Interview on Wax Poetics
We have an interview in Wax Poetics, discussing our new album as The Mighty Sceptres, with a premiere of the album track 'Sting Like A Bee' - read all about it here, and stream the track below! The album, produced by Chris Pedley (The Baker Brothers) and mixed by Ben Lamdin (Nostalgia 77), was released on the 24th Feb. So far the reaction has been very positive, with a Today's Top Tune feature on KCRW, plenty of airplay on BBC6 Music and FIP (among others), and reviews from the likes of The Boston Globe and Paris DJs. Available as LP, CD and digital download, you can pick up the album from any of the following outlets (remember to support your local record shop!):
Ubiquity Shop http://bit.ly/1vGWTL6 Bandcamp http://bit.ly/1LbUlvz iTunes http://bit.ly/1Jq6t0d Amazon http://bit.ly/1zolENr Kudos http://bitly.com/1GbV7I1 Juno http://bit.ly/1MEOLFx
We were also very fortunate to have the legend that is Kenny 'Dope' Gonzalez work on a couple of mixes of 'Shy As A Butterfly', which are likely to be the next release. You can preview the extended mix here
Cultshare Exhibition
A few shots of my piece for the recent Cultshare exhibition at the Fish Factory. Cultshare is a social network, setup by my friend George, where people can share their favourite films, art, books, music etc. Artists were invited to create an artwork inspired by a Cultshare post - I chose this post on Project Thirty-Three, a blog showcasing vintage album artwork comprised of circles and geometric forms. I put together the mixed media collage above (stuck onto an old inside out LP sleeve), as a homage to the designers who created these beautiful LP covers, but also the vibraphone; an instrument characteristic of many jazz and soul recordings from the 60s (an era when such album artwork was at large). This old Dansette happened to be kicking around the studio, which happened to fit the colour scheme nicely and make it more of an installation piece! The exhibition has now moved to Espressini in Falmouth, and will be there until September...
Stereophonic Sound: Vol 14
Very happy to have the debut single, Fish In The Sea featured on this vid with Jordan Hoffart riding for Chris Pastras's Stereo Skateboards
The Feeling Sublime
Whoops, seems like a long time since a blog post! That's what having children does to you I guess. Here's a little vid put together by good friends John and Mathilda Eldridge, for long time friend and musical collaborator, Angeline Morrison, now signed to Freestyle Records! You can pick up her album or single here. This was filmed literally a week before Ernie was born...
Heartlands Art Dump
Over the summer A-side Studio commissioned a series of works to feature around the site of Heartlands, a regeneration project set in the mining areas of Pool and Camborne. I worked on a collaboration with Tim Lake to produce these birds for the fences surrounding the gardens. We just hope the seagull wind vane survives the winter gales..!
Hip Wigglers
September was a month of throwback goodness, with Goodwood Revival and the Hip Wigglers Invitational within the space of 2 weeks. Organised by James Parry, the Hip Wigglers showcases some stylish noseriding from some of the best traditional loggers in the country. This year the talent was taken up a level with some international invitees, and a nice little swell offering small peelers. It was an honour to receive an invite again, and humbling to surf among such talent. Having been one of only a handful of traditional longboarders in West Cornwall over the past 15 years or so, it's really encouraging to see some of the younger surfers getting into it and pushing this style of surfing in a really positive direction. Jersey man, Joe Davis took the title this year with an uncanny ability to hang on the nose longer than anyone else. Here's some great shots from the day by Russ Pierre (there's more on his website here), plus a little vid John and Mathilda put together.
Goodwood Revival
My uncle (pictured at the top) happens to be a very good racing driver, and has been invited to race some pretty nice cars in his time. Goodwood Revival has been going since the 90s, and this time round he was driving in the Shelby Cup, a 2 driver race celebrating the 50th birthday of the AC Cobra, with a grid of small-block Cobras of a type that raced between '62 and '66 - how's that for a gig! As you can see, there's no shortage of beautiful cars at Goodwood Revival. The grid of Ferrari GTO's was worth an unprecedented £300 million, but my favourite had to be either the Mercedes GullWing or Aston Martin DBR1.
Vintage Surf Meet 2012
This year's Vintage Surf Meet is all set to take place again at Lusty Glaze on the 14th July. Pleasure to be asked to do the artwork again, this time with John Isaac's Model A Ford, which was turning a few heads last year. Organised by Al, who runs a vintage surfboard blog, the event looks to be attracting more punters and enthusiasts alike. We have done a limited edition of pocket tees and screenprints with the design above. More info can be found on Facebook, but you might need to be a friend of mine to see it..!
Soup Presents...
Looking forward to this one. I picked up some really great rare 45s recently, so expect a hip swinging set of Northern Soul and old R&B dancefloor goodness, plus whatever else finds it's way into the box. And when I say old R&B, I mean the real deal from the 50s and early 60s; NOT the 90s..! No offence Warren G (Regulate will always hold a special place in my heart). Hosted by Soup, check out their blog also for news and reviews...
The Allah Las
Great new stuff from the West Coast, produced by Nick Waterhouse, whose debut LP you should be checking out too. Bit late on the uptake with the first couple of singles, but grab the new one while you can...
Liam Bailey
Picked up the 45 for this a while back on the mighty fine Truth & Soul Records - The Dynamic Set featuring Liam Bailey, who I think have a new single coming out soon. In the meantime, make sure you pick up the latest from Lee Fields & The Expressions on the same label.
Panama
Apologies for the lack of posts of late - just got back from a trip to Central America chasing waves, offshore islands and tropical fish. Panama is a beautiful country with some stunning islands. Nice enough to pop the question to my long time partner of 6 years and lovely lady (pictured above), who a couple of days later managed to cut her ring finger with the fin from her surfboard, requiring stitches (ouch)! Still, we'll make an honest woman out of her, or try to... photos by Helen Gilchrist.
B-side Seaside
Another beautiful video, shot and edited by Chris Mannell, featuring B-side Seaside from the debut Frootful LP, and some nice sliding by Sam (from the forthcoming movie, Skimming the Surface). Playing the low notes on this track, by the way, is none other than Damon Minchella, who it is rumoured might replace Mani as Primal Scream's bass player..!
Gig Photos
A few shots of our gig at Miss Peapods while on tour last month by Maf. Thanks to everyone who came along to any of the shows - shame a couple of the dates were cancelled; especially the London show, cancelled last minute due to a power failure on the whole of New Oxford Street (after a long drive up from Cornwall I might add - gutted!). And apologies for the lack of posts recently, last month was super busy, but here's wishing you all good times and exciting things for 2012 - Happy New Year..!
New Single
Out today on Freestyle Records, the new single features a reworking of Slowtime, the album track Latin Strut, plus a remix of Slowtime by Lack of Afro. Available as a 12-inch and digital download, Freestyle have a bundle offer here. There are also 45 limited edition copies, with a sleeve screenprinted by hand (pictured above), available with either a white or dark blue print. These will be for sale on the tour, with some copies exclusively available from Freestyle (here), plus a few independent record shops nearby the venues we will be playing at. Four of the sleeves contain a golden ticket, winning you either a guestlist (plus one) for one of the live shows, or a limited edition tour poster..!
Exhibitions and Tour Dates
The Frootful Art Ensemble is now in full effect, with some exhibitions and live dates over the next couple of months. I picked up some limited edition tour posters while up in London, with designs from myself, Bobby Telegramme and Millie Marotta; all beautifully hand screenprinted by Loligo at OPEN. The prints currently feature in the staircase gallery (pictured above) at the howies Carnaby St shop, along with other work from myself and Millie, and are for sale at all exhibitions and live shows on the tour. They are also available online from the shop. You can see all the prints here, and find out more about the live shows, dates and venues here. Keep up to date on Twitter with the hash tag #FrootfulOnTour, or via the Facebook page. The dates are:
Live: 7th Dec - The Bowery, London 10th Dec - Miss Peapods, Penryn 14th Dec - Chapel Arts Centre, Bath 15th Dec - Mello Mello, Liverpool PLUS! - Secret gig (follow @frootful or #FrootfulOnTour on Twitter for details)
Exhibitions: 1st-30th Nov - howies Carnaby St shop 1st-31st Dec - HAND, Falmouth
This Time
Out today, This Time is the new album from Freestyle label mate, producer of the debut Frootful LP, and all round talented amigo, Adam Gibbons (aka Lack of Afro). The album is surely his finest and most diverse yet, with a wide range of guesting vocalists, including Angeline Morrison (who also features on the Frootful LP), and Wayne Gidden. Always a pleasure to be involved, just on one track this time (ha ha), but taking care of the album artwork again. Thanks to Cym and Euan for the flip clock photo, tweaked for the back of the LP and CD booklet to show artist and title. Support quality independent music and pick yourself up a copy here
Soul-A-Rama
Port Eliot
Just got these photos through from our performance at Port Eliot in July, with thanks to Angeline and Maf. Love the backstage atmosphere captured here - you can check out more of Maf's photography work by going to mafphew.com