improving millbank tshirt design

Playing Tiki's Bar in Geneva

Playing my new song to some deeply uninterested people in Tiki's Bar, Geneva, Switzerland. I am, however, wearing some particularly snazzy trousers.

I think the lyrics will change before I record it but this is what I sing at the moment.

On her t-shirt was a slogan, it read "never rain forever"

and it cut me up that she could be so brave

and i appreciate how quickly, everything can change

to love, forgive and not leave it a day.

And ohh what we shared.

And oohhh what we lost.

I found him by the back door chipping plaster off the wall

He said he was too sad to come and play

So I told him it was ok, to feel sad sometimes

And come and make the most of boxing day

But theres only so much you can do and say.

And ohh what we shared.

And ohh what we lost.

So when the sun rises tomorrow who knows if things will be the same

So i'm gunna go out dancing yeh i'll dance all night again

I'm sick of feeling scared and I regret all that we lost

But I won't give up on living just because

No I wont give up on living just

I wont give up on living just

I wont give up on living just because.

And ohh what we shared

And ohh what we lost

And ohh what we shared

And ohh what we lost.

Tour Sketchbook Pages

Europe Tour Photos

I took these from the van whilst on tour in Europe back in early March. I'm particularly interested in the ones where a person is reflected in the window, it makes me wonder about other dimensions, other spaces and other possibilities.

I like the colours across these photos as a set, created by the low sun and tinted window.

http://savegoldsmiths.tumblr.com/

reflections

"There is a secret world concealed within this one" - Expect Resistance.

"A Pound for the Sound" on Wired Radio

www.wiredradio.co.uk

every saturday, 1pm. except not next saturday because we'll all be tearing shit up in central.

last shows playlist:

Ini Kamoze - Out In The Street They Call It Murder

something pleasant to get things started, joe's choice, and what a mighty fine choice.

Jake And The Jellyfish - Same Old, Same Old

http://www.facebook.com/Jakeandthejellyfish?sk=app_178091127385

Check out Jakes stuff here. He's a mate of mine and Joe's from the shire and will be touring with us in april. Really like this lovely singalongable new track. I like the way he references wider cultural things like Dylan and Friends and then personal experiences making it really easy to relate to. It has special significance for me and joe i guess because we know the places and people he's singing about. And I get credit for turning up at nearly every show! "I play gigs mostly to my friends and in the end i can say its mostly been ren" - GET IN. haha. Thats one of the best thing about the DIY acoustic scene though - how personal it is. And this tune sums that up perfectly. Why would you want to listen to the bollocks mainstream banal crap we're fed when you can hear your mate singing about stuff you care about?! its a no brainer for me. in the words of the legend that is Franky T - "so tear down the stars now and take up your guitars, and come on folks and try this at ho-o-ome." We'll be playing alot more from Jake and will hopefully have him in for a live session next term.

The Pogues - Dirty Old Town

Well, it was St Paddy's day on Thursday so its pretty much law to wack out some irish influenced tuneage. The Pogues are an obvious choice, and this tracks a classic.

Capdown -Cousin Cleotis

Because we're so bloody excited about Capdown playing the underworld on the 9th of April!

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=181276175225898&ref=ts

As you can tell from the name of the radio show we're massive Capdown fans. I've only seen them twice before, and went to great lengths to nab the setlist from the bristol date of their exit tour - what a bloody FAN. I first saw King Blues (who remain one of my all time favourite bands) supporting Capdown down Cardiff Barfly. That was back when we had to beg our parents to drive us to shows and got away with smoking a joint inside. Good times! This tune starts with the sickest sax line and as with pretty much all their other tunes radiates the most insanely infectious energy so even the most pretentious twat stood at the back protecting their perfectly coiffed mohawk couldn't not have a boogie.

Chief - Exposures.

http://www.myspace.com/chiefuk

Chief will be supporting Capdown at the Underworld show alongside Dirty Revolution, Clay Pigeon and Skets. Me and Joe first saw Chief last summer at the Rebellion warm up show. Joe was describing what he wanted his next band to sound like then moments later Chief came on and played exactly the sound that he'd just described. Beautiful moment.

Imperial Leisure - King of Kings

Joe's choice. Always good for a bounce around.

Crappy Stuff - Bad Jokes

http://www.myspace.com/wehavecrappystuff

My mate Crappy Fab's band. Me and Mike have toured with Fab playing solo a few times but I only encountered his band the other week when we played with them at a show in Reigner, France and I thought they were bloody FABulous! I really like the dissonant start to this track especially the bit where the vocals first kick in. Crappy Stuff have just finished a week tour of the UK finishing off last night just down the road at the Birds Nest in Deptford. They were put on criminally early because so many acts played! Next time they're over we'll try and sort them a headline show somewhere round here because they proper deserve it.

Drones - Thursday's A Full Moon

http://www.myspace.com/dronesuk

The first track off of The Drones 3 track EP "Assassins of Youth". Saw these guys play down at The Scream Lounge in Croydon supporting Crappy Stuff and Alt Track on Thursday and was dead impressed. They also played at the Birds Nest last night contributing to a beautiful line up [including Stand Out Riot who we will definitely be playing on the next show!] I've got the EP playing right now on repeat, 3 tracks is not enough! Pure infectious punk - I reckon these Guildford based lads are definitely one to watch.

Apologies I Have None - 100 Club

http://aihn.blogspot.com/

I am utterly obsessed with this band. I saw them when it was just Josh and Dan playing at my mates 21st a couple of years ago (Lisa, if you're reading this A COUPLE OF BLOODY YEARS AGO!!) and got a copy of their free EP, "Done". Since then i've had my beady eye on them as they've gone from strength to strength. Every track is a bloody anthem. They sum up everything I love about this scene.

"when they say this is on its last legs im lost for words

you'd have lit up the fucking city, if you could tap the energy

and i will never understand, i will never understand,

how can this be dying when we're still alive?"

All the artwork on their merch is incredible. Its one of the reasons that they're the only band who's online shop i've ever gone onto and bought every single item on there. Its done by a girl called Ema http://emiloumakes.co.uk/ . I particularly like the owl :)

Dandelion Snow - The Grand Scheme Of Things

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2_23xbK6Gk&feature=player_embedded

http://dandelionsnow.com/media/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dandelion-Snow/50884810259

Roger's playing in my Kitchen later :) I came across this lovely chap in Geneva some time last week and him and his friend Travis have been touring around all over the place, joining Crappy Stuff for a UK tour this past week. The Grand Scheme of Things is the title track off the album and describes Roger's various experiences travelling all over the place. Lovely, foot stomping, passionate acoustic music.

*will finish this post later. need food!

fight club end scene

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkUaV9GZDuk&feature=related

one of the greatest film scenes of all time. incredible sound track. amazing concept and visually stunning.. for me sublime.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Joe-York/196663583686375?v=app_178091127385

Joe York's solo music page. Did some harmonies for him last night for Dictated Democracy. Check him out because I think he's flippin lovely.

t-shirts, tattoos (?), and ep covers

This is my latest tshirt design!!! Modelled beautifully by Joe York. Handscreen printed, will have mens and womens sizes. I'm going to make a big cartel site but feel free to email me if you want to order one of these (or a vagina tshirt - see earlier blog post - im still selling them) at knottygirl_gotmessy@hotmail.co.uk.

i'm pondering getting this as a tattoo. found the image in Expect Resistance which is a really awesome book. it has a mixture of info, essays, stories and stuff all on anti-capitalist activism. i think No Borders also use this image sometimes.. anyway, got Arthur to draw it on me in pen so i could have a looksie and i think its a winner.

Back cover for the Jake and the Jellyfish EP. my days i do love tippex.

stuff i couldn't post on t'internet whilst on bail because im a paranoid idiot

Scribblin' from google images. this sketchbook page became the basis of a new song and a new tshirt design.

Wrote this song not long after the whole Millbank thing. I still firmly believe that everything that happened there needed to. 2 million people marched against the Iraq war but the government ignored it. We march time and time again and they simply don't listen. The anti cuts cause would not have received any where near as much publicity as it did had tory HQ not been smashed up. To begin with, yes the publicity was negative, but I think anyone with half a braincell can recognise that anger and frustration at a selfish, out of touch, ignorant government is what fuelled our anger. And as for violence?! HAHAHAHA. A government that wages illegal war overseas and cuts benefits to those most in need within its own country has no right to accuse anyone else of "violence"... i could rant about this for some time. Anyway here's a crappy video of me playing this new song in my room. excuse my rhythmically challengedness and twattish facial expressions i pull when i sing..

You speak, of violence and mindless hate

well i ask, what constitutes our state

present to me, another fucking way

or unveil, a lack of democracy..

If you take me down

I'll spit in your face

You can tell the whole world

I'm a disgrace

But if you take me down

I'll spit in your face

You can tell the whole world

I'm a disgrace

Two million, voices ignored

The waging of illegal war

Peaceful, protest is dead

What did you expect?

What did you expect?

What did you expect?

If you take me down

I'll spit in your face

You can tell the whole world

I'm a disgrace

Well if you take me down

I'll spit in your face

You can tell the whole world..

much better.

http://www.facebook.com/Jakeandthejellyfish

check out Jake and the Jellyfish on facebook.

Did the text in tippex and pen onto a print out then scanned it in. simples.

Making Jake's E.P. Cover

Well, he said he wanted something quite "in your face".. not sure about the text. just did it quickly on paint because i was feeling too lazy to go to the library and use the printers ect..

might try it as a drawing. think it would look cool all illustratey in black pen. with lots of wiggly bits. but its more funny this way.

pleasant change from just a picture of some random fit girl huh

night buses, painting and things

I heard in a lecture the other day about this Liam Gillick piece that involved vodka and glitter all over the floor of the gallery. The thing I found really cool about this was that the glitter would stick to people wandering around the installation, and, as glitter does, stay stuck to them for days. So this element of the installation constantly left the gallery with different people, spreading the art piece to wherever they went - infiltrating their everyday!!!

I find this a useful concept as I often think that one of the limitations of my work is that, even when it does work and invite people to question stuff ect, at the end of the day they just go home and wack the telly on and forget. With Gillicks piece, people would be reminded in the most subtle way of the piece a few days later by just the teeniest little bit of glitter still stuck to them.

I find the same problem with demos. Its all really exciting and everyone starts feeling really empowered but then (probably after being kettled for a good few hours grrrr) you just go home again, feeling tired and a bit pooped. and obviously no-one pays any remote attention to the demo, such is "democracy"! So at the next big demo, i think we should all take loads of glitter. Then the glitter can act as a physical manifestation of the empowerment and exchange of ideas that takes place at such events. I'm not saying it would make a massive difference, but it wouldn't hurt to try...

Whilst having my morning wee the other day i noticed this teeensy piece of loo paper on the floor. it looks like a tiny swan in the middle of a big lake. it made my morning wee much more exciting.

I seriously have got to start drawing more!

So i'm going to take this old A to Z out when im exploring. And just draw :) Hopefully free-up my ideas a bit.

I'm completely fascinated by travelling at night, especially on buses - double decker, sitting at the front. I like the way the lights outside mingle with the reflection and create whole new dimensions all moving in different directions. These are just some (slightly crap) sketchbook pages about it. I'm hoping the more I paint and draw and get my head round how best to represent the different dimensions the better I'll get and hopefully I'll make a few little paintings as well as some more exciting stuff I'm pondering..

I'm thinking about making a stop motion animation using masking tape on the window next time im in a car and theres lots of cars going past on the other side of the motor way. traffic sex.

thinking about stencilled stop motion on big bus windows.
Influenced by the John Stezaker exhibition on at Whitechappel gallery at the moment, I want to explore ways of using simply cut paper to create the feeling of windows/ alternative dimensions in various contexts.

bloody. love. the night bus.

convenor

in my convenor i presented a single ice coin hung by a noose from a hook in the ceiling. i also presented a new tshirt ive made, photos and video footage of the coin up hilly fields and the video clip in a previous blog about light flashing when your eyes are shut... probably a bit much for 25 mins. definitely need to be more selective next time.

the convenor was pretty constructive. i've got a hell of a lot of stuff to figure out.

ice coin up hilly fields

epic epic fail at posting in this daily! i blame watching rasta mouse on iplayer most nights for distracting me.

These are some images of my ice coin up at hilly fields. i went back to the casting workshop and made the mould deeper. i intended just to take pictures of it but it span in the wind so i now have loads of video footage that i really need to sort out. having a crappy camera actually turned out quite good in this case, i really like these images.

Been having a few problems with the coin but this is how it came out on the second attempt. I think I need to make a deeper but thinner mould for it.. still looks good though!

Printed the first one of a new batch of tshirts this morning!! but accidentally did it the wrong way round.. will wack all that up once its printed properly on a nice tshirt

I'm really excited about it!!!

Made my ice coin cast today by pouring hot rubber over the clay coin. just plopped it in the freezer now (it only just fitted.. phew) so hopefully tomorrow i can see what one side of my ice coin will look like! im worried i haven't made it deep enough but guess i'll just have to wait and see.

Went to listen to Mark Leckey speak at C.A.T. talk earlier. He had some really interesting ideas about the role of video as a form of non conceptual and non linguistic form of communication - purely sensational. He showed us a few other artists videos including Laure Prouvost who i might be a little bit obsessed with.. It was really helpful in getting my head around video stuff though, as I collected nearly 3hrs of footage on tour over the last couple of weeks, just based on what i naturally found interesting, and now i have a better idea of what i want to do with it.

This is one of the clips i took on tour with my snazzy new flip cam. It represents what its like when you shut your eyes in the car and the sun flashes between trees as you drive past..

I'm interested in the contrast between solitary and shared experience, particularly in terms of writing and performing music and the process of touring. I chose to use film to explore this as watching a film is normally a shared experience, though through the internet this is changing even more - so my medium reflects what im pondering. Love a bit of self referentiality as well..

my new mish is to try and post something in this blog every day. mainly to prove to myself that ive actually achieved something... might be drawings, something im making, a new song, a video.. something!

so today i made this

tomorrow I'm coating it in hot rubber to basically make a giant ice coin mould. the plan is to freeze it with a noose inside so it can be hung from a tree.

there's a hill with trees on that you can see the city and canary warf from, so i think im going to hang five or six ice coins up there and take photos with the city in the back ground.

it also kind of relates in my head to a song im trying and failing to write at the mo.. yeh the chocolate coins were really yummy :)