Vision Incision

So far so strange #1

2011-01-18T14:15:00.000-08:00

After a Christmas of procrastinating I decided I should spend my first proper day off of 2011 doing something more constructive. It wasn't raining for a change so along with my good friend Jon at Monkey Death Cult Industries, we hit the road.

Nothing too crazy, just a trip an hour down the road starting in Hythe, then onto the New Forest and Lymington to search for odd people and strange sights.

We hit jackpot first off in Hythe as we turned into the graveyard of the local church an old man called out to us telling us not to go in "the bone yard"! We bumped into him later and he started telling us about doctors putting stuff up his ass, bingo! We also saw some good ol' folks who thought they were in Native America!

As for messed up sights and sounds, that was about it, oh and Jon got a book of unsolved murders in Australia from a guy sporting the most unbelievable hair piece I've ever seen.

I was pretty blown away (as always) by the new forest and the coast line, I always find it hard to photograph nature and landscapes (something my Grandad is so great at), but I felt really inspired to shoot off a few frames to remember the day. It was a nice change to just shoot whatever I saw, instead of having to photograph something for a job.

This is hopefully the first of many day trips the two of us will take, so far, so weird!

My travel companion, Mr Pritchard.

Pretty damn beautiful.

Jon "The Wolverine" Pritchard.

Rows and rows of these old things.

Apparently these horses will take your hand off!?

Sunset on the coast.

Token creepy dolls.

Lymington is full of these things, I think they're called birds.

Live in the now redneck!

New web site!

2010-12-10T12:31:00.000-08:00

After months of tinkering I finally have a new portolio web site up at here
Please head over and take a look.

NME Photographic awards.

2010-12-10T10:57:00.000-08:00

Back in November I was honoured to be able to attend the private view of the NME Photographic awards alongside the likes of Penny Smith, Jill Furmanovsky and Dean Chalkley at the O2 Arena in London.
The reason for my attendance? I was announced the winner of the live category with a shot of Andrew WK from the chaotic gig back in may at the Den & Centro in London.
It was an amazing experience and dragged my Dad along too (evidence below!).

To read the judges comments was awesome and I got to talk with Dean Chalkley (who has since given me further pointers) for a while and sink some free brew. Seeing one of my images blown up large and framed also gave me a real buzz.

Here is the article from the magazine:

Yaaaaar! All aboard for Southsea Fest 2010.

2010-07-30T05:57:00.000-07:00

As an inhabitant of Portsmouth for the past 10 years I was extremely honoured to be approached to design a t-shirt for this years Southsea Fest. Despite the long deadline it seemed to take an age to reach the final outcome because the festival already has such a strong visual identity & I wanted to do it and myself justice.
The final design below will make it onto shirts and tote bags, it is somewhat simplistic compared to my usual style, but it suited the brief and I'm looking forward to see the merchandise. In the meantime go check out their site here

4 way split for the win!

2010-07-30T05:49:00.000-07:00

Last week I finally got round to finishing the 4 way split 7" for Specialist Subject Records which features Kelly Kemp with Bangers as her backing band, on the flip side is El Morgan with the Arteries as her backing band! A true gem of a concept. The theme was pretty loose, I was really happy with how it turned out, here is the final outcome...

Front

Back

Recent tear sheets.

2010-07-30T05:29:00.000-07:00

Everything on here seems a little design heavy as of late, so I thought upload some recent magazine work. The first was for Rock Sound, I covered an insanely intimate Andrew WK show at London's Den & Centro, which was probably the most fun I've had on a photographic assignment.
The second was for Front magazine, where I shot Rise To Remain at the Pyramids in Portsmouth, they were nice guys and some months later I bumped into frontman Austin Dickinson (yeah...Bruce from Iron Maiden is his Dad) while doing a spot of archery in the country...his Dad turned up too and was an awesome guy!

Good Luck UK tour poster.

2010-07-05T12:47:00.000-07:00

One of my favourite bands of recent times is hitting the UK this month, Good Luck from Bloomington, Indiana are heading out with two other great UK bands...Caves and Bangers. Check em out here:
www,myspace.com/wearegoodluck.

Here are a few early mock ups which didn't make the cut.

Hot Water Boys Club.

2010-06-12T05:41:00.001-07:00

Last week my good friend Mr Lloyd Chambers from the band Southport ask me to design some beer koozies for the upcoming Hot Water Music UK tour, nope its ok...we still encourage ladies to participate in punk, these were designed as a tribute to Chris Small.
Chris passed away suddenly a few years back, but made a lot of friends through punk rock and especially through the band Hot Water Music.
What better way to toast the big man himself than filling one of these with a brew, chugging it and singing along to HWM!

Strike Anywhere secret show.

2010-06-11T04:58:00.000-07:00

Every now and again something awesome comes along that makes the past months of shit and drudgery just about bearable. Last month I had the opportunity to organise a secret show for one of my favourite bands Strike Anywhere, the best part was I wasn't really able to publicise this (hence the above poster I designed) AND the venue capacity was 100!
Below are some photos I took from what turned out to be an incredible night, you can also read the write up I did for Rock Sound magazine here

This is the begining of one of many posters , there are a few more rough ideas kicking about, but I like the hippies more than the po-po.

Austin Lucas UK tour poster.

2010-04-26T11:20:00.000-07:00

This is the 2nd tour poster I've done Austin Lucas, I started out with a couple of ideas, but ended up creating a companion piece to the Ninja Gun poster (see below) as both artists are on the same label. This is the first attempt at following up the bird theme.

This was my original idea, I tried to do something a little cleaner which I'd turn into more of a letterpress/block printed looking piece, but after a few hours I wasn't really feeling it.

Ninja Gun show poster.

2010-03-14T09:07:00.000-07:00

This is hands down my favourite piece I've done recently. I love this band so I'm happy to somehow be involved in their first trip to the UK, I've taken this cut and paste style forward with the next few projects I have lined up too. Head to http://www.myspace.com/ninjagun and check their tour dates.

Rooftops CD sleeve.

2010-03-14T08:33:00.001-07:00

This week I finished up the Rooftops CD sleeve, what started out as a t shirt design developed into the sleeve of their first release. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out and I'm looking forward to see how it looks in the cardboard sleeve, there will be t-shirts too.
Check these boys out at:
www.myspace.com/rooftopslondon

Ideas for Tim Holehouse project.

2010-03-14T08:25:00.000-07:00

My prolific buddy Mr Tim Holehouse is recording another record this year, knowing him he'll probably do another ten records this year!
He's asked me to undertake the art for it and here is a view of whats to come. Keeping the work photographic but much bleaker, I'm excited about it and have been shooting more film recently.

New T-shirts.

2010-02-15T13:00:00.000-08:00

I was stoked to be asked to do shirts by two awesome UK bands, Crazy Arm & Above Them. The Above Them shirt started life as an i-Tunes single cover, when they asked to incorporate it into a shirt design I had to redo the whole design as the original (below) has been worked out on a pretty lo-res scale.

The Crazy Arm shirt is one of two. This one is for the upcoming tour with Frank Turner and incorporates their new album title "Born To Ruin" in the piano.
Here are the finished designs.

Hot skull.

2010-02-15T12:52:00.000-08:00

This is a slightly altered version to the final, which was for film maker/special effects wizard Melanie Light. Check out her work here:
http://www.myspace.com/misartressmelanie
I am fully aware of the similarities to a certain bands t-shirt, but I slaved on the hair for this thing for hours! I was asked for a skull with hair, so I happily obliged.

Tommy Comstock album photoshoot.

2010-02-02T13:31:00.001-08:00

On Sunday I was lucky enough to walk just round the corner to take some photographs, no long treks! This time it was shooting Southsea native Tommy Comstock for the inaly of his forthcoming album.
His jumper blew my mind, he played me a bunch of Billy Childish, all in all a good day considering the hangover I had.

Belligerence tiger tee.

2010-01-11T11:32:00.000-08:00

The Dawn Chorus "The Carnival Leaves Town"

2009-12-18T15:16:00.000-08:00

Just this week I finally finished the art work for the new Dawn Chorus (http://www.myspace.com/thedawnchorusuk) album "The Carnival leaves Town", this Portsmouth based band have been making waves recently and even managed to get Mr Frank Turner to add his vocals on a few tracks.
The album is due for release in February 2010, so I'll post some pics of the finished article when it is in my hands, till then here is the cover and reverse.

Leatherface update.

2009-12-08T04:53:00.000-08:00

The response to the Leatherface poster i did (see a few posts back) has been insane, had some real nice e-mails from people including Frankie and Graeme from the band saying it was the best thing they've ever had design for the band. As a result they've decided to use it for a run of upcoming t-shirts.

Needles to say I'm pretty stoked!

Nine for 2009.

2009-11-05T12:19:00.000-08:00

Although we still have a month left of the year, I thought I'd look back and try and pick out my 9 favourite photos from 2009. It was a good exercise to carry out because it made me realise how much I dropped the ball this year on my photography despite buying a beautiful new EOS 50D back in September. I guess I was wrapped up in a lot of design based work in hindsight. Most of the following photographs are all unpublished/previously not uploaded online.

1) William E Whitmore - House Show, Portsmouth.
Having seen/played with will previously it was a treat to be able to set him up with a house show on a rare day off from the tour he was on with Alela Diane. its amazing to witness such an incredibly nice guy put on such a passionate performance, needless to say the small room was packed and 95% of attendees were hammered.
The following morning we all went out for a fry up...Will left early afternoon to record a blinding performance for Jools Holland on BBC2.

2) Crocus - The Hobbit, Southampton.
There's nothing like seeing your friends destroy a room in front of 20/30 people, that's all I can say!

3) The Jesus Lizard - All Tomorrow's Parties, Minehead.
My first experience of seeing this band (I know! I know!), totally amazed/scarred shitless (for my camera), I hope I have the same energy, balls and passion as David Yow when I'm his age.
This photograph sums up the event, the bands, the people... the blackouts.

4) Baroness - The Engine Rooms, Brighton.
Anyone who has seen this band live will know just how mind blowing they are. This show was in the relatively small Engine Rooms, which was a down grade in size from their last show in Brighton, I was worried because the sound is never great, but just for one night everything came together (including William E. Whitmore getting added to the bill last minute) and has to easily be the best show of 2009.

5) Victms - The Grovesnor, London.
Last year I was lucky enough to meet new guitarist Gaz (far right) when I headed out on a tour taking photos for, that his old band were on. To learn he joined Victims was exciting but not half as exciting as this show. Old schools punks flying through the air, hardcore kids looking frightened to get to the front...all in all an incredible gig.

6) Blakfish - The joiners, Southampton.
This is an outtake for a Rock Sound shoot, I was unimpressed with the poor turn out but more than impressed with the way Blakfish partied like they were in a Prince video, no expense spared with the pyrotechnics!

7) Your Smiling Now But Soon We'll All Turn Into Demons - The Fat Fox, Portsmouth
Seeing friends who've been playing music together for over ten years can be a frustrating and depressing vision, for the demons it it is definitely the first of the two. Why this band isn't huge I don't know? This was the night of their album launch and I felt so proud watching them carved through the heaviest and most psychedelic set I'd seen them play. Incredible!

8) Invasion - The Fat Fox, Portsmouth.
I'd been excited about seeing Invasion for a while, they'd pulled out of a previous show and this time they were playing the Demons launch party. I wasn't disappointed, imagine a stripped down Black Sabbath playing super short songs with Tina Turner on vocals.

9) Shaped By Fate - Offset Festival, Hainault Forrest.
There's nothing weirder than sticking a hardcore/noise tent slap bang in the middle of an indie/dance festival in a forest just outside London. So when Wales' Shaped By fate took to the stage and literally tore it down, it seemed a fitting performance. Moments after this was taken the barrier was smashed down, more security arrived and general mayhem ensued, goodnight!

Leatherface fan!

2009-11-05T11:37:00.001-08:00

So, I love the band Leatherface, a lot! I spent a good while working on a poster for one of their rare Southern shows. To begin with I was going to designtwo posters (for individual shows) that would join up to create one large landscape based around the themes that often come up in Leatherface songs.

However it didn't really work out and I just ended up doing poster for the Cambridge show, which is posted below. Underneath is the original working which I think I prefer, but it wasn't working out for the single image.

It was fun to do anyway and I just listened to a bunch of classic UK punk rock albums while doing it!

Soundtrack:

Leatherface - Mush
Annalise - Here's to hope
Chopper - Did you hear that?
Snuff - Long ball to no one EP

ADD 4 way split 7"!

2009-10-21T09:42:00.000-07:00

This was something I did a while back but have only just got round to photographing the vinyl.
I was stoked to be part of this as I love all four bands on this split! There is a track each from Pretty Boy Thorson, Used Kids, The Tim Version and Ninja Gun, word is it has pretty much sold out.

Pressing info: First pressing - 500
(14 deep purple 24 navy 29 sky blue 40 violet 73 blue 83 black 86 gray 151 dark gray)

Everything We Left Behind CD artwork

2009-10-07T08:39:00.000-07:00

This is the first CD sleeve I've worked on since the Above Them album, only been a few months but I forget what a ball ache it is! I've already started on the Dawn Chorus album too, so hopefully the transition should eb a bit smoother! This project was led by the band who had a pretty strong idea of wwhat they were after, thought it turned out ok.

Rejected t-shirt design....

In The City poster

2009-10-07T08:31:00.000-07:00

I recently designed the poster for Rock Sounds showcase at this months 'In The City' in Manchester. This image started life as an Attack! Vipers! t-shirt but was quickly rounded up into its present form due to time contraints.

Amazing Baby for FRONT magazine, outtakes...

2009-06-15T12:40:00.000-07:00

A few unused photos from the Amazing Baby shoot for Front Magazine along with the finished article below.

Mutiny On The Bounty Poster.

2009-05-27T11:08:00.000-07:00

Yet another Wedgewood Rooms poster! I was struggling with ideas for this...I was trying to avoid total cliches, one afternoon it came to me and I worked through it, even skipping my much loved dinner. I'm pretty stoked with how it came out, despite having 78 layers!

Above Them "Blueprint for a better time" CD art work.

2009-05-06T09:43:00.001-07:00

After months of cut a pasting, drawing, stamping text and digital construction...its finally done. Feels like its been going on for an eternity, so posting it up here is closure! Here is the back and cover.

This was an add on piece which was done fairly quickly as a cover for their I-Tunes sing.
And here are some rough cuts/work in progress pieces.

Brontide gig poster.

2009-04-22T07:48:00.000-07:00

Whoever invented the laptop is a genius, its been great sitting out in the garden in the sun working on the below poster. Whoever invented neighbours and reggae covers of Louis Armstrong songs isn't so great, but I managed to dig out some headphones and drown them out.

This was created with the assistance of:
Trap Them - Seizures in Barren Praise.
Suicide Note - Empty Rooms.
Obits - I blame you.
Zak Riles -s/t

Baroness storm Brighton (again).

2009-04-15T04:50:00.000-07:00

Last night I was lucky enough to see the mighty Baroness for the third time, they never cease to amaze me, the ringing in my ears and shattering pain in my neck is a testament to this! Here are a few shots from the night.

Joey Nightmare band photos,

2009-04-06T14:20:00.000-07:00

Two of about 250 photos taken during the shoot of the video for their new single "Sunshowers", lots more on the way.

Tupolev Ghost Poster & Photos.

2009-04-06T14:00:00.000-07:00

I forgot to put this poster up, so I though I'd chuck it up along with a few photos from the night. A band well worth witnessing live!

The Shakings Hand -s/t

2009-03-04T07:51:00.000-08:00

Although it felt like I did this months ago, reviews of this record have only just strated cropping up...so yes, its out! This is one of the toughest things I've had to do, started somewhen back in June 2008 (maybe later) and unfortunately for Bryon at Kiss Of Death & Dave at A.D.D. some personal stuff really set me back and I decided to become a professional drunk for 6 months.
Thankfully they kept the faith and waited for me to finish the sleeve.

It feels like a landmark piece, because since finishing it I have finally got myself together (all the work below has been done since the begining of January) and am throwing myself into the work.

The vinyl sleeve came out a little different to how I expected, Bryon at Kiss Of Death screen printed them, so I guess he was limited on colours/detail, however I'm still pleased with it, the CD version is looking sweet also. The 12" has to be the sickest looking piece of wax I've seen in ages.

Nice.

Tim Holehouse - To the Howls At Midnight.

2009-02-20T17:13:00.000-08:00

So yeah it probably has been two years in the works (at least in my mind). I'll post some photos up of the physical packaging when its done. The cardboard sleeve is being screenprinted and it has a window which the booklet will show through, the owner of the record will be able to choose which image is visible.
The green/blue photograph was taken in the summer 2007 in Turkey while the black and red was taken in the winter 2008 outside of my old flat. Looking forward to seeing the finished item so I can finally move on!

To add to the whole package, there is going to be a sweet "Howls" t-shirt to go along with the release.

This was created with the assistance of:
Helms Alee - Night Terrors
Jenny Hoyston & William E Whitmore - Hallways Of Allways
Angelic Process - Sigh

Tim Holehouse Album art work outtakes.

2009-02-20T16:38:00.001-08:00

I've been randomly doing work towards this release for what feels like forever, now the album is due for release so I thought I'd throw up some of the pieces that didn't cut it before I post up the finished item.
All of these images were shot in turkey in 2007, the mountain piece actually consisted of about 15 images crudely stitched together to create an epic panoramic, maybe it's something I'll revisit?
The swirls on the bottom images were a mock up, I intended to hand draw the or do something with loose threads.

Abstract seascapes 1-3

2009-02-16T04:54:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I headed back to the Isle of Wight for the weekend, here are a few shots I took while experimenting with abstract landscapes. The point where these were taken is the where a guy i went to school with drowned, the sun was really low in the sky and the whole atmosphere was pretty intense. Nothing like looking to the sea for inspiration.

2009-02-16T04:40:00.000-08:00

Attack! Vipers! / Lavotchkin split 7" - Work in progress.

2009-02-08T05:43:00.000-08:00

I've started work on the layout and design for the above release, I spent an evening hand stamping text which is going to make up the bulk of the wording. Image wise Damarakthedestroyer has supplied these sweet fighting birds, so I have plenty of source material to produce something good. I'm going to keep track of the progress on here.

I've got a rough idea of how I want everything laid out, but I've been toying with colour schemes, I'm thinking more the middle images, keeping everything based around the circle, aaaarrrrrrgh!

And So I Watch You From Afar poster.

2009-02-08T05:38:00.000-08:00

Another day off another poster, this is for another show in Portsmouth, I've tried to keep some of the elements the same as the first poster for this venue (see below) to try and keep a runnign theme of sorts.

Southport Photos.

2009-02-02T05:54:00.000-08:00

Last night despite the snow Southport hit Portsmouth to play a great show, featuring ex members of Snuff & Blocko these chaps are a treat. Lloyd and Dec ended up trapped at servies on the A3 due to snow, last time I checked at 8am this morning they were still there.

They asked me to do some band shots, they wanted to use soem of the odd props scattered around the pub basement, here's my favourite..

Gaslight Anthem pre-show shindig.

2009-01-23T05:31:00.001-08:00

Me and Mr Tom Hussey are spinning some tunes before the Gaslight Anthem in Portsmouth, I just knocked this up to advertise it.

The last thoughts of the old me...

2009-01-14T09:46:00.000-08:00

So its 2009, and what better way to kick things off than with a new blog! I've been getting fed up with Myspace & Facebook (although I'll continue to upload my work there), so I intend to make this more of an official site documenting not only my art work and photography but my travels and musical outputs.

I haven't had the ability to carry out any art work dude to computer problems but now I'm back up and running. My first piece of the year is a shirt for Northern Irelands Cut The Reins, I'm stoked with how it came out, now I need to get on it with other work thats building up in the pipeline!

This creating was aided by:
I Hate Myself - Discography
Grade - Under The Radar
Earth- The Bees Made Honey In the Lions Skull
Bon Iver - Bloodbank