1 - So Mid, how old are you and how did you happen upon this punk H/C stuff ?
I'm 30 years young, I bought my first punk rawk record in 1979 and made myself a lovely fetching pair of bondage trousers out of a pair of my mums old white flared jeans. I sewed yellow zips on them and made bondage straps out of felt and curtain hooks, Hmmmmm, lovely, this with my T-shirt with iron-on Sid Vicious transfer and green anorak with a bike chain safety pinned on it. I realise that most mere mortals can only dream of looking so cool. I was just too young to know what was going on with the initial punk thing but got into it following all the publicity after Sid died. There were all these ridiculous rumours going about at school about how the Sex Pistols used to play with razor blades tied to their guitars and would cut up live pigs while playing, in-between being sick and pissing on each other, to my tender 12 year old ears this seemed like highly commendable behaviour and a sight better than all the other dross about at the time.
2 - When did Deviated Instinct officially break up ? When did you first start ? Anything you'd like to have done with D.I that you didn't do ? You guys created the term "CRUST", do you regret this as the way the media latched on calling travellers etc crusties ?
Deviated Instinct played their final gig on Oct 91 with Godflesh and Fudge Tunnel, we'd planned to split up after the gig so it was good to go out on a high. We played our first gig in 1984 so I think 7 years was long enough to blight the world with our shambolic din, still it was mostly a blast, especially the first 3 or 4 years. I guess there's plenty we could have done that we didn't like…err..releasing a half decent sounding record, but what the heck, it's punk…it's meant to be shoddy. Through the band I met zillions ace people, got hellishly drunk in every corner of the country, buggered about all over Europe, wore wellington boots with pride (yeah we all remember them - Mel) , what more could a man want ? I've no regrets. It would have been good to play America I suppose because long after everyone over here was mindlessly bored with us the yanks kept besieging our mailbox and seemed mad for it.
Regarding the thing about "CRUST", I dunno if we created the term, it was just a word that was thrown about by all the filthy drunky punky bands at the time, we just took it on board because it was a good word to growl at each other when you're rolling about on the floor, same with the 'Stench-core' thing, it was just a joke as there were so many 'core's' going about at the time. But people took it all so seriously and it became like another faction thing, when people started rubbing margarine on their trousers to get em' all shiny and were soaking their t-shirts in old teabags and burying them in the garden to get that "crusty, sweat soaked filth look", we just thought…"outa here !!" (I remember reading in zines at the time about the margarine, but the teabags one is a first, what bloody wanker - Mel) I thought it was dead funny how the media got hold of it. I remember some article in the independent, when they went "undercover" with some crusties in Bath and it said something like "Deviated Instincts song 'Terminal filth stench-core' became an anthem to crusties" or something stupid,…Laugh ? Ye gads, I ate my bird table. Crust means bugger all to me.
3 - When did Spine Wrench come into being ? As you are a two piece do you play live ?
We came about shortly after D.I split, early 92 I think. We were originally a three piece with Charlie (old D.I drummer) on the pots and pans. We did record a split album with SIN (ex - Nausea and Born Against) with that line up but there were all kinds of problems and it didn't finally come out till about till about 2 years later. The packaging is shit and we didn't get a single copy, any money or anything. It was almost impossible to find as well so I doubt if anyone got it. Anyway when Charlie left me and Jarrod just carried on with a drum machine because there weren't any other drummers about. (I'd actually rather play with humans, but I'm just a sad git with no friends….only machines) We played lots of gigs as a two piece which were mostly cool, but sometimes if it was only a tiddly P.A it was a hassle, there've been times when there's been no monitors and we couldn't hear the machine at all so we just had to follow the little flashing tempo light. It did begin to piss me off though, you obviously don't get the same feel as with a proper drummer and there's no room for improvisation, it's so regimented. We have actually ceased to be now, for various reasons it wasn't fun anymore so we called it a day. I've still heaps of records to flog though so send me your yaks.
4 - When did you first get interested in drawing ?
Can't remember, I've been scribbling away as long as I can remember, it's all I really liked doing at school, it's just always been there. I'm just too much of a lazy arse to do anything useful with my life…so I draw silly pictures instead.
5 - Your artwork in D.I was geared more in the fantasy direction compared to now. Would you like to comment on this ?
No…Bugger off !
Actually, it was just what I was into at the time, lots of comic art from stuff like 2000 AD and various fantasy artists, I guess there was quite a lot of record cover art like that about as well with the early thrash metal bands and stuff. It was just very accessible, but things move on, influences change, I don't really look at any of that kind of stuff now, it makes me cringe. But it was probably right for the time.
6 - Who was the Lord of the Rings fan that put the samples on your demo ?
What samples ? I didn't know there were any ? It's all lost in the mists of time. I used to read lots of fantasy books, and I did read Lords of the Rings a couple of times about 10 years ago so anything like that was probably me…what a big fucking jessie (No way man, Lord of the Rings is amazing and I've read it a few times and I'm going to read it again - Mel)
7 - What are your top ten record covers art-wise. How does the actual music compare to the artwork ?
Fuck, that's a hard one..errr, off hand I really don't know. Here's a few that spring to mind in no particular order.
Crass -The Feeding of the 5000
I think this was my first taste of Crass and they totally changed my life, as they did a zillion other punkeroos. The amazing collage collage and airbrush (I think) cover art by G is just incredible, plus of course the pioneering design that Crass records used is still being copied almost 20 years later. It was such a total 'thing'…the artwork, poster, literature, music…inspirational and mind-blowing.V/A - Cleanse the Bacteria
I had to include one PUSHEAD cover because of the huge influence he's had on so much punk art. I haven't actually got this record anymore. I lived in this squalid bedsit house in 86 and some fuckwit junkie broke into my room and stole a load of my records (including this one) to sell. But I remember thinking it was cool..I think it had some green on it…and some toothbrushes? It was an excellent compilation as well. Actually one of my fave Pushead pieces was a guy on a bone crucifix being shot at that was on an old Rattus flyer.Celtic Frost - To Mega Therion
For several years this record was like a religious icon to me, they were the gods of heaviosity..and for that they could be forgiven wearing stupid leather outfits and eye make-up. The cover is a painting by the Swiss surrealist H.R. Giger that completely compliments the music, not many bands could have really got away with using his art. (You're right there Mid, look at the Dead Kennedys with the poster that came with the Frankenchrist l.p - Mel)Die Kreuzen - Die Kreuzen
These are one of my all time fave bands, they always stuck to their own thing and were completely outside any dumb category. I could have picked any of their albums, all of their cover art was done by Richard Kohl and like the music it has it's own strange identity and changes quite a lot from record to record. Hard to describe really, but that's why I like it.
My Dying Bride -As the Flower Withers
Well I bought this record purely for the Dave Mckean cover art and free poster, unfortunately the music lets it down by being a pile of turgid shite…oh well. This was one of the first covers I saw of his, he's now ultra trendy and has done zillions of covers (nearly all for shite bands) I must admit his artwork has been an influence on me over the past few years. The mixture of found objects, photography, painting, photocopy manipulation etc, etc I think he does most of his stuff on computers now. His output is mind-blowing though, endless book covers, record covers, graphic novels, tarot cards, donkeys anus's…well maybe not.Icons of Filth - Onward Christian soldiers.
I can't recall the actual guys name (it's a person called Squeal I think - Mel) who did their illustrations, but they were a big influence on me, and countless other pen scribblers no doubt. The scratchy pen and ink work was spot on, I guess in the same breath I could mention Nick Lant who did all the Subhumans covers. You could tell how influential they were by the number of leather jackets with their designs painted on.Rudimentary Peni - Death Church
Mad as fuck, just like the actual music. It just summed up the whole aura that surrounded this amazing and bizarre band. The art is often nothing more than meandering doodles, but drawn with such crazed intensity. You find yourself studying it for hours looking for little hidden faces and figures and stuff. That Nick Blinko eh?…What a card.Swans - Soundtracks for the Blind
This is their latest, and last album. They're also one of my all time fave raves. The cover on this goes full circle back to the feel of the first few albums 15 years ago. Very minimal and direct. It's simply a silver circle printed onto a plain brown cardboard sleeve.I like the uncluttered look of these kind of design, plus the material of the actual sleeve. Tortoise and Shellac have also recently done similar things. A few years back Swans were using a painter named Deryk Thomas on their covers. His art was very disturbing, bright coloured paintings of child like white rabbits in little sailor suits, quite naively drawn. Then corrupted with very violent, sexual imagery, knives, decapitations and all kinds of oddness. It's hard to describe, but again to fit in with the music and lyrical content of the records.Err, that's only eight, but I can't think of any more at the moment, besides I'm waffling a load of bollox, so I'll shut up.
8 - Who are your favourite artists/illustrators inside and out side the hc/punk scene ?
To my great shame I really don't know of any particular artists within the h/c scene at the moment..so excuse me while I nail my scrotum to a fast moving kitchen utensil in penance. There's zillions of arty farty artists who's work I really like but I'm not going to mention any as they're mostly unknown outside of the snobby 'art world' , it pisses me off how inexcessable most art is, stuck in poxy private galleries for idiot yuppies to dribble over. There's lots of good stuff out there, you've just got to scratch away the first ten layers of pretentious bullshit to get at it.
9 - Is there anyone you feel overrated or underrated ?
Going back to Pushead, I'm disappointed, considering how long he's been around that his artwork has hardly moved on at all. How much longer can he draw the same pointy teethed skulls in that same way ? It's great that he's got such a strong style but I would have thought he'd want to push it more than he has. But I guess people he does work for want what they know so he's stuck with it. Some of the T-shirt designs he's done for metallica are so bad… but I suppose it pays the bills. Bleeeurghhh.
10 - I first noticed your colour work on Napalm Deaths 'Utopia Banished' l.p. Which medium do you prefer to work with. Did it take long to do that actual painting ?
I can't remember how long it took…a long while. I did that and the cover for Napalms 'The world keeps turning' 12" at the same time, and what with the initial sketches and stuff I was working solid all day for a few weeks I think. Actually ND asked me to do another painting in that style with similar ideas last year, a sort of 'Utopia 2', it took me fuckin' months and is probably the most detailed painting I've ever done. I sold it to them earlier in the year and they had it stolen about 2 days later, before they'd even had it photographed…whoops. I don't really mind what medium I work in but that full colour painting stuff is really slow and fiddly…I don't actually like it and never do stuff like that for myself, but it seems to be the style a lot of bands want. Stuff I've got around the house that I do for myself is absolutely nothing like any of that, people would be surprised.
11 - What other bands have you been working with these days. What is your favourite piece you've done ?
Err, fuck…let me think. Some of the bands I've done either covers or T-shirt designs for include Massacre, Discordance Axis, Gorefest, Extreme Noise Terror, Hellchild, Bad Religion, Cluster Bomb Unit, Crowbar, Optimum Wound Profile and others I can't think of at the moment. As for a favourite piece, I dunno.. a lot of the stuff even though I've been happy with it I wouldn't actually like on any of my own records. I suppose I still quite like the stuff I did for the second Optimum Wound Profile l.p mainly because they just said "Do something fucked up" and left it totally to me (that very rarely happens), so I did some mad collage stuff. It's a whole package as I did the front and back cover., plus I photographed all the band and did some twisted portraits of each of them for the inside cover. I quite like the first Napalm cover I did 'Mass Appeal Madness', plus the 'Hung' 7" . Also I really like the painting I did for the peel sessions 'Hardcore Holocaust 2' album, but the record company spoiled it by putting horrible red sausage writing right across the front…yuk.
12 - Is there anything you wouldn't draw or anyone you wouldn't do artwork for ?
Well there's the obvious racist..blah, blah..etc. Y'know the score. I certainly don't need to like bands music to do (but it helps) I'm not keen on some of the stuff I've done before, but if they're cool folk it suits me. I've not had to turn anyone done yet, but who knows.
13 - Right, you have to do a piece of artwork, where do you get your ideas ? Take us through from the actual thinking process to the finished piece.
A lot of the album pieces I've done, the band will start off by giving me some indications as to what they want, either with a very rough thumbnail sketch, a list of ideas or some lyrics and titles to work from. Quite often I'm given the cheesiest ideas and I have to try to make something half decent that I feel I can work from it. I've got loads of stuff I take ideas from, I take zillions of photographs of all kinds of shit, just things I notice, plus I've heaps of scrapbooks of pictures from magazines, newspapers etc, piles of stuff, boxes of junk, bits of rusty metal, all kinds of animal bones, skulls and stuff lying about. So I do a big brainstorm on all that, do a heap of really rough sketches, then when I've some sort of basic idea I'll do some more detailed drawings and stuff, I've a huge heap of sketchbooks full of ideas. If there's time I'll send them to the band, adjustments are made, etc, etc…then I get on with the final thing. Only to send it to the band and them go "Oh..err, it's not really what we wanted…" A lot of the time though I'm just dealing with music biz people who don't really know what they want except they wanted it yesterday. I've often had to work right through the night to get stuff done for deadlines because I've been given about 3 days to do an album cover.
14 - You're doing an art course and have done a few in your time. How do these course help you as a person and as an artist ?
I'm now doing a full time degree in Visual Studies, I'm just chuffed to be off the dole, now they've brought in this new Job seekers allowance I didn't fancy the hassle that'd bring, although I'm actually a lot worse off now. I'm just a terminal student, maybe I should change my name to Tarquin. I enjoy the working atmosphere of working with lots of different people from different backgrounds and stuff. I've learnt far more from other people on the course than I ever could from any actual teaching that goes on. It just opens you're your mind to a lot of stuff you never would have even considered. The punk and hardcore scene is so insular and in some ways it'' easy to bury your head from any other influences. I get the same creative kick out of doing my artwork as I do with making music, it comes from the same source, and doing courses like gives me more freedom to express myself outside of the cosy little punk world.
15 - What bands are you rocking out to these days ? Are there any bands in Norwich ? Any zines or whatever in that area ?
Yeesh, I don't know…I listen to music 24 hours a day and am always finding great new bands that still get me excited as ever. I've a fairly open mind and listen to lots of shit from right across the musical spectrum. In hardcore land though I love rippin' stuff like Stalingrad, Carol, Gasp, The Gaia..etc, etc, etc plus lots of emo noodlings like Blue Tip, Bob Tilton, The Crwonhate Ruin. And I still constantly listen to old faves like Poison Idea, Born Against and Rorschach…I could go on and on. Norwich is somewhat of a hardcore tundra these days, unless there's a little secret scene that nobody's telling me about. There's a few old school 80's style punk as fuck bands here, which is fine but really my cuppa charlie. Been there and bought the bison..where's something new ? Of course we've got those cuddly Goober Patrol choir boys whose collective children I am having at this very minute, but they're too busy conquering the world and it's goat to be around here these days.
16 - Any thoughts on the popularity of h/c punk these days ?
It's all a conspiracy. Offspring are really insurance men from Satan's sweaty knee crevice, and just when they've got the kids brainwashed and where they want them they'll sell them all mountains of double glazing and we shall all be doomed. Then again..how many people got into punk from seeing the Sex Pistols on Top of the pops, same when the Exploited were on years later, it happens in waves. Bands sell out, kids get into and then through this scratch beneath the surface…and lo…the sacred underground. Otherwise punk would be so inbred and just full of an ever decreasing number of self-righteous ageing fucks like me, anyway, if it wasn't for Green Day what else would people moan about ?
17 - In your long-time involvement in h/c punk, how do you feel it has changed since you first got into it compared to now ?
Fuck, that's a tricky one. In many ways it's still fundamentally the same, which isn't too good, it doesn't seem to have changed with the world around it, and more recently is like a fish swallowing it's own tail. All MRR seems obsessed with is some kind of formula, to be punk you have to fit in with some kind of pre-formed sound and attitude, generally established sometime in the mid-70's or 80's hardcore blast. The idea of punk being new, fresh, breaking down barriers seems non existent. Anyone trying anything outside of these guideline is either ignored for simply being un-punk or classed as arty bollox. It's very safe, and there's no edge..but then, what the fuck am I doing ?
I find it hard for me to comment, as in a way I feel like I'm outside looking in at the moment, I'm not in an active band for the first time in about 10 years or so, there's little or no H/C life here in Norwich, and due to college, family commitments I haven't travelled about for ages. It's weird there's a whole crop of great new UK bands out there who I've never seen live. But saying all that, I've still got great faith, I write to loads of wonderful positive people, there's still endless great zines, distros, bands plus countless persons unknown out there still involved in direct action and stuff. All in all it's still the only alternative to the mundane shit they call normality. Then again….maybe it's just a phase. I'll grow out of it.
18 - Do you read much ? What are you reading now and what's the most inspiring author you've come across ?
I read all the time, I can't afford many books so I raid the city library for any gems I may find. The book I'm reading at the moment is called FISHBOY by Mark Richard, a very strange, dark and bizarre tale it is too. I like all kinds of stuff from classic gothic horror like Lovecraft through to the brutal sleaze of Dennis Cooper (just don't read it when you're eating). Even though he's been pumped up with a bicycle pump and he wears silly shorts I find Henry Rollins stuff really inspiring, also Michael Gira. I like publications like Rapid Eye and Purr that give you a good taste of lots of 'out there' authors. Also zines constantly remain one of the most inspiring things to read, I can't get enough of them, in many ways they are the lifeblood of the world-wide scene.
19 - What can we hope for in the future from you ?
Fuck knows, I've no plans as such for anything, just see what comes along. Artwise I'd like to be able to bring in more of the twisted stuff I'm doing these days into record covers and stuff, there's too much of a divide between the two at the moment. I'd really like to do some illustrations to go with some writing, so if there's anyone out there writing any fucked up stuff, bizarre fiction who'd be interested in some kind of collaboration drop me a line. Musically I'm a bit redundant at the moment, I'd like to get a new band together, but Norwich seems devoid of similarly musically minded wasters like me. I might just do something on my own with all these bloody machines, I've a head bursting with ideas and stuff, I dunno…who cares ?
20 - Any advise to any budding young artists out there ?
Eat your greens and don't piss in the dark, other than that, just stick to it. There's no right or wrong way to draw or whatever, just go for it. As long as you're honest about what you do, there can be a lot of pretentious bullshitters about. People whon look at a picture say "That doesn't look like a person, it's just a mess" are comibg from the the same closed minded corner as those who first heard Discharge and said "That's not music..it's just fuckin' noise". Ye gods what words of wisdomI do spout, slap me about the head roughly with a large wet haddock before I get carried away.
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