CHANNEL ISLANDS

Archive for August, 2009|Monthly archive page

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Friday August 28th – Updates

In asylum, bands, jersey, live lounge, music on August 25, 2009 at 15:58
Brobots poster version 2 designed by Brobot 2

Brobots poster version 2 designed by Brobot 2

Ahead of an eagerly anticipated four-band concert at Live Lounge this Friday, here is some news about the promotion and the latest activities of the bands taking part.

Brobot 2 has created the poster and flyer campaign for the night. As well as two variants of the full colour poster, the second of which is at the top of this post, he has adapted the designs to make two monochrome flyers which will be handed out to humans by the Brobots themselves in King Street, St. Helier, on the afternoon of Friday 28th August. If you’re in town around lunchtime, and you want to find out what it’s like to meet actual Brobots, then keep a look out for them, have a picture taken for posterity, and your life may never be quite the same again.

brobots-flyer-1

Brobots will also be playing at The Camden Head in London on Saturday September 5th, alongside Black Daniel and The Boicotts. Information for Facebook people here: Hotaru Gig 7

Amazing dance-punk superheroes Marvel have recently given their MySpace a spruce-up. It is now possible to download their classic EP Marvel At This Fiasco for free by following a link on their page, and to hear some samples from their latest studio sessions in the form of clips from two songs: Get Scared? and Carry On Reaper. First impressions indicate their talents for lusciously melodic, sonically adventurous pop music continue to develop, while the sheen and punch of these new productions is very impressive. Check them out here: Marvel at MySpace

Crowne continue to demonstrate a seemingly boundless industriousness. Barely three months since the release of their masterful debut EP, Nothing Can Stop Us Now, they have announced that they’re back in the studio working on its follow-up, a new set with the title The Walls Are Coming Down. Visit Crowne at MySpace where photos from their recording sessions can be viewed and a commercial tie-in with Dr. Pepper is suspected such is the proliferation of cans seen littering the studio.

crowne-the-walls-are-coming-down

Progressive, electronic rock band Banquet recently played at Rock In The Park, an outdoor event at Howard Davis Park in St. Helier, and a photographer from the Jersey Evening Post took an amazing photo of Scott and Brett from the band which was published in yesterday’s edition. I hope the band gains rights to the image and then I’ll hopefully be able to reproduce it here.

See you on Friday. The show starts at ten. As we’ve got four bands on the bill the live entertainment starts early so please get down there on time to avoid disappointment.

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Jersey Evening Post, August 22nd 2009

In asylum, bands, jersey, live lounge, music, press on August 22, 2009 at 01:28

Art or trash? Poster archives

In asylum, bands, havienda, jersey, music, pesos, posters on August 13, 2009 at 17:38

Stephan of BBC Jersey Introducing recently asked me for my opinions on flyposting and the mooted possibility of permanent sites in St. Helier for display of material by events promoters.

The issue of what place in the town promotional imagery is allowed isn’t only to do with the illegality of putting posters on private property without property owners’ consent. It is a fact that finance companies are invited to display staggeringly large adverts on the sides of public town buildings, the car park in Sand Street for example. Money doesn’t talk, it screams in six foot high lettering at people scurrying from office to sandwich bar. Is that more or less offensive than an A3 poster on a hoarding or bus shelter?

I hope the proposed poster sites are built and not just debated briefly then forgotten, and they’d better be large. If they are situated wisely they could become a focal point for the island’s music scene and a kind of improvised, constantly shifting exhibit. Various poster designers and promoters could use them to engage in a friendly, competitive battle in which visual impact and originality of style will be devices of success.

I am intrigued by opportunities to introduce political, social and poetic significations into the daily lives of town denizens. In my view, a good poster is one that doesn’t just tell you who, when, where, and how much, but also creates a frisson, or disturbance, in contrast to normative social activities. By doing this, ideas of what in culture ought, and ought not, to occur, can be challenged and explored.

Here are a few of my gig posters from the period 2001-’02. They were made with help from friends more skilled in image manipulation than I was at that time. A couple of them contain sexual images. Interestingly, the From Two Cities poster featuring stick figures engaging in an ambiguous act that might be fellatio was one that parish authorities complained about to the club’s manager while the poster for the Dubliminal show, which is much more explicit, was not remarked upon.

from-two-cities-may-31-2002

face-off-march-31-2002

face-off-december-19-2001

dogliminal-august-10-2001

bubblebrain-may-30-2001

dubliminal-march-9-2001

Six years later, with a surer grasp of digital image editing, I made the posters for the short run of Havienda events. Here’s a few I consider to be the best of that bunch.


Jersey Evening Post, August 1st 2009

In bands, jersey, music, press on August 1, 2009 at 01:22

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