Not your usual ‘mix’ from Black Channels (that features the talents of Simon James aka The Simonsound). Very scary poltergeist-themed collage of eerie electronics and recordings of supernatural sightings. Listen until the end for the title reference.
(Quick disclaimer to avoid confusion: ‘Future Shock’ – the documentary about 2000AD – is completely unconnected to my own ‘Future Shock’ DJ mix sets. This is a happy coincidence but both stem, in part, from the short one-off tales in the comic called…‘Future Shocks’. I can see that it might get confusing as I’m now interviewing the director but it’s a small world and great minds think alike and all that. With that cleared up, let’s get to the interview which I conducted for the Front Row Reviews website.
I run into Paul Goodwin – director of ‘Future Shock! The story of 2000AD’ – outside the green room where I’m due to interview him at the BFI. We’ve never met but I recognised him from the many photos he’s posted on the Future Shock documentary blog, enviably posing with various legendary comic creators, looking like a kid in a sweet shop. Like any nerds of a similar age with a common love of a subject it’s easy to break the ice and I’m eager to find out what drove him and producers Sean Hogan and Helen Mullane to make a documentary about the Galaxy’s Greatest comic, the wonderful weekly dose of Thrill Power that is 2000AD.
(Paul with legendary artist Brian Bolland and producer Helen Mullane)
What made you think 2000AD was a good subject for a documentary, what sparked the idea?
Paul Goodwin: Like all good things it started in the pub! Sean and I go way back and we’d been talking about working together on a serious project for a while. We were both 2000AD fans in our wayward youth and I just said, you know, it’s crazy that someone hadn’t done this yet, and it’d be something that I’d drop everything to go and see! Sean immediately said he’d help make it happen if he could. He suggested bringing Helen on board and once we hooked up and Helen agreed to co-produce it became a real thing.
How old are you and when did you start reading 2000AD?
I’m 40. I picked up the odd random prog in the late 70’s when I was really young (for those of you not familiar with 2000AD ‘speak’ – prog = program i.e. issue). There was a huge choice of British comics at that time, but I never saved those or anything. Years later, the first stuff I actually remember reading was the Judge Child Quest, which a school friend showed to me. I specifically remember Fink & Mean Machine from the Angel gang, and trying to understand why Dredd had such enormous boots!
I just chewed up all the old progs like immediately, the Titan volumes and those Eagle collections (80’s reprints of older strips collected together before the term ‘graphic novel’ had even been invented), mostly bought from Forbidden Planet on Denmark Street or the little shop up Paradise Alley, remember that guy?.
Alas that was before my time, I lived outside of London and would come up at weekends but I definitely went to the Denmark St Forbidden Planet and remember the cramped little space before it moved.
Progs were like 20p or something. Then I started buying it weekly from prog 500, which was the first jump-on prog that came my way. So my era of buying it regularly featured the John Hicklenton Nemesis, ‘Oz’ (Judge Dredd story involving skysurfer Marlon Shakespear aka Chopper), Bad Company and Slaine the King, stuff like that.
Real golden era stuff 
Basically I think there’s a real lack of decent behind the scenes material for the comics world, and I had always felt that 2000AD had inspired so many and influenced so much over the years that I really felt that the comic needed to be recognised for its impact. So that’s what we did, hopefully..!
Are the others involved in the production (Sean, Helen etc.) big 2000AD / comics fans too or did you have to bring them up to speed?
Yup, we’re all 2000AD readers, Squaxx I guess you’d say (more 2000AD speak – ‘friends of Tharg, the comic’s alien editor). Naturally we’ve all read the classic ‘golden era’ strips, but the variation in our ages meant we had all read it ‘full time’ at different points. So actually there’s quite a fun spread of our favourite characters and strips. This is very much a passion project for all of us.
Were 2000AD on board from the start and did they help with contacts or were you completely independent?
We are completely independent of Rebellion, who own the comic today. We did, however go and meet Matt Smith (current editor) and Jason Kingsley (owner of Rebellion) before we had shot a frame, it was crucial that we had their blessing to use their artwork, otherwise this would’ve been a very difficult story to tell. Like one of those shitty music docs about Zeppelin or whatever and they can’t play any of the band’s actual music! So Matt & Jason were very cool, laid back about the whole thing and thankfully gave us their blessing – further to that, Matt has really helped us out by sourcing high res artwork of some of the more tricky to get hold of stuff. Plus of course they appear in the doc!
How did you plan to fit 37 years into 105 minutes?
Ha ha yeah, that’s a funny question. Well, I figured there’s the basic chronological story of the creation of the comic, then I wrote questions that I thought would make interesting discussions and then it kind of expanded outwards from there. From the outset we knew it was vital to get an interview with Pat Mills in the can (veteran writer who helped start the comic and still writes for it today) – no Pat, no doc. Thankfully Pat is a real gentleman, he welcomed us into his home for an entire day and gave us so much fantastic material that we left there knowing we had the spine of a very cool story! So then we chose creators that best represented the various eras of the comic and proceeded to tour the country, the world in fact, sitting down and chatting with some of the world’s finest comic book talent. It’s been a pure joy to be honest. And we do actually have almost 37 years of footage backed up for special features!
Was there anyone who you couldn’t get or who refused to be filmed that you felt would have given a unique perspective on the comic?
Yes, it’s a shame that Alan Moore is not involved, being one of the most celebrated of 2000AD’s creators. We asked, and he politely declined to be interviewed, so that was that. It seems that Alan, along with a few other people would rather discuss their current projects, which I completely understand and accept. It’s a shame that some voices are missing from the conversation but in my opinion the documentary itself doesn’t suffer for it too badly.
What did you think of the new Dredd movie and do you think that it helped interest in the project?
I enjoyed Dredd very much! I love the way they resisted having Dredd deliver some James Bond shitty line after he pushes Ma Ma off the ledge and instead just says “yeah”. That felt very 2000AD. And I think what’s great about it is that no matter how you judge a film’s success, what you’re left with there is a cool, hard little film that will last forever to engage & inspire people long into the future.
As far as helping us in the production of ‘Future Shock‘, the film has now become an important chapter in the 2000AD story, so we have covered it as such. It seems that right now there are a fair few 2000AD projects being discussed, a potential Dredd sequel is always in the news, not least the celebrated period the comic itself is having and doing well in the US now, as well as our film so yeah I think it’s a good time to be involved in it all. It feels good, like there’s a real buzz around 2000AD right now!
Will there be some sort of DVD or Blu-Ray with extras that didn’t fit in at some point?
I hope so! There was a 3hr40 work print at one stage of the edit! We interviewed over 40 people for the doc ranging from 30 mins to a few hours each. There is TONS of stuff man, and if I was a fan waiting for this doc to be released, I’d want to see all those interviews too! We are looking for distributors right now so I hope that we can get all that stuff out to the hardcore fans one day.
So finally, some fun, personal questions for you: who are your favourite writer / artist / characters from the comic? You can choose more than one if it’s too hard a choice
Agh! That’s a killer…
As a writer surely John Wagner‘s contribution to the world of comics is second to none. The sheer amount of crazy ideas, sci-fi prescience, comedy and deep political satire in Dredd alone represents a staggeringly high quality body of work. Also I personally think that Peter Milligan is one of the most underrated comic writers, it was a joy to interview him.
I agree, Wagner’s high turnover and hit rate are incredible and few can write Dredd’s dialogue like he can, something I think they got pretty spot on in the film version.
Artist? Hm, I’d probably say Steve Dillon drew my favourite Dredd, with that crazy jawline! I love artists that can communicate story with very few lines, and for me Cam Kennedy & Mike McMahon are masters of that kind of simplicity.
As for the strips, I really love Slaine for a couple of reasons: firstly because I used to skip over it before I realised how fantastic it was! I couldn’t get with the whole Conan thing or the magic or any of that stuff at all and then I actually read one, and it was brilliant, and of course I had to go back and raid my own back issues because they were so addictive! I love Pat’s crazy battle cursing, “I’ll bathe my axe in your blood” and all that stuff. And of course Mike McMahon‘s art on the ‘Sky Chariots’ story is breathtaking – that one page with the ships in formation and the eagle bringing a fish to the nest in the foreground. Genius.
But, Nemesis the Warlock is the one that has remained my favourite over the years. Totally unique, I have never read or seen anything like it. Pat Mills is just letting it all go with that book. It’s brutal and disgusting, epic, violent, funny and just fucking cool all at the same time. All the artists that drew Nemesis over the years needed to have such a bizarre unique style to make it work, but of them all I do think that Kevin O’Neill is one of the most important comic artists of all time. The designs for the characters and that world of Termight are unbelievable, where does it all come from?! Just brilliant, brilliant stuff. Credo!
I agree on that one too, there’s no one like Kevin out there and Pat has created so many memorable characters over the years as well as helping start the comic obviously. Well, I’m really looking forward to the premiere and, as a fan of the comic for 35+ years it’s clear that it’s in absolutely safe hands here.
Review of the UK premiere
I saw the film last night (after having refused a preview before the interview above as I didn’t want to spoil the occasion) and all I can say is that my suspicions were correct, Paul and his team were absolutely the people for the job. They managed to fit a huge number of creators and history into the film and yet cover a lot of ground in a very entertaining way.
Pat Mills is the binding element which, along with John Wagner and Alan Grant, is how it should be being that they where there at the start and are still writing for the comic today. The comics industry in the UK in the 70’s is covered and the scene set, the troubles that beset them all gone into, the ‘dark years’ of the 90’s and the saving of the publication when Rebellion stepped in to buy them are touched on too. They don’t pull punches and it definitely isn’t all a love-fest, the original Dredd movie is given short thrift as are the copyists who have ripped off characters wholesale.
One of the highlights of the film is Mills railing against ex-editor Dave Bishop, who readily admits his failures in a smart bit of tit for tat editing. There are many glimpses behind the scenes of what went on, how rights were bandied about with little renumeration and creators seen as just grist for the mill. All this is wrapped up in glorious artwork to remind you of exactly why the comic is such a British institution and the rock and synth-heavy soundtrack is perfect to underscore the whole thing. A few creators are conspicuous by their absence – Alan Moore refused to speak (no surprise there) as did Mike McMahon and, despite several instances of their artwork there was little mention of Ian Gibson, Ron Smith, Simon Bisley, Massimo Belardinelli, Brett Ewins or Steve Dillion.
But considering they had to fit three and a half decades into 1hr 45 minutes they did a wonderful job and the abiding message that came across is that 2000AD is a very British institution that once kicked against the status quo and has now become a part of popular culture. Tellingly Mills reveals that the nearest role model at the time was the French anthology Metal Hurlant and that he has always been loath to see the comic as a stepping stone to America. The Q&A afterwards with director Paul, producers Sean and Helen alongside Mills and Kevin O’Neill was further illuminating and I left happy that the legacy of the comic had been faithfully and entertainingly laid out for both fans and newbies alike.
The next showing is at the Leeds Thought Bubble Festival on November 15th where they’ll have a Q&A afterwards too. Follow their Future Shock blog here.
Another perfect DJ setting, playing Afro Futurist beats and electronics at the Watershed before a screening of Sun Ra‘s ‘Space Is The Place’ film last week. Sitting down, accompanied by visuals manned by DJ Cheeba and Tom from Lumen which had been also been mapped across the roof above. No dancing, just punters sitting, drinking and taking it all in and a great applause at the end. Thanks to everyone who came down – more gigs like this please. (Photos by Gareth O’Neill, DJ Cheeba, Ross Chester and Maddy Probst)
…and here’s a great poster for the Afro Futurist season that starts in November that I shot at the BFI in London the more before the gig.
A couple of weekends ago DK and I travelled to Madrid and played what might be the perfect template for all DJ sets in the future. Four deck AV set at 8.15-9.45pm to a receptive crowd on the top floor of the amazing Espacio Arts Centre. Pack up by 10pm, drop bags at hotel and go to a bar for beer and tapas, then go to a great seafood restaurant and be in bed by 1am. Get a good nights sleep and make it to breakfast at a normal hour. They don’t often happen like that…
Lovely poster, designed by Matt Needle, for the showing of ‘Slient Running’ at the Eden Project in Cornwall which happened yesterday. See Pete Thorton‘s review over on Front Row Reviews for more of what went down.
Another great op-art .gif by Bill Tavis.
Here’s the 3hr all-star electronica mix I contributed to as part of Terminal Radio 22 – curated by Nmesh – and featuring FSOLDigital (aka Yage / Brian Dougans with an “Electric Brainstorm 10: Micro Edition”), Mixmaster Morris, Neotropic, Youth, Akkya, LMS and Surface 10. There’s a long 5 minute intro before the mixes start and my section starts around the 1:12:45 mark
Brian Eno‘s 90’s solo albums tend to get overlooked in the light of his 70’s and 80’s output even though his star was truly back on the map by the early 90’s due to the resurgence in Ambient music he helped pioneer. Typically whilst everyone else was looking back Eno had moved on and was looking forward, releasing (or not) a mixed bag alongside producing the likes of U2, James, curating interactive apps and installations and remixing Massive Attack.
He reissues ‘Nerve Net’, ‘The Shutov Assembly’, ‘Neroli‘ and ‘The Drop’ on December 1st – all expanded into 2 disc editions. Each comes in deluxe casebound packaging and contains the original album on the first disc alongside a second disc of unheard or rare music from his archives.
Arguably the strongest release is ‘Nerve Net’, a mixed bag that anticipated Trip Hop on certain tracks and contains some of his finest rhythmic works since ‘My Life In The Bush of Ghosts’. Most interesting of all though is that the 2nd CD contains the first release of the ‘lost’ album, ‘My Squelchy Life’, an earlier version that was aborted at the time.
‘The Shutov Assembly’ features a whole album of unreleased recordings from the same period and ‘Neroli’ – a concept album based around perfume – includes an entire unreleased hour-long ambient work, ‘New Space Music’.
Perhaps the weakest of the bunch is 1997’s ‘The Drop’ which is an odd release with a terrible cover that’s saved by the final track, ‘Iced World’ which is a beautiful 30 minute ambient piece worth the price of admission alone. This is expanded to include 9 tracks previously only available as a limited edition of 1,000 sold at an exhibition of Eno’s ’77 Million Paintings’ at La Floret in Japan.
Each album contains a 16 page booklet compiling photos, images and writing by Eno relevant to each release. Three of the albums are also being made available as gatefold double vinyl releases containing the original audio only, but accompanied by a download card and printed inner sleeves with the content from the CD booklets.
Pre-order each of the albums over at Enoshop.co.uk where you can also buy all sorts of editons of his work, oblique strategies sets, T-shirts and other obscurities like the ‘Curiosities’ compilations which are well recommended.
Love this retro take on the original Transformers intro with the new Angry Birds crossover game – ‘Birds Disguised as Robots in Disguise’.
Well that looks pretty great, wasn’t supposed to be released until next week but apparently ‘Hydra’ leaked it
Another great op-art .gif by Bill Tavis.
Bonobo has a new EP out on Dec 1st with a lovely cover design by the ever-excellent Leif Podhajsky, someone who has really carved his own niché out over the past few years. Also responsible for ‘The North Borders’ artwork and the new live album covers as well as several others for Ninja (Kelis being just one). Check out the special website created for the release and you can download the title track if you use the Shazam app on it.
Here’s the unboxing of the Frankie Goes To Hollywood ‘Inside The Pleasuredome’ set I co-designed with Philip Marshall for Universal Music / ZTT. The 30th anniversary of its release is next week and these will ship out to pledgers on the 28th.
There is still time to pre-order one but they’re down to the last 30 of 2000 now it seems. A series of full, in-depth blog posts will follow soon detailing the various aspects of the designs which have been on-going since January this year.
Just announced: ‘Crate Expectations’ – a celebration of vinyl through music, film and record shopping at The Lantern in Bristol on February 7th, 2015. Myself, Cheeba and Moneyshot will be performing our newly AV’d up 3-Way Mix reconstruction of ‘Paul’s Boutique’ alongside DJ sets from DJ Format and John Stapleton. There will be the Colston Hall record fair in the day along with a showing of the Stones Throw documentary ‘My Vinyl Weighs A Ton’ and a record collecting Q&A featuring some of the guests playing. There’s also an after party at Start The Bus which could have a very special guest playing too…
Before that, this Thursday to be exact, I’ll be at the Watershed to take part in the BFI‘s Sci-Fi season by presenting a Future Shock AV set before a screening of Sun Ra’s 1974 film ‘Space Is The Space’. Expect lots of space funk, solar system synth work and more with Cheeba helping Lumin on the visuals. This set is free but you have to buy tickets for the film and ticket holders will be given priority if the place is full. Also look out for Cheeba and Ollie Teeba live-rescoring Plan 9 From Outer Space and War of The Worlds respectively over the coming weeks too.
A month later and I’ll be going back to back all night with Boca 45 for an all 7″ vinyl set at the Big Chill Bar on the 29th of November.
The Vinyl Factory published this extensive article last Friday about Kraftwerk‘s influence on electronic music and I was asked to contribute. Alongside 19 other artists including Jeff Mills, Kevin Saunderson, OMD, Moire, Malcolm Catto, Goat and more we were asked to pick our favourite release and how it changed our lives. I chose ‘Autobahn’ which, by coincidence, is 40 years old next month apparently. Read the full piece here.
Bill Tavis ‘Fractal Thinking’ via Trippy Visions Daily We will control all that you see and hear…
Scarey as hell, voice reels and foley sounds from the film within a film from Berberian Sound Studio. 10″ via Death Waltz which is sadly sold out at source, but who have just begun reissuing their original back catalogue in remastered and expanded form. Cover by House from the outtake posters he designed for the original film.
The Discovering Scarfolk book arrived today and it’s a beautiful object, perfectly realised and presented. The dark humour that runs through the website of the same name is here in physical form, looking just like a government handbook from yesteryear as is the intention. Having not had time to fully digest it I can see that pieces from the website are reprinted but there’s possibly other new material too. Well worth a look and no doubt a read too. Perfect Xmas present fodder.
Following on from the insane God Hates Astronauts from last month it seems now is the season for really very silly / funny / un-PC comics as Joshua Hale Fialkov and Kody Chamberlain bring you ‘Punks – The Comic’.
Essentially a series of scenarios involving four housemates – Skull, Abraham Lincoln, Fist and Dog – in various surreal episodes that recall the Young Ones mixed with the irreverence of Tank Girl more than anything else.
The difference here is that the artwork is all rendered in a beautiful sepia collage style which is what drew me to it in the first place. Skull seems intent on punching Dog in the balls but is thwarted by his protective Wunderpants, Dog is whacked through the ceiling and has to fight for his life after accidentally killing a roaming garden gnome.
There’s also a few pages of games with a cut out card game which ends with the winner getting a punch in the nuts and a page of puzzles which have no easy winners. Any comic that can include the lines “Your balls will be mine! For me to smash with my hands!… That came out wrong” is fine with me. Out now from Image, very silly and NSFW, my new favourite comic, can’t wait for issue 2.