General Blackblood head by System

Frustrated by the price of the 3A toys’ 1/6th replica of the ABC Warriors’ Mongrel last year (see above left) Jason McFee aka System decided to build his own set of robots, well, starting with the heads at least. His first choice was General Blackblood, notorious traitor turned good guy (later to turn traitor again – keep up) in the on-going saga of the meknificant seven in 2000ad. Still with me? Well if you aren’t it’s far too complicated to explain but I’ll let some of the images from Jason’s site do the talking. Very impressive version of a difficult design – looking forward to the other six.

Posted in Comics, Robots. | 5 Comments |

2000ad 35th birthday issue

Dropped through the letterbox this morning, a bit of a time warp going on, two special ‘What If?’ stories with Colin Wilson back on Rogue Trooper in classic fashion and Henry Flint (him again) on The Visible Man. This issue comes with two cover variants, one by Chris Weston and one by Mike McMahon – I got the Weston one and a giant poster of it sans cover copy too.

Posted in Comics. | 1 Comment |

Kraftwerk in NYC past and present

Most Kraftwerk fans will have heard about their residency at New York’s MOMA this coming April. For those fortunate enough to go, there is unfortunately a 2 ticket/show limit.

Hitler took this particularly badly

This incredible photo popped up on Facebook today, the caption reads: “Kraftwerk at the Ritz. 1981. I was the Dj at this show. Amazing. I invited Afrika Bambaataa to the show. The rest is history.” Photo by Laura Levine who has taken photos of pretty much anyone who is anyone in music

Posted in Kraftwerk. | 5 Comments |

Trevor Jackson presents Metal Dance on Strut

Strut release a 2xCD and 2xLP compilation of 80’s electronic oddities and rarities curated by Trevor Jackson. As ever, he doesn’t go straight for the obvious but we get a unique compilation with a lot of less familiar names or lesser known tracks from the bands you have heard of. The CDs boast 25 tracks with the double vinyl showcasing half of these. The album launch party includes a live performance by 23 Skidoo and a DJ set from Trevor at Electrowerks on March 24th. Check out a little sampling of tracks on his Soundcloud and an interview about the compilation below.

[youtube width=”640″ height=”380″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcEMyNeKpQg&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

Posted in Gigs, Music. | No Comments |

Resonance FM radio fundraiser week

After my guest appearance on Jonny Trunk’s OST show on Saturday I should point out that Resonance 104.4 FM‘s annual on-air fundraiser is running now, right up until midnight on Sunday 19th February. They’ll have auctions of unique and wondrous items, special live events, celebrity guests, spontaneous competitions and much more. I will be donating the last remaining postcard record from the recent exhibition to Jonny’s co-host, Robin the Fog, for his fundraising show on Saturday 18th Feb at the regular OST time of 4.30-6.30pm GMT. I’ll also be donating a one of a kind DJ Food 12″ splatter vinyl controller record from the same show and Jonny will have an unreleased Basil Kirchin soundtrack to ‘The Shuttered Room’, which is one of only 29 copies made, up for auction too.

If you love Resonance 104.4 FM and shows such as OST, please support them via a donation, pledge, bequest, gift or purchase from their shop. The alternative – for the station to take regular on-air advertising – is something they’d all prefer not to contemplate. But Resonance urgently need funds to continue its work. Visit resonancefm.com to make a donation of any size or to view their list of auction items. Also, if you’re an artist and want to donate an object for them to auction then please get in touch with Robin.

Posted in Radio. | 1 Comment |

From the heart

 

 

 

 

I recently received back into my possession, several old scrapbooks from when I was aged between 11 and 15. Some of these consist entirely of cuttings about Adam & The Ants but that’s a story for a future blog. Whilst going through these I found this, written by Adam Ant back in 1980 for a teenage magazine. Seems apt to post it today, more to come in the coming months…

Posted in Art, Event. | No Comments |

Sigue Sigue Sputnik – ‘History Will Prove Us Right’

[youtube width=”640″ height=”480″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-emKstoheQ0[/youtube]

In a weird bout of synchronicity, King Cannibal posted, “Dear music industry. I bet It’s kinda embarrassing that Sigue Sigue Sputnik guessed it right.” on Twitter, late on Friday night. Being a SSS fan, I replied, asking him to elaborate, “the whole bit about the music not being important. Global branding, advert space on albums. Looking like Gaga”, he said. Mark Emsley from ireallylovemusic chimed in with a timely reminder of their, “history will prove us right”, catchphrase which sometimes adorned their adverts.

I have to admit, he’s got a point, and then tonight, Thrift Shopxl posts an obscure B-side of theirs on Facebook and this: “Check out what Degville says in this Japanese interview from 1986 about the brand and how it’s about the stuff around the music – it’s like a blueprint for today’s label deals:” and the video above. Like everyone else at the time, I thought they were just having a laugh, and they probably were, just playing the pop game and seeing what would happen. But what Degville’s saying, (and he was only towing Tony James‘ line), is eerily prescient and looking at the fashion sense of a lot of K Pop bands you wonder if they were influenced by Sputnik along the way, although this is probably more to do with SSS’s wholesale theft of many Japanese manga elements for their look in the first place.

Posted in Film, Music. | No Comments |

Only 3 more days to catch the Pure Evil exhibition

That’s right, it’s all coming down, Monday 13th Wednesday 15th * extended for 2 more days* so if you want to see original Henry Flint artwork for my album, original 2000ad comic art for Judge Dredd, Nemesis, Deadlock and the like, original drawings from Henry’s book ‘Broadcast’ (on sale as a cheap price too), buy limited signed prints or just marvel at some nice pics of me in a spacesuit – best get along there before it closes on Sunday night. It’s at The Pure Evil Gallery, 108 Leonard St. London, open 10-6 Friday /Saturday, 11-6 Sunday – free entry.

If you can’t make it, here’s an audio tour and some pictures, courtesy of Strongroom Alive.

Posted in Art, Comics, DJ Food, Ninja Tune, Openmind designs, Poster / flyer. | 1 Comment |

‘The Search Engine’ iTunes digital booklet cock up

It’s been bought to my attention that the download of my new album from iTunes in N. America, Latin America and European stores had the wrong booklet bundled with it. This has now been rectified but existing customers can download the booklet from here or the downloads page as iTunes cannot rectify this for past customers. A few other places to buy the album from:

Google Music (USA only): /  Amazon MP3 (USA only): /  Bleep: /  Boomkat: /  Beatport:

Posted in DJ Food, Ninja Tune, Openmind designs. | No Comments |

Brendan McCarthy commission

This stunning commission piece is by Brendan McCarthy (my track ‘The Illectrik Hoax’ is a nod to one of his first published strips from the 70’s). This was done for a friend of mine, David Rees, and features some of the McCarthy-created characters from the Strange Days comic which appeared for 3 issues back in the 80’s. See the initial pencil prelim below and note that Martin Atchitson from the book ‘Skin’ has made an appearance in the final version.

Posted in Art, Comics. | No Comments |

Mixmaster Morris needs your help

It’s arguable whether I would be where I am today without the help of Mixmaster Morris. You can have all the talent in the world but if you don’t have the connections to give you that foot in the door then you can fall through the cracks. Morris gave me that connection back in the early 90’s by putting me in touch with Matt Black, and as a result, Ninja Tune. He came and played at parties I held for free, gave advice, information and mixtapes of new music that I couldn’t afford to buy as a student. I have treasured memories of sessions round his flat in Camberwell, where he still lives today, listening to track after track of new and old electronic music which Morris would seamlessly mix together in his living room as he chatted (and those who know him know he likes to talk). I was a complete novice in a lot of this at the time, still finding my feet after exposure to The Orb, The Shamen, KLF, early Solid Steel shows and Colin’s Dale and Favor on KISS FM. At the end of the mix, Morris would take a cassette from his machine – he’d been recording all along – and give it to me to take home. This was the real underground stuff, the music that didn’t get written about or get near the charts but is now acknowledged as seminal.

He didn’t have to do any of this, he was busy with his own career, but he did and now he needs help as he’s faced with bailiffs and a £2,500 tax bill that needs to be paid now. Please see if you can spare anything if this man’s music and DJ sets have ever blessed you ears, you can send donations via paypal to [email protected]. The world of electronic music would be a worse off place without his relentless championing of new artists, many a time I saw him relentlessly feed information to journalists who would then go and write about said artists and make the rest of the world aware of them. His knowledge of Krautrock, Prog Rock and New Wave electronica was also extensive and he was the first person to rave about Can, Harmonia, Neu, Faust and Gong to me, long before they became fashionable names to drop and the subject of whole magazine articles. Sun Ra was also another name he dropped and Morris was the first person to play me Ken Nordine as he had a Best of Word Jazz CD, and we know where that led… This was all pre-internet when word of mouth was important, people like Aphex Twin, B12, Carl Craig, The Black Dog, Psychik Warriors of Gaia, Pete Namlook and his Fax label, Luke Vibert, As One, Reload/Global Communication… all of them I heard of from Morris before I’d seen their names in print anywhere.

(top: Morris invited me to play at his Nubient night at the Big Chill Bar in 2010, right: with Stevie Chick at the Ninja Tune 20th anniversary book launch.)
Here is side A of the first mixtape he did for me, this blew my 22 year old mind at the time as it opened up a new world of music, I’ll post side B later.

and here’s side B

Posted in Music. | 2 Comments |

Sale on in the 2000ad shop

Furthermore to the flurry of February posts to mark 2000ad‘s 35th birthday I’d like to highlight the current sale they have on in their online store. Some of the graphic novels on sale are minor classics and the prices are bordering on scandalous some are so low. Below is a personal guide to a few favourites should you feel like dipping your toe into the deep pool of the comic’s past.

The Complete Nemesis vols. 1 & 2. One of the very best characters ever (and one of the best villains too) with Kevin O’Neill‘s amazing art on the first few books and Pat Mills keeping you on your toes with the plot. Only £8 each.

Two books in the Alan Moore canon usually overlooked by the media when writing about him: D.R. & Quinch is madcap space comedy at its best with beautiful artwork by Alan Davis. Skizz riffs off the E.T. phenomenon but brings it into Birmingham and does away with the cuteness. £6 and £4 respectively.

Robo Hunter – Verdus, the first of many series’ starring Sam Slade, a Philip Marlowe-esque private investigator on a planet full of crazed robots with Ian Gibson‘s incredible artwork rendering every rivet. Only £4. The V.C.s is future war with a cast of great characters told through the eyes of a rookie addition to the squad. Only £6.


Jamie Hewlett and Pete Milligan’s bizarro tale, Hewligan’s Haircut in graphic novel form and robot-loving, torturer for hire Lobster Random are both great if you like your comedy left of field. £8.99 for Hewligan and only £4 for Lobster.

It wouldn’t be a post about 2000ad without mentioning Henry Flint would it? Shakara is one of THE best stories in recent years, the first 3 books are collected in The Avenger with another 2 yet to be compiled – amazing art and a plot that keeps you guessing from Robbie Morrison. Only £7.

Zombo is Al Ewing and Henry’s dark outer space zombie comedy with each series upping the weird factor. Sadly not in the sale at £10.99

Also not in the sale but well worth your time and money: Easily one of the best spin offs from Judge Dredd‘s world in recent memory, the Insurrection series’ deals with a breakaway team of Judges who declare independence for the worlds they’ve colonised with the aid of robots and apes, and have to deal with the full force of Mega City 1’s SJS squad as a result. More future war with a battle of the wits by Dan Abnett and Colin MacNeil. £13.99

Back in print again: The Complete Nemesis vol.3 – This is the final few books in the 10 book series with the amazing John Hicklenton on 2, Clint Langley and that man Flint on 1 each and the final episode by Kevin O’Neill himself. Not cheap at £19.99 but worth it.

And finally if you want to know more about the history of the comic, including all the highs AND lows, there’s no better book than Thrill Power Overload by ex-editor Dave Bishop, and at £12 it’s a steal. You might also be needing something to sip your tea out of while you get down to reading all of this – how about a mug with a classic wraparound Dredd cover by Mike McMahon?

Posted in Comics. | 6 Comments |