1 - How did Napalm Death approach you concerning artwork? Did they have something
specific in mind or did they allow you to be creative?

Well I've known Napalm in their various guises for years. We used to gig together in the old days, I think I first met the band in 86 or something although I don't think any members are the same now. I'd known Barney from when he was just someone on the scene in Birmingham and then when he joined Napalm he already knew about my artwork from the stuff I'd done for my own band (Deviated Instinct), so when they needed some new T-shirt designs in 1990 he called me up. It's just gone from there really, the first piece of cover art I did for them was the Mass Appeal Madness e.p, I've probably done 6 or 7 covers for them now plus numerous T-shirt designs. Generally speaking they are very specific in what they want, to be honest they're a tricky bunch to work for, they all seem to have different ideas of how they want a design to look and it's almost impossible to get inside their heads and totally understand where they're coming from. I probably did about 10 versions for their last album before they were finally happy with it, but they're a good bunch and I'm always chuffed to do stuff for them, they've got my art out to a really wide audience and I've got a lot of other jobs purely for having done artwork for Napalm Death.

2 - Was being an illustrator your first choice?

When I was at school I never had any career aspirations of any kind, I was just a sullen, confused punk rocker who didn't particularly fit in anywhere. My art was about the only thing I really enjoyed although I never really had the confidence in my own ability and never really believed I could make anything out of it. But now, all these years later it is pretty much my whole life and I certainly can't imagine doing anything else. As much as I enjoy it it's certainly not an easy option though and I'm certainly never gonna get rich out of this, but who needs money anyway ?…..(cough, splutter…)

3 - What is the common response you receive for works such as Medulla?

To be honest I don't really think I've had much of a response of any kind from stuff like that, certainly not from that particular cover anyway. Obviously I get the occasional cool e-mail and stuff from people who just like my work which is nice, but in general unfortunately my work doesn't seem to spark any great reactions in people. Some of my larger, personal pieces that I show in exhibitions get more of a reaction from the general public. I had a large sculptural piece in an exhibition in the Gardens of this big Stately home for a few months. It was 3 large steel structures with these reconstructed sheep's skulls and bones in them, bound up with wax, canvas and nails. The organisation who owned the land, the National trust, received some mail saying that the work was offensive and 'Satanic', ha ha. Plus I had some work in the window of a local gallery a few months ago and apparently some people took exception to it and tried to kick the windows in.

4 - Describe your art studio/workshop.

Well, I work half from home and half from my studio. I do almost all the illustration stuff and digital work for album covers etc here at home where I have all my computer set up and all my reference material, photographs etc. All my larger stuff I do at my studio, this is part of a local organisation called 'Warehouse Artists Studios' which is a building with studios for 30 artists in it, it's a co-operative so everyone has an active role in running the whole place, also it's cool to be working amongst a group of like minded yet diverse people. I just have my own space full of tools, paints, and …mess. I can just shut myself away and make stuff…it's great.

5 - Do you listen to any type of music while drawing?

Yeah, ALWAYS…I Iisten to music 24-7, well I would if sleeping didn't get in the way. I have a wide taste and just listen to stuff depending on what mood I'm in, or what I'm working on. If I'm in full flow than I'll happily blast out some crazy fucked up hardcore, metal, punk or whatnot. But if I'm having to really concentrate or am having a mental block it'll probably be something less intrusive like Godspeed you Black Emperor, or even some modern classical stuff like Michael Nyman etc. This very minute I'm listening to the DOWNER album.

6 - With the invention of programs such as Adobe Photoshop, do you think
technology has made art less meaningful?

I don't know, possibly, it's a tricky one. I guess to an extent it's made it more accessible which of course isn't a bad thing. But I've noticed it's become easier for people who don't really have much talent to sort of make 'Dark art by numbers', there's a glut of fairly mediocre stuff about. But the really great stuff still shines out and to be honest it just gives me added incentive to try and move forward and keep my work fresh. Things develop and evolve, when Photography was first invented a lot of people said that 'Painting is dead', but obviously that proved completely wrong, the same with this latest technological revolution, people will just find new ways to use and abuse it, art will be carried with it, it's meaning might change but I don't think it will diminish.

7 - What projects are you working on for the rest of 2001?

I don't really have any major projects planned, I just work on stuff as it comes along. At the moment I'm doing some stuff for a London based Hardcore band called 50 CALIBER, then hopefully I'm doing something for San Francisco Ambient noise artist GRUNTSPLATTER. I'm constantly working on my own stuff, I have various different things in the fire that I can't really describe here.
I'm also getting back into making some noise, my band BAIT has just got a new drummer so hopefully I can get back into some regular gigging and stuff which should be a lot of fun.

*Non-work related questions-

8 - What 3 things do you want to accomplish before you get too old?

Fuck, I dunno. Bareback ride a hippo, make a life sized replica of the Taj Mahal out of Jelly and discover the meaning of life.
Then again, to be honest I'd just be content to just get out and see some of the world. I haven't done half as much travelling as I'd like. I really want to get out and about around Europe more, there's some wonderful cities I'd love to visit, and I wouldn't mind getting across to the U.S and Canada at some point. This would bring me to a second point, that being I'd actually like to fly…as in on a plane. Yeah, it's crazy, I'm in my 30's and I've never set foot on a plane, not that I have a phobia or anything just that I've never had the opportunity. Oh and I'd like to finally learn to swim as well, that'd be cool, ha ha.

9 - What do you think of our jackass president?

Oh my god, scary, scary, SCARY. I don't pretend to know a great deal (or anything infact ) about American politics, but it doesn't take a great political mind to realise what a fuckwit that guy is. But it's frightening to know what kind of power he now holds…cold war days are comin' again. I would say rather you than me, but it makes little difference, the U.S being such a superpower it affects us all and he'll probably end up taking the whole planet with him when he finally loses the plot. It's not good…not good at all.

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