thing, haha. I had taken some time out of music to do some other stuff but before I knew it I’d kind of unconsciously started writing a record. One weekend I recruited some musicians I knew from old bands etc. and we spent a weekend recording. The day after we finished recording I went off on an acoustic UK tour and the band was kind of built out of that.

Dry The River by Karina Yarv
Dry The River by Karina Yarv.

How do you describe your music to people who have never heard it?
Actually it’s changed a lot – at the start it was very lo-fi folky stuff because the songs grew out some acoustic bedroom recordings, but now that we all live together and are all involved in the writing process we’ve opened the door to a lot of different influences. I think the songs still resemble folk music thematically – I write a lot about family, relationships, the things that a lot of us deal with day to day – but in the practice room we all get the chance to pull the arrangements in different directions. I guess the short answer is that it’s folky gospel music played by a post-punk band.

Dry The River by Mags James
Dry The River by Mags James.

You share a home in Stratford – is this ever hard work? Who does the most washing up (and the least)?
I think living in a confined space with other people is always a tricky business. At least in our case we have a mutual understanding of each other’s situation. That said, some days are obviously harder than others. We’ve been on tour for six weeks now, mostly cooped up in a van – I think after our Nest show on Wednesday we’ll all go back to our respective family homes for some time apart. Jon (drums) does the most washing up, he likes to keep things tidy. I think I probably do the least, or Scott (bass)…

YouTube Preview Image

You are known for utterly lush harmonies… is it hard to get these right and how do they come about?
It’s funny, it was never our intention to be a band that feature prominent harmonies. We were in the studio working on a new recording and I asked Scott whether he could sing. He had a go at singing a third or a fifth on top of what Matt and I were singing and it seemed to work. It really was that haphazard – we rarely spend time crafting harmony parts, Matt and Scott just sing where it seems to make sense. Sometimes we get to recording a song and realise what we’ve been singing doesn’t even work, and have to sit at a piano working out what the lines should be!

dry the river by Gaarte
Peter Liddle by Gaarte.

Were you all musical children? Did you learn to play instruments from a young age?
Aside from Will, we’re all first generation musicians. None of us come from particularly musical families. I think we actually all grew up at a time when being in rock bands was just what kids did. Certainly in Newbury where I took up music in earnest, almost everyone tried their hand at it. That said, I’m at the other extreme to Will – I never studied music formally at all and one day I’d like to. The other guys all have at least a pretty solid (if rudimentary) understanding of music theory.

Stephanie Thieullent-dry the river
Dry the River by Stephanie Thieullent.

Does Peter write all the lyrics, and where do you draw inspiration from?
Writing lyrics is a separate endeavour to writing songs, for me. I write chord progressions and vocal melodies and have a pretty formed idea of where a song is going, then I go away and spend a long time writing lyrics. I think experience informs the way everybody behaves – it’s the lens that everybody views the world through and music is no different. In my case the songs are rarely based on a specific event or a candid message that I desperately want to deliver. They’re more a collection of responses to environments I’ve found myself in – periods of time, people, places… So I guess in that respect they include images of my childhood in Norway and the UK, reflections on my time at University, and a whole load of other stuff that influences my worldview on any given day.

YouTube Preview Image

Your songs are very intense emotionally – is this intentional and why do you think they come across like this?
I think there are probably two reasons for that. Firstly, whether it’s an event or a feeling or a situation, something has to motivate an artist enough to write a song or paint or whatever. I think the vast majority of artworks are created as an emotional response, so the subject matter is always going to be emotional in nature. Secondly, though, we are grew up listening to post-punk and metal and so on, which is traditionally played in a very intense way. I think the way we play probably magnifies the emotional content in the lyrics.

We first met at Glastonbury when you played for Climate Camp this year… what was your highlight of this year’s festival?
Snooooooooooop!

You will be playing a lot more festivals next summer, can you tell us which ones they will be, and are there any in particular that you are looking forward to?
I think we’ve confirmed quite a few now but I’m not sure which we’re meant to reveal! The other day we were announced alongside Midlake and Wild Beasts in the first batch of names for End of the Road, which we’re super stoked about!

dry-the-river-gaarte
Dry the River by Gaarte.

You’ve decided to release your debut single on Transgressive Records – what made you decide to go with this label and what will the single be?
Tim and Toby at Transgressive really put their faith in the music at an early stage when everything was uncertain. A lot of people see a band with potential and sit in the wings, waiting to see how they’ll fare. Transgressive were the opposite – they met us straight away, told us they loved the music and believed in it, and set about moving mountains to help us become a full time band. Aside from all that, they’re a great label and we’re really proud to be adding to the discography. As for the song, you’ll have to wait and see!

YouTube Preview Image

Your YouTube video for Bible Belt has gained more than 100,000 hits – why do you think it has proved so popular?
There are a variety of a reasons I suppose – firstly it was on the YouTube front page as part of a YouTube Music Tuesdays promotion, which I think put it in front of a lot of people who wouldn’t normally have seen it. Also Watch Listen Tell, who filmed that session, have a really loyal following, and maybe there was a word of mouth element too – I guess it’s quite memorable with Matt’s broken arm and so on!

You’ve just played the Forum, what was the highlight of the gig? What can the audience expect at your headline gig at the Nest in Dalston?
The Forum was our biggest show ever – there’s no substitute for experience on big stages in front of lots of people! That said, we love the more intimate settings where we can see familiar faces and talk to people. I hope The Nest will be a really special event – for us it’s our homecoming show after six weeks on the road, as well as our 100th show and a celebration of all that’s come about in the past year.

You can find the wonderful Dry the River on Myspace here, and at home on their website here where you can download three songs for free. You can also follow them on twitter here, and of course do not forget their headline show, which is on Wednesday 15th December at The Nest. Full listing info here. Read my review of their gig at Glastonbury here.


Illustration by Gareth A Hopkins

So the next stop on my fashion film list (after almost having a seizure at the Pink Narcissus screening) was Dreams of Darkness and Colour.

On a very cold Saturday afternoon, abortion I headed to the Barbican where an eclectic line up was to be shown alongside Rapsodia Satanica – a glorious black/white movie from 1915. It was so cold outside that, at first, it was a huge relief to step inside the Barbican with its roaring heating, but this (alongside the huge, comfy seats in Cinema 1) was soon to prove to be a recipe for a snooze…

Running a little late, the series was first introduced by the lovely Marketa Uhlirova, director of the Fashion in Film Festival, who gave a litte background to each of the films. Next up, Anna Battista – fashion journalist and lecturer – gave an hilarious introduction to each in the series. A gorgeous Italian woman wearing what looked like a post-bag, she leaped around the stage with such vigour that it was hard not to get excited about the forthcoming flicks.

This wasn’t any ordinary screening, mind. The five films we were about to watch were all of the silent era – and they were to be accompanied Lily Henley, tinkling the ivories in dramatic fashion. I’ve heard great things about these kind of screenings – where films from the silent era are accompanied by live music – but I’m embarrassed to say I’d never experienced one until now. I wasn’t disappointed.


Illustration by Avril Kelly

The first screenings were the shorts, which included Méliès’ La Danse du feu (The Pillar of Fire) – an extraordinary hand-coloured film where a demon conjures a woman wearing a voluminous white dress, who then dances; Le Farfalle (The Butterflies) by a unknown director, where Geishas dance and play with a butterfly-like creature who they have imprisoned in a cage; and my favourite, Le Spectre Rouge (The Red Spectre), where in a dark cavern a very creepy devil performs incredible tricks to conjure up women and then make them disappear.

The beauty of these shorts is that, while there isn’t much of a narrative, visually they are stunning. There are only so many times you can watch a woman in a white sheet flap around, I have to say, but at the time the effect of committing these illusions to film must have been magical. They’re still extremely powerful today – even the effetti speciali were enchanting when I expected them to be a little bogus.

Henley, on the piano, never faulted once as she accompanied each of the films. The music matched every dramatic scene perfectly, and I had to continually remind myself that it was actually live music I could hear as every note seamlessly married the film footage.


Illustration by Rukmunal Hakim

So, on to the main event. Rapsodia Satanica was the last film directed by Nino Oxilia, and is generally regarded as one of the finest achievements of Italian cinema during the silent era. A variation of the Faustian plot, our protagonist Alba d’Oltrevita (Lyda Borelli) signs a deal with the devil to regain her youth and beauty – minus the ability to fall in love. The film itself combines elements of horror, expressionism and, of course, the glitz, glamour and extravagance we’d expect from such an epic – Alba’s costumes were created by the Spanish couturier Mariano Fortuny, no less. Battista discussed the topic of the cloth that covers Borelli’s face in the most iconic scenes and the symbolism of the effect it creates – obscuring imperfections and bringing a ghost-like image with it. A flick through recent fashion magazines would reveal that the image of a woman with her face obscured by cloth/net or any translucent material is a reoccurring concept in fashion.

The clothes, typical of the aspirations of the early century, where about as lavish as you get. Set amongst the decadent backdrops of aristocratic mansions, our lead character goes from scene to scene wearing more embellishments than you can shake a stick at.

Huge thanks go to the Fashion in Film Festival for bringing these forgotten wonders to the screens of London. In a world where every visual effect is possible and unique costume design is rare, thank heavens for these enduring works with magic that never fades.

See our reviews of Pink Narcissus and Moulin Rouge (1928) from the Fashion in Film Festival.

Categories ,1915, ,Anna Battista, ,barbican, ,cinema, ,Dreams of Darkness and Colour, ,fashion, ,Fashion in Film Festival, ,film, ,Italian, ,La Danse du feu, ,Le Farfalle, ,Le Spectre Rouge, ,Lily Henley, ,Lyda Borelli, ,Mariano Fortuny, ,Marketa Uhlirova, ,Nino Oxilia, ,piano, ,Rapsodia Satanica, ,Silent era

Similar Posts:






Leave a Reply





















Amelia’s Magazine | Fashion in Film Festival: Pink Narcissus


Illustration by Running for Crayons

So the third Fashion in Film Festival kicked off last week and had film fans and fashionistas flocking to cinemas to catch rare and unreleased archival screenings.

First on my list was a trip to The Horse Hospital. I’d never heard of it before either, case search but it’s a treat. Situated behind Russell Square station (not the insalubrious bit, although the evening was to turn insalubrious as I’ll explain later…) the name is pretty self-explanatory. It’s London’s only existing and accessible two-floor horse stable, and the interior remains relatively unchanged, save a bit of black paint splashed on the walls. Down a cobbled ramp and behind a heavy black curtain lies a cinema screen with few seats. The only traditional ‘cinema-style’ seats were a row of four at the front, the rest were school-dinners chairs, so me and my colleague made a dart for them. It was bloody freezing I tell ya – it was London’s snowiest evening so far and two tiny heaters aren’t going to warm a cavernous black room. Still, we were forewarned and had wrapped up.

Now, Pink Narcissus isn’t your typical ‘fashion film’. Forget what you know of fashion films, particularly in the glamorous OTT perfume advertisement sense. Pink Narcissus is unadulterated, gratuitous porn. Gay porn, at that. Essentially it’s a pervy New Yorker who fancied the pants (literally) off some young Brando-esque model and decided to make an ‘art film’ over seven years, making sure most scenes contained said Brando-esque model’s round bottom and various appendages. Cue titters from me and my colleague. It’s hard not too, right?


Illustration by Alison Day

That’s the short version, but there’s a lot more to it. Ryan Powell, lecturer in Film Studies at King’s College, gave a fascinating introduction into the circumstances surrounding the film’s production and release. Bidgood, the film’s director, was a photographer and costume designer with very little (if any) filmmaker training. That didn’t stop him though. Oh no. Bidgood transformed his apartment with lavish sets over the course of seven years. These are, by anybody’s estimation, incredible. It’s the kind of film where you have to continually remind yourself of this fact because some of the sets – a New York cityscape or a decadent bullfighter’s arena, for example, are unbelievable.

The film, as Powell told us, was originally released amidst much controversy with nobody actually claiming ownership. It took almost a decade for Bidgood to step forward after much deliberation in the press as to which closeted artist or filmmaker had produced it.


Illustration by Caroline Duffy

So, the plot. Well, there isn’t one really. I’d be kidding you if I suggested that this is anything other than an erotic exploration of the male form. The film ‘aims’ to tell the story of the sexual fantasies of a male prostitute, who sexually envisions himself as various characters, from a Roman slave to a matador. Bobby Kendall, star of the show, is drop-dead gorgeous and it’s no surprise that Bidgood formed such a fixation on the man. Most people keep there obsessions in private, but not Bidgood. Oh no. He makes a film about it. It reminded me somewhat of the unusual relationship between Lagerfeld and his ‘male muse’ Baptiste Giabiconi – Kendall has the same exotic look as Baptiste and it seems the former was equally as exploited in his day as the latter is now. I can only imagine the conversations. ‘Yes, that’s it, this scene/shoot will look MUCH BETTER if you take your knickers off. Go on. Cheers.’


Illustration by Charlotte Hoyle

Pink Narcissus, for all its perversions, is undoubtedly a stunning film, and its easy to see why it was selected to be screened during the Fashion in Film Festival. There’s only so much you can say about the physical fashion in a gay porn flick, but I will do my damn best. Powell told us that, as a costume designer by day, Bidgood salvaged materials from the projects he was commissioned for and turned them into the costumes we see in the film. They don’t leave much to the imagination – particularly translucent onesies. When costumes do feature, they are incredible. The ‘bullfighting scene’ (read: leather-clad biker in hot-pants riding towards translucent-onesie-wearing Kendall wafting red material) features a lavishly embellished bolero jacket that would be the envy of millions. Fabrics drape all over the place, loin-cloths are made of silk, and my favourite scene – with ‘just a glimpse of cock’ – features a dancer enveloped in an exotic beaded-creation that dazzles. It’s evident that the director has a talent for dress.

It’s high camp at its best. All at the same time, its a master-class in decadence, trash and beauty, and Bidgood could teach modern filmmakers a thing or two, with his saturated colours, confronting close-ups and innovative cuts. The colours vary from bright blues to hot pinks, purples and greens; it’s a bit like being trapped in somebody else’s vivid dream. It’s totally mesmerising.

Thanks, Fashion in Film Festival, for bringing it to the cinema once again.

The Fashion in Film Festival runs until 12 December. Get all the details in our listings section.

Categories ,1970s, ,Baptiste Giabiconi, ,Bobby Kendall, ,Bolero, ,Brando, ,Fashion in Film Festival, ,film, ,gay, ,Homoeroticism, ,James Bidgood, ,Karl Lagerfeld, ,Kings College, ,Matador, ,Pink Narcissus, ,Porn, ,Russel Square, ,Ryan Powell, ,The Horse Hospital

Similar Posts:






Amelia’s Magazine | Fashion on Film: Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky

thumbnailthe_books_jpeg

It’s nigh-on impossible to define The Books, approved or the genre of music that they create. Because they are relying on an ever changing source of material as their inspiration, so too does their music morph and flow into new directions and styles; a constant evolution of sounds. If pressed, you could say that they were a ‘folktronica’ band, but even then, this doesn’t deal with the complexities of their music. Building a track out of a computer can sometimes render a song as cold and clinical as the software on which it was created, but The Books have a warmth and deftness of touch that permeates through their work and makes each song seem human. It’s no coincidence then that the men behind The Books, Nick Zammuto and Paul de Jong are both highly attuned to their surroundings, appreciating and needing to be immersed in the natural world in order to do what they do. I caught up with the both of them on the phone; I was sat in noisy old Brick Lane, they were calling from their homes in New York State. I was a little jealous.

Can you talk me through the creation and the concept of your new album, The Way Out?
Nick: Basically the primary instrument of The Books is the sample library and Paul is the master librarian. So I will let you fill him on the creation of that…..
Paul: Since we’ve started I have always been a collector of sounds and images. When we started going on tour about five or six years ago I had the opportunity to visit a lot of different cities in the US and worldwide, and when there was time, I would try to hit as many thrift stores and book stores as I could find and pick up LP’s and tapes and video tapes. So by the time I would get home I would have a room full of new material that I could then get cut into new samples. In the past four years the library really grew enormously. I had so much material about certain subjects that they kind of presented themselves out of the library, it gave us a real choice to find a body of samples that deal with a certain subject that we can then create a new narrative from. In the first track of the record (Group Autogenics I) there are a lot of samples from hypnotherapy recordings and self help records. We had a lot of those samples so we had the opportunity to use the best ones. The way these people speak makes them really easy to cut; because they separate their voices and they speak very slowly, so we could move their voices around at will and create a completely new narrative out of that.
Nick: Then the next step in the process is to figure out how it all fits together, which is an equally obsessive process!

Are your roles clear cut? How does the creative process work?
Nick: There is a significant crossover in our roles, but the basic dynamic is that Paul is the collector and I am the composer.

If you are assimilating that much material in your library, I’m guessing the process of recording an album must take a long time.
Nick: Definitely, it’s hard to finish one track in less than a month!

So, when you create your work and put that much effort into it, does it automatically have to lead to an album? Is it too much effort to just create one single?
Nick: No, we have done some one-off singles in the past, and we have also done remixes for people.
Paul: We made a song for the Cultural Ministry in France for their elevators recently and we recorded a Nick Drake song for a compilation. (Featured on Louisiana; compiled by Kenneth Bager). So we do shorter projects but we like the idea of having an album and a body of work. It’s a good reflection of a period of time and work for us.

Is there a particular concept or narrative to this album?
Nick: There is no center to it, necessarily. The hypnotherapy samples frame the record, I think; we are trying to go deeper, not in an overbearing way, but in kind of a playful style.

I see what you mean about the playfulness…. In the hypnotherapy samples, I distinctly heard the Doctor say “you will get fat and lose your self esteem”. That doesn’t sound like typical hypnotherapy to me!
Nick: Of course, that wasn’t its original form. That was Pauls mission, to turn a weight loss record into a weigh gain record! (laughs) So he was able to pull different fragments from the same tape and rearrange them to mean their opposite.
Paul: Nothing is quite what it appears to be. Not that the original songs can’t stand by themselves, it just means that in this new narrative they take on another identity. The only track that is completely undoctored is the track of Ghandi making a short statement, which is something that is so beautiful in itself and so deep that you don’t want to change it, you just want to pass it on.

Is there is a particular way that your tracks come together? Is it samples first, then lyrics?
Nick: I think that Paul and I are always working in parallel, while he is putting the library together I am sketching out melodies and different kinds of musical textures. Eventually the work that I am doing and the work that Paul is doing comes together somehow and there’s a kind of resonance; we call it the ‘critical mass moment’ where it looks like there is something that is worth exploring in a deeper way. Once you have the body of samples that you want to use and a rhythm and a melody you can start to figure out where the beginning is.

You both clearly have a symbiotic relationship, but do you ever come to each other with work that doesn’t mesh well or work out?
Nick: I think that’s most of the time (laughs) There is so much going on in both of our computers that there is always something in there that’s worth pursuing, but yeah, there is a lot of trial and error. I sometimes think of it as an evolutionary approach to music. Brian Eno has used the word ‘emergence’ which I like. There is a lot of chaos and a lot of sounds going every which way and every once in a while, the sounds find each other in a way that is really unexpectedly beautiful. You know, like the way that organisms will mutate and change over time into something completely different. I think, we look at those moments that are worth saving and let them grow on each other and eventually we have something.

Was there anything in particular that was inspiring you while you were creating this record, or was it a case of just having your ear to the ground and seeing what comes your way?
Nick: It’s both, for sure.

I was wondering if your surroundings affect your work; you both live in the Catskill Mountains (in New York State). I can imagine that it’s quite an experience to be surrounded by such peace and tranquility.
Nick: Yeah, I have spent a lot of time in my life living outside, and to have that more direct connection to the natural world has always been a way for me to stay sane.

Do you mean that you have literally lived outside?
Nick: Uh-huh, I spend a lot of time camping and hiking, going on extremely long hikes. (pauses) There is the standard existential crisis that you have in your twenties when you realise that you are probably going down a path that you really don’t want to be on, and hiking was a way for me to reset my life at that time, so now living out here in the mountains just makes me feel at home, it always brings me back to that deciding moment in my life.

Do you switch off when you are hiking, or are you busy thinking up new melodies?
Nick: It’s more of a complete emptying of my thought process; that’s been its value to me, a time where I can leave everything behind. That’s where everything starts from, the silence, and I could never find it in the city, it was so chaotic and noisy that I needed to change my surroundings in order to make the work that I wanted to make.

I have read that you both have your own recording studios in your homes.
Nick: Yes, that is a key part to it, we never pay for studio time.

I’m guessing that this gives you the freedom to experiment when you are not watching the clock, and paying for the time.
Nick: Definitely, it’s sort of a complicated idea, but I think what we are doing is nu-folk music; people are taking technology out of the hands of corporations and big businesses and into their homes. The folk instrument of our time is the computer, and it’s changed how people make music. You see a lot of music coming out of the woodwork now where people are living with the music instead of doing it in a rush in some expensive place, they can pick away at it.

I’m curious if you focus as much on visuals as you do on audio; do you incorporate visuals into your live shows?
Paul: Yes, the visuals came about because we really didn’t start as a live project at all, we were just making music at our homes in our studios, and once we found out that it’s really the only way to sustain ourselves with our music – to go on the road, we saw that as an opportunity to create something around our visual interests so we started creating videos. In the beginning we retrofitted our videos with our music, and now we are moving towards creating a video library which is being created in the same way as the sound library. When we are on the stage we call the video screen our frontman. It’s more than just a light show or a vectorial, it comes more to the foreground than the live musicians.

You’ve recently been touring around Europe. Do you have plans to do more touring, I can imagine that the whole process takes a lot of effort!
Nick: Well there is no effort in the sense that we don’t jump on stage very much! The real limitations are that we both have young children so we don’t leave home too much at this point in our lives, but we will be back in Europe sometime next year.

YouTube Preview Image

It’s nigh-on impossible to define The Books, pharmacy or the genre of music that they create. Because they are relying on an ever changing source of material as their inspiration, case so too does their music morph and flow into new directions and styles; a constant evolution of sounds. If pressed, you could say that they were a ‘folktronica’ band, but even then, this doesn’t deal with the complexities of their music. Building a track out of a computer can sometimes render a song as cold and clinical as the software on which it was created, but The Books have a warmth and deftness of touch that permeates through their work and makes each song seem human. It’s no coincidence then that the men behind The Books, Nick Zammuto and Paul de Jong are both highly attuned to their surroundings, appreciating and needing to be immersed in the natural world in order to do what they do. I caught up with the both of them on the phone; I was sat in noisy old Brick Lane, they were calling from their homes in New York State. I was a little jealous.

Can you talk me through the creation and the concept of your new album, The Way Out?
Nick: Basically the primary instrument of The Books is the sample library and Paul is the master librarian. So I will let you fill him on the creation of that…..
Paul: Since we’ve started I have always been a collector of sounds and images. When we started going on tour about five or six years ago I had the opportunity to visit a lot of different cities in the US and worldwide, and when there was time, I would try to hit as many thrift stores and book stores as I could find and pick up LP’s and tapes and video tapes. So by the time I would get home I would have a room full of new material that I could then get cut into new samples. In the past four years the library really grew enormously. I had so much material about certain subjects that they kind of presented themselves out of the library, it gave us a real choice to find a body of samples that deal with a certain subject that we can then create a new narrative from. In the first track of the record (Group Autogenics I) there are a lot of samples from hypnotherapy recordings and self help records. We had a lot of those samples so we had the opportunity to use the best ones. The way these people speak makes them really easy to cut; because they separate their voices and they speak very slowly, so we could move their voices around at will and create a completely new narrative out of that.
Nick: Then the next step in the process is to figure out how it all fits together, which is an equally obsessive process!

Are your roles clear cut? How does the creative process work?
Nick: There is a significant crossover in our roles, but the basic dynamic is that Paul is the collector and I am the composer.

If you are assimilating that much material in your library, I’m guessing the process of recording an album must take a long time.
Nick: Definitely, it’s hard to finish one track in less than a month!

So, when you create your work and put that much effort into it, does it automatically have to lead to an album? Is it too much effort to just create one single?
Nick: No, we have done some one-off singles in the past, and we have also done remixes for people.
Paul: We made a song for the Cultural Ministry in France for their elevators recently and we recorded a Nick Drake song for a compilation. (Featured on Louisiana; compiled by Kenneth Bager). So we do shorter projects but we like the idea of having an album and a body of work. It’s a good reflection of a period of time and work for us.

Is there a particular concept or narrative to this album?
Nick: There is no center to it, necessarily. The hypnotherapy samples frame the record, I think; we are trying to go deeper, not in an overbearing way, but in kind of a playful style.

I see what you mean about the playfulness…. In the hypnotherapy samples, I distinctly heard the Doctor say “you will get fat and lose your self esteem”. That doesn’t sound like typical hypnotherapy to me!
Nick: Of course, that wasn’t its original form. That was Pauls mission, to turn a weight loss record into a weigh gain record! (laughs) So he was able to pull different fragments from the same tape and rearrange them to mean their opposite.
Paul: Nothing is quite what it appears to be. Not that the original songs can’t stand by themselves, it just means that in this new narrative they take on another identity. The only track that is completely undoctored is the track of Ghandi making a short statement, which is something that is so beautiful in itself and so deep that you don’t want to change it, you just want to pass it on.

Is there is a particular way that your tracks come together? Is it samples first, then lyrics?
Nick: I think that Paul and I are always working in parallel, while he is putting the library together I am sketching out melodies and different kinds of musical textures. Eventually the work that I am doing and the work that Paul is doing comes together somehow and there’s a kind of resonance; we call it the ‘critical mass moment’ where it looks like there is something that is worth exploring in a deeper way. Once you have the body of samples that you want to use and a rhythm and a melody you can start to figure out where the beginning is.

You both clearly have a symbiotic relationship, but do you ever come to each other with work that doesn’t mesh well or work out?
Nick: I think that’s most of the time (laughs) There is so much going on in both of our computers that there is always something in there that’s worth pursuing, but yeah, there is a lot of trial and error. I sometimes think of it as an evolutionary approach to music. Brian Eno has used the word ‘emergence’ which I like. There is a lot of chaos and a lot of sounds going every which way and every once in a while, the sounds find each other in a way that is really unexpectedly beautiful. You know, like the way that organisms will mutate and change over time into something completely different. I think, we look at those moments that are worth saving and let them grow on each other and eventually we have something.

Was there anything in particular that was inspiring you while you were creating this record, or was it a case of just having your ear to the ground and seeing what comes your way?
Nick: It’s both, for sure.

I was wondering if your surroundings affect your work; you both live in the Catskill Mountains (in New York State). I can imagine that it’s quite an experience to be surrounded by such peace and tranquility.
Nick: Yeah, I have spent a lot of time in my life living outside, and to have that more direct connection to the natural world has always been a way for me to stay sane.

Do you mean that you have literally lived outside?
Nick: Uh-huh, I spend a lot of time camping and hiking, going on extremely long hikes. (pauses) There is the standard existential crisis that you have in your twenties when you realise that you are probably going down a path that you really don’t want to be on, and hiking was a way for me to reset my life at that time, so now living out here in the mountains just makes me feel at home, it always brings me back to that deciding moment in my life.

Do you switch off when you are hiking, or are you busy thinking up new melodies?
Nick: It’s more of a complete emptying of my thought process; that’s been its value to me, a time where I can leave everything behind. That’s where everything starts from, the silence, and I could never find it in the city, it was so chaotic and noisy that I needed to change my surroundings in order to make the work that I wanted to make.

I have read that you both have your own recording studios in your homes.
Nick: Yes, that is a key part to it, we never pay for studio time.

I’m guessing that this gives you the freedom to experiment when you are not watching the clock, and paying for the time.
Nick: Definitely, it’s sort of a complicated idea, but I think what we are doing is nu-folk music; people are taking technology out of the hands of corporations and big businesses and into their homes. The folk instrument of our time is the computer, and it’s changed how people make music. You see a lot of music coming out of the woodwork now where people are living with the music instead of doing it in a rush in some expensive place, they can pick away at it.

I’m curious if you focus as much on visuals as you do on audio; do you incorporate visuals into your live shows?
Paul: Yes, the visuals came about because we really didn’t start as a live project at all, we were just making music at our homes in our studios, and once we found out that it’s really the only way to sustain ourselves with our music – to go on the road, we saw that as an opportunity to create something around our visual interests so we started creating videos. In the beginning we retrofitted our videos with our music, and now we are moving towards creating a video library which is being created in the same way as the sound library. When we are on the stage we call the video screen our frontman. It’s more than just a light show or a vectorial, it comes more to the foreground than the live musicians.

You’ve recently been touring around Europe. Do you have plans to do more touring, I can imagine that the whole process takes a lot of effort!
Nick: Well there is no effort in the sense that we don’t jump on stage very much! The real limitations are that we both have young children so we don’t leave home too much at this point in our lives, but we will be back in Europe sometime next year.

YouTube Preview Image

It’s nigh-on impossible to define The Books, treat or the genre of music that they create. Because they are relying on an everchanging source of material as their inspiration, so too does their music morph and flow into new directions and styles; a constant evolution of sounds. If pressed, you could say that they were a ‘folktronica’ band, but even then, this doesn’t appreciate the complexities of their music. Building a track out of a computer can sometimes render a song as cold and clinical as the software on which it was created, but The Books have a warmth and deftness of touch that permeates through their work and makes each song seem human. It’s no coincidence then that the men behind The Books, Nick Zammuto and Paul de Jong are both highly attuned to their surroundings, appreciating and needing to be immersed in the natural world in order to do what they do. I caught up with the both of them on the phone; I was sat in noisy old Brick Lane, they were calling from their homes in New York State. I was a little jealous.

Can you talk me through the creation and the concept of your new album, The Way Out?
Nick: Basically the primary instrument of The Books is the sample library and Paul is the master librarian. So I will let you fill him on the creation of that…..
Paul: Since we’ve started I have always been a collector of sounds and images. When we started going on tour about five or six years ago I had the opportunity to visit a lot of different cities in the US and worldwide, and when there was time, I would try to hit as many thrift stores and book stores as I could find and pick up LP’s and tapes and video tapes. So by the time I would get home I would have a room full of new material that I could then get cut into new samples. In the past four years the library really grew enormously. I had so much material about certain subjects that they kind of presented themselves out of the library, it gave us a real choice to find a body of samples that deal with a certain subject that we can then create a new narrative from. In the first track of the record (Group Autogenics I) there are a lot of samples from hypnotherapy recordings and self help records. We had a lot of those samples so we had the opportunity to use the best ones. The way these people speak makes them really easy to cut because they separate their voices and they speak very slowly, so we could move their voices around at will and create a completely new narrative out of that.
Nick: Then the next step in the process is to figure out how it all fits together, which is an equally obsessive process!

Are your roles clear cut? How does the creative process work?
Nick: There is a significant crossover in our roles, but the basic dynamic is that Paul is the collector and I am the composer.

If you are assimilating that much material in your library, I’m guessing the process of recording an album must take a long time.
Nick: Definitely, it’s hard to finish one track in less than a month!

So, when you create your work and put that much effort into it, does it automatically have to lead to an album? Is it too much effort to just create one single?
Nick: No, we have done some one-off singles in the past, and we have also done remixes for people.
Paul: We made a song for the Cultural Ministry in France for their elevators recently and we recorded a Nick Drake song for a compilation. (Featured on Louisiana; compiled by Kenneth Bager). So we do shorter projects but we like the idea of having an album and a body of work. It’s a good reflection of a period of time and work for us.

Is there a particular concept or narrative to this album?
Nick: There is no center to it, necessarily. The hypnotherapy samples frame the record, I think; we are trying to go deeper, not in an overbearing way, but in kind of a playful style.

I see what you mean about the playfulness…. In the hypnotherapy samples, I distinctly heard the Doctor say “you will get fat and lose your self esteem”. That doesn’t sound like typical hypnotherapy to me!
Nick: Of course, that wasn’t its original form. That was Pauls mission, to turn a weight loss record into a weigh gain record! (laughs) So he was able to pull different fragments from the same tape and rearrange them to mean their opposite.
Paul: Nothing is quite what it appears to be. Not that the original songs can’t stand by themselves, it just means that in this new narrative they take on another identity. The only track that is completely undoctored is the track of Ghandi making a short statement, which is something that is so beautiful in itself and so deep that you don’t want to change it, you just want to pass it on.

Is there is a particular way that your tracks come together? Is it samples first, then lyrics?
Nick: I think that Paul and I are always working in parallel, while he is putting the library together I am sketching out melodies and different kinds of musical textures. Eventually the work that I am doing and the work that Paul is doing comes together somehow and there’s a kind of resonance; we call it the ‘critical mass moment’ where it looks like there is something that is worth exploring in a deeper way. Once you have the body of samples that you want to use and a rhythm and a melody you can start to figure out where the beginning is.

You both clearly have a symbiotic relationship, but do you ever come to each other with work that doesn’t mesh well or work out?
Nick: I think that’s most of the time (laughs) There is so much going on in both of our computers that there is always something in there that’s worth pursuing, but yeah, there is a lot of trial and error. I sometimes think of it as an evolutionary approach to music. Brian Eno has used the word ‘emergence’ which I like. There is a lot of chaos and a lot of sounds going every which way and every once in a while, the sounds find each other in a way that is really unexpectedly beautiful. You know, like the way that organisms will mutate and change over time into something completely different. I think, we look at those moments that are worth saving and let them grow on each other and eventually we have something.

Was there anything in particular that was inspiring you while you were creating this record, or was it a case of just having your ear to the ground and seeing what comes your way?
Nick: It’s both, for sure.

I was wondering if your surroundings affect your work; you both live in the Catskill Mountains (in New York State). I can imagine that it’s quite an experience to be surrounded by such peace and tranquility.
Nick: Yeah, I have spent a lot of time in my life living outside, and to have that more direct connection to the natural world has always been a way for me to stay sane.

Do you mean that you have literally lived outside?
Nick: Uh-huh, I spend a lot of time camping and hiking, going on extremely long hikes. (pauses) There is the standard existential crisis that you have in your twenties when you realise that you are probably going down a path that you really don’t want to be on, and hiking was a way for me to reset my life at that time, so now living out here in the mountains just makes me feel at home, it always brings me back to that deciding moment in my life.

Do you switch off when you are hiking, or are you busy thinking up new melodies?
Nick: It’s more of a complete emptying of my thought process; that’s been its value to me, a time where I can leave everything behind. That’s where everything starts from, the silence, and I could never find it in the city, it was so chaotic and noisy that I needed to change my surroundings in order to make the work that I wanted to make.

I have read that you both have your own recording studios in your homes.
Nick: Yes, that is a key part to it, we never pay for studio time.

I’m guessing that this gives you the freedom to experiment when you are not watching the clock, and paying for the time.
Nick: Definitely, it’s sort of a complicated idea, but I think what we are doing is nu-folk music; people are taking technology out of the hands of corporations and big businesses and into their homes. The folk instrument of our time is the computer, and it’s changed how people make music. You see a lot of music coming out of the woodwork now where people are living with the music instead of doing it in a rush in some expensive place, they can pick away at it.

I’m curious if you focus as much on visuals as you do on audio; do you incorporate visuals into your live shows?
Paul: Yes, the visuals came about because we really didn’t start as a live project at all, we were just making music at our homes in our studios, and once we found out that it’s really the only way to sustain ourselves with our music – to go on the road, we saw that as an opportunity to create something around our visual interests so we started creating videos. In the beginning we retrofitted our videos with our music, and now we are moving towards creating a video library which is being created in the same way as the sound library. When we are on the stage we call the video screen our frontman. It’s more than just a light show or a vectorial, it comes more to the foreground than the live musicians.

You’ve recently been touring around Europe. Do you have plans to do more touring, I can imagine that the whole process takes a lot of effort!
Nick: Well there is no effort in the sense that we don’t jump on stage very much! The real limitations are that we both have young children so we don’t leave home too much at this point in our lives, but we will be back in Europe sometime next year.

YouTube Preview Image

It’s nigh-on impossible to define The Books, dosage or the genre of music that they create. Because they are relying on an everchanging source of material as their inspiration, information pills so too does their music morph and flow into new directions and styles; a constant evolution of sounds. If pressed, you could say that they were a ‘folktronica’ band, but even then, this doesn’t appreciate the complexities of their music. Building a track out of a computer can sometimes render a song as cold and clinical as the software on which it was created, but The Books have a warmth and deftness of touch that permeates through their work and makes each song seem human. It’s no coincidence then that the men behind The Books, Nick Zammuto and Paul de Jong are both highly attuned to their surroundings, appreciating and needing to be immersed in the natural world in order to do what they do. I caught up with both of them on the phone recently; I was sat in noisy old Brick Lane, they were calling from their homes in New York State. I was a little jealous.

Can you talk me through the creation and the concept of your new album, The Way Out?
Nick: Basically the primary instrument of The Books is the sample library and Paul is the master librarian. So I will let you fill him on the creation of that…..
Paul: Since we’ve started I have always been a collector of sounds and images. When we started going on tour about five or six years ago I had the opportunity to visit a lot of different cities in the US and worldwide, and when there was time, I would try to hit as many thrift stores and book stores as I could find and pick up LP’s and tapes and video tapes. So by the time I would get home I would have a room full of new material that I could then get cut into new samples. In the past four years the library really grew enormously. I had so much material about certain subjects that they kind of presented themselves out of the library, it gave us a real choice to find a body of samples that deal with a certain subject that we can then create a new narrative from. In the first track of the record (Group Autogenics I) there are a lot of samples from hypnotherapy recordings and self help records. We had a lot of those samples so we had the opportunity to use the best ones. The way these people speak makes them really easy to cut because they separate their voices and they speak very slowly, so we could move their voices around at will and create a completely new narrative out of that.
Nick: Then the next step in the process is to figure out how it all fits together, which is an equally obsessive process!

Are your roles clear cut? How does the creative process work?
Nick: There is a significant crossover in our roles, but the basic dynamic is that Paul is the collector and I am the composer.

If you are assimilating that much material in your library, I’m guessing the process of recording an album must take a long time.
Nick: Definitely, it’s hard to finish one track in less than a month!

So, when you create your work and put that much effort into it, does it automatically have to lead to an album? Is it too much effort to just create one single?
Nick: No, we have done some one-off singles in the past, and we have also done remixes for people.
Paul: We made a song for the Cultural Ministry in France for their elevators recently and we recorded a Nick Drake song for a compilation. (Featured on Louisiana; compiled by Kenneth Bager). So we do shorter projects but we like the idea of having an album and a body of work. It’s a good reflection of a period of time and work for us.

Is there a particular concept or narrative to this album?
Nick: There is no center to it, necessarily. The hypnotherapy samples frame the record, I think; we are trying to go deeper, not in an overbearing way, but in kind of a playful style.

I see what you mean about the playfulness…. In the hypnotherapy samples, I distinctly heard the Doctor say “you will get fat and lose your self esteem”. That doesn’t sound like typical hypnotherapy to me!
Nick: Of course, that wasn’t its original form. That was Pauls mission, to turn a weight loss record into a weigh gain record! (laughs) So he was able to pull different fragments from the same tape and rearrange them to mean their opposite.
Paul: Nothing is quite what it appears to be. Not that the original songs can’t stand by themselves, it just means that in this new narrative they take on another identity. The only track that is completely undoctored is the track of Ghandi making a short statement, which is something that is so beautiful in itself and so deep that you don’t want to change it, you just want to pass it on.

Is there is a particular way that your tracks come together? Is it samples first, then lyrics?
Nick: I think that Paul and I are always working in parallel, while he is putting the library together I am sketching out melodies and different kinds of musical textures. Eventually the work that I am doing and the work that Paul is doing comes together somehow and there’s a kind of resonance; we call it the ‘critical mass moment’ where it looks like there is something that is worth exploring in a deeper way. Once you have the body of samples that you want to use and a rhythm and a melody you can start to figure out where the beginning is.

You both clearly have a symbiotic relationship, but do you ever come to each other with work that doesn’t mesh well or work out?
Nick: I think that’s most of the time (laughs) There is so much going on in both of our computers that there is always something in there that’s worth pursuing, but yeah, there is a lot of trial and error. I sometimes think of it as an evolutionary approach to music. Brian Eno has used the word ‘emergence’ which I like. There is a lot of chaos and a lot of sounds going every which way and every once in a while, the sounds find each other in a way that is really unexpectedly beautiful. You know, like the way that organisms will mutate and change over time into something completely different. I think, we look at those moments that are worth saving and let them grow on each other and eventually we have something.

Was there anything in particular that was inspiring you while you were creating this record, or was it a case of just having your ear to the ground and seeing what comes your way?
Nick: It’s both, for sure.

I was wondering if your surroundings affect your work; you both live in the Catskill Mountains (in New York State). I can imagine that it’s quite an experience to be surrounded by such peace and tranquility.
Nick: Yeah, I have spent a lot of time in my life living outside, and to have that more direct connection to the natural world has always been a way for me to stay sane.

Do you mean that you have literally lived outside?
Nick: Uh-huh, I spend a lot of time camping and hiking, going on extremely long hikes. (pauses) There is the standard existential crisis that you have in your twenties when you realise that you are probably going down a path that you really don’t want to be on, and hiking was a way for me to reset my life at that time, so now living out here in the mountains just makes me feel at home, it always brings me back to that deciding moment in my life.

Do you switch off when you are hiking, or are you busy thinking up new melodies?
Nick: It’s more of a complete emptying of my thought process; that’s been its value to me, a time where I can leave everything behind. That’s where everything starts from, the silence, and I could never find it in the city, it was so chaotic and noisy that I needed to change my surroundings in order to make the work that I wanted to make.

I have read that you both have your own recording studios in your homes.
Nick: Yes, that is a key part to it, we never pay for studio time.

I’m guessing that this gives you the freedom to experiment when you are not watching the clock, and paying for the time.
Nick: Definitely, it’s sort of a complicated idea, but I think what we are doing is nu-folk music; people are taking technology out of the hands of corporations and big businesses and into their homes. The folk instrument of our time is the computer, and it’s changed how people make music. You see a lot of music coming out of the woodwork now where people are living with the music instead of doing it in a rush in some expensive place, they can pick away at it.

I’m curious if you focus as much on visuals as you do on audio; do you incorporate visuals into your live shows?
Paul: Yes, the visuals came about because we really didn’t start as a live project at all, we were just making music at our homes in our studios, and once we found out that it’s really the only way to sustain ourselves with our music – to go on the road, we saw that as an opportunity to create something around our visual interests so we started creating videos. In the beginning we retrofitted our videos with our music, and now we are moving towards creating a video library which is being created in the same way as the sound library. When we are on the stage we call the video screen our frontman. It’s more than just a light show or a vectorial, it comes more to the foreground than the live musicians.

You’ve recently been touring around Europe. Do you have plans to do more touring, I can imagine that the whole process takes a lot of effort!
Nick: Well there is no effort in the sense that we don’t jump on stage very much! The real limitations are that we both have young children so we don’t leave home too much at this point in our lives, but we will be back in Europe sometime next year.

YouTube Preview Image

It’s nigh-on impossible to define The Books, web or the genre of music that they create. Because they are relying on an everchanging source of material as their inspiration, adiposity so too does their music morph and flow into new directions and styles; a constant evolution of sounds. If pressed, you could say that they were a ‘folktronica’ band, but even then, this doesn’t appreciate the complexities of their music. Building a track out of a computer can sometimes render a song as cold and clinical as the software on which it was created, but The Books have a warmth and deftness of touch that permeates through their work and makes each song seem human. It’s no coincidence then that the men behind The Books, Nick Zammuto and Paul de Jong are both highly attuned to their surroundings, appreciating and needing to be immersed in the natural world in order to do what they do. I caught up with both of them on the phone recently; I was sat in noisy old Brick Lane, they were calling from their homes in New York State. I was a little jealous.

Can you talk me through the creation and the concept of your new album, The Way Out?
Nick: Basically the primary instrument of The Books is the sample library and Paul is the master librarian. So I will let you fill him on the creation of that…..
Paul: Since we’ve started I have always been a collector of sounds and images. When we started going on tour about five or six years ago I had the opportunity to visit a lot of different cities in the US and worldwide, and when there was time, I would try to hit as many thrift stores and book stores as I could find and pick up LP’s and tapes and video tapes. So by the time I would get home I would have a room full of new material that I could then get cut into new samples. In the past four years the library really grew enormously. I had so much material about certain subjects that they kind of presented themselves out of the library, it gave us a real choice to find a body of samples that deal with a certain subject that we can then create a new narrative from. In the first track of the record (Group Autogenics I) there are a lot of samples from hypnotherapy recordings and self help records. We had a lot of those samples so we had the opportunity to use the best ones. The way these people speak makes them really easy to cut because they separate their voices and they speak very slowly, so we could move their voices around at will and create a completely new narrative out of that.
Nick: Then the next step in the process is to figure out how it all fits together, which is an equally obsessive process!

Are your roles clear cut? How does the creative process work?
Nick: There is a significant crossover in our roles, but the basic dynamic is that Paul is the collector and I am the composer.

If you are assimilating that much material in your library, I’m guessing the process of recording an album must take a long time.
Nick: Definitely, it’s hard to finish one track in less than a month!

So, when you create your work and put that much effort into it, does it automatically have to lead to an album? Is it too much effort to just create one single?
Nick: No, we have done some one-off singles in the past, and we have also done remixes for people.
Paul: We made a song for the Cultural Ministry in France for their elevators recently and we recorded a Nick Drake song for a compilation. (Featured on Louisiana; compiled by Kenneth Bager). So we do shorter projects but we like the idea of having an album and a body of work. It’s a good reflection of a period of time and work for us.

Is there a particular concept or narrative to this album?
Nick: There is no center to it, necessarily. The hypnotherapy samples frame the record, I think; we are trying to go deeper, not in an overbearing way, but in kind of a playful style.

I see what you mean about the playfulness…. In the hypnotherapy samples, I distinctly heard the Doctor say “you will get fat and lose your self esteem”. That doesn’t sound like typical hypnotherapy to me!
Nick: Of course, that wasn’t its original form. That was Pauls mission, to turn a weight loss record into a weigh gain record! (laughs) So he was able to pull different fragments from the same tape and rearrange them to mean their opposite.
Paul: Nothing is quite what it appears to be. Not that the original songs can’t stand by themselves, it just means that in this new narrative they take on another identity. The only track that is completely undoctored is the track of Ghandi making a short statement, which is something that is so beautiful in itself and so deep that you don’t want to change it, you just want to pass it on.

Is there is a particular way that your tracks come together? Is it samples first, then lyrics?
Nick: I think that Paul and I are always working in parallel, while he is putting the library together I am sketching out melodies and different kinds of musical textures. Eventually the work that I am doing and the work that Paul is doing comes together somehow and there’s a kind of resonance; we call it the ‘critical mass moment’ where it looks like there is something that is worth exploring in a deeper way. Once you have the body of samples that you want to use and a rhythm and a melody you can start to figure out where the beginning is.

You both clearly have a symbiotic relationship, but do you ever come to each other with work that doesn’t mesh well or work out?
Nick: I think that’s most of the time (laughs) There is so much going on in both of our computers that there is always something in there that’s worth pursuing, but yeah, there is a lot of trial and error. I sometimes think of it as an evolutionary approach to music. Brian Eno has used the word ‘emergence’ which I like. There is a lot of chaos and a lot of sounds going every which way and every once in a while, the sounds find each other in a way that is really unexpectedly beautiful. You know, like the way that organisms will mutate and change over time into something completely different. I think, we look at those moments that are worth saving and let them grow on each other and eventually we have something.

Was there anything in particular that was inspiring you while you were creating this record, or was it a case of just having your ear to the ground and seeing what comes your way?
Nick: It’s both, for sure.

I was wondering if your surroundings affect your work; you both live in the Catskill Mountains (in New York State). I can imagine that it’s quite an experience to be surrounded by such peace and tranquility.
Nick: Yeah, I have spent a lot of time in my life living outside, and to have that more direct connection to the natural world has always been a way for me to stay sane.

Do you mean that you have literally lived outside?
Nick: Uh-huh, I spend a lot of time camping and hiking, going on extremely long hikes. (pauses) There is the standard existential crisis that you have in your twenties when you realise that you are probably going down a path that you really don’t want to be on, and hiking was a way for me to reset my life at that time, so now living out here in the mountains just makes me feel at home, it always brings me back to that deciding moment in my life.

Do you switch off when you are hiking, or are you busy thinking up new melodies?
Nick: It’s more of a complete emptying of my thought process; that’s been its value to me, a time where I can leave everything behind. That’s where everything starts from, the silence, and I could never find it in the city, it was so chaotic and noisy that I needed to change my surroundings in order to make the work that I wanted to make.

I have read that you both have your own recording studios in your homes.
Nick: Yes, that is a key part to it, we never pay for studio time.

I’m guessing that this gives you the freedom to experiment when you are not watching the clock, and paying for the time.
Nick: Definitely, it’s sort of a complicated idea, but I think what we are doing is nu-folk music; people are taking technology out of the hands of corporations and big businesses and into their homes. The folk instrument of our time is the computer, and it’s changed how people make music. You see a lot of music coming out of the woodwork now where people are living with the music instead of doing it in a rush in some expensive place, they can pick away at it.

I’m curious if you focus as much on visuals as you do on audio; do you incorporate visuals into your live shows?
Paul: Yes, the visuals came about because we really didn’t start as a live project at all, we were just making music at our homes in our studios, and once we found out that it’s really the only way to sustain ourselves with our music – to go on the road, we saw that as an opportunity to create something around our visual interests so we started creating videos. In the beginning we retrofitted our videos with our music, and now we are moving towards creating a video library which is being created in the same way as the sound library. When we are on the stage we call the video screen our frontman. It’s more than just a light show or a vectorial, it comes more to the foreground than the live musicians.

You’ve recently been touring around Europe. Do you have plans to do more touring, I can imagine that the whole process takes a lot of effort!
Nick: Well there is no effort in the sense that we don’t jump on stage very much! The real limitations are that we both have young children so we don’t leave home too much at this point in our lives, but we will be back in Europe sometime next year.

YouTube Preview Image

Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky, online illustrated by Naomi Law

Plans to large it in East End boozers or at Green Kite Midnight‘s Ceilidh on Saturday night turned sour when my other half broke his arm in a freak gymnasium accident. So, unwilling to sit in sulking, we took a trip to the Rich Mix Cinema.

Mainstream fashion films don’t come around that frequently. Okay, so we had Tom Ford‘s plotless but beautiful adaptation of Christopher Isherwood’s A Single Man, but it’s rare for those who control film production company’s purse strings to invest their cash in fashion biopics. Things might be changing though – we had Coco avant Chanel recently – an exceptional film starring Audrey Tatou (who, I’d like to add, should stick to acting en Francais). Next up, it’s the release this week of Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky.

Viewers will be forgiven for thinking that this is the sequel to Coco avant Chanel – the bulk of the movie focusses on Gabrielle Chanel’s life post lover Arthur ‘Boy’ Capel’s death. There are many similarities – the fashion, the smouldering actress, the references, the consultants (Monsieur Lagerfeld lent his services and granted full access to the couturier’s archives). The films, in fact, have nothing professionally to do with each other. 

This film actually kicks off in 1913. We join the male protagonist (played by devilishly handsome Mads Mikkelsen – well, until you Google him and see what he really looks like) as he is about to present his first major opera, at which Coco (devilishly beautiful Anna Mouglalis) is in the audience. The Rite of Spring is a disaster; the audience descends into chaos. It’s here though that fashion fans first get a feast for the eyes. Row after row sit bourgeois women dressed decadently in the early indications of the prosperous fashion of the 1920s, with stunning millinery galore.  


Illustration by Stacie Swift

The film then jumps to 1920, and we see the chic Chanel meet Stravinsky properly for the first time at a party. Coco Chanel was nothing short of a tart. Dressed in a risque (for the era) shoestring-strap floor-length dress and hair in a 1920s twist, Coco oozes appeal and ‘even makes grief seem chic’ according to one bystander. She has, after all, just lost Boy Capel in a car accident – but you’d never know.


Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky, illustrated by Kayleigh Bluck

The pair arrange to meet at Paris’ Muséum national diHistoire naturelle, where Gabrielle invites Igor (and his wife and children) to stay at her glorious villa outside Paris. He accepts, and the rest of the film takes place here. Here we’re treated to Coco’s impeccable interior design taste – room after room decorated with stunning art-deco style, and rooms themed on exotic locations from around the world. Chanel dazzles in outfit after outfit, and after a few scene/outfit changes, it’s easy to see where Lagerfeld gets his ideas from.  

I won’t spoil it for you, but the frivolous pair get it on at the villa while poor Stravinsky’s wife is laid up in bed upstairs with a bad cough. Cue gratuitous sex scenes on various carpets. Chanel is always impeccably dressed in floor-length silk numbers, while tormented Stravinsky, dressed in simple sartorial style, tinkles the ivories and stomps around the villa’s gardens like a bear with a sore head. You can’t carry on like this without somebody finding out…


Chanel No.5, illustrated by Natasha Thompson

1920 is also the year that Chanel devised and launched what is probably the world’s most iconic scent – the Chanel No.5 perfume. Cut to Gunther-Von-Hagens-slash-Willy-Wonka-esque perfumer Ernest Beaux, who appears with a twirl of his chemist lab coat like a zany magician; here the film goes a little pantomime, and while committing this crucial piece of fashion history to film is inspiring, it’s difficult not to cringe at the ‘ooo! numero cinq’ revelation at the end of this scene…

This is certainly a film for fashion fans and documents a fascinating piece of history – rumour has it that the makers of Coco Avant Chanel plan to pick up where this film leaves us, so that’s something we can look forward to. We do get a glimpse of glamour-granny Chanel at the end, too; perhaps to whet our appetite – Anna Mouglalis makes a fantastic mature Coco decked in prosthetic make-up.


31 Rue Cambon, illustrated by Thomas Leadbetter

What this film occasionally lacks in empathy for the characters – it’s a marriage of egos and there’s little to make you feel anything for this homewreckin’ harlot – it certainly makes up for in sophistication. Most exciting for me were scenes at 31 Rue Cambon, fashion’s most famous address, both inside and out. With a soundtrack of Stravinsky’s effortless symphonies and Coco Chanel’s visionary and groundbreaking fashion, this film celebrates two massive twentieth-century figures in style.

Cinemas nationwide.

Categories ,1920s, ,A Single Man, ,Anna Mouglalis, ,Arthur Boy Capel, ,Audrey Tatou, ,Borgeois, ,Chanel No.5, ,Christopher Isherwood, ,Coco Avant Chanel, ,Coco Chanel, ,Ernest Beaux, ,fashion, ,film, ,Gabrielle, ,Google, ,Gunther Von Hagens, ,Igor Stravinsky, ,Karl Lagerfeld, ,Kayleigh Bluck, ,Mads Mikkelsen, ,millinery, ,Muséum national diHistoire naturelle, ,Naomi Law, ,Natasha Thompson, ,paris, ,Rich Mix Cinema, ,Stacie Swift, ,The Rite of Spring, ,Thomas Leadbetter, ,Tom Ford, ,Willy Wonka

Similar Posts:






Amelia’s Magazine | An Evening of Retro Hollywood Glamour at the Victoria & Albert Museum


Mumford & Sons illustration by Lana Hughes

5. Mumford & Sons
Mumford & Sons have had a special piece in my heart for a couple of years now. Having played their debut to death and enjoyed their live shows just as much, ampoule the band never fail to disappoint. When they arrived at the NME/Radio 1 Tent they packed out the space and the surrounding areas had hundreds of fans trying to capture the performance.

Despite not being able to see the band or even hear them over the crowd singing along, shop I still had hairs on my neck shooting up. I felt quite proud of the most modest band around who could not have put more effort in. They were made for moments like this. ‘Little Lion Man’ had never sounded so perfect and the new songs were greeted with the same enthusiasm from the crowd.


Weezer illustration by Natsuki Otani

4. Weezer
Sunday evening, abortion there was a chill in the air, ‘nu metal’ pioneers Limp Bizit had been and gone, the heavy rain had done the same. American geek rockers Weezer brought the sun to the main-stage along with a greatest hits set. They are a band I would never choose the listen to but I wouldn’t turn them off either.

Along with the classics, ‘Buddy Holly’, ‘Hash Pipe’ and ‘Beverly Hills’ the old timers covered Wheatus’ ‘Teenage Dirtbag’, MGMT’s ‘Kids’ and Lady GaGa’s ‘Pokerface’ where energetic front-man Rivers Cuomo sported a blonde wig whilst rolling about in the mud.


Mystery Jets illustration by Antonia Makes

3. Mystery Jets
Mystery Jets have been knocking about for sometime now with a collection of pop songs that would give Simon Cowell’s song-writing team a fright. Today wasn’t just about the hits, it was to see if the band could work main-stage after a few appearances on the smaller ones previously.

Not only did they get some sing-a-longs from the crowd but also got them dancing when Count & Sinden joined the band to play the party tune of the year, ‘After Dark’. It wasn’t just the stage that the band controlled as the lively band members spent a decent about of time amongst the crowd too.


The Libertines illustrated by Abi Daker

2. The Libertines
2002, the NME. Radio 1 Tent saw Peter Doherty, Carl Barat, John Hassall and Gary Powell play their only Reading Festival together. Since then The Libertines have performed twice without Peter, and since the group disbanded six years ago they have all appeared under different guises.

The main-stage witnessed the band play just their forth gig since their recent reformation. It was professional and energetic. I don’t think I have ever seen the band play that well; they meant business. Talk was kept to a minimum whilst thrashing out tune after tune, they were unfazed when they had to have a quick break whilst the crowd calmed down. A tear was shed when Pete and Carl, hugged and kissed onstage, I had been waiting too long for that moment.


Libertines illustration by Miss Pearl Grey aka Kellie B.


Arcade Fire, illustration by Jenny Robins.

1. Arcade Fire
It was Arcade Fire’s last Reading Festival performance that really won me over. Win Butler lead the seven piece on a emphatic set that included songs from all three records but it was the material from their latest, The Suburbs that really had the wow factor. Words struggle to some up this performance, it was more than just music, more like a religion.

Many thanks to our illustrators. Thumbnail illustration of Weezer by Julie Lee

Delorean by Clare Delaney

Opening on Wednesday, buy information pills PayneShurvell (in association with the anti-design festival) are for four weeks, buy holding four, visit this four day exhibitions. Titled 4×4, the gallery’s first show (Dream’s of Desire) curated by James Payne features artist Clare Delaney.

The gallery doors currently find themselves nestled between two cars customised by Clare for the Liverpool Biennale 5 and 6. The biennale sponsors appearance on the cars mimic the advertisers stack usually associated with F1, the spoilers added by the artist subvert a family car into those more usually seen running around F3 race tracks.

Upon entering PayneShurvell the viewer is greeted by the framed remnants of Delauney’s most recent performance. These beautifully presented receipts document an interaction between the artist and several unaware cashiers of major London Galleries. The act of consumerism encouraged within a gallery space is made apparent by the act of deciding and controlling the order Clare’s purchases passed through the tills .

Sensation by Clare Delaney

By presenting the receipts within frames along the crisp white walls of an exhibition space, the viewer is provided with the opportunity to reconsider the ‘everydayness’ usually associated with a receipt. Instead there is the time to muse over the thought, that (as discussed by James Payne in an introductory tour) at some point a designer would have been required to design the layout in accordance to the individual Galleries requirements.

This Wedneday (8th September) PayneShurvell will be open from 6-8 and Clare Delaney’s Dreams of Desire will be showing until Saturday 11th September.

Wednesday 15th September: sees the opening of an exhibition curated by Dermot O’Brien exploring the use of text and typography.

Ian Whittlesea, ‘Sol Sans Typeface’

Wednesday 22nd September: Edward Vince presents Matthew Robinson and himself in ‘How Am I Not Myself’.

325 by Edward Vince

Week four opens on the 29th September with the gallery transformed by the requirements of sound art in the last exhibition ‘Silencer’ curated by Mark Jackson. This exhibition will include ‘Not Playing,’ Corrado Morgana’s handicapped helicopter which despite the players best attempt will never take over. Lastly this show will include Audio Research Editions’ ‘Real English Tea Made Here,’ a sound piece which includes tapes by Willam S. Burroughs previously unheard in the UK.

Amelia’s Magazine had the pleasure of visiting a PayneShurvell preview of 4×4 on Friday and will be visiting the gallery each week to see how this ambitious project plays out. We recommend you do the same.

PayneShurvell: 16 Hewett Street, London, EC2A 3NN
4×4 runs from 6th September to 2nd October 2010.

Delorean by Clare Delaney

Opening on Wednesday, viagra approved PayneShurvell (in association with the anti-design festival) are for four weeks, seek holding four, four day exhibitions. Titled 4×4, the gallery’s first show (Dream’s of Desire) curated by James Payne features artist Clare Delaney.

The gallery doors currently find themselves nestled between two cars customised by Clare for the Liverpool Biennale 5 and 6. The biennale sponsors appearance on the cars mimic the advertisers stack usually associated with F1, the spoilers added by the artist subvert a family car into those more usually seen running around F3 race tracks.

Upon entering PayneShurvell the viewer is greeted by the framed remnants of Delauney’s most recent performance. These beautifully presented receipts document an interaction between the artist and several unaware cashiers of major London Galleries. The act of consumerism encouraged within a gallery space is made apparent by the act of deciding and controlling the order Clare’s purchases passed through the tills .

Sensation by Clare Delaney

By presenting the receipts within frames along the crisp white walls of an exhibition space, the viewer is provided with the opportunity to reconsider the ‘everydayness’ usually associated with a receipt. Instead there is the time to muse over the thought, that (as discussed by James Payne in an introductory tour) at some point a designer would have been required to design the layout in accordance to the individual Galleries requirements.

This Wedneday (8th September) PayneShurvell will be open from 6-8 and Clare Delaney’s Dreams of Desire will be showing until Saturday 11th September.

Wednesday 15th September: sees the opening of an exhibition curated by Dermot O’Brien exploring the use of text and typography.

Ian Whittlesea, ‘Sol Sans Typeface’

Wednesday 22nd September: Edward Vince presents Matthew Robinson and himself in ‘How Am I Not Myself’.

325 by Edward Vince

Week four opens on the 29th September with the gallery transformed by the requirements of sound art in the last exhibition ‘Silencer’ curated by Mark Jackson. This exhibition will include ‘Not Playing,’ Corrado Morgana’s handicapped helicopter which despite the players best attempt will never take over. Lastly this show will include Audio Research Editions’ ‘Real English Tea Made Here,’ a sound piece which includes tapes by Willam S. Burroughs previously unheard in the UK.

Amelia’s Magazine had the pleasure of visiting a PayneShurvell preview of 4×4 on Friday and will be visiting the gallery each week to see how this ambitious project plays out. We recommend you do the same.

PayneShurvell: 16 Hewett Street, London, EC2A 3NN
4×4 runs from 6th September to 2nd October 2010.

Delorean by Clare Delaney

4×4 the new exhibition at PayneShurvell opens on Wednesday, information pills in association with the anti-design festival. For four weeks, viagra dosage the gallery will be home to four seperate exhibitions each on view for four days only. The first show Clare Delaney’s Dream’s of Desire has been curated by James Payne.

The gallery doors find themselves nestled between two cars customised by Clare for the Liverpool Biennale 5 and 6. The biennale sponsors appearance on the cars mimic the advertisers stack usually associated with F1, the spoilers added by the artist subvert a family car into those more usually seen running around F3 race tracks.

Upon entering PayneShurvell the viewer is greeted by the framed remnants of Delauney’s most recent performance. These beautifully presented receipts document an interaction between the artist and several unaware cashiers of major London Galleries. The act of consumerism encouraged within a gallery space is made apparent by the act of deciding and controlling the order Clare’s purchases passed through the tills .

Sensation by Clare Delaney

By presenting the receipts within frames along the crisp white walls of an exhibition space, the viewer is provided with the opportunity to reconsider the ‘everydayness’ usually associated with a receipt. Instead there is the time to muse over the thought, that (as discussed by James Payne in an introductory tour) at some point a designer would have been required to design the layout in accordance to the individual Galleries requirements.

This Wedneday (8th September) PayneShurvell will be open from 6-8 and Clare Delaney’s Dreams of Desire will be showing until Saturday 11th September.

Wednesday 15th September: sees the opening of an exhibition curated by Dermot O’Brien exploring the use of text and typography.

Ian Whittlesea, ‘Sol Sans Typeface’

Wednesday 22nd September: Edward Vince presents Matthew Robinson and himself in ‘How Am I Not Myself’.

325 by Edward Vince

Week four opens on the 29th September with the gallery transformed by the requirements of sound art in the last exhibition ‘Silencer’ curated by Mark Jackson. This exhibition will include ‘Not Playing,’ Corrado Morgana’s handicapped helicopter which despite the players best attempt will never take over. Lastly this show will include Audio Research Editions’ ‘Real English Tea Made Here,’ a sound piece which includes tapes by Willam S. Burroughs previously unheard in the UK.

Amelia’s Magazine had the pleasure of visiting a PayneShurvell preview of 4×4 on Friday and will be visiting the gallery each week to see how this ambitious project plays out. We recommend you do the same.

PayneShurvell: 16 Hewett Street, London, EC2A 3NN
4×4 runs from 6th September to 2nd October 2010.

Delorean by Clare Delaney

4×4 the new exhibition at PayneShurvell opens on Wednesday, mind in association with the anti-design festival. For four weeks, this site the gallery will be home to four seperate exhibitions each on view for four days. The first has been curated by James Payne, features Clare Delaney’s Dream’s of Desire.

The gallery doors find themselves nestled between two cars customised by Clare for the Liverpool Biennale 5 and 6. The biennale sponsors appearance on the cars mimic the advertisers stack usually associated with F1, the spoilers added by the artist subvert a family car into those more usually seen running around F3 race tracks.

Upon entering PayneShurvell the viewer is greeted by the framed remnants of Delauney’s most recent performance. These beautifully presented receipts document an interaction between the artist and several unaware cashiers of major London Galleries. The act of consumerism encouraged within a gallery space is made apparent by the act of deciding and controlling the order Clare’s purchases passed through the tills .

Sensation by Clare Delaney

By presenting the receipts within frames along the crisp white walls of an exhibition space, the viewer is provided with the opportunity to reconsider the ‘everydayness’ usually associated with a receipt. Instead there is the time to muse over the thought, that (as discussed by James Payne in an introductory tour) at some point a designer would have been required to design the layout in accordance to the individual Galleries requirements.

This Wedneday (8th September) PayneShurvell will be open from 6-8 and Clare Delaney’s Dreams of Desire will be showing until Saturday 11th September.

Wednesday 15th September: sees the opening of an exhibition curated by Dermot O’Brien exploring the use of text and typography.

Ian Whittlesea, ‘Sol Sans Typeface’

Wednesday 22nd September: Edward Vince presents Matthew Robinson and himself in ‘How Am I Not Myself’.

325 by Edward Vince

Week four opens on the 29th September with the gallery transformed by the requirements of sound art in the last exhibition ‘Silencer’ curated by Mark Jackson. This exhibition will include ‘Not Playing,’ Corrado Morgana’s handicapped helicopter which despite the players best attempt will never take over. Lastly this show will include Audio Research Editions’ ‘Real English Tea Made Here,’ a sound piece which includes tapes by Willam S. Burroughs previously unheard in the UK.

Amelia’s Magazine had the pleasure of visiting a PayneShurvell preview of 4×4 on Friday and will be visiting the gallery each week to see how this ambitious project plays out. We recommend you do the same.

PayneShurvell: 16 Hewett Street, London, EC2A 3NN
4×4 runs from 6th September to 2nd October 2010.


Glamour at the V&A, no rx illustrated by Gabriel Ayala

It’s been a year for the bygone eras, view that’s for sure. First we had Vintage at Goodwood, then there’s an exhibition celebrating Horrockses 1950s style at the Fashion & Textile Museum, and now the V&A wants in on the action. Well it’s not strictly their first foray into the era; in fact it was all the way back in April that Grace Kelly: Style Icon hit down in London and has been fully booked ever since (well that’s how it seemed whenever I’ve tried to visit anyway.)


Illustration by Katherine Tromans

So what perfect timing for them to present…..drum roll please……an evening of “Retro Hollywood Glamour.” And it was at the end of August that I was whisked away to party with the likes of Alfred Hitchcock and Marilyn Monroe (metaphorically speaking) whilst the DJ spun the hits of yesteryear. All in all people were drinking champagne and were having a jolly spiffing time.

But probably the most spectacular aspect of the evening was the amount of people who committed and dressed up to the nines as their heroes. Men and women put on their most dapper suits and fullest skirts to party, and most made a pretty good job of it.


Illustration by Kellie Black

If you so fancied (and could cope with the queue!) your flowing locks could also be transformed into something quite spectacular (involving rollers and a lot of hairspray) and similarly a Hollywood makeover was available all within movie star tents boasting lighted mirrors in the grand entrance hall. The perfect way to complement your 1950s outfit and finally feel like a movie star.

And that wasn’t all for the events going on throughout the evening. Everything was thought of; from acting out radio plays, partaking in a screen printing workshop, doodling away with Daisy de Villeneuve or simply reminiscing over old movie trailers. Not bad for a night out at the museum.

As part of the Friday Lates this Summer at the V&A, it was a spectacular event. Maybe we can hope for the swinging 60s in the Autumn?

Retro Hollywood Glamour at the V&A: in Pictures






All photographs by Jemma Crow

Categories ,1950s, ,Alfred Hithcock, ,fashion, ,film, ,Gabriel Ayala, ,Glamour, ,Hollywood, ,Katherine Tromans, ,Kellie Black, ,london, ,Marilyn Monroe, ,retro, ,Silver screen, ,va, ,vintage

Similar Posts:






Amelia’s Magazine | Pre-London Fashion Week S/S 2011 Interview: Ziad Ghanem

JASPER GARVIDA lfw s/s 2011 Rachel Clare Price
A selection of Jessie’s corsarges

Walking around Broadway Market, approved one cold wintery Saturday, feeling hungry and looking at all the delicious food I could ill afford, (oh the joys of being a student!). I came across a treasure trove of a stall run by the delightful Jessie and Buddug and instantly fell in love with their charming designs. Since this initial visit, I have returned time and time again to buy unique necklaces as birthday (incredibly successful!) gifts.

So you can imagine my delight coming across their Columbia Road shop, originally located in the upstairs of one the picturesque houses adorning the street. Jessie and Buddug have recently expanded ‘downstairs’, and in celebration of their success, I had the pleasure of interviewing the talented textile artists for Amelia’s Magazine.

I first noticed your designs at Broadway Market on Saturday, was this your first venture?

Buddug: We started broadway market after we graduated 5 years ago and got the shop 2 years ago.

What was your experience of the market? Do you still have a stall there?

Buddug: We still have a stall at Broadway Market, we feel it has grown so much since we started. It’s been cold and wet at times but it’s been great learning what people buy. Its been great socially too, speaking with our friends and customers.

As friends from home, what has it been like to work together?

Buddug: We met when we were on art foundation and always said we we would like to collaborate together in the future. We find it easier that we both do our own work and then display together because we both have different working hours.

You previously occupied an upstairs room in Columbia Road, how did the opportunity to expand into a downstairs space arise?

Buddug: We got offered a place at ground level by Bev who had the shop before us, she made handmade clothes and toys etc, she offered it to us before anyone else which was an honour and we jumped at the chance.

What was your experience of the Goldsmiths Textiles course (which sadly no longer exists?)

Jessie: I was at Goldsmiths, at a very tricky time, the course was going through a real denial period, as they were finding the debate about what to do with textiles and fine art really hard. Which made it hard for us as students and as someone who is passionate about cloth and textiles and most of all making, I found the course incredibly frustrating!

But I had very supportive parents; Primmy Chorley and I am close friends with Audrey Walker and Eirian and Denys Short. So I always had a huge back up behind me in the textile world. I did feel incredibly pulled between the two worlds though and I was lucky enough to come out fighting, determined to set up my own business and to carry on my making process.

Overall I am pleased I went through the Goldsmiths experience, as the academic and written side of it, (for me) has helped me today to think the way I do and pushed me in other ways.

What course did you study Buddug and what was your experiences?

I studied at London Guildhall (now London Metropolitan University)in Jewellery, silversmithing and other crafts. I enjoyed the experimenting with different materials. It was very much a hands on course.

Buddug’s designs for Urban Outfitters.

Buddug, what was it like to work for Urban Outfitters?

It was quite difficult working for URBAN OUTFITTERS, due to the ammount i had to make! and I waited a long time for payment!

Jessie, what role does recycling play in your practice? Why is it important to you and how did you first become interested in using recycled materials?

Recycled materials has and I believe will always be a huge part of my work, I like it that it creates a timeless feeling, I guess it started from the scrap books I made with my Mum when I was young and colleting and using found and recycled items for me creates a story, old clothes and books hold some kind of story and depth to them.

A detail from Jessie’s seating plan for her Wedding Collection.

And how did the wedding collection develop?

I was asked to create a whole wedding theme for a lady who used to buy my cards at Broadway Market, I handmade her invites, table names and a seating plan and really from here I got other customers and then early this year I designed some invites which were slightly quicker to make and I did a huge wedding show in London and its kind of gone from here I have made for several weddings this summer and I am already making for 2011-2012 weddings.

An enamel plate by Buddug.

Buddug, how did you start designing the Home Ornaments collection?

I’ve always been interested in developing the enamel process since university and always liked/inspired by objects mother and grandmother had in the kitchen, I invested in a bigger kiln, which was a challenge to make bigger things!

What materials do you like working with and why?

Jessie: Fabrics, worn clothing, paper they all hold such a good quality and are embedded with an excisting narrative

Designs by Jessie Chorley

Buddug: I’ve always tried to use things that are around me and be inventive with the materials i already have/been thrown away and in old/secound hand things, there’s such a quality in materials and making process and a added charm in old things and it’s actually nicer to use…

Broach by Buddug

I like to combine different materials metal and fabric. fabric and paper or wood…but i mostly enjoy metal and enamel. I really like the solidness of metal and the duribility of it as a raw material.

What was it like to make the stage set for: the launch of Laura Dockrill’s book Ugly Shy Girl and how did you became involved in this?

Buddug: I can’t remember were we met Laura Dockrill, but she asked if we were interested in doing the stage for her. It was quite a challenge because we didn’t know the size of the stage but the best thing was Jessie’s bunting it was really big and yellow!

Have you made or participated in Set Design before? Is this something you will continue to participate in?

Jessie: Yes for me it is a real passion, I love to create things and watch others create a story with the objects I make. A lot of quite random masks and house like boxes which I display in the shop are often borrowed for shoots, and I always like the outcome. For me styling our shop is like creating a stage set I love making it all different each week and then watching the customers come in and their response to it!

My degree show was also about staging and the response of the audience and the creator, for this I made a huge seven foot book which you could walk inside.

Buddug: I haven’t done much set design before, but wold love to, it’s been quite good having practice doing the shop window.

What are the inspirations for your collections?

Jessie: Story telling, people places and preserving memories creating beautiful things from lost or found objects.

Buddug My inspiration for my work is a collection of things I find and come across, I usually collect and draw in sketch books. Nature, a sense of home comforts and memories/naustalgic sences. It’a quite a mish mash of ideas and influencs.

Design by Buddug

We have a few pieces in the shop were we bring things together such as the fabric bows with enamel buttons, but we find it easier to make our own work and display together.

Do you both run and participate in the organisation of the workshops?

Jessie: No I run the workshops I have done for quite a few years now. For me I love to go out and meet other people and hopefully change the way they see the world through making, I have worked with a lot of charities, which is both frustrating and very rewarding at the same time, I am always touched by certain characters which can feed directly in to my work.

The whole workshop trend has gone huge now though and people expect so much more, and have so much more since places like hobby craft became so big and shows like The Knit and Stitch.

I am currently organising my Christmas workshops which will be in November in North London. I will have some day workshops creating simple gift wrap and gifts.

Jess Chorley

Buddug Jess does a lot of workshops, I’m yet to start, but it might be something I would be interested in doing when I’m a bit older.

What’s next for Jess Chorley and Buddug?

Buddug: At the moment we are preparing for christmas, thinking of making stocking filler ideas and promoting our little shop. Nothing too big, taking up projects as they come along…

To find out more please visit: www.jessiechorley.com, www.buddug.com and www.jandbtheshop.com

We started broadway market after we graduated 5 years ago and got a shop 2 years ago.

We still have a stall at Broadway Market, medical we feel it has grown so much since we started. It’s been cold and wet at times but it’s been great learning what people buy. Its been great socially too, prescription speaking with our friends and customers.

We got offered a place at ground level by Bev who had the shop before us, she made hand made clothes and toys etc, she offered it to us before anyone else which was an honour and we jumped at the chance.

We met when we were on art foundation and always said we we wold like to collaborate together in he future.We find it easier that we both do our own work and then display together because we both have different working hours.

What was your experience of the Goldsmiths Textiles course (which sadly no longer exists?)

Jessie
I was at Goldsmiths at a very tricky time the course was going through a real denial period they were finding the whole debate to do with textiles and fine art very hard which made it hard for us a students so as someone who is passionate about cloth and textiles and most of all making I found the course incredibly frustrating! But I had very supportive parents Primmy Chorley and I am close friend with Audrey walker and Eirian and Denys Short so I always had a huge back up behind me in the textile world. I did feel incredibly pulled between the two words though and I was luck enough to come out fighting and to be determined to set up my own business and to carry on my making process. But overall I am please I went through the Goldsmiths experience as the academic and written side of it for me has helped me today to think the way I do and pushed me in other ways.

BUDDUG
I studied at London Guildhall (now London Metropolitan University) Jewellery, silversmithing and other crafts. I enjoyed the experimenting in different materials, it was very much a hands on course.

BUDDUG

it was quite difficult working for URBAN OUTFITTERS, due to the ammount i had to make! and I waited a long time for payment!

What role does recycling play in your practice? Why is it important to you and how did you first become interested in using recycled materials?

Jessie

Recycled materials has and I believe will always be a huge part of my work I like it that it creates a timeless feeling, I guess it started from the scrap books I made with my Mum when I was young and colleting and using found and recycled items for me creates a story, old clothes and books hold some kind of story and depth to them.
How did the wedding collection develop?
I was asked to create a whole wedding theme for a lady who used to buy y cards at Broadway Market, I hand made her invites, table names and a seating plan and really from here I got other customers and then early this year I designed some invites which were slightly quicker to make and I did a huge wedding show in London and its kind of gone from here I have made for several weddings this summer and I am already making for 2011-2012 weddings.

BUDDUG
(home ornaments)
I’ve always been interested in developing the enamel process since university and always liked/inspired by objects mother and grandmother had in the kitchen, i invested in a bigger kiln, and was a challenge to make bigger things!

What materials do you like working with and why?
Jessie
Fabrics, worn clothing, paper they all hold such a good quality and are embedded with an excisting narrative

BUDDUG
I’ve always tried to use things that are around me and be inventive with the materials i already have/been thrown away and in old/secound hand things, there’s such a quality in materials and making process and a added charm in old things and it’s actually nicer to use…

I like to combine different materials metal and fabric. fabric and paper or wood…but i mostyl enjoy metal and enamel. i really like the solidness of metal and the duribility of it as a raw material.

BUDDUG
I can’t remmeber were we met Laura Dokrill, but she asked if we were interested in doing the stage.It was quite a challenge because we didn’t know the size of the stage but the best thing was jessie’s bunting it was really big and yellow!

Have you made or participated in Set design before? Is this something you will continue to participate in?

Jessie:

Yes for me it is a real passion I love to create things and watch others create a story with the objects I make a lot of quite randon masks and house like boxes which I display in the shop and people ofter borrow them for shoots, and I always like the outcome. For me styling our shop is like creating a stage set I love making it all different each week and then watching the customers come in and there responsis to it!
My degree show was also about staging and the response of the audience and the creator, for this a made a huge seven foot book which you could walk inside of.

BUDDUG
I haven’t done much set design before, but wold love to, it’s been quite good having practice doing the shop window.

What are the inspirations for your collections?

Jessie:
Story telling, people places and preserving memories creating beautiful things from lost or found objects.

BUDDUG
My inspiration for my work is a collection of things I find and come across, i usually collect and draw in sketch books. Nature, a sense of home comforts and memories/naustalgic sences. It’a quite a mish mash of ideas and influencs.

We have a few pieces in the shop were we bring things together such as the fabric bows with enamel buttons, but we find it easier to make our own work and display together.

Do you both run and participate in the organisation of the workshops?

Jessie
No I run the workshops I have done for quite a few years now for me I love to go out and meet other people and to hopefully change the way they see the world through making, I have worked in a lot of charities which is both frustrating and very rewarding at the same time, I always touched by certain characters which can feed directly in to my work.
The whole workshop trend has gone huge now though and people expect so much more, and have so much more since places like hobby craft got so big and shows like the Knit and Stitch.

I am currently organising my Christmas workshops which will be in Nov in North London I will have some day workshops creating simple gift wrap and gifts.

BUDDUG
Jess does a lot of workshops, I’m yet to start, but might be something I would be interested in doing when I’m a bit older.


Immodesty Blaize wearing Ziad Ghanem AW 2010, buy illustrated by Krister Selin

At Fashion Week in February, flailing after a weekend of shows and struggling to even stand up, I was dragged to a late evening show by previous fashion editor Sally Mumby Croft. ‘You’ll LOVE it!’ she exclaimed. I couldn’t say no, could I? So off we popped to see the Autumn/Winter 2010 collection of one Ziad Ghanem.

Wow. I had never seen anything like it in my life, and it was, by and large, the highlight of my fashion week (and my year, probs.) Ziad Ghanem is a trained couturier, which smacks you in the face when you first see his clothes. It almost feels a little disrespectful to call Ghanem’s creation ‘clothes’ – such a meaningless word to describe these works of art.


Photography by Matt Bramford

I couldn’t wait to find out more about the designer. The name sounded so familiar; it turned out I’d bought a Ziad Ghanem t-shirt a few years ago in a sample sale. I was delirious!

The show featured the most beautiful creations, modelled by tattooed models of all shapes and sizes, with a breathtaking finale featuring Immodesty Blaize. The show was a lesson in how to undress, and Immodesty certainly did – with the final show piece being three dresses, each removed to reveal the next. The audience went crazy, as did I.

I’ve been waiting since February to have a chat with Ziad about his collection and what the future holds, and last week, I finally got the chance.


Ziad Ghanem, illustrated by June Chanpoomidole

Hi Ziad! What are you working on at the moment?
I am working on my new collection for spring/summer 2011. I am making a film for it…

What is it about fashion and making beautiful clothes that keeps you hooked?
I love to dress people. I am ever so grateful to my models and to my supportive clients. They are my muses. I also love the fact that I can do what ever I wish and I don’t have to listen to any fashion ‘rules’ that the industry forces on other designers.

You work both in ready-to-wear and couture. Do you have a preference?
I would rather work in couture. I understand it more.


Ziad Ghanem couture, illustrated by Joana Faria

What techniques do you use? Are the array of embellishments and features handmade?
Most features are hand made, especially in couture – we always use traditional methods.I love printing and beading. I am a trained couturier.

Your astounding AW2010 show was the highlight of my fashion week, by far. Can you tell us a bit about it? Were you pleased with the outcome?
Thank you, I was very pleased – I am so happy with all the positive feedback. I want everybody to know that you made my day.

The finalé featuring Immodesty Blaize and the 3-piece ensemble was incredible. How did this collaboration come about?
My collection was about the art of dressing and undressing. On catwalks, particularly in the fashion shows of the 1950s, models really worked the outfits. I wanted a burlesque artist to undress – they do it best. I didn’t want it to be about nudity – it is about the art of undressing. I met Immodesty and asked her to model in my show and I am very grateful that she did. She is an amazing performer and artist.






Photography by Matt Bramford

The models you used were incredibly diverse, as if each piece had been tailored to an individual. We also see recurring models, like Jme and Polly Fey, throughout your work. What’s the story behind your models?
I love working ‘in family’ I only use models that understand and read my work. My models are artists that want to wear and perform in my clothes. I let the model be themselves and I ask and take their opinion into consideration.
My shows are a platform and a chance for people I love to show off. I love helping and I love getting help back. It is the secret of a healthy society.

Going back to your SS2010 collection, there was a strong sustainability ethic with recycled couture and a reaction to consumerism. Are these issues important to you?
Yes. I respect the world and the planet I live in. I am anti-fur and anti-cruelty to people and animals. I want happy people to work with my clothes so I am anti-sweatshop labour. But, I am realistic in knowing where to draw the ethical line.

Your inspiration over the past few seasons has been cited as anything from Victoriana to the Middle East. Can you talk us through where your inspiration comes from, and how it translates to the catwalk?
I am inspired by many cultures and I love music and films.I want be a film maker when I grow up. At the moment I’m still a baby playing dressing up… hahahahaha!


Ziad Ghanem AW 2010, illustrated by Naomi Law

We’ve recently had a chat with Marnie Hollande about the film on which she collaborated with you. Where you happy with the result? What was the aim of this film?
Marnie is a wonderful artist and a lovely person. I am more than happy and thankful for her work and talent. There will be more and more to come. She is a lady… and I want apologise about the dirty talk in my studio. I blame Aiden Connor, my assistant…!

What can we expect from Ziad Ghanem SS2011?
Romance and a carnival of print and a performance. I love it when my clothes perform and my models always do a great job. 
Plenty of organic silk. A very simple silhouette

What does the future hold for Ziad Ghanem?
The present is wonderful I can hear and feel my self breathing and nothing can replace that. The future is a bonus and I welcome it with open arms.


Ziad Ghanem AW 2010, illuustrated by Amy Martino

To see our review of Ziad’s autumn/winter show, click here, and to see more photographs, click here.

Categories ,1950s, ,A/W 2010, ,Aiden Connor, ,Amy Martino, ,Burlesque, ,couture, ,fashion, ,film, ,Immodesty Blaize, ,Jme, ,Joana Faria, ,June Chanpoomidole, ,Krister Selin, ,London Fashion Week, ,Marnie Hollande, ,Middle East, ,Naomi Law, ,Nudity, ,performance, ,Polly Fey, ,print, ,Ready-to-wear, ,Romance, ,Sally Mumby-Croft, ,Undressing, ,Victoriana, ,Ziad Ghanem

Similar Posts:






Amelia’s Magazine | An interview with couturier Ziad Ghanem


Immodesty Blaize wearing Ziad Ghanem AW 2010, illustrated by Krister Selin

At Fashion Week in February, flailing after a weekend of shows and struggling to even stand up, I was dragged to a late evening show by previous fashion editor Sally Mumby Croft. ‘You’ll LOVE it!’ she exclaimed. I couldn’t say no, could I? So off we popped to see the Autumn/Winter 2010 collection of one Ziad Ghanem.

Wow. I had never seen anything like it in my life, and it was, by and large, the highlight of my fashion week (and my year, probs.) Ziad Ghanem is a trained couturier, which smacks you in the face when you first see his clothes. It almost feels a little disrespectful to call Ghanem’s creation ‘clothes’ – such a meaningless word to describe these works of art.


Photography by Matt Bramford

I couldn’t wait to find out more about the designer. The name sounded so familiar; it turned out I’d bought a Ziad Ghanem t-shirt a few years ago in a sample sale. I was delirious!

The show featured the most beautiful creations, modelled by tattooed models of all shapes and sizes, with a breathtaking finale featuring Immodesty Blaize. The show was a lesson in how to undress, and Immodesty certainly did – with the final show piece being three dresses, each removed to reveal the next. The audience went crazy, as did I.

I’ve been waiting since February to have a chat with Ziad about his collection and what the future holds, and last week, I finally got the chance.


Ziad Ghanem, illustrated by June Chanpoomidole

Hi Ziad! What are you working on at the moment?
I am working on my new collection for spring/summer 2011. I am making a film for it…

What is it about fashion and making beautiful clothes that keeps you hooked?
I love to dress people. I am ever so grateful to my models and to my supportive clients. They are my muses. I also love the fact that I can do what ever I wish and I don’t have to listen to any fashion ‘rules’ that the industry forces on other designers.

You work both in ready-to-wear and couture. Do you have a preference?
I would rather work in couture. I understand it more.


Ziad Ghanem couture, illustrated by Joana Faria

What techniques do you use? Are the array of embellishments and features handmade?
Most features are hand made, especially in couture – we always use traditional methods.I love printing and beading. I am a trained couturier.

Your astounding AW2010 show was the highlight of my fashion week, by far. Can you tell us a bit about it? Were you pleased with the outcome?
Thank you, I was very pleased – I am so happy with all the positive feedback. I want everybody to know that you made my day.

The finalé featuring Immodesty Blaize and the 3-piece ensemble was incredible. How did this collaboration come about?
My collection was about the art of dressing and undressing. On catwalks, particularly in the fashion shows of the 1950s, models really worked the outfits. I wanted a burlesque artist to undress – they do it best. I didn’t want it to be about nudity – it is about the art of undressing. I met Immodesty and asked her to model in my show and I am very grateful that she did. She is an amazing performer and artist.






Photography by Matt Bramford

The models you used were incredibly diverse, as if each piece had been tailored to an individual. We also see recurring models, like Jme and Polly Fey, throughout your work. What’s the story behind your models?
I love working ‘in family’ I only use models that understand and read my work. My models are artists that want to wear and perform in my clothes. I let the model be themselves and I ask and take their opinion into consideration.
My shows are a platform and a chance for people I love to show off. I love helping and I love getting help back. It is the secret of a healthy society.

Going back to your SS2010 collection, there was a strong sustainability ethic with recycled couture and a reaction to consumerism. Are these issues important to you?
Yes. I respect the world and the planet I live in. I am anti-fur and anti-cruelty to people and animals. I want happy people to work with my clothes so I am anti-sweatshop labour. But, I am realistic in knowing where to draw the ethical line.

Your inspiration over the past few seasons has been cited as anything from Victoriana to the Middle East. Can you talk us through where your inspiration comes from, and how it translates to the catwalk?
I am inspired by many cultures and I love music and films.I want be a film maker when I grow up. At the moment I’m still a baby playing dressing up… hahahahaha!


Ziad Ghanem AW 2010, illustrated by Naomi Law

We’ve recently had a chat with Marnie Hollande about the film on which she collaborated with you. Where you happy with the result? What was the aim of this film?
Marnie is a wonderful artist and a lovely person. I am more than happy and thankful for her work and talent. There will be more and more to come. She is a lady… and I want apologise about the dirty talk in my studio. I blame Aiden Connor, my assistant…!

What can we expect from Ziad Ghanem SS2011?
Romance and a carnival of print and a performance. I love it when my clothes perform and my models always do a great job. 
Plenty of organic silk. A very simple silhouette

What does the future hold for Ziad Ghanem?
The present is wonderful I can hear and feel my self breathing and nothing can replace that. The future is a bonus and I welcome it with open arms.


Ziad Ghanem AW 2010, illuustrated by Amy Martino

To see our review of Ziad’s autumn/winter show, click here, and to see more photographs, click here.



Categories ,1950s, ,A/W 2010, ,Aiden Connor, ,Amy Martino, ,Burlesque, ,couture, ,fashion, ,film, ,Immodesty Blaize, ,Jme, ,Joana Faria, ,June Chanpoomidole, ,Krister Selin, ,London Fashion Week, ,Marnie Hollande, ,Middle East, ,Naomi Law, ,Nudity, ,performance, ,Polly Fey, ,print, ,Ready-to-wear, ,Romance, ,Sally Mumby-Croft, ,Undressing, ,Victoriana, ,Ziad Ghanem

Similar Posts:

Bookmark this:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • MySpace
  • del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Digg
  • E-mail this story to a friend!
  • Technorati
  • LinkedIn

Amelia’s Magazine | An interview with fashion film maker Marnie Hollande


Marnie Holland, recipe illustrated by Lana Hughes

Fashion and film have long been bedfellows, here but with the roaring success of Nick Knight’s SHOWstudio video blog, find and luxury brands like Chanel making their own mini movies, the ‘Fashion Film’ is finally stepping into the spotlight.

When she’s not working as an illustrator or playing in her band, Fables, Marnie Holland makes fashion films, teaming up with avant-garde designer Ziad Ghanem on film short, JME.

JME from Marnie Hollande on Vimeo.

Specializing in performance pieces involving sculptural costume during her BA at Goldsmiths, it seems inevitable that Marnie would make the move into fashion films, and Ghanem’s theatrical, otherwordly clothing make the perfect muse.

Your collaboration with Ziad Ghanem is fantastic – is this your first film?
Thanks! I made films from all my performance pieces but it’s my first film with a vague narrative, yes.

How did you meet him, and end up collaborating on the project?
I contacted to him originally to work in his studio, which I did for a while, which lead to working more exclusively with the performance and choreographic side of his last show. But film is one of the main inspirations in Ziad’s work, so making a film was always something he’s wanted to do. After I showed him my work I was just in the right place at the right time.

What were your (and the designer’s) aims – to showcase the clothes?
No not as such, it was more to reiterate the brand. A lot of how it was constructed was taken from what’s already present in Ziad’s work – such as the Baroque, symbolism, melodrama, Romanticism and London as a character.

But also to focus primarily on the subject, which is part of the basic design process for Ziad’s clothes – tailoring the piece to the individual. Jme (the model in the film) has modelled many of the Ghanem collections and has a very alluring natural melancholy and stillness about his look; it was pretty much written about him!

Ziad Ghanem is known as the ‘cult couturier’ and for mixing street wear and couture –was that an element of his work you wanted to convey in the film?
Not consciously, or at least not specifically to reflect that nametag. I suppose the shifts between a couture silk cape, a PVC printed tracksuit and eventually desecrating the garment adhere to Ziad’s mixing of high and low cultural influences.

But it was the more that the ceremony of the transitions would lead the film narrative and the pieces would frame them. I like that the clothes characterize the changes and change Jme’s role.

Anyway in terms of mixing, Ziad is inspired by everything. Whatever you pick from his pieces or from his ideas will clash harmoniously; that’s his gift.

DUAL from Marnie Hollande on Vimeo.

Could you describe some of the difficulties/limitations in translating fashion onto the big screen?
I suppose sticking to the point could be challenge. It’s a fashion film after all, not a Sundance entry. There’s a brand to look after. But it shouldn’t be difficult if the clothes inspire you.

Do you do everything yourself – e.g. planning, filming, editing, or is your work more collaborative?
Yes, with the help of camera/lighting extraordinaire Roman Rappak, who is, luckily for me, already an amazing filmmaker. Also Maeve Keeley and Athena Kleanthous who made everything run like clockwork.

Have you got any more projects with Ghanem in the pipeline?
Yes indeed. We’ll be making a short-film involving the whole collection in time for this year’s London Fashion Week.

Why do you think the fashion industry has started to wake up to the potential of fashion films, and what do you think their ‘role’ is, if any?
Because it’s there! It’s big swimming pool of promotional space to occupy. That’s not to say it doesn’t have a place in film, it certainly does. I’d say it’s a link that’s been brewing for a long time, SHOWStudio have obviously played the biggest role in that bridging. People also like to invest in a story. But mainly it gives people like me and Karl Lagerfeld something to do.

En Pointe from Marnie Hollande on Vimeo.

What (from fashion designers to film makers) inspires you, or is one of your key influences?
It changes daily unfortunately and I blame the blogging industry. In terms of film I had an amazing piano teacher who stressed the importance of rhythm like nobody’s business, to the point whereby everything you see and make has to be broken down and calculated in terms of its pace and rhythmic weight. I like directors and films that look like they’ve thought about that a bit. As for fashion, I’m not consistent; I just like clothes that talk about something bigger than clothes. I think Ziad, McQueen and Leigh Bowery have/had that covered.

What advice would you have for budding fashion film makers?
Make them; it’s very simple. Although I stole that from a very clever friend!

To see more of Marnie’s videos, visit her Vimeo page.
In the run up to London Fashion Week, we’ll be catching up with Ziad Ghanem. Keep an eye out!

Categories ,Alexander McQueen, ,baroque, ,chanel, ,couture, ,fashion, ,film, ,goldsmiths, ,Jme, ,Karl Lagerfeld, ,Lana Hughes, ,Leigh Bowery, ,london, ,Marnie Hollande, ,Nick Knight, ,PVC, ,Romanticism, ,Showstudio, ,Vimeo, ,Ziad Ghanem

Similar Posts:






Amelia’s Magazine | Just Do It Film: Review

Just Do It by Gareth A Hopkins
Just Do It by Gareth A Hopkins.

Last weekend I went to the premiere of Just Do It in a central London squat: a beautiful old chapel on Shaftesbury Avenue that once housed a nightclub and a Walkabout pub. It was a fitting venue for the big official screening of this amazing film, healing one which I feel closely involved in – my photos have been used for publicity, pharm I was at almost every direct action or event that is shown in the film and we’ve written about it many times on these pages as they’ve struggled to raise funds to finish it over the past few years.

Just Do It Film premiere 2011Just Do It Film premiere 2011Just Do It Film premiere 2011Just Do It Film premiere 2011
All photography by Amelia Gregory.

The fact that I only spotted my arse three times in Just Do It (taking photos, always) is a miracle, frankly. Thankfully you will only know it is me if you know my bottom well, but for its appearance I did have to sign my very only release form when I viewed the final rushes a few months ago.

Just Do It Film premiere 2011Just Do It Film premiere 2011Just Do It Film premiere 2011-a taste of freedom
We had popcorn, goodie bags and delicious alcoholic smoothies and ice cream made from unwanted fruit by A Taste of Freedom.

It’s hard to write subjectively about a film that features so many people that I know. A film that follows the thoughts and actions of a bunch of friends that I have taken action alongside for many years… and for awhile I worried that Just Do It would seem insular, knowing, and wouldn’t really appeal to those outside our inner circle of activists.

Just Do It Film premiere 2011-Marina Pepper
Marina Pepper.

Just Do It Film premiere 2011-Emily James
Emily James.

But I was wrong: I am so proud of what director Emily James has managed to produce, admirably aided and abetted by producer Lauren Simpson, editor James Leadbitter and a huge team of creative volunteers including our very own Sally Mumby-Croft. It’s even got an amazing soundtrack, featuring music from former art editor Luisa Gerstein’s Lulu and the Lampshades.

Just Do It Film premiere 2011Just Do It Film premiere 2011Just Do It Film premiere 2011Just Do It Film premiere 2011
Tamsin Omond of Climate Rush.

When she first started filming Just Do It we didn’t know how it would turn out, and I don’t think Emily did either… she just knew that she wanted to tell the inside story of activism, particularly around Climate Camp – something which has been enormously influential in climate activism and activism in general over the past few years.

Just-do-it-by-Roberta-Zeta
Just Do It by Roberta Zeta.

Just Do It is personalised through following the stories of a few figures, including some very dear friends of mine… but it is undoubtedly Marina Pepper‘s unique way with words and hilarious delivery that makes her the film’s star.

Marina pepper

By showing the human face of activism it is made more accessible – proving that activists are far from scary and unapproachable as often portrayed by the media, but rather some of the most amazing, inspiring people I know. I hope Just Do It will prompt many more people across the world to stand up for what they believe in to make a better world.

Watch the trailer here:YouTube Preview Image

Please please go watch this film – it hits cinemas nationwide this week and you should tell all your friends about it to make sure that it shown and seen as widely as possible. Find your local Just Do It screening here. It’s fast, it’s fun, and most of all it’s inspiring. There’s never been a more important time to stand up for well, just about everything, really.

Just Do It Film premiere 2011-017

YouTube Preview ImageWatch interviews from the premiere here.

Categories ,A Taste of Freedom, ,activism, ,Climate Camp, ,Climate Change, ,Emily James, ,film, ,Gareth A Hopkins, ,Just Do It, ,Left Field Films, ,Luisa Gerstein, ,Lulu and the Lampshades, ,Marina Pepper, ,review, ,Roberta Zeta, ,Sally Mumby-Croft, ,Shaftesbury Avenue, ,squat, ,Tamsin Omond, ,Trailer

Similar Posts:






Amelia’s Magazine | Just Do It Film: Review

Just Do It by Gareth A Hopkins
Just Do It by Gareth A Hopkins.

Last weekend I went to the premiere of Just Do It in a central London squat: a beautiful old chapel on Shaftesbury Avenue that once housed a nightclub and a Walkabout pub. It was a fitting venue for the big official screening of this amazing film, healing one which I feel closely involved in – my photos have been used for publicity, pharm I was at almost every direct action or event that is shown in the film and we’ve written about it many times on these pages as they’ve struggled to raise funds to finish it over the past few years.

Just Do It Film premiere 2011Just Do It Film premiere 2011Just Do It Film premiere 2011Just Do It Film premiere 2011
All photography by Amelia Gregory.

The fact that I only spotted my arse three times in Just Do It (taking photos, always) is a miracle, frankly. Thankfully you will only know it is me if you know my bottom well, but for its appearance I did have to sign my very only release form when I viewed the final rushes a few months ago.

Just Do It Film premiere 2011Just Do It Film premiere 2011Just Do It Film premiere 2011-a taste of freedom
We had popcorn, goodie bags and delicious alcoholic smoothies and ice cream made from unwanted fruit by A Taste of Freedom.

It’s hard to write subjectively about a film that features so many people that I know. A film that follows the thoughts and actions of a bunch of friends that I have taken action alongside for many years… and for awhile I worried that Just Do It would seem insular, knowing, and wouldn’t really appeal to those outside our inner circle of activists.

Just Do It Film premiere 2011-Marina Pepper
Marina Pepper.

Just Do It Film premiere 2011-Emily James
Emily James.

But I was wrong: I am so proud of what director Emily James has managed to produce, admirably aided and abetted by producer Lauren Simpson, editor James Leadbitter and a huge team of creative volunteers including our very own Sally Mumby-Croft. It’s even got an amazing soundtrack, featuring music from former art editor Luisa Gerstein’s Lulu and the Lampshades.

Just Do It Film premiere 2011Just Do It Film premiere 2011Just Do It Film premiere 2011Just Do It Film premiere 2011
Tamsin Omond of Climate Rush.

When she first started filming Just Do It we didn’t know how it would turn out, and I don’t think Emily did either… she just knew that she wanted to tell the inside story of activism, particularly around Climate Camp – something which has been enormously influential in climate activism and activism in general over the past few years.

Just-do-it-by-Roberta-Zeta
Just Do It by Roberta Zeta.

Just Do It is personalised through following the stories of a few figures, including some very dear friends of mine… but it is undoubtedly Marina Pepper‘s unique way with words and hilarious delivery that makes her the film’s star.

Marina pepper

By showing the human face of activism it is made more accessible – proving that activists are far from scary and unapproachable as often portrayed by the media, but rather some of the most amazing, inspiring people I know. I hope Just Do It will prompt many more people across the world to stand up for what they believe in to make a better world.

Watch the trailer here:YouTube Preview Image

Please please go watch this film – it hits cinemas nationwide this week and you should tell all your friends about it to make sure that it shown and seen as widely as possible. Find your local Just Do It screening here. It’s fast, it’s fun, and most of all it’s inspiring. There’s never been a more important time to stand up for well, just about everything, really.

Just Do It Film premiere 2011-017

YouTube Preview ImageWatch interviews from the premiere here.

Categories ,A Taste of Freedom, ,activism, ,Climate Camp, ,Climate Change, ,Emily James, ,film, ,Gareth A Hopkins, ,Just Do It, ,Left Field Films, ,Luisa Gerstein, ,Lulu and the Lampshades, ,Marina Pepper, ,review, ,Roberta Zeta, ,Sally Mumby-Croft, ,Shaftesbury Avenue, ,squat, ,Tamsin Omond, ,Trailer

Similar Posts:






Amelia’s Magazine | Crude – Film Screening

In the festival preview vein, no rx malady here’s one that promises stimulating discussion, patient music, viagra order dance, crafts and walks with fellow readers and contributors to the spiritual and ecologically aware Resurgence Magazine. A more enchanting and vibrant mix is barely to be found outside the Resurgence Reader’s Weekend and Camp.

0623%20resurgence%20camp.jpg

The camp will be hosted in Europe’s only tented conference centre, Green and Away, situated on an idyllic site near Malvern, Worcestershire. They’ll feed us ‘mostly local, mostly organic’ food, there’ll be wood-burning hot showers to bathe away sleep-shod morning eyes, solar and wind-sourced electricity, and saunas too, as if this camp didn’t sound chilled out enough already.

0623%20resurgence%20talk.jpg

Entertainment and conversation stimulation will come from a host of speakers : Jenny Jones, Green party member of the London Assembly; Miriam Kennet, founder of the Green Economics Institute; Satish Kumar, Earth pilgrim and current editor of Resurgence magazine; Peter Lang, an environmental consultant and researcher, John Naish, author of Enough and initiator of The Landfill Prize, Brigit Strawbridge, of the BBC’s ‘It’s Not Easy Being Green’ fame and founder of The Big Green Idea.

There’s to be a glut of creative workshops – on poetry, Deep Ecology, Tai Chi, finding your voice, and one that should see us sitting comfortably for a round of storytelling.

Music’s coming from the UK, Europe and beyond : bands like Dragonsfly, a wonderfully energetic live band, rocking a pretty unique Celtic-Eastern-Folk Fusion sound, and Bardo Muse – an improvisational acoustic trio, who say they play music simply inspired by life and love.

0623%20tent%20sunflower.jpg

Do get booking, as previous events have tended to sell out. For a gently spiritual, artistic weekend a little off the the beat of the usual track, have a listen to the Resurgence Weekend.

Contact – Peter Lang,
Events Director for Resurgence Magazine,
Tel: 0208 809 2391
Email: peterlang(at)resurgence.org
As with a lot of art, order what is taken out or omitted is as important, online if not more so, malady than what is put in. Kako Ueda, a Japanese artist working and living in the US, applies this principle to paper with intricately beautiful results. There is something haunting yet delicate about these shadow like cut-outs; the skulls, spiders, jellyfish, butterflies, feathers, insects and serpents all intertwined in designs in which one may gladly lose hours visually disentangling.

kako1.jpg

Her choice of medium was inspired by the cut patterns used for producing kimonos, and Ueda’s appreciation for the history, flexibility and simplicity that using paper entails. The everyday throwaway relationship our society has with materials such as paper makes me evermore excited and sympathetic to artists using these seemingly basic mediums for creating innovative and aesthetically wonderful pieces of work. It was a true honour to pick Kako’s brain about her work, as well as her likes, hates and aspirations.

kako3.jpg

How long does it take you to create the average sized piece?
It used to take me a couple of months to make one mid-size work but lately my works are getting bigger and more complicated that sometimes it takes 6 months or longer to finish an installation or bigger work with
separate parts with paint and 3-D objects.

What equipment do you use for cutting paper?
It is called in the US, an Xacto knife (with no. 11 blade), I suppose in Europe or Japan they have a similar knife with different names.

kako4.jpg

Who is your art for? What space does your art work best?
I don’t limit/choose my audience; anybody who would look at my work and have a reaction positive or negative. So far my artworks need a wall/walls. So they don’t work so well in the outer space.

Do you have a different reaction here in the UK and in Europe compared to in Japan?
Honestly I have no idea. I would love to have a show in the UK, any European countries or Japan to find out. The only European country I exhibited so far was Finland. Although I was born in Japan I moved to the States as a teenager and my active/public artistic life began here in the US.

kako5.jpg

Which artists do you most admire?
There are too many to mention and the list gets longer every day. So today and at this moment I say Salomon Trismosin.

Who or what is your nemesis?
My biggest nemesis is my brain; obsesses too much on energy sucking thoughts and is critical of everything.

kako7.jpg

If you could time travel back or forward to any era, where would you go?
It is too difficult to choose but at this moment I would say Edo period in Japan (mid. to late 18th century). I want to experience the urban life/culture in Edo (present Tokyo).

Which band past or present would provide the soundtrack to your life?
Jackie Mittoo’s “Summer Breeze” or “Oboe”. I have a CD called “Cambodian Rock”, which is a collection of various rock bands from Cambodia playing and singing in Cambodian; really cool sound.

kako8.jpg

If you weren’t an artist, what would you be doing?
Gold digger.

What would your pub quiz specialist subject be?
Tolstoy novels.

Who would your top five dream dinner guests be? Who would do the washing up?
Duchamp, one of the cave dwellers who made those awesome animal drawings, Hildegard of Bingen, Utamaro, Buddha. I guess we cannot ask a cave dweller to wash up, can we?

kako9.jpg

What piece of modern technology can you not live without?
My electric mind-reader.

What is your guilty pleasure?
Doing nothing.

Tell us something about Kako Ueda that we didn’t know already.
My eyelashes are naturally curly so I never have to use a lash curler in my entire life.

kako11.jpg

Kako Ueda is definitely one to cut out and keep.
It was a peaceful Sunday morning in the City like any other, drug when:

‘Slowly it reared like a ridge of golden rocks… from which the sea fled away in clouds of smoke; and now we saw it was the head of the Leviathan… advancing towards us with all the fury of a spiritual existence.’

So wrote poet and prophet William Blake in his iconoclastic work ‘The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.’ Over two centuries and a plethora of literary Leviathan motifs later, symptoms musician and composer John Harle has unleashed his own re-imagining of the monster from the deep on London’s Square Mile. Taking a leaf out of weighty tomes from The Book of Job to Hobbes, pilule from Milton to Melville, Harle has conceived a work in which the clamour of 800 saxophonists evokes the satanic spirit of chaos itself. Crikey. When I strolled out of Liverpool Street Station at 11:30am and followed the strains of an al fresco band practice I was, admittedly, greeted with a rather benign pyjama-clad presence in monochrome. So much for the demonic display of Old Testament torment, I thought.

DSCF1050.JPG

The City of London Festival, an independent arts organisation which is none the less jointly supported by the City of London Corporation and the business community, commissioned Harle to compose an Ode to the City of London. But a straightforward gala tribute this isn’t; Harle boldly intends both homage and criticism, in light of the economic havoc of recent months. Notably, the event is not for profit. His aim in orchestrating a saxophone procession on an unprecedented scale is to ‘purge the City of its crisis of confidence.’ We’re in for a sort of musical exorcism, then? Well, of the humanist variety. Although biblical references to the Walls of Jericho are made in the promotional material, by way of metaphor, you understand. Through the medium of MP3, audio recordings and commentary are available for download on the Sustain! website. Accessibility is all; the score itself was written with a range of musical abilities in mind. Harle’s voice-over informs voluntary participants that through music, they will be ‘taming the forces of chaos by concerted, unanimous effort.’ No mean feat for a Sunday morning, then! But it is no coincidence that the event is scheduled to coincide with the Summer Solstice, and also commemorates the 800th anniversary of the first stone bridge across the Thames. Organisers envisage a renaissance of optimism and inspiration as music pours from the City’s four historic gates on to those same streets which just three months ago were the scene of violent discontent.

DSCF1060.JPG

In spite of these lofty sentiments, passers by on their way to potter round Spitalfields might have been forgiven for mistaking the motley crew assembled outside Starbucks for a Morris Dancer outreach group, or perhaps an avant-garde yoga collective- is this really what city workers get up to on their day off? However, those that found themselves in earshot when the clock struck noon could not fail to be arrested by the pandemonium that simultaneously wended its way from Bishopsgate, Aldgate, Moorgate and Ludgate to descend on London Bridge.

DSCF1063.JPG

Snaking through the winding historic streets past countless architectural landmarks and disgraced monuments to capitalism, the gleaming white and gold troop cuts quite a dash in the midday sun. Less of a march, more of a meander, but the ungodly din they generate en masse quite literally stops traffic. Bemused bystanders are both attracted and repelled, from an amused rickshaw driver given a rude awakening from his nap to a disgruntled OAP with his fingers defiantly shoved in his ears. Each saxophonist has been instructed to repeat a set phrase ad infinitum, but with rhythmic independence and free reign to improvise on the theme (and take a breather) when they please. Only when all four groups converge on the Monument can the true discord of four different keys played uproariously be heard in all its dissonant glory. An unlikely assortment of soulful characters, hippie types, consummate professionals and Brassed Off-esque blokes rub shoulders in eccentric solos, father and daughter duos, jazzy trios of mates and whole family bands. Never have I seen such an array of instruments going by the name of saxophone- alto, tenor, soprano and baritone of all shapes and sizes, even one spectacular specimen in pillar-box red! On reaching the foot of the Bridge the various strands begin to unite on one key before the pivotal moment of transition, as all fall under the aegis of Harle himself, conducting in a pinstripe blazer atop a makeshift podium. Order and harmony is restored as the collective serenely parades across the water towards Southwark, before settling on a final, triumphant ‘concert C,’ fading to silence.

And relax. Or, alternatively, begin impromptu jam session. These are saxophonists after all. In between riffs I managed to snatch a moment with three minstrels of the Aldgate crew, congregated in the shadow of a towering office block. ‘We had no rehearsal whatsoever, just downloaded the music off the web and turned up,’ said Denver of South London. ‘It’s the first time we’ve ever done anything like this,’ he explains. ‘We usually play gigs at the Vortex or at Effra. This was mad chaos, but it worked!’

DSCF1074.JPG

‘He got me into it,’ chimed in band mate Len who travelled up from Brixton to take part. ‘It was tiring- I’m used to playing sitting down or standing up, not on the go! It’s tough.’ When asked about the logistics of playing on the move and in so big a group, Len admitted that despite the fetching pinstripe, ‘I couldn’t even see the conductor! I just had to listen for the change, that was the biggest challenge.’ Fellow Brixton sax player Dave was similarly enthused: ‘I’ve got a day job so I just play when I can, but this was absolutely brilliant. I just heard about it at the last minute- on Front Row on Friday night. I’d definitely do it again.’
‘Never in the rain though!’ Len added before they were lost to another round of spontaneous play.

Amid the swirling, laid back notes I catch the eye of the affable maestro himself who tells me that the event has ‘surpassed all my expectations.’ But generously he insists that its success is ‘all down to the participants- I did the least work of anyone here today. The work took on a life of its own.’ This will be key to the future of the piece, the recording of which will be recycled via the Sustain! website until it is revisited for the Festival’s 50th anniversary in 2012. A momentous year in more ways than one it seems, but surely even London can only cope with one Leviathan at a time?

DSCF1082.JPG

C.R.A.S.H. Contingency is a useful urban survival manual that points at the target seriously whilst disguised as a funny game.

What I enjoyed the most about this experience was my complete ignorance of the whole thing. I would feel a little bit guilty if this had been the preview of the performance, treatment but since the show is now over, I will just describe how it went.

0624%20crash1.JPG
Photos by Marta Puigdemasa

After checking Two Degrees festival’s website, a week-long programme of work by radical and politically engaged artists about climate change, I decided to bet on a theatre play: C.R.A.S.H. Contingency. At the beginning of the play I felt like I did watching the shows of the wild Spanish theatre company La Fura dels Baus (well-known for their opening show in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics) : that is, excited about the unexpected, but this time without the fear of getting naked or soaked to the skin.

We were led in pairs, in complete darkness, to our seats – which were actually placed on the stage. “We are not actors, we’ll need your help, and this is not a theatre play.” And it was not. Defining themselves as an experiment in three acts in which to imagine a post-capitalist future, the performance was run by a mixture of artists, activists and permaculturists (permaculture being the design of sustainable human environments based on the relationships found in natural ecologies) and performed along with the audience. It was something in between resistance and creativity, culture and politics, art and life. We started with a game that made us laugh and forget the fact that we were on a theatre stage.

0624%20crash2.JPG

The second part was more or less like a workshop. We split into small groups and the supposed actors fed us with little doses of urban self-sufficiency. They taught us how to make a home-made radio station, a vegetable garden and an origami flower; always taking into account some of permaculture’s core values : earth care and people care. When our tasks finished, they gave us another challenge, the final performance. At that point, we used a new old technique for taking group decisions : consensus. They explained to us how to show agreement and disagreement just with the use of our hands, and how to measure the “temperature” of a decision with our arms.

0624%20crash3.JPG

When we all finally agreed about how and where to make our intervention (all, except a woman who said she was starving and wouldn’t have time for it, and a girl who didn’t understand the purpose of the action), we put on our lifejackets, took our tools (a wheelbarrow for each pair) and started walking towards Bishopsgate. Once there, in the middle of the financial district, we built our own patch of paradise : a shelter made of wheelbarrows, canvas, vegetables, an umbrella, and piles of imagination. We warmed up some water for the tea, ate some lettuce leaves and chilled out for a while. We reclaimed the streets. I felt like a child ringing on a doorbell and running away. But this time we didn’t run. We stood up and waited for the slap or, as was the case, the smile of those that ran into our tiny harmless outside-of-the-law act.

0624%20crash4.JPG

Unfortunately (for my adrenaline’s childish need), the police didn’t come. But in less than three hours we had learnt many things, too many in fact to explain in six hundred words. It was a condensed degree in Life. It also made me understand that another kind of education, non-academic, humble and free (all the meanings of this word included), was possible. I admit that possibly some of their suggested proposals were just utopian. This may be. But it is far better to live dreaming of utopia than sleeping or wandering aimlessly in a rotten world, isn’t it? Good work, guys.

An ear shattering shriek comes down the line, treat the noise of a passing child’s tantrum. As I tentatively return the phone back to my ear Jan Williams, side effects one half of The Caravan Gallery, illness chirps amusedly “Oooh, Greetings from Portsmouth!” and adds, almost by some way of explanation; “We’re just approaching Asda now.” It may not set a perfect picture postcard scene, but that’s not what The Caravan Gallery are about.

caravan1.jpg

The Caravan Gallery are Portsmouth based artists Jan Williams and Chris Teasdale. You may already be aware of their work from the postcards they produce. If you’ve ever rifled through a spinning stand of postcards at a tourist attraction and chanced upon a card that portrays the grittier, gaudier and, let’s be honest, more realistic side of Britain then chances are The Caravan Gallery duo are behind it. Their best selling postcard is entitled ‘Bank Holiday Britain’, which brings together familiar images of Britons ‘enjoying’ the British sea side in the pouring rain.

woopwoop%20005.jpg

Although Williams and Teasdale have created 170 postcards in total, these are an offshoot of a much larger artistic endeavour. The pair have been travelling the length and breadth of Britain since 2000, capturing unusual and unexpected scenes of its leisure, landscape and lifestyle. The photographs are displayed at each location for the local community to see. Their rather unique, portable gallery allows them to do this; a mustard-coloured, egg-shaped 1969 caravan that is white walled and wooden floored inside. “We don’t really treat it as a caravan,” Williams tells me during our initial phone conversation, “We just think of it as a gallery that happens to be in a caravan.”

woopwoop%20009.jpg

This little gallery on wheels came along to Spitalfields market on Sunday the 14th of June, as part of a promotion with The White Stuff clothing company. After having chatted with Williams on the phone a few days before, I couldn’t wait to go along and see this unique art space for myself.

Plonked on the side of Spitalfields, the little caravan was a charming sight from the outside, but held plenty more charming sights awaiting within. With over 60,000 photographs in their archive, Williams and Teasdale had plenty to choose from to exhibit on their new tour. In their previously released book ‘Welcome to Britain’ their images were separated into chapters such as ‘Concrete’, ‘Smut’, ‘Conifers (thriving)’ and ‘Conifers (dead)’. “We cover all sorts of stuff.” Williams tells me, “A lot of it’s about the built environment and regeneration, how Britain is and how it’s changing.”

woopwoop%20013.jpg

Whilst many of the images throw light on dilapidated areas or the more tasteless aspects of Britain (shut up shops and naughty gnomes), The Caravan Gallery’s work never feels snobbish or patronising. Good humour shines through with every image.

“I think a lot of what we do is a celebration,” Williams admits “and even though places get tarted up there are quite a lot of little bits that refuse to give up the ghost. We really like this juxtaposition of things, it gives places character.”

woopwoop%20017.jpg

Whilst the caravan has travelled the whole of the UK, from Glasgow to Cornwall, North Shields to the Isle of Wight, one unexpected recent jaunt saw the artists taking their work all the way to Japan for an event with Paul Smith.

“Quite a lot of our photos are to do with language and signs so we weren’t quite sure if it would work. But Paul Smith’s staff said that the people there would love anything colourful, anything rude and anything a bit cheeky.”

woopwoop%20020.jpg

And the reaction? “They absolutely loved it!” Williams laughs. “They were saying how it’s just really refreshing to see how Britain really is, instead of just all the same old clichés of Big Ben and the Queen.”

So with us Britons already aware that a bowler hat is not obligatory day wear, and that cucumber sandwiches are actually quite rubbish, what can The Caravan Gallery’s more accurate portrayal of our nation tell us that we don’t already know?

“I suppose the idea is to provoke people and say ‘There’s all this stuff going on around you, have you noticed? What do you think?’” Williams muses. “We’re not saying it’s good or bad but just; ‘Look at it!’”

caravan3.jpg

But never mind the intricacies of social commentary and the seriousness of urban reflection; at heart The Caravan Gallery is a great laugh. When confronted by the absurdity of a man mowing the pavement outside his home, or a sign advertising ‘Have your photo with a ferret and certificate – £2.60′, there’s nothing you can do but laugh about this crazy place we call home.

And humour, The Caravan Gallery artists have found, is a brilliant social lubricant; “It ends up as like a little social club on wheels,” Williams says. “If we get invited to some kind of prestigious art event, we get the art loving audience, but then maybe we’ll also get a Big Issue seller and someone walking the dog. Shoppers, tourists and passers-by will come in and take a look. We end up with a whole mixture of people in the caravan who never normally have much to do with each other and they end up talking, which is really good.”

caravan4.png

This is certainly true, as I witness the caravan become filled with Spitalfields shoppers. Soon everyone, strangers and friends, are pointing out the most humorous and shocking pictures to one another and the caravan is filled with laughter. If it’s true that us Brits are a reserved bunch then The Caravan Gallery certainly loosens our collective stiff upper lips!

If you’d like to have your upper lip un-stiffened, go see The Caravan Gallery visit the White Stuff stores of Chichester on the 28th June (that’s this Sunday, folks!) and Battersea on the 11th of July.

caravan5.jpg

We are giving The Caravan Gallery our stamp of approval.
It was a night of contrasts. A contrast between a halcyon past and the here-and-now. It was also a contrast in the ages of the audience, viagra dosage from the veteran disciples to the new believers. Brought together, pill under some nebulous Mojo Magazine honour, generic on the same bill for probably the first time since the opening night of the long defunct Vortex on Wardour Street in July 1977, the evening opened with the original punk poet, John Cooper Clarke. Looking exactly the same as he did over 30 years ago, with wild Robert Smith-style hair, black, skinny drainpipe jeans and black shades, sardonic Salford drawl still intact, this one time partner in crime with the doomed former model, Fellini starlet and Velvet Underground chanteuse Nico (after she fetched up in the unlikely surroundings of early 80′s Manchester) entertained the crowd with a series of gags that literally creaked with age. He finished his brief set with a rendition of one of his most famous poems, Evidently Chickentown, a quick fire dissection of the grim everyday mundanities of life in a no hope town (which also appeared in the recent Joy Division movie, Control, with John Cooper Clarke bizarrely playing himself).

thefalllive.jpg

The friend I was with had never seen the Fall before. I just told them that it’s never a dull moment. Never a truer word spoken. The Fall are only predictable in their (or rather Mark E Smith’s) unpredictability. Even so, it must have proved a novelty (if an unwelcome one) for Mark E Smith to play second fiddle to someone, regardless of their pedigree. Coming on stage typically late, with yet another band line-up (save for keyboardist and current Mrs Smith, Elena Polou), Mark E Smith launched into his trademark stream of consciousness delivery. Movement hindered by a recent broken hip, Smith nevertheless wandered around (and occasionally off) the stage, switching microphones and fiddling with assorted amps, even nonchalantly borrowing Buzzcocks’ snare drum for some impromptu bashing (much to their roadies’ undoubted annoyance), whilst the rest of the Fall thundered ominously around him. The Fall are uncompromising live, rarely given to such trifling matters as pleasing the audience. Their set lists resolutely stick to whatever their current or forthcoming material may be, rarely playing anything more than even a couple of years old (though that may be as much to do with Smith not remembering the songs as much as artistic integrity). True to form, tonight’s set consisted heavily of new songs and tracks from last year’s rather patchy effort, Imperial Wax Solvent. That said, Wolf Kidult Man and 50 Year Old Man did go down a storm. Unusually, there was a rare display of nostalgia with the inclusion of Psykick Dancehall and Rebellious Jukebox, from the Fall’s first two albums. Smith must have been feeling particularly charitable, as not only did we get an encore, but he actually ambled out to join it!

thefalllive2.jpg

As for Buzzcocks, well, what is there left to be said? The band that defined the term “indie” with their self-released debut EP, Spiral Scratch, which set the template for the likes of Factory, Rough Trade and Creation? The band that brought the Sex Pistols to the provinces and, with two shows at Manchester’s Lesser Free Trade Hall, inspired the likes of Messrs Morrissey, Curtis, Sumner, Hook, Wilson et al? The band that toured with Joy Division as support? Well, that was then, what about now? After their initial reformation over a decade ago, Buzzcocks are now a core of Pete Shelley and Steve Diggle, and basically what they gave us (in contrast to the Fall) was a greatest hits package. But who are we to complain, when you have a back catalogue such as theirs? After a sardonic “thanks to the support band” from Diggle, Buzzcocks launched into Boredom, from the aforementioned Spiral Scratch.

1.jpg

Even after all these years, that two note guitar solo still sounds ludicrously glorious. Shelley may now look like a middle-aged geography teacher and Diggle was in danger of going all Pete Townshend with his guitar, but they can still rock a joint – a fact proved by the amount of moshing going on by a lot of people who were old enough to know better. The set did flag a little in the middle with the lesser known tracks, and the sound quality from the balcony (particularly the quality of the vocals) was a bit ropey, but Buzzcocks ramped it up for the not-quite-encore (due to the Fall’s tardiness, much to Steve Diggle’s obvious annoyance). After a rousing What Do I Get?, we headed inexorably towards that evergreen classic of pop-punk, Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve), which raised the Forum’s roof off. The set climaxed (as it were) with Orgasm Addict, Buzzcocks’s first post-Howard Devoto single, a song that still sounds so cheekily enjoyable.

Buzzcocks_pic2.jpg

And so the sweat (and beer) soaked masses headed out into the Kentish town night, and our ears were left ringing with a little slice of musical history, one that proved so influential and can still be heard in venues like the Old Blue Last, Water Rats, the Macbeth and the Windmill almost every night of every week.
If you are a London resident, more about then head over to the East End this weekend for a fashion show with a difference. First of all, information pills there will be no door bitches or clipboard Nazi’s on hand to block your entry. You will be surrounded by friendly folk; ethical folk in fact. And that is the premise of the festivities, this a collaborative between Eco -Design Fair and Fashion-Conscience.com to highlight up and coming ethical designers in the fields of fashion, accessories, home furnishings, health and beauty, and stationary and cards.

Eco%20FairOria%20high%20ress%20silver%20press.jpg

To mark the occasion, Friday night will see part of the Truman Brewery transformed into the location for the aformentioned fashion show complete with a recyling party. On hard will be design stalls, DJ’s and organic food and drinks. Kicking off at 7pm, there will be free entry for those bringing old mobile phones that they want recycling, otherwise an optional donation will be requested.

With sustainability in fashion being a key message of the event, those attending who are clearly – and cleverly garbed in vintage and charity shop outfits will be in with a change of being picked by the roving fashion spies to go into the draw for the Style Competition with prizes galore promised. Elsewhere, there will be makeovers, discussions and advice on how to “dress ethically for your shape.”

sachikoresurgencemag2.jpg
Illustration by Sachiko

Saturday and Sunday sees the Design Fair on from 10 am – 6 pm in the same location. All the exhibitors will be showcasing their work in stalls around the building. An example of designers at the event include Believe You Can, Childstar Samantha, Hemp Garden, It’s Reclaimed, and Reestore Ltd. Also taking place will be weaving workshops courtesy of Catherine Daniel, who will be demonstrating how to make pouches, trays and boxes out of reclaimed cardboard, greeting cards and juice cartons – or anything else that you choose to bring along! These sessions will be held in the mornings and afternoons and booking is required. Email info@ecodesignfair.co.uk to reserve your place, stating your name and age. A donation of £3.00 is also requested.

Eco%20Fair%20Chiji%20%20green%20paperclip%20fruit%20bowl.jpg

I spoke with the founder of Eco Design Fair, Louise Kamara to find out more about her work. Founded six years ago, when the concept of ethical and sustainable fashion and design was simply not an issue for both the high street shopper and the supplier, Louise had a lot of explaining to do to a bemused audience. Bringing new awareness to the general public was paramount to her. Having been brought up on a co-operative community, where creative workshops would be run, and food was collectively grown and shared, Louise was shocked by what she saw when she became an adult and entered the ‘real’ world. Thus the twice yearly design fair was sprung from the desire to feature and promote those who lived and worked closer to nature and to showcase work that had not sprung from a sweatshop. It also encourages the public to step away from the large brands who are claiming that their products are environmentally friendly to lure us back into their shops. “When somewhere like Primark says that they have an ‘ethical’ range, they are just using a trendy word” Louise tells me, “Whereas the Eco Design Fair is from the heart, for us it is a fundamental concern; and that is the huge difference. ”

So see you there then. Don’t forget to come in your charity shop finest!

sachikoresurgence%20mag.jpg
Illustration by Sachiko
If you thought that graduate fashion week had passed and you’d seen it all, viagra think again. In a small studio on Charring Cross Rd this week, viagra stood the works of a small, perhaps lesser known group of graduates…yet another gifted brood to emerge from the fertile loins of Central St.Martins. In something of a bridge between an MA and a BA, students of the the Graduate Fashion Diploma course spend a lightning 9 months or so working on various self directed projects under the tutelage of David Kappo.
Although open to all, the names listed showed a decidedly Pacific contingent, perhaps due to the school’s overseas reputation. And in part to the program’s fees which are democratically the same no matter where you’re from. Sorry EUers, no discounts here. Also notable was the fact that many of these fledgling designers signed onto the course when the ink was barely dry on their BA’s, which accounts for the elevated quality and a few research sketchbooks of biblical proportion. Which brings us to the first stop on our tour…

BEVANselect.jpg
BEVANsketchselect3.jpg
Bevan Avery

New Zealander Bevan Avery who took his first swing at womenswear…and hit it right out of the park with a collection “based on antique medical photographs and Victorian deformities recorded in the Mutter Mueseum.” As an art student on the East Coast myself, many an hour was spent drawing in the creepy catacombs of that museum. Fun for the whole family! Back to Bevan… “I wanted to create a dark collection which focused on shaping an unusual silhouette through the shoulder and tilting the hems forward and focused on the black and gold colouring of the stained photographs.” This creator of bloated and beautiful sketchbooks says of previous collections he has “…used Voodoo, East London working men and Mongolian queens and wrestlers as inspiration.” Now THAT I would love to see.

nancyselect.jpg
nancyemerge.jpg
Nancy Stella-Soto

Next to bat is Nancy Stella-Soto’s brilliantly styled, loose and transparent blushed silk dress over a nude crotched slip. WIth vintage colored cottons (dyed using yesterday’s coffee) 1920′s steamer trunks and Charlie Chaplin canes, this writer would love to be a stowaway on Stella-Sotos’ next voyage.

solahnfinal.jpg
solahnfinal2.jpg
Sol Ahn

Seoul born Sol Ahn is on her way to an MA at RCA. Barely taking a breath between degrees this designer has got momentum a plenty. Fantastic textures and a balance of exaggerated proportions this menswear collection, with its DIY bleach splatter jeans and mammoth pompom (it IS a trend, believe it!) sweaters is so very London. Sol Ahn cites skinheads’ obsessive meticulousness about how they dress and the mixed up dressing of Diane Arbus’ mental subjects in ‘Untitled’ as her influences.

%20MARION.%20select1jpg
MARIONselect.jpg
Marian Toledo-Candelaria

Marian Toledo-Candelaria has a modern-day Boudicca in mind when he designs. For his final collection he drew ideas from the Roman Invasion of Britain, focusing on the cultural clash between the invading Romans and the native Celts. Heavy on adornment the dark silk dresses are topped with a snakepit of golden jewels, oversized beads and gold suede. The deep blue of the silks being inspired by the woad plant, “a European plant used for the extraction of a indigo pigment that the Celts used for painting their bodies when summoned to war. ”

bouzaselect.jpg
bouza

Bouza displayed an elegant tomato colored mini dress with a draping shoulder. An asymmetry mimicked by a single stone colored legging. Lucky for us there is also a website full of their previous works. But It was the display of dip dyed rubber bands and shocking red hairy wool samples that really got my motor running. Let us know when we can see the manifestation of those terrific textiles!

KIM%20KWANG%20select.jpg
Kim Kwang

Beijing born Kim Kwang who is already working alongside Jimmy Choo on his couture shoe collection, presented an amazing felted wool jacket complete with contrast lacing. The fibrous wads of wool formed a mystery of moulding whose shapes were victorian corsetry and medieval armor all at once.

These designers have high expectations, industry experience and another diploma shoved into their back pockets. We’ll be sure to let you know their latest and greatest as they hack their own paths through the fashion jungle.
Monday 29th June
Regina Spektor, remedy Serpentine Sessions, and Hyde Park, London.

I love London summers, blessed as we are with plenty of lush green space. Hyde Park are putting on a good show this year with their gasp-inspiringly good line-up for the Serpentine Session, tonight everyone’s favourite singing devushka; Regina Spektor takes to the stage, having made the transition from anti-folk to a more mainstream pop during her illustrious career, Ms Spektor has managed to keep her vocal intensity and gift for story-telling in tact; her balmy tales of the strange and the familiar in a voice not quite like any other, will be perfect for an evening in the park.

reginaspektor05.jpg

Tuesday 30th June
M. Ward, Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London.

M. Ward has one of the most heart-breakingly lovely voices I’ve heard in a while, quietly strumming and whispering away in a green and leafy Oregon, entrenched in a rich tradition of simple story- telling and with a predilection for musical simplicity and music of yore; M.Ward is the king of understated brilliance. A must for fans of Smog and other good stuff.

m-ward.jpg

Wednesday 1st July
Deerhoof, Scala, London.

The first time I heard Deerhoof, I was driving around San Francisco on my 19th Birthday and they seemed like a birthday gift from the gods of music. Their inspired sound is as fun as it is unique, like if Sonic Youth were hyper on lemonade at someone’s 7th birthday party; this is surely a live experience that is not to be missed.

deerhoof34.jpg

Thursday 2nd July
The Virgins, Scala, London.

The Virgins have whipped up quite the furore on the other side of the Atlantic, danceable new wave-y good vibes to be had.

the-virgins.jpg

Friday 3rd July
Blur, Hyde Park, London.

Do you remember having to pick between Blur and Oasis at school? I do! I was 11 and I am proud to say I chose Blur every time, then this boy in my class bought me Definitely Maybe on cassette for my birthday- what a schmuck! Blur were the most seminal British band of the 90s from their fun Britpop through to the later dalliances with art-rock circa Thirteen. Expect a heady mix of singles and album tracks, and of course lots of fun. With support from Foals and Crystal Castles among others.

blur1.jpg

Saturday 4th July
Internet Forever, Brixton Windmill, London.

I’m a big fan of fantastically- named Internet Forever and their exciting mix of reverb, keyboards and sweet vocals, like falling in love with a robot that was created by My Bloody Valentine and the Gameboy music people. Over-extended metaphors aside, Internet Forever get two big thumbs up from me, and if I had more thumbs they’d get them too! Head down to the Windmill I promise you won’t be disappointed.

internetforever.jpg
Monday 29th June

The Domestic Carbon Time Bomb

A discussion with Peter Thom, order Kelly Butler, more about Roger Webb and Nigel Rees. Held in conjunction with the Carbon Neutral Company, Energy Efficiency industries are coming together on an invitation from Lord Rupert Redesdale, who is the Vice Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Climate Change Group. They will be presenting information to highlight the need for much stronger policy in order to achieve the government’s Climate Change targets. Carbon from the built environment is responsible for approximately a third of carbon emitted in Britain. A website, G2 Action, will be launched for information.

2-4pm, House of Commons, SW1.
Info: catherine.martin(at)carbonneutral.com

0692emissiongraph.jpg

Tuesday 30th June

Musical Morals and Moral Music – The Artist and the Environment – a public lecture by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies

What can we expect from our artists, and what should we demand of them? The independence of artists from society has become an effectively archaic notion, but what stance can an artist hope to take up on issues such as the environment where there are so many better-informed voices already clamouring to be heard? Why should we care what an artist says, and why should the artists bother? Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Master of the Queen’s Music, is perfectly situated to consider these questions and will pay particular attention to the environmental issues which lie close to his own heart.

Time: 18:00
Gresham College
Free Event

0629%20EnGreve.jpg

Wednesday 1st July

Shappi Khorsandi: ‘A Beginner’s Guide to Acting English’ – Book Launch

In 1976, three-year-old Shappi Khorsandi, her brother Peyvand and their parents left Tehran for London. Without a word of English between them, they found themselves thrust into an incomprehensible culture – all cold weather, strange food and odd customs. If adapting to Britain wasn’t enough, it soon became clear that due to her journalist father’s criticism of the new Iranian regime, the Ayatollah’s henchmen were in pursuit.

Well known to British audiences for her warm and witty stand up, Shappi Khorsandi has now written a book about her experience of growing up in England. She will be talking about her new book and reading extracts. The event will be followed by a book signing and drinks reception.

7pm
The Human Rights Action Centre, 17-25 New Inn Yard, EC2

Thursday 2nd July

Marxism festival

The Marxism festival starts today, with over two hundred events – the opening rally is at the Friends’ Meeting House in Euston, entitled ‘Capitalism Isn’t Changing the World’.

Matthew Fort : Green Talk

Guardian Food writer, Matthew Fort chews over the nature of food and art in this talk at the Barbican, part of their Radical Nature season.

6.30pm, Barbican Art Gallery

0629%20mai68.jpg

Friday 3rd July

Do the poor have to choose between sustainability & development?

Suzanne Jeffery asks the pressing question of the world’s poor – to conflate buzzwordy terms : how might the credit crunch affect our responses to the climate crisis?

7-8.30pm
Part of the Marxism festival
Royal National Hotel, Bloomsbury
Room: Alexandra B

0629%20police68.jpg

Saturday 4th July

Seed Saving

Join an all-day course on seed saving, taught by organic gardeners. In association with Transition Town Hackney.

(£21/£5)
Friday Hill House Learning centre, Chingford E4
Contact: 020 8523 9355/ or 07947 983347
Organisers: Waltham Forest

Sunday 5th July

First Sunday of the month, if you’re not up to speed yet, means Green Sunday at the Arcola theatre. Hop along to Arcola’s eco-cafe and roof garden where you can relax, learn something new, eat some sustainable brownies, meet new people and enjoy some music and film. There will also be a swap shop again, following its huge success at June’s event, so bring along any unwanted clothes, plants, DVDs, CDs and books to swap with others.
Unfold

Nettie Horn
25b Vyner Street
London E2 9DG

Until 2nd August
Wed-Sun 12-6pm
Free Entry

june29unfold.jpg
Gordon Cheung

“Unfold questions a creative and explorative process which has the particularity of stepping, more about conceptually or concretely, about it from two dimensional mediums into a three dimensional space. These “new types of spatial fields” consecutively play and emphasize the virtual aspect of the “drawing process”, visit web the physical nature of its material (carbon, paper) and techniques often associated to paper such as cutting, collage, folding; and therefore focusing on an interest in the physical world surrounding us.”

Artists include: Abigail Reynolds, Tove Storch, Emma McNally, Rosie Leventon and Gordon Cheung.

————————————————————————————-

Yayoi Kusama: Outdoor Sculptures

Victoria Miro Gallery
16 Wharf Road
London N1 7RW

Until 25th July
Tuesday – Saturday 10.00am-6.00pm
Monday by appointment.

june29yayoi.jpg

Yayoi Kusama fever hits London this month, with this presentation of new sculptural work at the Victoria Miro Gallery, as well as a more extensive collection at the Hayward Gallery as part of Walking in my Mind (see below). Celebrating her 80th birthday this year, Kusama has an impressive six decades of success under her belt. These oversized colourful formations have become something of a signature for Kusama, and the Victoria Miro Gallery does them justice in their placing of them by the canalside for all to admire.

————————————————————————————-

Time and Tide: Al Lapkoysky and Katya Evdokimova

Hay Hill Gallery
23 Cork Street
Mayfair W1S 3NJ

29th June – 18th July
Monday – Saturday 11am – 6pm
Free Entry

june29lapko.jpg
Photograph by Al Lapkoysky

“‘Time and Tide’ is a joint show of the most recent work by internationally recognised London-based Russian photographers Al Lapkovsky and Katya Evdokimova. Both Lapkovsky and Evdokimova have won many photographic awards including Professional Photographer of the Year and the International Photographic Awards and often work together. Lapkovsky’s collection of works in this exhibition juxtaposes the surreal and the ordinary enabling the viewer to take a leap of imagination and look at our ordinary lives through the realms of fantasy.”

———————————————————————————-

Walking in my Mind

Hayward Gallery
South Bank Centre
Belvedere Road
London SE1 8XZ

Until 6th September
Open daily 10am – 6pm, late nights Friday until 10pm
Entry: £9/£6

june29chiharushiota.jpg
Chiharu Shiota

Reminiscent of last summer’s hugely successful ‘Psycho Buildings’ exhibition, Walking in My Mind explores the imagination of ten international artists with individual large-scale interactive installation. Exploring interior worlds of thoughts, dreams, fears, memories and ideas and their inevitable confrontation with exterior reality, the boundaries between inner and outer space blurred and redefined.

Artists include: Charles Avery, Thomas Hirschhorn, Yayoi Kusama, Bo Christian Larsson, Mark Manders, Yoshitomo Nara, Jason Rhoades, Pipilotti Rist, Chiharu Shiota and Keith Tyson.

—————————————————————————–

Fresh Faced and Wild Eyed 09: Recent Graduates Exhibition

Photographer’s Gallery
16 – 18 Ramillies St
London W1F 7LW

Until 5th July
Monday – Saturday 11am-6pm, Thursday 11am-8pm, Sunday 12pm-6pm
Free Entry

june29photopetros.jpg
Photograph by Petros Chrisostomou

Navigating your way through the vast ocean of Graduate art shows that continue to fill the gallery wall space of the capital can be a daunting and exhausting exercise. Thank the heavens then that for photography fiends the highlights in new photographic talent can be found in this second annual showcase at the Photographer’s Gallery.

——————————————————————————

We Dream of Language Without History


Paradise Row

17 Hereford Street
London, E2 6EX

Until 25th July
Wed-Sat, 12-6
Free Entry

june29paradiserowSamta%20Benyahia.jpg
Samta Benyahia

Playing on society’s linguistic assumptions about names and origins, this exhibition of Middle Eastern or Muslim ‘sounding’ names is actually made up of artists who were born, grew up and live and work in a highly disparate series of locations and whose work reflects and explicitly engages, both individually and collectively, with the complex diversity of their backgrounds. This show raises issues of individual human identity and mass political definition; clever, challenging and thought provoking.

Artists participating in the exhibition: Farhad Ahrarnia; Lulwah Al-Homoud; Samta Benyahia; Shezad Dawood; Ala Ebtekar; Mounir Fatmi; Karim Ghelloussi; Aïcha Hamu; Hayv Kahraman; Timo Nasseri; Henna Nadeem; Ayman Yossri Daydban.

Thumbnail: Abigail Reynolds
There lies a certain harmonious relationship between music and art, ambulance sound and illustration, no rx noise and drawing. Perhaps more intensely paired than any of the other two senses, sickness our ears and our eyes stimulated simultaneously can spark something fairly major in both nostalgic recollection and creative interpretation. It appears that Alex Jako would agree with me, her poster and flyer artwork for bands being some of her most distinctive and brave pieces of illustration to date.

jako1.jpg

Perhaps it’s her experience of working at Notting Hill’s rare record mecca Rough Trade, or maybe her impressively intimate knowledge of all things prog and psych circa Germany 1970, that means melodies and motifs find themselves overlapping inseparably throughout her work. She confesses that “Music consumes my thoughts… Some of my most articulate works involve representing music..the most exciting for me- as far as challenges go for my personal illustrative communication.”

0629%20moonbear_small.jpeg

This is not a lady who does things by half. She describes herself as “a completely self-taught escapist”. She is more than aware of the hold that drawing has over her; in fact, she readily admits that artistic expression is a lifeline. “Drawing has become my most healthy habit. I have had to turn a lot of dangerous, self-destructive habits into positive obsessive ones. Drawing is one of those things which I can make as horrific or dark- or light as I want to without destroying myself or anyone around me.”

Jako arrived in London a decade ago aged 17, a fresh faced yank with a penchant for the dark and the alternative, taking a string of “various horrible low-wage jobs.. and doodled away stale time.” She reflects that it was unlikely she was ever going to settle into a 9 to 5 work environment. “I’d always get into some sort of trouble in these jobs, until eventually winning my employers over. My time-keeping is awful, my compromising potential completely non-existent.. I’ve always felt like a caged animal working for other people.”

jako2.jpg

When I ask her where her creativity can be traced back to, she tells me “I’ve always drawn since I was a child- like, a necessity. It was a great way to escape life fear, anxiety.. the never-ending cycle. Souls are powered by new music all the time. Everyone that saw what I was working on started asking me to do things for them.” Modestly, she describes herself as still just a beginner. “I still feel I have something to prove, personally and professionally.. I’m not at that stage yet where opinions don’t matter to me”. Having said that, her upcoming work schedule sounds borderline frantic; Italian horror film poster re-enactments using porn stars, fields of flowers using pointillism, monstrous blobs for LMNO Projects.
I’m interested in how much free range she is given, or feels she can take, with briefs or specifications for commissions. “There is a huge amount of personal autonomy when creating these pieces, like a burning flame; the more the resistance I feel against what I’m aiming for, the bigger the fire roars and rages rebelliously.. and the more intense the urge to make something amazing, in my own way, to prove them wrong.”

And once that’s established, how long do you spend on each project, on average? “Once the spark has ignited I can steam through most pieces within days, weeks. Some projects become more ambitious naturally and like a chess game or a puzzle, I will sit and look at them for hours until each stroke pieces itself together organically, into the final work, using my subconscious to direct the piece.. a sort of meditation also. Sometimes it just all falls into place at an extraordinary rate!”

jako3.jpg

As a Londoner myself I am always curious as to what those who flock here from far flung corners of the world feel about the city and what it has to offer creatively compared with their home ground. “I have many people I admire and love over in the U.S. I spent time in NYC a few years ago and fell deeply in love with it. But sometimes I wonder if I truly exist when I am over there. I feel more real over here. I believe London holds an incredible amount of magic and opportunity and allows for anyone to be self-made if they seize the chance. London contains ‘beacons in the maelstrom’.”

And now for the quickfire question round.

Hey, Alex Jako, what makes you so awesome?
My pirate ship.. steering through the rough seas and mighty winds in search of freedom and gold.

0629%20jenny_small.jpg

If you could travel back or forward to any era, where would you go?
I’m scared of time travel at this speed let alone moving it backwards or forwards!

Which illustrators/artists do you most admire?
Nick Blinko the punk illustrator and musician, Austin Osman Spare, his line, and his wonderful world of ‘chaos magic’ , Henry Darger, his insanity, and his beautiful odd drawings, Hasegawa T?haku, his simplicity, his wisdom and finesse, Aubrey Beardsley .. the old masters.. I’m fascinated by painters such as Italian Renaissance artist Bernardo Belloto. His execution of detail is mind-blowing.. I can stare into any section of a painting for hours, days.. admiring his use of colour, application of paint onto page.

jako5.jpeg

If you weren’t an artist, what would you be doing?
Working in a record shop in Notting Hill.

Who or what is your nemesis?
Computers.. they hiss when they catch sight of me..

What piece of modern technology could you not live without?
ID cards- no one believes that I’m not 13 and who I say I am.

What advice would you give to up and coming artists?
As Robert Crumb said “Draw your way out!”

Which band past or present would provide the soundtrack to your life?
I listen to many different forms of music and musicians.. It’d be hard to pick just one. I’m very fickle with my flirtations with records also. This week the soundtracks to my life include: Pisces-A lovely Sight, Cate Le Bon’s forthcoming record on Randomonium (Gruff Rhys’ new label), Sam and the Plants, Peter Green and Fleetwood Mac.. Amon Duul II, Honest Jon’s new “Open Strings” compilation.

jako6.jpeg

I say Modern art is rubbish, you say..?
I don’t really consider simply being a fan of music or art as a great achievement. Nor is merely regurgitating music or art which one is a fan of already. I agree that artist should be social terrorist, as Billy Childish puts it.. crushing boundaries, fighting upstream, existing contrary to the flow that is fashionable. Symbolically, for this reason, we need modern art. As long as the cycle constantly renews itself with fresh ideas..approaches, I will adore modern art. But I refuse to glorify any particular fashion scene labeled as modern art. I like my coffee strong not watered down. Glorification by me is my silent open gaping mouth as I bury my head into my lap and stare at old things, objects, books, smelly old disintegrating yellow paper.. gawp at the old masters, etchings, paintings in Belgian art galleries…

Who would be your top 5 dream dinner guests? Who would do the washing up?
Roy Harper because I love what he has to say and he is incredibly handsome and writes beautiful songs, Werner Herzog because he might challenge everyone’s perceptions on life theory or imagery and might ruffle some feathers, Chris Packham because of his intensive geek knowledge about nature, Stewart Lee for his perverse sense of humour, and Jordan just because she’d rock the dinner boat. All five of these people are a great inspiration to me in their own way. Werner Herzog would probably do the washing up.. and then make a film about washing up, which could draw people to tears. Haha!

What is your guilty pleasure?
pushing buttons.

jako7.jpeg

Stop, Look AND Listen: Alex Jako proves there is more to music than the sound and more to art than the visual.
Tomorrow! – Wednesday 1st July, there 7pm, visit Millenium Hotel, Mayfair

Ever heard of palm oil? No? Biofuels ring a bell? Revolutionary green fuels from renewable plant matter, not oil. Well, Climate Rush invite you to think that proposal through. Biofuel is the biggest growth market for palm oil, and a growing palm oil industry means vast deforestation and huge carbon emissions.

0630%20orangutan.jpg

The UK is the second largest importer of Indonesian palm oil in Europe. Forty-three of Britain’s hundred top grocery brands contain palm oil, including Hovis, Kingsmill, Flora, Clover, Special K, KitKat, Diary Milk, Wrigleys, Persil, Comfort and Dove.

To find the land for palm oil plantations, people are draining and burning peat land, starting forest fires to clear land, and cutting down tropical rainforest. This is no good for carbon dioxide, indigenous communites, biodiversity, or orangutans.

Orangutans? The orangutan population has been decimated in the last 100 years, and now faces extinction. Palm oil plantations support only a tenth of the wildlife of virgin forest – and have removed more than 10 million hectares of tropical rainforest.

Climate Rush invite you to come celebrate tomorrow evening – there’s much that’s wonderful in the world – with local and homegrown seasonal food and juices, a swing band and the clear message against the growth of the palm oil industry.

Here’s the action bit – rush into a five star hotel holding yet another conference. This time “the 2nd Annual World AgriInvest Congress brings together the full spectrum of the agri value chain AND the financial community. Hear from and meet operators, producers, buyers, government, agri funds, and institutional investors.” These are the people who keep the wheels of the palm oil industry greased – coming off crude oil onto palm oil, laying waste to the rainforest in the process.

And there’s a special prize promised for the best orangutan costume. Be there 7pm sharp. How can you resist?

0630Palm_oil_flyer.gif

After the well received debut release of ‘Greetings From San Francisco’ in 2008, this site Ian Matthew Hale has been busy as ever. With a recent publishing deal, live XFM sessions and even personal praise from Jools Holland, you get the feeling that all the hard work is beginning to pay off.

Speaking quietly but passionately about anything from his love of Prince to an early appreciation of Death Metal, it doesn’t take much to cajole an opinion from Ian M. Hale, which made my job of finding out more about the the 27 year old singer- songwriter and his latest release “Loss” a pleasingly simple case of sipping my pint and tending the conversational rudder.

iamhale.jpg

What do you think started you making music?

I’m not entirely certain, I think it was a family thing really. I spent a lot of my upbringing with my uncle who is a musician, so when I was little he would often be having rehearsals and like, the band round. Even when he was just cooking there was loud music playing all the time in the kitchen, wherever we were. Also my dad plays and my grandparents and my sister.

I think it’s one of those things, it’s not intentional, you know you’re interested in something when before you know it, you wake up and you’ve been studying something for a few years. You’ve been out searching for music. Then when I was a teenager I started hanging out with this guy on my road a lot who had lots of tracking programs, quite basic now as it was a long time ago, and we had our own sort of little thing for a bit.

I think it became serious when I was about 17 or 18. I’d been playing a long time before then, but I went to do a diploma in music technology so that I could learn a bit about how to do things, which was useless actually because I’m not technically minded. So I ended up leaving there not knowing how to do anything at all. And I still can’t use equipment very well. But, you know, I made some good contacts there and a good friend of mine, Tim, I met him there and he became my first producer. Then for a few years every time we got a chance in the summer or if we had a break, I’d go to his place in the country and we’d record demos. After about 3 years the stuff that we were writing started to form a little more.

At that point I was going to university in London and, I don’t know, every time I did something I immediately wanted to better it or, you know, correct what I thought was wrong. It took a long time for me to reach the stage where I felt comfortable letting go of the stuff that I had done. For years I had lots and lots of songs that never saw the light of day. And they probably won’t, really. But that was part of it.

It seems your uncle’s music taste was a big factor in your early music interests. What kind of music did you grow up listening to?

He used to listen to a lot of Steely Dan. And also a lot of Weather Report, which is a great thing to be thrown in your face when you’re little, I think. But also, one of my Uncle’s best friends was a guy called Gem who used to run Music For Nations, who were quite a big label that did quite a lot of death metal, so I used to get given boxes of tapes that were demos that Music For Nations got sent. So I just had boxes and boxes of death metal, so I used to listen to all them quite a lot. My flatmates, now, listen to a lot of heavy metal and, you know, I quite like it.

l_99237beb159881e911c8773ab217b496.jpg

So you’re going to “sell out” and go electric?

Yeah yeah! The songs seem to be going that way. The songs are becoming more and more full and messy, which I really like because for a long time when I was younger, I couldn’t help but feel I was writing these namby pamby pieces of shit and it’s really nice to toughen it up a bit. I’m sure it will go more and more that way, but I never can tell. I’m really interested in soul and a lot of rough sounding rock and roll like live Who stuff and The Brian Jonestown Massacre. But that’s just how I’m feeling today, I just tend to find something, a group of bands with a sound or aesthetic and then I’ll investigate it, listen to it continuously day and night for weeks on end. This single, the Loss single, was heavily influenced by experimental 80′s synth pop, so lots of Blade Runner, Yello, Tears For Fears. It’s going to be fun thinking about what’s next.

So when you sit down to write a song, where do you start from?

I don’t know if there’s that much of a set formula, for me. It depends what frame of mind I’m in. Often a song will come from mucking around on the guitar until I have a riff, or an entire structure, which I will then maybe try and create a melody around without any lyrics so I sort of sing a thousand different consonants to create the rhythm within the melody. Or I might just not use a guitar or anything and I’ll go and sit in a cafe or a pub and write lyrics or poems continuously for a few hours that it can be adapted into a slightly different format.

But it’s often a very late evening thing. It tends to kick in around about 11 o’clock or something. Really inappropriate times and go through to, like, half 6 in the morning. But you have to go with it, you know?

It’s tough at the moment because I’m so busy and I long to be away from the city right now just so I can do more of it. I feel like I get so much information in the city, I creates a mess and I can’t level it out until I disappear for a while, and then it starts to form.

With that in mind, what would you say is the theme of your new material?

Well the single is more like a small EP, or a promo to the album. There was something with the short, poppy nature of the first CD I think I had come to a point where I, I didn’t feel like I wanted to do something different, I just started doing something different. This piece of work feels a lot more solid, although half the size, I think conceptually it feels a lot tighter. It’s much more negative, I don’t think the subject matter is very pleasant. I don’t know why, it’s just how it went. It started with the last track on the single actually, “Be Careful What You Wish For”, from that I devised the concept for the whole piece. For the album, I think it will definitely have to be a large amount of wait and see. I’m looking forward to going away and recording it.

On your first EP the lyrics sounded very personal, was that just good fictional writing or were they based on your experiences?

Well they do come from personal experiences. I, not as a rule but generally, try to set them aside from myself. It’s quite important to be as universal as possible. Indulgence is a good thing, but you need to be careful and have an understanding so that you can make sure you don’t get carried away with your own rubbish that nobody cares about.

It was personal, but the first EP was a little disjointed. You know, there were lots of songs that had a different aesthetic to one another. It was more of a collection of recordings as an example for my first release that I could then take and hopefully put in to a more coherent form. Although there is an overriding theme throughout the CD, which is to do with the title of it. A kind of naive irresponsible optimism. That was the idea. Lots of people who were in situations who just decided “no I’m not going to do that anymore”, either in a positive or negative sense. That childish nature, I suppose. Pretending to be in a fairytale.

You perform and record with your band now, if I can call them that? How did that form?

I work with a few people on a regular basis who are fantastic, I’m very lucky to have them. There is Andrea Adriano from Playtime Productions who is my producer who produced this single and my last EP and he’s also my drummer. A very talented, kind of multi-instrumentalist. He’s only 20 years old but he’s produced some great CD’s for some people who are doing quite well now. I think he used to produce some of Adele‘s stuff before she took off and has done a lot of work with Charlene Soraia who’s doing very well now.

There’s also Moss Beynon Juckes who is a really good friend. I met her about five years ago. I looked up to her an awful lot even when I didn’t really know who she was. I saw her somewhere performing at an open mic night and I was so taken aback by it that I went back there a week later to see if she was there again, so I could talk to her to see if she would be interested in playing together and she wasn’t there, which was a bummer. But as it turned out, someone I was living with was on the same course as her at the time so I gave her a demo of some instrumentals I had worked out. We met up and played a little bit but it didn’t really work out. She was much further ahead of me at the time. I wasn’t sure what I was doing so we parted. Anyway, two years later I met her again and we really hit it off as I’d had a lot of time to grow artistically and so had she. We started singing, almost like a duo, at open mic nights and also at the Beatroot Rendez-vous which was something Pepe Belmonte, myself and Moss were all doing at the time which was a monthly night in Angel. It’s still going actually, that’s a really great night.

Moss gave me a lot of confidence as the music I had written was sitting really well with her, which helped me enormously. Then one of her best friends, Jo Silverston, a very sought after cellist, she started playing with me as well which was fantastic. She’s a really strong backbone to the whole thing, she’s a very strong pitch perfect cellist that will just immediately know what you’re going for. It’s amazing to have her on board. She plays with all sorts of people. Moss and Jo also have their own act called ‘Infamous Karaoke Star‘ and have an EP coming out later this year. It sounds fantastic. Anyhow, so between the four of us we have this quite, almost boisterous sound, as the cello acts as bass. So we have the drums the cello and the guitar and a whole bunch of vocals.

But of course that will change as well in the sense that I’m always looking to expand. Maybe get another guitarist, maybe someone who plays some keys.

You have some interesting artwork on your single, is that the same artist from your last EP?

It’s very different from my last EP, yes. It’s the same guy, David Callow, who is a phenomenal illustrator. Really incredible, versatile artist who I really enjoy working with. On a musical level he can talk for hours about the songs that I’m writing for a project or what the music would be like which makes it very simple for me to let him do what he wants to do. He’s done lots of commissions for all sorts of people although I don’t think he’s done any CD designs other than mine, so far. Although I don’t know for how long it will stay like that.

loss2%282%29.jpg

And you’re doing a video for this single as well?

Yeah. That will be put together by Matt Bowron, John Addis and Dan Blacker over at Tactful Cactus and that should be out in the next few weeks. It’s my first music video so that should be interesting. I’ve never done videos before, I’ve always found it tough to do music videos. I’ve had a couple of offers before and I’ve turned them down. It’s not something I’ve actively pursued because I find it very difficult to mix the two mediums. Music and film are tough to mix from a narrative point of view. I think it’s to do with the power that each medium has. I think film is very strong and music is very strong and I think you need to be very careful as to which one is intended to be more prominent than the other. If you don’t get it right you can end up destroying, or maybe that’s a strong way of putting it, but drastically affecting the listeners perception of the song you’ve put together. But what Matt and John and Dan are doing for me looks great so far. Those guys are really good at what they do and I’m looking forward to the outcome.

What are your plans for the future?

I’d like to be in a position where I am able to working on music almost exclusively. Rob Smith, my manager, has been an absolute force since September last year and he’s somebody who believes in my music as much as I do, if not more, which is exactly what I need. Next year I’d like to be on tour a couple of times and be in a position where I can be earning from what I do. Money isn’t the reason I do it, but it’ll be what I do for money. It’s what I want to do, but it won’t change depending on how much money I do or don’t have.

ianhale2.jpg

‘Loss’ is out now available for purchase at Rough Trade Online, iTunes and in selected stores.
The album ‘Successor’ is due out later this year.

Last Wednesday I missioned down to the Flea Pit, prostate on Columbia Road, dosage to see a screening of Crude, which just won the One World Media award for best international documentary. Holding faithfully to directions hastily scrawled in my notebook, ‘x’ marking the spot, I was soon chaining my bicycle to another set of railings, and getting half a lager (organic – and screening activist documentaries, this fairly buzzing bar ticked plenty boxes) in some mystification as to where a film might actually be shown in here. Exchanging cheerful admissions of cluelessness with other hopefuls, we didn’t wait long before being led through to a cool back room all set up for the action. Smoothly moving into reviewer mode, I nabbed a chair with awesome legroom just by the fire exit light : note-taking in the dark tends to leave my page more of a drunken spirograph than anything decipherable.

0624%20crude3.jpeg

Joe Berlinger, the director, is here to introduce the film – looking back to his first visit to the Amazon, he remembers a family of local people eating tuna from a steel vat. The river they’d lived off all their lives was no longer producing fish. He wishes us an appreciation of the film – wary of the word ‘enjoyment’ when it deals with the illness and hunger of thousands of people whose land has been so mistreated – when Joe himself watches it back, he finds it at once heartbreaking and inspiring.

The story of Crude manages to make three timeframes hang together : the long-term exploration, pollution and future recovery of the area; the now years-long court case; and the courtroom/boardroom/jungle drama going on as they’re filming. This is thanks mainly to the two strong main characters of Pablo Farjada and Steven Donziger, the Ecuadorean and American lawyers working together to bring a class action lawsuit (filed back in 1993) against the american oil giant Chevron, on behalf of 30 000 people whose lands and water have been recklessly contaminated for over thirty years.

0624%20crude2.jpeg

Texaco started exploring for oil there in the seventies. They merged with Chevron in 2001. PetroEcuador worked alongside Chevron/Texaco for some of that time, and since 1990, they have been the sole owner and operator of the oil industry in the area.

Sound complicated? Untangling all the legalities of responsibility is certainly complicated – the case is still dragging on today, with no near hope of completion. Morally and environmentally, though, it all seems as clear as all those abandoned waste pits aren’t : the oil industry has dumped an estimated 1 000 000 000 gallons of toxic contaminated production water and waste water in the area.

The main progress in the film comes from a perhaps unlikely angle – Trudie Styler, of Sting’s wife fame, and co-founder with her husband of the Rainforest Foundation. Stephen Donziger, the lawyer, flies across to the UK to talk to her about it and she subsequently flies down to Ecuador with him to take the ‘toxic tour’ around the contaminated sites. They fly Pablo Farjado up to the Live Earth concert on the 7th July 2007, and on the back of that as well as a Vanity Fair article in May 2007, “Jungle Law” by William Langewiesche, they stir up a good deal of media interest. But it is Trudie Styler’s commitment to the Rainforest Foundation that sees a pilot project of rainwater filtration tanks launched with UNICEF – a temporary solution, she acknowledges, but an important step for the health of the communities and the only glimpse of real movement amongst all the activity documented. Good enough, even, to almost leave aside the fantastic amount of air travel apparently considered essential to further these environmentally-concerned causes.

0624%20crude4.jpeg

After the film, the audience got the chance to ask Joe Berlinger a few questions.

Why did you decide to make this film?

Basically, to help people … not that I wasn’t shining a light on different situations in my previous films, like with Metallica (Metallica: Some Kind of Monster). Now that I see the film I think that all my films are about outsiders – Metallica fans are a pretty interesting subset of society, and Paradise Lost was about teens wrongfully convicted.

What do you feel is the legacy of this film?

Financially? It’s a disaster. Purely as a film, it’s not the most successful. But as a tool… It’s been criticised for the ‘Trudie left turn’, but out of everyone whose got involved with this issue, she’s perhaps the only one who has come along and helped, with the water filters. I avoided getting too close to the various NGOs involved. I feel it gains a lot from the objectivity, or the illusion of objectivity because of the Chevron participation. The effectiveness would have been much diminished if it could have been dismissed as just another piece of agitprop.

I appreciate the value of what Trudie Styler’s been doing, but I think I felt a collective wince as she first appeared on screen – perhaps it didn’t need the celebrity angle within the film, could that have come afterwards?

Well, it was certainly a hard fight with my editor, who wanted her out. But a sad fact of the way our society works, is that until the celebrities come down, people don’t get interested. And you can see from the film – this wasn’t just a photo-op drive-by. As I said, she’s been instrumental in the water-filter project, run by the Rainforest Foundation along with UNICEF, which is where concrete progress has been made. I mean, I think that this is the lawsuit that’s going to go on forever. Even the Exxon Valdez accident, which they admitted hands up was an accident, with no dispute as to culpability, took 17 years. And if you do the math, the amount of interest that $27 billion earns in the bank (which is the kind of compensation they’d be looking at) – it’s worth their while to throw $20 million a year at lawyers just to keep this lawsuit at bay.

What developments have there been since you finished the film?

Chevron has increased its lobbying of Congress to cut Ecuador’s trade privileges. And everyone’s waiting on a judge’s decision.

I feel moved and inspired by this film, as I’m sure many people here are and will be when they see it. What can I do?

Basically, while the lawyers argue, the people are suffering. Donate. The Rainforest Foundation are coming to the end of their pilot project of 150 or so water filters, and are looking to start a 3-5 year project. Politically, also – check out the links on the website. And I think that anybody, now – people should be aware of what companies do in their name. Most multinational corporations acting in the third world do terrible things.

0624%20crude5.jpeg

How was, or is, your relationship with the company representatives?

I took a long time before reaching out to Chevron. Partly, we were going out to a dangerous part of the world. I had to walk over a crime scene, where someone had been shot, to check into my first hotel. Going around the various sites with the plaintiff and defense attorneys, they had no clue that this would be a feature film. There were plenty of crews around, mostly from the various NGOs. When I eventually contacted Chevron, they felt that if I was to tell an objective story, why wait until now? I said, just look as my reputation – I make ambiguous films. Out of all the guys out there, you should probably be happy that it’s me making this! I was filming plaintiffs meetings, so I said straight upfront, why don’t I film some of your meetings? They didn’t like that. Eventually, I was handled by Hill and North – these ‘crisis PR’ consultants. I love that, for them, I was a ‘crisis’..

Essentially, I think that they have strong legal arguments, but it’s morally reprehensible. It was really a struggle to get them into the film in the end. I’d phone up, saying, ‘I’m locking picture in two months, a month, three weeks… okay, I’m extending my deadline but really now, this is the deadline, because Sundance need a rough cut.’ And so we eventually got the talking heads interviews you see in the film, which was much less dynamic than I had wanted, but worked well enough.

More recently, things have ratcheted up to the point where bloggers have popped up all over to say shitty things about me. And as you saw in some of the mainstream news interviews – calling Pablo [Farjada, the Ecuadorean lawyer] a conman, out to line his own pockets. I invited Chevron to Sundance for a round table discussion, but they wouldn’t sit down with the plaintiffs – I said that they were ready to sit down with you, which is far more extraordinary, but it wasn’t to be.

As a last question, do you have any advice for new filmmakers, finding funding and getting out in the world?

Well, with the current climate, it’s not good. Budgets have collapsed, foundations don’t have much money. And the democratisation of film with Digital Video is a blessing and a curse. For me, who’s used to making films with a certain level of funding and work, and now almost anyone can pick up a digital camera. I mean, it’s great, if people are going out with a camera and just pointing it at what’s happening to get the news out. But we’re going to have to figure out the new media, some way to get some money back to the filmmaker, to keep that professional standard.

0624%20crude%20spill.jpeg

Crude is being shown around the world at film festivals and the Human Rights Watch centre – check out the website for the ‘Now Playing’ list. Hopefully there’ll be a wider UK distribution sometime soon, as this testament to liberties taken is well worth the watching.

Categories ,chevron, ,crude, ,ecuador, ,film, ,oil

Similar Posts: