Amelia’s Magazine | 6 Day Riot Album Launch at the Jazz Cafe

Long Story Short, erectile look 2010

Since graduating from Wimbledon College of Art in 2009, Alice Browne has exhibited her paintings at Foremans Smokehouse Gallery’s Divergence exhibition and opened her shared studio to the public during the recent installament of Hackney Wicked. In 2010 Alice Browne was selected to participate in Bloomberg New Contempories, which is currently at the ICA. Earlier this week, Amelia’s Magazine had the pleasure of interviewing Alice Browne.

How did it feel to be selected for New Contemporaries?

Very exciting, and it really boosted my confidence in the studio. It has been great to meet other artists through the show.

What attracts you to the medium of paint?

I think, I’ve always found that paint was the medium which allowed me, the most experimentation. It involves more collaboration than mastering.

Production Still, 2010

What were you first experiences of art or if you had to, which artist(s) have had the greatest effect on your work to date?

Early experiences of art included the Greek and Roman pottery and sculpture in the Ashmolean and treasure trove of oddities at the Pitt Rivers in Oxford. I was introduced to painting through trips to the National Gallery. I was very influenced by an exhibition of Max Beckmann’s work which I saw in New York when I was at school. Artists who have had the greatest effect on my work include Francis Bacon, Pieter Claesz, Philip Guston and Prunella Clough.

Club, 2009

What are the financial implications after the decision has been made to start out as a painter?

It’s a constant weighing up of time, really. I need a studio – so that increases costs, so I need to work more to pay for it, but have less time to spend in there! Eventually I hope it will pay for itself.

Do you work in a gallery or maintain a part time job?

I work at Jerwood Space part time and worked at the National Gallery until recently.

The paintings submitted to Bloomberg New Contemporaries will almost be a year old, by the time the exhibition opens, what are your thoughts and these paintings now and what are their relation to the works you are producing today?

Some of the paintings in the show were made at the end of my degree and represent the focus of a very intense studio-time, so they are quite important and I think about them often. Pink Black Pink is one of the most confident paintings I’ve made. I’m very much still exploring the grounds in which they operate, though I understand it better now.

Pink Black Pink, 2009

What’s an average day in your studio?

I try to keep lots of paintings on the go (10-20 or more) so that I don’t get bogged down in the appearance of any particular painting. I expect a fair few to fail- which usually comes from overworking. I tend to go from one to the next, putting things away after I’ve worked on them. The less confident I feel, the longer I spend on each so on a really good day I could work on up to 10 paintings.

What type of paint (oil, acrylic) do you use and why?

I mostly use oil as it is so flexible and sometimes un-predictable. I use a lot of transparent colours which oil is very suited for. I do also use acrylic but usually for the more predictable priming and under-painting. If I’m not painting, my favourite medium is colouring pencils and paper.

Hellion II, 2009

Your statement discusses your paintings relation to “historical notions of depth relating to the flat painting surface and depth that we relate to visual experience” was there a particular painting or text which sparked your playful exploration?

My exploration was really fuelled by an interest in the range of ways that painters have represented visual space across history; from Masaccio to the trompe l’oeil of Gijsbrechts and still life painters such as Claesz, Cotan and Morandi, to de Hooch and Vermeer to Francis Bacon, Mary Heilmann and Phoebe Unwin.

I’m also interested in the way that photography and moving image represents visual space and how it changes our first hand experience of looking.

Day In, 2010

What was your relation to painting objects during your time at Wimbledon?

At Wimbledon I made quite a few paintings and photographs which described still life objects. Eventually I found that the objects got in the way; they were always charged with associations. I wanted to explore the space of the canvas or photograph rather than create an image.

How do you name your paintings?

I start with a sort of word association game and go from there.

Obstacle No. 2 2010

What does the sub-title of the exhibition “painting between representation and abstraction” mean to you?

For a while I’ve felt uncomfortable with using these terms – I don’t find it so useful to be defined as ‘representational’ or ‘abstract’, so being somewhere in-between sounds about right.

Had you met any artists before deciding to be one?

A family friend is a photographer who works in Hong Kong, taking pictures of the landscape. I always thought it was amazing that anyone could do something so beautiful for a job.

What was it like to study at Wimbledon?

Very supportive with a real sense of community. I loved being in a green and quite residential part of London.

Watch Me, 2010

Favourite contemporary painters?

Lots! I enjoyed Caragh Thuring’s recent exhibition at Thomas Dane gallery and Robert Holyheads show at Karsten Schubert.

How did you become to be involved in Transition Gallery’s exhibition Fade Away?

Alli Sharma curated the exhibition. Its great to be included in such an amazing selection of paintings.

Alice Browne’s paintings will be on display as part of Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2010 at the ICA until January 23rd 2011 and Transition Gallery’s Group Show: Fade Away until the 24th December, 2010.

The Compass Road by Iain Sinclair illustrated by Faye West

The decision to wear one of Mr Jones’ Watches is to accept the designer’s challenge to a modern concept of time being a series of fixed units, more about through which the day is neatly compartmentalised. A concept most succinctly visualised by the watch The Average Day watch. This piece was originally produced for The Muses. The watch-face illustrates the average activities undertaken at particular points throughout the day. The information was digested from sources researching how time is spent by an average person throughout the day. The hours are replaced by words, recipe for example 6pm becomes social life and 11 am becomes work.

The Average Day, Photograph by Chris Overend. The Muse for this particular watch was Jonathan Gershuny, Director of the Centre for Time Use Research and who Mr Jones stipulates has “750,000 time-use diaries.”

Continuing to dispense with Western Modernity’s accepted measurement of time, Mr Jones developed Cyclops, a watch with no hour, minute or second hands. Instead a circular disk mimics the movement of shadows across a sundial, as the passage of time is meditatively documented. Encouraging the wearer to reevaluate their relationship to capitalist time in which every precious second counts.

Cyclops

On Wednesday 3rd November 2010 Mr Jones’ Watches launched The Masters of Time a collaboration with five unique professionals who share an unique and personal concept of time.

During the launch Iain Sinclair, author and psycho-geographer, Greame Obree, record breaking cyclist and artist Brian Catling discussed the ideas behind their watches and the process of negotiating whilst collaborating with Mr Jones. The final two watches were developed with Comedian William Andrews, and DJ Tom Middleton.

Iain Sinclair Photograph by Emilie Sandy

Iain Sinclair’s (Author of Hackney That Red Rose Empire) Compass Watch relates to 90 minutes of film time, rather than your usual TV time of 60 minutes. Sinclair discussed the relation of time to walking, the layers created as time passes both between an event and the walker’s presence, within the walker’s own time.

Iain Sinclair – Compass Road interview from Mr Jones on Vimeo.

Fittingly Sinclair’s watch replaces the units of time with authors whose experience was shaped both by the influence of both geographic location and a complex understanding of time. In his 15 minutes Sinclair discussed the breakdown of the poet John Clare after the enclosure of the landscape to JG Ballard’s experiences as a prisoner of war before his arrival in Suburban England.

Compass Road by Iain Sinclair and Mr Jones Watches

The performance artist and sculptor Brian Catling, introduced the ideas behind Dawn West Dusk East via an art historical slide show. Original paintings and performances explored and expanded on the concept of ‘the Cyclops’. The watch –in the words of the artist- was designed to be “enigmatic, subtle and poetic.” The single rotation of this exquisite design is a silent request to return to a slower pace. The dial gradually measures the 12 hours between Dawn and Dusk.

Brian Catling Photograph by Emilie Sandy

The final speaker of the evening was the twice claimant of the toughest cycling challenge The Hour – a race between the cyclist, distance and the clock. Fittingly the title chosen for Graeme Obree’s timepiece is The Hour. As the hand rotates each hour reveals a different word encouraging the wearer to question emotions experienced during a variety of daily activities. Obree described The Hour as the best, worst, most exhilaratingly painful amount of time imaginable, each second a step closer to achieving or failing a lifelong obsession.

The Masters of Time launch was a fantastic introduction to an individuals complex relation to time. Sadly William Andrews and Tom Middleton were unable to attend, their watches The Last Hour and BPM played with the idea of ‘death’ on stage and a DJ’s relation to the beats per minute respectively. BPM comes complete with a specifically designed animation to help the nocturnal DJ keep count of each record’s BPM prior to the moment of a live mix.

Tom Middleton Photograph by Emilie Sandy

William Andrews Photograph by Emilie Sandy

William Andrews The Last Laugh functions as a symbol of the performer’s need for the last laugh and a momento mori, a reminder that life is brief as time flashes past on the moving teeth of the skull illustrated watchface

The Last Laugh by William Andrews and Mr Jones Watches

Mr Jones Watches are available from the website or you can visit Mr Jones Design, Unit 1.11 Oxo Tower Wharf?Southbank London SE1 9PH.
Compass Road and The Last Laugh are available today.

The Compass Road by Iain Sinclair illustrated by Faye West

The decision to wear one of Mr Jones’ Watches is to accept the designer’s challenge to a modern concept of time being a series of fixed units, adiposity through which the day is neatly compartmentalised. A concept most succinctly visualised by the watch The Average Day watch. This piece was originally produced for The Muses. The watch-face illustrates the average activities undertaken at particular points throughout the day. The information was digested from sources researching how time is spent by an average person throughout the day. The hours are replaced by words; 6pm becomes social life and 11am becomes work.

The Average Day, patient Photograph by Chris Overend. The Muse for this particular watch was Jonathan Gershuny, buy information pills Director of the Centre for Time Use Research and who Mr Jones stipulates has “750,000 time-use diaries.”

Continuing to dispense with Western Modernity’s accepted measurement of time, Mr Jones developed Cyclops, a watch with no hour, minute or second hands. Instead a circular disk mimics the movement of shadows across a sundial, as the passage of time is meditatively documented. Encouraging the wearer to reevaluate their relationship to capitalist time in which every precious second counts.

Cyclops

On Wednesday 3rd November 2010 Mr Jones’ Watches launched The Masters of Time a collaboration with five unique professionals who share an unique and personal concept of time.

During the launch Iain Sinclair, author and psycho-geographer, Greame Obree, record breaking cyclist and artist Brian Catling discussed the ideas behind their watches and the process of negotiating whilst collaborating with Mr Jones. The final two watches were developed with Comedian William Andrews, and DJ Tom Middleton.

Iain Sinclair Photograph by Emilie Sandy

Iain Sinclair’s (Author of Hackney That Red Rose Empire) Compass Watch relates to 90 minutes of film time, rather than your usual TV time of 60 minutes. Sinclair discussed the relation of time to walking, the layers created as time passes both between an event and the walker’s presence, within the walker’s own time.

Iain Sinclair – Compass Road interview from Mr Jones on Vimeo.

Fittingly Sinclair’s watch replaces the units of time with authors whose experience was shaped both by the influence of both geographic location and a complex understanding of time. In his 15 minutes Sinclair discussed the breakdown of the poet John Clare after the enclosure of the landscape to JG Ballard’s experiences as a prisoner of war before his arrival in Suburban England.

Compass Road by Iain Sinclair and Mr Jones Watches

The performance artist and sculptor Brian Catling, introduced the ideas behind Dawn West Dusk East via an art historical slide show. Original paintings and performances explored and expanded on the concept of ‘the Cyclops’. The watch –in the words of the artist- was designed to be “enigmatic, subtle and poetic.” The single rotation of this exquisite design is a silent request to return to a slower pace. The dial gradually measures the 12 hours between Dawn and Dusk.

Brian Catling Photograph by Emilie Sandy

The final speaker of the evening was the twice claimant of the toughest cycling challenge The Hour – a race between the cyclist, distance and the clock. Fittingly the title chosen for Graeme Obree’s timepiece is The Hour. As the hand rotates each hour reveals a different word encouraging the wearer to question emotions experienced during a variety of daily activities. Obree described The Hour as the best, worst, most exhilaratingly painful amount of time imaginable, each second a step closer to achieving or failing a lifelong obsession.

The Masters of Time launch was a fantastic introduction to an individuals complex relation to time. Sadly William Andrews and Tom Middleton were unable to attend, their watches The Last Hour and BPM played with the idea of ‘death’ on stage and a DJ’s relation to the beats per minute respectively. BPM comes complete with a specifically designed animation to help the nocturnal DJ keep count of each record’s BPM prior to the moment of a live mix.

Tom Middleton Photograph by Emilie Sandy

William Andrews Photograph by Emilie Sandy

William Andrews The Last Laugh functions as a symbol of the performer’s need for the last laugh and a momento mori, a reminder that life is brief as time flashes past on the moving teeth of the skull illustrated watchface

The Last Laugh by William Andrews and Mr Jones Watches

Mr Jones Watches are available from the website or you can visit Mr Jones Design, Unit 1.11, Oxo Tower Wharf? Southbank London SE1 9PH.
Compass Road and The Last Laugh are available today.

6 Day Riot by Karina Yarv
6 Day Riot by Karina Yarv.

We arrived at the Jazz Cafe just in time to catch the promising tail end of blues infused folk maestro Ian King, medicine who was followed by a set from comedian Richard Herring, trudging out the same old jokes (last heard at Latitude this summer) about his sad child less bachelor life. Is he in fact happily married, I wonder? Is it all just part of the comic schtick? He had clearly come prepared for a slightly more rowdy pre gig audience, with some poetry that he had written as an 18 year old virgin during his gap year “they called it a year out in those days”. Lines such as “The only water that was pure was from an orphan’s tears,” elicited plenty of giggles.

6 Day Riot-Tamara Schlesinger photo by Amelia Gregory
Tamara Schlesinger. All photography by Amelia Gregory.

6 Day Riot songstress Tamara Schlesinger bounced on stage in a huge red and purple feathered headdress, explaining that she’d had to do a whole rehearsal to check she could get her various instruments over her head without pulling it off. Because of course Tamara is the antithesis to your showgirl Kylies and Rhiannas, adeptly playing a plethora of instruments whilst singing up a storm in a stage grabbing outfit.

6 Day Riot-Tamara Schlesinger photo by Amelia Gregory

Also on stage were an energetic double bass played by Edd Harwood, the talented strains of Rachel Coleshill on violin, Gabriel Lucena on guitar, and at times two trumpeters, one of whom was indeed Rowan Porteous, the very same who has played with my band and who persuaded 6 Day Riot to play an intimate gig for Climate Camp at Glastonbury last year.

6 Day Riot-Tamara and Edd photo by Amelia Gregory

From introspectful to energetic 6 Day Riot swung through a great selection of tracks from the new album On This Island plus some older crowd pleasers, Tamara nimbly swapping between the various stringed instruments slung from her gold flower bedecked mike stand, including a sleek black electric ukelele. At one point the rest of the band left the stage whilst she dueted with her drummer Daniel Deavin, who paused to accompany her with the lightest of strums on his banjolele.

6 Day Riot  photo by Amelia Gregory
6 Day Riot-Tamara S photo by Amelia Gregory

For the finale 6 Day Riot pulled out their bestest klezmer influenced tunes, Tamara twirling her arms like a Notting Hill Carvinal dervish. It was a delightful end to a joyous launch, marred only by the loss of my favourite red sparkly scarf. Still, a small price to pay for a much needed dose of quality live music.

Tamara spoke excitedly of some recently confirmed dates with her favourite band, Belle and Sebastian, but in the meantime you can catch 6 Day Riot at a few remaining shows if you’re fast. Full listing info here. Read my review of new album On This Island here.

6 Day Riot-Edd Harwood photo by Amelia Gregory
Edd Harwood.

6 Day Riot-Rachel Coleshill photo by Amelia Gregory
Rachel Coleshill.

6 Day Riot-Gabriel Lucena photo by Amelia Gregory
Gabriel Lucena.

6 Day Riot-Ian King photo by Amelia Gregory
Ian King.

6 Day Riot-Richard Herring photo by Amelia Gregory
Richard Herring.

Categories ,6 Day Riot, ,Album Launch, ,Alex Bezzina, ,belle and sebastian, ,Daniel Deavin, ,Edd Harwood, ,Gabriel Lucena, ,Ian King, ,Jazz Cafe, ,Karina Yarv, ,klezmer, ,Kylie, ,latitude, ,On This Island, ,Rachel Coleshill, ,Rhianna, ,Richard Herring, ,Rowan Porteous, ,Tamara Schlesinger

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Amelia’s Magazine | Vintage at Goodwood: Festival Review

Wolf and Badger launch display amy
WolfandBadger skull
All photography by Amelia Gregory.

I don’t often head into town for launches after work these days but I was intrigued enough by the sound of the Wolf and Badger pop up store in Selfridges to request a ticket from them and make the trek over on my bike. Even though it was raining and I now have a snuffle.

There’s probably a reason why I don’t get asked to parties at that temple to consumerism Selfridges – it’s hallowed halls are all gleaming and full of trinkets and I don’t know that the readers of my website have much money to spend in them. I certainly don’t. But it’s rather wonderful to visit once in a blue moon – especially the food hall, order where I couldn’t resist picking up some Marmite flavoured biscuits by Fudges (shaped like Marmite pots!) as a special treat. Now there’s a brand diffusion I really can’t get enough of…

WolfandBadger Selfridges window display by Kyle Bean
The current window display by Kyle Bean.

On arrival I could see what was rather a swanky affair through the windows as I peered past a rather wonderful fairytale castle made out of old books. Inside some furiously groomed folk filled the aisles as they fuelled up with champagne and jellybeans. A couple of ladies with bog roll wigs delivered creamed canapes from a side table and there was so much people watching potential that I found it hard to concentrate on the work being sold.

WolfandBadger amelia gregory
WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
Not sure about this as a look…

Along the back wall a vision of Amy Winehouse in buttons was on display centre stage by the artist Sarah Gwyer. We particularly admired the clever use of old Costa service badges in the hairpiece on her beehive. Next door a digital parakeet by Troy Abbott boggled my mind somewhat. Erm… fun, but do we really have energy to waste with fripperies like this?

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory

I preferred the plates and cups with curly bites taken out of them – created by the designer Evthokia. And over the top it might be but I adored the opulent ceramic ware from Jasmin Rowlandson: great curlicued gold and cream extravagances inspired by coral reefs and wood. Note to Wolf and Badger: it’s a shame the names of artists were hammered out in metal, making them incredibly hard to read and take note of.

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
Not your usual crockery from Evthokia.

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
Ceramic ware from Jasmin Rowlandson.

On the tables knuckle duster jewellery by Gisele Ganne was equally over the top. I can’t much imagine anyone wearing this stuff but it was fun to marvel at it in a glass case.

WolfandBadger gisele ganne
Knuckle duster madness by Gisele Ganne.

Maybe I’m suddenly getting a little more low key in my old age, but I was more drawn to the delicate gold filigree jewellery of Mallarino. I often gaze longingly at the Indian wedding earrings in the windows of the shops on Bethnal Green Road, and this seemed to be greatly inspired by such designs.

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
Botoxed high society lady.

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
And not quite so botoxed (or high society) lady.

As we left I picked up a satisfyingly heavy goodie bag from Selfridges – unfortunately it wasn’t anything exciting from Wolf and Badger. Just a bog standard notebook.

Even if you haven’t got the cash to flash, the Wolf and Badger pop up concept store is worth popping into for some cool West London designer inspiration if you’re in that part of town. It’s only on between the dates of 12-31 August 2010.

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
WolfandBadger skull
All photography by Amelia Gregory.

I don’t often head into town for launches after work these days but I was intrigued enough by the sound of the Wolf and Badger pop up store in Selfridges to request a ticket from them and make the trek over on my bike. Even though it was raining and I now have a snuffle.

There’s probably a reason why I don’t get asked to parties at that temple to consumerism Selfridges – it’s hallowed halls are all gleaming and full of trinkets and I don’t know that the readers of my website have much money to spend in them. I certainly don’t. But it’s rather wonderful to visit once in a blue moon – especially the food hall, store where I couldn’t resist picking up some Marmite flavoured biscuits by Fudges (shaped like Marmite pots!) as a special treat. Now there’s a brand diffusion I really can’t get enough of…

WolfandBadger Selfridges window display by Kyle Bean
The current window display by Kyle Bean.

On arrival I could see what was rather a swanky affair through the windows as I peered past a rather wonderful fairytale castle made out of old books. Inside some furiously groomed folk filled the aisles as they fuelled up with champagne and jellybeans. A couple of ladies with bog roll wigs delivered creamed canapes from a side table and there was so much people watching potential that I found it hard to concentrate on the work being sold.

WolfandBadger amelia gregory
WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
Not sure about this as a look…

Along the back wall a vision of Amy Winehouse in buttons was on display centre stage by the artist Sarah Gwyer. We particularly admired the clever use of old Costa Coffee service badges in the hairpiece on her beehive.

Wolf and Badger launch display amy

Next door a digital parakeet by Troy Abbott boggled my mind somewhat. Erm… fun, but do we really have energy to waste with fripperies like this?

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory

I preferred the plates and cups with curly bites taken out of them – created by the designer Evthokia. And over the top it might be but I adored the opulent ceramic ware from Jasmin Rowlandson: great curlicued gold and cream extravagances inspired by coral reefs and wood. Note to Wolf and Badger: it’s a shame the names of artists were hammered out in metal, making them incredibly hard to read and take note of.

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
Not your usual crockery from Evthokia.

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
Ceramic ware from Jasmin Rowlandson.

On the tables knuckle duster jewellery by Gisele Ganne was equally over the top. I can’t much imagine anyone wearing this stuff but it was fun to marvel at it in a glass case.

WolfandBadger gisele ganne
Knuckle duster madness by Gisele Ganne.

Maybe I’m suddenly getting a little more low key in my old age, but I was more drawn to the delicate gold filigree jewellery of Mallarino. I often gaze longingly at the Indian wedding earrings in the windows of the shops on Bethnal Green Road, and this seemed to be greatly inspired by such designs.

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
Botoxed high society lady.

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
And not quite so botoxed (or high society) lady.

As we left I picked up a satisfyingly heavy goodie bag from Selfridges – unfortunately it wasn’t anything exciting from Wolf and Badger. Just a bog standard notebook.

Even if you haven’t got the cash to flash, the Wolf and Badger pop up concept store is worth popping into for some cool West London designer inspiration if you’re in that part of town. It’s only on between the dates of 12-31 August 2010.

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
Dahling_by_Abigail_Nottingham
Dahling by Abigail Nottingham.

“We’re building great cafes and restaurants on the Vintage High St, site where you will even find a Waitrose.” So said the flyer that I picked up in a local pub the day after our sojourn to Vintage at Goodwood. To be honest, and if I’d seen this same flyer before I’d been inundated with hype from the great VAG press machine then I might not have been so keen to attend the festival.

Vintage Goodwood 2010
Vintage Goodwood 2010
Photography by Amelia Gregory.

It’s ironic then, that, like the camping spots in “hidden glades, hollows, copses and hillocks” Waitrose didn’t make it into the final Vintage at Goodwood vision. But what did was every bit as soulless as I feared it might be in my preview blog.

Vintage Goodwood 2010

Past a regimental camping site that better represented a hillside carpark, we did indeed approach the main VAG entrance via a wooded glade… and as we did so passed what was to prove the most interesting aspect of the whole festival – a small eco-campment complete with beautiful decorated gypsy caravan, outsized lace-making and knitting, and a tiny outdoor stage for up and coming bands. Curated by textile artist Annie Sherburne, it was like a touch of Secret Garden Party had crept into the mix, but knowing not where to put it the madness was relegated to the woods.

Vintage Goodwood knit
Love shack caravan By Jessica Sharville
Love Shack Caravan by Jessica Sharville.

So far, so not very vintage, but as we ducked under the entrance arch a slew of gorgeous old cars funnelled us down towards the much trumpeted High Street, rearing up against the dramatic sky like a cross between a back lot of a Hollywood western and a trade show.

Vintage Goodwood entrance
Vintage Goodwood 2010
Vintage Goodwood 2010
Vintage Goodwood 2010

“Fifty years on from the design-led 1951 Festival of Britain, Goodwood is to host in 2010 the first of what will be an annual event” opens the glossy VAG flyer, and true to this spirit the very first shop on the High Street housed Wayne Hemingway Inc, choc full of products plastered with designs inspired by the very same Festival of Britain. As one worker commented to me “How arrogant can you be?” Vintage at Goodwood was a monument to our current obsession with consumerism as leisure, and bore no resemblance to the Festival of Britain’s celebration of modern societies’ achievements in post-war Britain. To compare something to such an iconographic event is to set oneself up for a fall.

Vintage Goodwood pub
Vintage Goodwood dress
TigzRice_pinupcar
Pinup Girl with Car by Tigz Rice.

Boggling, I gazed up at the garishly coloured towering fascias, wondering at the huge amount of money that must have gone into the construction. And none of it looking remotely recyclable. For that matter, where were the recycling bins? The post war years were frugal, and there was no sign of that here.

Vintage Goodwood 2010
Vintage Goodwood 2010

Instead there was the opportunity to shop inside stands for those well known vintage brands: The Body Shop, Fortnum & Mason, John Lewis and some really expensive watch brand I’ve never heard of; in whose stall people quaffed champagne as a man picked apart on old watch face and another displayed a case of super expensive items to a wealthy shopper. The same brand had sponsored the festival wristbands, made out of lethal lentographic plastic that cut my friend’s arm to shreds.

Vintage Goodwood 2010
Vintage Goodwood 2010
Vintage Goodwood 2010

There was also: a cinema, and a catwalk hosting “sold out” shows. We never did find out if this was just a turn of phrase or whether they were actually sold out. Yup, you had to pay on top of the ticket price for many of the attractions. And did I mention the style stand, where you could get your hair done by Primark in collaboration with the Sunday Times Style Magazine. Yes really. This is what we’ve come to.

vintage at goodwood by erica sharp
Vintage at Goodwood by Erica Sharp.

I heard rumours of people flying in to attend this festival on private jets, but it was telling of the strange mix of people that there was also a Daily Mirror volkswagen bus on site. As someone wrote on twitter, it seemed like a sanitised Daily Mail version of fifty years of culture, devoid of all nuance or passion. Inside the Sotheby’s auction tent the intermittent rain drip dripped onto a vintage speaker valued at £6000 as a couple passed looking uncomfortable in a fancy dress version of the 1970s.

Vintage Goodwood 2010
vintagegoodwood by Maria del Carmen Smith
Vintage at Goodwood Auction by Maria del Carmen Smith.

The most popular dress amongst women seemed to be the ubiquitous flouncey polka dot fifties number, or some other poorly rendered version of what was worn in the 60s or 70s. Fine if that’s your bag, but I’ve seen fancy dress done with a whole lot more verve at places like Bestival. I guess pure vintage enthusiasts wear vintage clothes with a dedication to style that wasn’t obvious on many festival goers, because vintage enthusiasts choose to wear these clothes day in day out, not as mere fancy dress. It wasn’t altogether surprising to find the real vintage enthusiasts looking slightly bemused and out of place in the staff dinner queue.

Vintage Goodwood 2010
Vintage Goodwood 2010
Vintage Goodwood crocs
Future Vintage: Crocs apparently…
Vintage Goodwood 2010
and the Big Brother chair. God help us.
Vintage Goodwood 2010
Tyrells crisps promotion: a vegetable chamber group.
Vintage Goodwood 2010
Vintage Goodwood 2010
Rocking the vintage look.

We spoke to friends in the much smaller vintage stall area that was hidden in cramped tents behind the central shopping parade. They were ambivalent about the festival: cross with the way it had been organised and how they were being treated, but happy with the money being spent on their stalls. Aside from spend spend spend, there wasn’t really much to do. We saw little evidence of art from across the decades, other than a strong presence from Peter Blake. We were amazed at the lack of protection for all the beautiful vintage cars stationed next to themed areas for each decade, scattered across the largely unpopulated site. Although there were rumours of workshops, without a £12 programme (touted as a must have “annual”) to tell us when and where, there didn’t seem to be much opportunity.

Vintage Goodwood craft

Like others we gawped at the crafters rather than join in and participate. “Ladies, wear your heels,” urged the flyer. But there wasn’t that much evidence of glamour as the small and bedraggled crowd waved their brollies in the air during the mid afternoon set at the 80s rave warehouse.

Vintage Goodwood 2010
The programme: £12 a pop.
Vintage Goodwood rave
The rave. Wet. Photograph by Tim Adey.
Vintage Goodwood empty
Vintage Goodwood 2010
Vintage Goodwood 2010
Vintage Goodwood 2010

I had hoped to visit The Chap Olympiad but every time we got close the heavens opened and we retreated. We tried to see comedian John Shuttleworth but the inflatable Leisure Dome was full to capacity and I was buggered if we were going to stand in a queue in the rain. How much electricity does it take to keep a blow up tent full of air? *ponders* Over on the main stage a respectable crowd gathered for The Noisettes, but seemed bemused by singer Shingai Shoniwa’s stage banter. And I wonder, how do The Noisettes fit into any kind of “vintage” mould?

Vintage Goodwood Noisettes
noisettes-singer-by-anagomezhernandez
Shingai Shoniwa by Ana Gomez Hernandez.

Instead we headed back to the Leisure Dome after another tip off – this time to see the absolutely amazing Swingle Singers singing choreographed acapella and beat box versions of popular songs. An utterly astonishing discovery they alone made the trip down south worthwhile.

Vintage Goodwood Swingle Singers
Vintage Goodwood austin
Vintage Goodwood swingle
Vintage Goodwood Swingle singers
swingle singers by anna hancock young
Swingle Singers by Anna Hancock Young.

Afterwards we stayed onto watch 70 year old Tony Hatch, he of soap opera theme tune fame (don’t worry, I had no idea who he was either). A highlight of our short visit to VAG was surely the sight of Captain Sensible (of punk legends The Damned), listening to Tony Hatch and singers reprise the Neighbours theme tune. Does it get anymore surreal?

Vintage Goodwood Tony Hatch
Tony Hatch and friends.

Thanks to the power of twitter I was able to find out what VAG was like for myself, and in retrospect I am very glad that I didn’t get given free tickets by the organisers because I would have felt duty bound to be much nicer about the VAG experience if I had. I am sure that many people thoroughly enjoyed their trip to Vintage at Goodwood, but for me the idea of staying on for another day was utterly unappealing. Instead we left whilst the going was good, stayed over at a friend’s house and spent Sunday getting drunk with locals at a historic pub in nearby Petersfield.

Vintage Goodwood by Louise Sterling
Vintage Goodwood by Louise Sterling.

On my previous blog there have been a couple of comments stressing the need for big sponsors in order to make a return on investment on a festival such as VAG. This is absolutely not true unless you aspire to make a festival bigger than it wants to be. Most festivals start small and grow organically through the love and dedication of the people who take part. It’s not necessary to bring big brands in unless you’re aiming for a showy experience at the expense of any kind of soul.

Vintage Goodwood girls
Vintage Goodwood shop
Vintage Goodwood red
Vintage Goodwood 2010
Sponsored up to the hilt.

For real vintage lovers I suggest that next year, instead of going to Vintage at Goodwood you check out the numerous other boutique festivals dedicated to specific eras. Especially since I have a sneaking suspicion that many of the true vintage enthusiasts that made it to VAG will not be returning next year. And if you want pure unadulterated playful creative dressing up then I suggest you check out Secret Garden Party – and for real forward thinking cultural inspiration then try Latitude. A hyped-up vanity project does not a successful festival make.

Vintage Goodwood mobility

Categories ,Abigail Nottingham, ,Ana Gomez, ,Ana Gomez Hernandez, ,Anna Hancock-Young, ,Annie Sherburne, ,bestival, ,Captain Sensible, ,Erica Sharp, ,John Shuttleworth, ,latitude, ,Louise Sterling, ,Maria del Carmen Smith, ,Peter Blake, ,Primark, ,Secret Garden Party, ,Shingai Shoniwa, ,Swingle Singers, ,The Chap Olympiad, ,The Damned, ,the Noisettes, ,Tigz Rice, ,Tigzy, ,Tim Adey, ,Tony Hatch, ,Vintage at Goodwood, ,Vintage Goodwood. Jessica Sharville, ,Wayne Hemmingway

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Amelia’s Magazine | Vintage at Goodwood: Festival Review

Wolf and Badger launch display amy
WolfandBadger skull
All photography by Amelia Gregory.

I don’t often head into town for launches after work these days but I was intrigued enough by the sound of the Wolf and Badger pop up store in Selfridges to request a ticket from them and make the trek over on my bike. Even though it was raining and I now have a snuffle.

There’s probably a reason why I don’t get asked to parties at that temple to consumerism Selfridges – it’s hallowed halls are all gleaming and full of trinkets and I don’t know that the readers of my website have much money to spend in them. I certainly don’t. But it’s rather wonderful to visit once in a blue moon – especially the food hall, order where I couldn’t resist picking up some Marmite flavoured biscuits by Fudges (shaped like Marmite pots!) as a special treat. Now there’s a brand diffusion I really can’t get enough of…

WolfandBadger Selfridges window display by Kyle Bean
The current window display by Kyle Bean.

On arrival I could see what was rather a swanky affair through the windows as I peered past a rather wonderful fairytale castle made out of old books. Inside some furiously groomed folk filled the aisles as they fuelled up with champagne and jellybeans. A couple of ladies with bog roll wigs delivered creamed canapes from a side table and there was so much people watching potential that I found it hard to concentrate on the work being sold.

WolfandBadger amelia gregory
WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
Not sure about this as a look…

Along the back wall a vision of Amy Winehouse in buttons was on display centre stage by the artist Sarah Gwyer. We particularly admired the clever use of old Costa service badges in the hairpiece on her beehive. Next door a digital parakeet by Troy Abbott boggled my mind somewhat. Erm… fun, but do we really have energy to waste with fripperies like this?

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory

I preferred the plates and cups with curly bites taken out of them – created by the designer Evthokia. And over the top it might be but I adored the opulent ceramic ware from Jasmin Rowlandson: great curlicued gold and cream extravagances inspired by coral reefs and wood. Note to Wolf and Badger: it’s a shame the names of artists were hammered out in metal, making them incredibly hard to read and take note of.

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
Not your usual crockery from Evthokia.

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
Ceramic ware from Jasmin Rowlandson.

On the tables knuckle duster jewellery by Gisele Ganne was equally over the top. I can’t much imagine anyone wearing this stuff but it was fun to marvel at it in a glass case.

WolfandBadger gisele ganne
Knuckle duster madness by Gisele Ganne.

Maybe I’m suddenly getting a little more low key in my old age, but I was more drawn to the delicate gold filigree jewellery of Mallarino. I often gaze longingly at the Indian wedding earrings in the windows of the shops on Bethnal Green Road, and this seemed to be greatly inspired by such designs.

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
Botoxed high society lady.

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
And not quite so botoxed (or high society) lady.

As we left I picked up a satisfyingly heavy goodie bag from Selfridges – unfortunately it wasn’t anything exciting from Wolf and Badger. Just a bog standard notebook.

Even if you haven’t got the cash to flash, the Wolf and Badger pop up concept store is worth popping into for some cool West London designer inspiration if you’re in that part of town. It’s only on between the dates of 12-31 August 2010.

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
WolfandBadger skull
All photography by Amelia Gregory.

I don’t often head into town for launches after work these days but I was intrigued enough by the sound of the Wolf and Badger pop up store in Selfridges to request a ticket from them and make the trek over on my bike. Even though it was raining and I now have a snuffle.

There’s probably a reason why I don’t get asked to parties at that temple to consumerism Selfridges – it’s hallowed halls are all gleaming and full of trinkets and I don’t know that the readers of my website have much money to spend in them. I certainly don’t. But it’s rather wonderful to visit once in a blue moon – especially the food hall, store where I couldn’t resist picking up some Marmite flavoured biscuits by Fudges (shaped like Marmite pots!) as a special treat. Now there’s a brand diffusion I really can’t get enough of…

WolfandBadger Selfridges window display by Kyle Bean
The current window display by Kyle Bean.

On arrival I could see what was rather a swanky affair through the windows as I peered past a rather wonderful fairytale castle made out of old books. Inside some furiously groomed folk filled the aisles as they fuelled up with champagne and jellybeans. A couple of ladies with bog roll wigs delivered creamed canapes from a side table and there was so much people watching potential that I found it hard to concentrate on the work being sold.

WolfandBadger amelia gregory
WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
Not sure about this as a look…

Along the back wall a vision of Amy Winehouse in buttons was on display centre stage by the artist Sarah Gwyer. We particularly admired the clever use of old Costa Coffee service badges in the hairpiece on her beehive.

Wolf and Badger launch display amy

Next door a digital parakeet by Troy Abbott boggled my mind somewhat. Erm… fun, but do we really have energy to waste with fripperies like this?

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory

I preferred the plates and cups with curly bites taken out of them – created by the designer Evthokia. And over the top it might be but I adored the opulent ceramic ware from Jasmin Rowlandson: great curlicued gold and cream extravagances inspired by coral reefs and wood. Note to Wolf and Badger: it’s a shame the names of artists were hammered out in metal, making them incredibly hard to read and take note of.

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
Not your usual crockery from Evthokia.

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
Ceramic ware from Jasmin Rowlandson.

On the tables knuckle duster jewellery by Gisele Ganne was equally over the top. I can’t much imagine anyone wearing this stuff but it was fun to marvel at it in a glass case.

WolfandBadger gisele ganne
Knuckle duster madness by Gisele Ganne.

Maybe I’m suddenly getting a little more low key in my old age, but I was more drawn to the delicate gold filigree jewellery of Mallarino. I often gaze longingly at the Indian wedding earrings in the windows of the shops on Bethnal Green Road, and this seemed to be greatly inspired by such designs.

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
Botoxed high society lady.

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
And not quite so botoxed (or high society) lady.

As we left I picked up a satisfyingly heavy goodie bag from Selfridges – unfortunately it wasn’t anything exciting from Wolf and Badger. Just a bog standard notebook.

Even if you haven’t got the cash to flash, the Wolf and Badger pop up concept store is worth popping into for some cool West London designer inspiration if you’re in that part of town. It’s only on between the dates of 12-31 August 2010.

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
Dahling_by_Abigail_Nottingham
Dahling by Abigail Nottingham.

“We’re building great cafes and restaurants on the Vintage High St, site where you will even find a Waitrose.” So said the flyer that I picked up in a local pub the day after our sojourn to Vintage at Goodwood. To be honest, and if I’d seen this same flyer before I’d been inundated with hype from the great VAG press machine then I might not have been so keen to attend the festival.

Vintage Goodwood 2010
Vintage Goodwood 2010
Photography by Amelia Gregory.

It’s ironic then, that, like the camping spots in “hidden glades, hollows, copses and hillocks” Waitrose didn’t make it into the final Vintage at Goodwood vision. But what did was every bit as soulless as I feared it might be in my preview blog.

Vintage Goodwood 2010

Past a regimental camping site that better represented a hillside carpark, we did indeed approach the main VAG entrance via a wooded glade… and as we did so passed what was to prove the most interesting aspect of the whole festival – a small eco-campment complete with beautiful decorated gypsy caravan, outsized lace-making and knitting, and a tiny outdoor stage for up and coming bands. Curated by textile artist Annie Sherburne, it was like a touch of Secret Garden Party had crept into the mix, but knowing not where to put it the madness was relegated to the woods.

Vintage Goodwood knit
Love shack caravan By Jessica Sharville
Love Shack Caravan by Jessica Sharville.

So far, so not very vintage, but as we ducked under the entrance arch a slew of gorgeous old cars funnelled us down towards the much trumpeted High Street, rearing up against the dramatic sky like a cross between a back lot of a Hollywood western and a trade show.

Vintage Goodwood entrance
Vintage Goodwood 2010
Vintage Goodwood 2010
Vintage Goodwood 2010

“Fifty years on from the design-led 1951 Festival of Britain, Goodwood is to host in 2010 the first of what will be an annual event” opens the glossy VAG flyer, and true to this spirit the very first shop on the High Street housed Wayne Hemingway Inc, choc full of products plastered with designs inspired by the very same Festival of Britain. As one worker commented to me “How arrogant can you be?” Vintage at Goodwood was a monument to our current obsession with consumerism as leisure, and bore no resemblance to the Festival of Britain’s celebration of modern societies’ achievements in post-war Britain. To compare something to such an iconographic event is to set oneself up for a fall.

Vintage Goodwood pub
Vintage Goodwood dress
TigzRice_pinupcar
Pinup Girl with Car by Tigz Rice.

Boggling, I gazed up at the garishly coloured towering fascias, wondering at the huge amount of money that must have gone into the construction. And none of it looking remotely recyclable. For that matter, where were the recycling bins? The post war years were frugal, and there was no sign of that here.

Vintage Goodwood 2010
Vintage Goodwood 2010

Instead there was the opportunity to shop inside stands for those well known vintage brands: The Body Shop, Fortnum & Mason, John Lewis and some really expensive watch brand I’ve never heard of; in whose stall people quaffed champagne as a man picked apart on old watch face and another displayed a case of super expensive items to a wealthy shopper. The same brand had sponsored the festival wristbands, made out of lethal lentographic plastic that cut my friend’s arm to shreds.

Vintage Goodwood 2010
Vintage Goodwood 2010
Vintage Goodwood 2010

There was also: a cinema, and a catwalk hosting “sold out” shows. We never did find out if this was just a turn of phrase or whether they were actually sold out. Yup, you had to pay on top of the ticket price for many of the attractions. And did I mention the style stand, where you could get your hair done by Primark in collaboration with the Sunday Times Style Magazine. Yes really. This is what we’ve come to.

vintage at goodwood by erica sharp
Vintage at Goodwood by Erica Sharp.

I heard rumours of people flying in to attend this festival on private jets, but it was telling of the strange mix of people that there was also a Daily Mirror volkswagen bus on site. As someone wrote on twitter, it seemed like a sanitised Daily Mail version of fifty years of culture, devoid of all nuance or passion. Inside the Sotheby’s auction tent the intermittent rain drip dripped onto a vintage speaker valued at £6000 as a couple passed looking uncomfortable in a fancy dress version of the 1970s.

Vintage Goodwood 2010
vintagegoodwood by Maria del Carmen Smith
Vintage at Goodwood Auction by Maria del Carmen Smith.

The most popular dress amongst women seemed to be the ubiquitous flouncey polka dot fifties number, or some other poorly rendered version of what was worn in the 60s or 70s. Fine if that’s your bag, but I’ve seen fancy dress done with a whole lot more verve at places like Bestival. I guess pure vintage enthusiasts wear vintage clothes with a dedication to style that wasn’t obvious on many festival goers, because vintage enthusiasts choose to wear these clothes day in day out, not as mere fancy dress. It wasn’t altogether surprising to find the real vintage enthusiasts looking slightly bemused and out of place in the staff dinner queue.

Vintage Goodwood 2010
Vintage Goodwood 2010
Vintage Goodwood crocs
Future Vintage: Crocs apparently…
Vintage Goodwood 2010
and the Big Brother chair. God help us.
Vintage Goodwood 2010
Tyrells crisps promotion: a vegetable chamber group.
Vintage Goodwood 2010
Vintage Goodwood 2010
Rocking the vintage look.

We spoke to friends in the much smaller vintage stall area that was hidden in cramped tents behind the central shopping parade. They were ambivalent about the festival: cross with the way it had been organised and how they were being treated, but happy with the money being spent on their stalls. Aside from spend spend spend, there wasn’t really much to do. We saw little evidence of art from across the decades, other than a strong presence from Peter Blake. We were amazed at the lack of protection for all the beautiful vintage cars stationed next to themed areas for each decade, scattered across the largely unpopulated site. Although there were rumours of workshops, without a £12 programme (touted as a must have “annual”) to tell us when and where, there didn’t seem to be much opportunity.

Vintage Goodwood craft

Like others we gawped at the crafters rather than join in and participate. “Ladies, wear your heels,” urged the flyer. But there wasn’t that much evidence of glamour as the small and bedraggled crowd waved their brollies in the air during the mid afternoon set at the 80s rave warehouse.

Vintage Goodwood 2010
The programme: £12 a pop.
Vintage Goodwood rave
The rave. Wet. Photograph by Tim Adey.
Vintage Goodwood empty
Vintage Goodwood 2010
Vintage Goodwood 2010
Vintage Goodwood 2010

I had hoped to visit The Chap Olympiad but every time we got close the heavens opened and we retreated. We tried to see comedian John Shuttleworth but the inflatable Leisure Dome was full to capacity and I was buggered if we were going to stand in a queue in the rain. How much electricity does it take to keep a blow up tent full of air? *ponders* Over on the main stage a respectable crowd gathered for The Noisettes, but seemed bemused by singer Shingai Shoniwa’s stage banter. And I wonder, how do The Noisettes fit into any kind of “vintage” mould?

Vintage Goodwood Noisettes
noisettes-singer-by-anagomezhernandez
Shingai Shoniwa by Ana Gomez Hernandez.

Instead we headed back to the Leisure Dome after another tip off – this time to see the absolutely amazing Swingle Singers singing choreographed acapella and beat box versions of popular songs. An utterly astonishing discovery they alone made the trip down south worthwhile.

Vintage Goodwood Swingle Singers
Vintage Goodwood austin
Vintage Goodwood swingle
Vintage Goodwood Swingle singers
swingle singers by anna hancock young
Swingle Singers by Anna Hancock Young.

Afterwards we stayed onto watch 70 year old Tony Hatch, he of soap opera theme tune fame (don’t worry, I had no idea who he was either). A highlight of our short visit to VAG was surely the sight of Captain Sensible (of punk legends The Damned), listening to Tony Hatch and singers reprise the Neighbours theme tune. Does it get anymore surreal?

Vintage Goodwood Tony Hatch
Tony Hatch and friends.

Thanks to the power of twitter I was able to find out what VAG was like for myself, and in retrospect I am very glad that I didn’t get given free tickets by the organisers because I would have felt duty bound to be much nicer about the VAG experience if I had. I am sure that many people thoroughly enjoyed their trip to Vintage at Goodwood, but for me the idea of staying on for another day was utterly unappealing. Instead we left whilst the going was good, stayed over at a friend’s house and spent Sunday getting drunk with locals at a historic pub in nearby Petersfield.

Vintage Goodwood by Louise Sterling
Vintage Goodwood by Louise Sterling.

On my previous blog there have been a couple of comments stressing the need for big sponsors in order to make a return on investment on a festival such as VAG. This is absolutely not true unless you aspire to make a festival bigger than it wants to be. Most festivals start small and grow organically through the love and dedication of the people who take part. It’s not necessary to bring big brands in unless you’re aiming for a showy experience at the expense of any kind of soul.

Vintage Goodwood girls
Vintage Goodwood shop
Vintage Goodwood red
Vintage Goodwood 2010
Sponsored up to the hilt.

For real vintage lovers I suggest that next year, instead of going to Vintage at Goodwood you check out the numerous other boutique festivals dedicated to specific eras. Especially since I have a sneaking suspicion that many of the true vintage enthusiasts that made it to VAG will not be returning next year. And if you want pure unadulterated playful creative dressing up then I suggest you check out Secret Garden Party – and for real forward thinking cultural inspiration then try Latitude. A hyped-up vanity project does not a successful festival make.

Vintage Goodwood mobility

Categories ,Abigail Nottingham, ,Ana Gomez, ,Ana Gomez Hernandez, ,Anna Hancock-Young, ,Annie Sherburne, ,bestival, ,Captain Sensible, ,Erica Sharp, ,John Shuttleworth, ,latitude, ,Louise Sterling, ,Maria del Carmen Smith, ,Peter Blake, ,Primark, ,Secret Garden Party, ,Shingai Shoniwa, ,Swingle Singers, ,The Chap Olympiad, ,The Damned, ,the Noisettes, ,Tigz Rice, ,Tigzy, ,Tim Adey, ,Tony Hatch, ,Vintage at Goodwood, ,Vintage Goodwood. Jessica Sharville, ,Wayne Hemmingway

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Amelia’s Magazine | The Festival Arts Scene 2010

I’m not the best person to be covering the arts events of this summer, healing taking place at a smattering of festivals across the UK. The reason for this is quite simple; I have never been to a festival. This is usually when someone drops a plate, another person screams and a cat yowls whilst an errant piece of tumbleweed dances down the road.
Alright, I haven’t been to a festival! I have a total and utter phobia of insects, I can’t sleep well at the best of times and the idea of being zipped into a stuffy hot tent with the floor as my mattress has never had much appeal to me. Plus all the mud and the hygiene issues of finding a nice lavatory. But this year, one name has sung it’s siren call. The power of this one name has rendered me ebaying portable mosquito nets and stocking up on wetwipes. No, it’s not one of those musician types, for whom I can hear on the noisebox at any time I please, it is a man. A man who changed my life. Brett Easton Ellis. When I saw his name on the Latitude Literary Area line-up, I choked half to death on my hobnob (that’s not an allegory). The man behind Less Than Zero, one of my favourite books, and American Psycho (another favourite book) is flying over from his elusive bunker somewhere in New York, to grace the filthy muddy bastards of Latitude with his presence? Inconceivable. Yet, I don’t think they’d lie about a thing like that. Ergo, I must go. Like a sacrificial festival virgin to a vengeful insect fuelled Aztec God, I must go. Sebastian Faulks and Julie Burchill are also included in the programme, but my eye stopped roaming at Ellis, and thus my summer has been made.

Anyway, the point of this all, is to focus on the Arty side of these godforsaken pagan events. Evidently, I’m not one who has much knowledge about all of this, but I’ve certainly been doing my homework since. Latitude is one of the best Arts forward festivals in the UK, with a film, poetry, literary and theatre arenas to tickle all sorts of fancy’s alongside the usual barbaric muck and ruckus that I also imagine goes on. And also, there’s The Secret Garden Party.


Upon checking out the website for Secret Garden Party, I immediately found myself sold on the idea of going to a magical little wonderland to moot about and have a lovely time free of bugs and dirt. Also, the art line up is pretty fantastical. The Never-Ever Land Theatre has a rotisserie of performers and theatrics from companies such as MOD theatre and Toulson and Harvey. The Artful Badger area includes ‘shamanic journeys, drumming and whittling’ as part of the agenda.

Categories ,brett easton ellis, ,bugs, ,festivals, ,latitude, ,mod theatre, ,sebastian faults, ,Secret Garden Party, ,summer, ,tents, ,toulson and harvey

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Amelia’s Magazine | An interview with ace comedian and Latitude regular Robin Ince.

the-peoples-supermarket-shop-front
A new era in food shopping could have dawned a few weeks ago as The People’s Supermarket in Holborn opened its doors for the very first time.

It’s ultimate aim? To bring an end to the big supermarket chains one potato at a time of course! At least that’s what team ‘People’s Supermarket’ believe; chef, online visit Arthur Potts Dawson — already known for his Acorn House restaurant in King’s Cross and London’s first eco-restaurant, the Waterhouse Restaurant in Hackney; retail consultant, Kate Wickes-Bull; and self proclaimed social entrepreneur, David Barrie.

So what’s so special about The People’s Supermarket (TPS)? Well, modeled largely on the Park Slope Food Coop in Brooklyn, established in 1974, it will work as a totally nonprofit venture. Run fully by teams of volunteers, all profits will be invested back into stocking the shop with great food at minimal prices and TPS hopes to help families and low income groups in the community along the way by providing work experience, training, and low cost shopping. A sign outside listed the number of members as 124 on my trip but I can imagine this will soon start to rise, and anyway Potts Dawson reckons they need at least 300 members for the shop to actually become a sustainable business. Anyone can shop at TPS but the team hopes that as customers visit this unique project and see the quality of produce and with the added incentive of getting great discounts they might become a member — pledging to work at the shop for a few hours every month and paying a £25 annual membership fee. The website promises, in Marxist-like terms, a supermarket that is “run by the people for the people, selling the best food at the lowest possible prices.”

the-peoples-supermarket-fruit

Located on Lambs Conduit Street near Russell Square tube, TPS doesn’t stand out as exactly being a glamorous shop, nor has it in anyway been made to look trendy as I was half-expecting — seeing that this is the natural habitat of posh delis, coffee shops and boutiques. Instead TPS doesn’t appear to look much different to the private local supermarket that went before it, and originally belonged to the enemy — Tesco. Now the place has been spruced up by an army of helpers — all volunteers of course, but the main decoration is the addition of posters to the walls – which, although sadly lacking images of Lord Kitchener, famous for appearing in YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU posters – appeal to customer’s philanthropic side, stating in block capitals, “The people’s supermarket needs you, join today”. All this does go to show, however, that TPS is serious about saving money. Instead of investing in funky counters and arty light fittings, TPS has clearly poured all available funds back into stocking the shop with the best produce.

The fruit and vegetables, which are laid out on old second-hand tables like in a market or old-fashioned green grocers, are sourced from some of the best farmer’s markets around. There are also selections of handmade breads and cakes as well as most of the usual foodstuffs you would expect to find in a small local supermarket. But if it turns out that there is something that isn’t available customers can simply scribble a note of it up on the blackboard for the managers to see — grapefruit juice, curry powder, lentils and ghee were among the omissions when I visited on Saturday 5 June.

the-peoples-supermarket-sign

Todd was store manager when I made a trip to TPS on Saturday. Delighted at how quickly word of the store was spreading Todd said they had been really busy since the shop opened on Tuesday 1 June, so he was quick to make an appeal for more staff — then he could have a decent lunch break, he told me jokingly. Todd was also happy about TPS’s reception in the local area too, saying that he really felt the whole community was getting behind the project.

Which is good because the setup will make the greatest difference to those who live or work near the shop who will be able to use it fairly often and make the most of the discounts, after paying the £25 membership fee of course. There might be another reason why people will volunteer to work for free at TPS though — an added bonus for some maybe? The running of the shop is to become the subject of a new prime time Channel 4 documentary, which I’m sure will put a shine on the prospect of volunteering for any self-promoting types out there. There are also plans for a cookbook, packed full of recipes for dishes made with ingredients from the shop. I guess lentil curry is out for the time being then!

the-peoples-supermarket-brea

Perhaps the best thing about TPS though, is the whole ‘niceness’ of it all. There has been a wealth of comments on the twittersphere about the enthusiastic staff, the smiling customers, and the general buzz in the air that something new and exciting is happening. Certainly while at university I used to pop along to a small fruit and veg cooperative each week and I remember the more grass roots approach to buying and selling food being an enjoyable experience. And it seems the tweeters were right — the same pleasant atmosphere is already in full swing in Holborn. Katie, a student from the nearby University College London, spotted me taking some pictures outside, “It’s great isn’t it?” she said, “I think it’s the atmosphere which is nicest, I came in on opening day and people were chatting to each other. Chatting to complete strangers — I mean that doesn’t happen in London very often does it?”

Chatting to strangers, volunteering in a supermarket and reaping the benefits and all while being filmed for Channel 4 — I don’t think that happens anywhere very often.

Sayaka-Monji-Robin-Ince
Robin Ince by Sayaka Monji.

I will not tell a lie – I first encountered Robin Ince only last month, clinic when I attended his School for Gifted Children at Bloomsbury Theatre. Yes. I’m a comedy novice. But I do remember that the comedy and literary tents were the very best thing about Latitude when I went two years ago. I really want to go again this year, visit so it seemed a very good idea to catch up with Robin Ince, website like this a Latitude staple since the beginnings of this ever popular Suffolk festival.

Hi Robin, can you tell me how long the Book Club has been involved with Latitude?
We brought the Book Club to Latitude in it’s very first year when it was much smaller and there were not as many things going on. It didn’t have a reputation at that point so it was very quiet and the organisers must have lost a fortune but then everyone left and told their friends how great it was and things grew from there. This is now the 5th year we’ve been going to Latitude.

Did you ever imagine that the Book Club would be so successful?
To start with the it was a bit of an experiment – and in fact when it became a phenomenon so early on it became a bit of a problem. Lots of journalists said very nice things about how it was at the forefront of the “new alternative” scene that had splintered from the mainstream clubs which meant there was a lot of pressure right from the start and if one performance didn’t go well I would worry that I was tarnishing the image of a whole movement. It was sort of the same thing as happened in the 1980s: if one female comic was bad all women comedians suffered reprisals. Soon there were lots of other shows with a similar agenda and I didn’t feel that ours was up to the standard it had been. It got so bad for awhile that I stopped doing the Book Club except at Latitude and as a solo show, and replaced it with the School for Gifted Children series, which brought together scientists and journalists to celebrate great ideas, rather than laughing at weird books such as Mills and Boon from the 1970s. Nowadays the School for Gifted Children has become the main thing I do but I’d like to turn the Book Club into a more regular show again, although I need to think of a new idea.

james-wilson-Robin-Ince
Illustration by James Wilson.

How do you find the Bloomsbury Theatre as a space to perform? I found the lack of toilets hard work because I had to miss part of the performance.
Yes, I’ve heard they’re a bit short on loos for ladies – maybe we should do a fundraiser for extra cubicles?! But I really like performing there because the people who run it are so nice and I get asked to do things in other odd places like the Tate Modern and the British Library. I like good spaces to work in – we did a run at the Museum of London last year and we had ten different things going on all at the same time. There was someone sitting in an Anglo Saxon hut singing and playing the lute whilst someone was performing in the Lord Mayor’s carriage, and so on.

Who can we expect to see performing at the Book Club at Latitude this year?
I have very little idea so far apart from the usual group of people, which includes comediennes Josie Long and Joanna Neary, the singer songwriter Robyn Hitchcock and Kevin Eldon – who did the Big Train sketch series and works with Chris Morris a lot. Steve Pretty will be there with his brass band the Origin of Pieces and we will be joined by other musicians as well. We try to keep it as loose as possible although we usually have themes, for example I am sure there will be a late night section about pulp novels. Last year Robyn Hitchcock instigated an impromptu hour long musical about crabs on the rampage, featuring a trumpet, violinist, and opera singer. It was the first time I worked with him but I think there will be something similar this year.

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Crab Attack by Gareth Hopkins.

How do you pull everyone together? Is it a case of grabbing performers at the festival?
I like to encourage people to work together and festivals offer those rare occasions when you’re all sitting behind a marquee then one person has an idea which can be created on stage with 5 or 6 performers, but can’t be replicated again elsewhere. I love working with such a disparate group of people – musicians, poets, mime artists, people who hang off trees…. it means we can build a performance around lots of different skills. I hope to meet new people each year; sometimes someone will just come up to me as I’m wandering around the fields and we’ll sit down briefly, have a chat and put on a show. I feel like what we do is in the grand tradition of Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland – we put on a big show just like they did in the 1940s.

How many shows will the Book Club put on at Latitude?
In the first year at Latitude we did far more performances, but we usually end up doing it five times a day now because more and more people want to perform at the festival so we’ve lost control of the literary tent! But I will be bouncing back and forth, running around the site. I tend to get to bed at 4am after finishing the last show at 3am, then wake at 6am because the sun is turning me into a baked potato in the tent. So I usually get about two hours sleep and then I forget to eat so my blood sugar is really low.

Does your two year old make matters even more hectic?
No, he is such a ray of joy. He’s been to every single Latitude festival since he was born and he loves it. My wife looks after him whilst I’m performing and every now and again he starts to wander towards the stage but she won’t allow him near it – she’s seen what it’s done to me and she doesn’t want it for our child! He loves to do a bit of dancing though.

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Illustration by Natasha Thompson.

What acts are you looking forward to seeing at Latitude this year?
Well, I haven’t seen Belle and Sebastien live for a few years and I absolutely love Kristin Hersh, who is ex Throwing Muses. Last year Nick Cave played an absolutely blinding set on Sunday evening. I’ve never seen Laura Marling but I hear she’s very good live so I’ll try to see her this year, and I want to find out if Dirty Projectors are good or just make an annoying cacophony. In the cabaret tent I look forward to Frisky and Mannish who are an entertaining musical act, and Laura Solon who does a really good character act and won the Perrier (in 2005) This year I’m on the look out for some good dance acts because I don’t feel there’s enough in my own performance. I love that the Bush Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company have a presence at Latitude, though I never have enough time to see them. I try not to go and see lots of things I know unless they’re very special and because I don’t feel under pressure to get my £150 worth of fun I like to shift around the corners of festivals, which is something I learnt very early on at Glastonbury. I like wandering into a tent and discovering something new or being drawn to a noise in the woods. Because I go to so many festivals I usually have the chance to see a performance in another field in Cornwall or Wales if I miss it first time around. It’s great – there used to be three festivals during the summer and all the comedy clubs closed down, but now there’s so much going on.

Are you going to Glastonbury this year?
I’m only spending two days at Glastonbury this year, Saturday and Sunday. For a moment I was a bit worried when U2 cancelled because I thought they might be replaced with a band that I actually like (on Friday night). But I’m not too excited by the Gorillaz so that’s okay.

At this point dear reader I was able to persuade Robin Ince to join us at the Climate Camp tripod stage whilst he is at Glastonbury! Don’t forget to come and visit us above the Green Fields to find out when he will be performing over the weekend. This inevitably led to a conversation about Climate Change.

What are your feelings about promoting the issues behind Climate Change?
I’m not tremendously well informed like someone like Marcus Brigstocke, who’s been on trips around Cape Farewell and seen the evidence face to face – so I have to be quite careful what I say because I don’t know as much. I know that (generally) alternative thinking is very under represented in mainstream media and whilst large numbers of journalists will follow a carefully run PR campaign it’s not the same amongst scientists.

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Robin Ince by Gareth Hopkins.

There are obviously things that I worry about, and things that annoy me in life, and I try to address these without giving hectoring lectures. I don’t think there are any grand solutions so I’m not about to say “now I know the truth” but I hope that my style of a performance can open up an idea. I guess part of my agenda is to make people question things, to open up a dialogue – because if you hear about something from someone who is passionate about it you might then be inspired to go down to your local bookshop and find out more. Whether it is about particle physics, evolutionary biology or whatever.

What about the comedy/liberal/science community that you seem to be so much a part of – do you all hang out together outside of performances?
Yes, we all get on, and for instance I will pop around to Ben Goldacre‘s flat to talk about stuff – but one of my favourite things is when we are all backstage in the green room and everyone is excited to learn things from everyone else. It’s just so great to have people like cartoonist Alan Moore and the musician Darren Hayman (who was featured in Amelia’s Magazine fact fans) handing out with all the scientists. One of the best things about what I do is learning new stuff, and I love the cross fertilisation that happens. It can be quite bleak as a comedian but the positives definitely outweigh the downsides and it’s far better than a “real job” because you can make your own opportunities. I hate that within most forms of art the main aim is fame, which is about the most negative aim you can have; you must love what you do first of all – for example Josie Long has got more and more passionate about the importance of feminism.

So, twitter. I know you’re a big user, and a lot of comedians seem to be. What is your view on the power of the tweet?
Well, you can easily become accidental friends with people and then end up meeting up with them, which is great. It’s very good for getting ideas out there, for instance every single day the people I follow post articles that I would have missed, but I think that people should be careful when campaigning against something, and make sure it is an important issue or twitter will cease to become a good tool of rebellion. I also think it’s easy to get a very partisan view of things on twitter because we usually talk to those who are like minded so it’s easy to think that everyone agrees. Essentially I’m all about ideas so I like to be bombarded with them every single day so that by the time I go to bed I am thoroughly confused.

You can read a previous review of the School for Gifted Children here, and catch Robin Ince off on tour around the festival circuit this summer, including of course Latitude and Glastonbury. You can book tickets for his next School for Gifted Children performance on 14th July at the Bloomsbury Theatre here.

Categories ,Alan Moore, ,BBC, ,belle and sebastian, ,Ben Goldacre, ,Big Train, ,Bloomsbury Theatre, ,Book Club, ,British Library, ,Bush Theatre, ,Cape Farewell, ,Chris Morris, ,Climate Camp, ,comedy, ,Crabs, ,Darren Hayman, ,dirty projectors, ,festival, ,Frisky and Mannish, ,Gareth Hopkins, ,glastonbury, ,James Wilson, ,Joanna Neary, ,Josie Long, ,Kevin Eldon, ,Kirsten Hersh, ,latitude, ,Laura Marling, ,Laura Solon, ,Marcus Brigstocke, ,Mills and Boon, ,museum of london, ,Natasha Thompson, ,Nick Cave, ,Perrier, ,Robin Ince, ,Robyn Hitchcock, ,RSC, ,Sayaka Monji, ,School for Gifted Children, ,Steve Pretty, ,Tate Modern, ,Throwing Muses

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Amelia’s Magazine | Festival Review: Latitude

Since Ewan MacGregor sang to Nicole Kidman to the light of a Moulin Rouge, viagra information pills or perhaps since Don Quixote tilted heroically over the hills to La Mancha at those giant-like shapes, cialis 40mg they’ve caught our hearts as surely as Windy Miller once did, waving to us from the music box as an episode of Camberwick Green came on telly. Given the topicality of their gleaming three-pronged younger brothers, the turbines bedecking our beloved bemoorlands, eyes turned to Vestas’ factory on the Isle of Wight, I thought I’d glance back a little, to quieter ages.

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Illustrations by Jeffrey Bowman

They were the great technological innovation of the twelth century, at least in Northern Europe. The Persians had been happily pumping water with wind power 1500 or so years earlier, and the Greeks on the Cyclades out-sourced their grain grinding expertise to the mainland, charging a nifty 1/10 of the flour fee. Their three pronged modern successors are the best developed shot at renewable energy we’ve properly developed yet.

When you scratch the surface of windmill history, you come across the attractively-named International Molinological Society, whose members meet every four years or so to talk over anything from ‘oblique scoopwheels’ to industrial espionage – mill technology from the USA in the early 19th century was carried across the ocean by the German spies Ganzel and Wulff to form the start of a new development in european mill technology. Can you imagine the excitement and tension in that debriefing room?

Darrell M Dodge (of Littleton, Colorado)’s Illustrated History of Wind Power Development calls windmills ‘the electrical motor of pre-industrial Europe’. They did all sorts : pumping water from wells, for irrigation, or drainage using a scoop wheel, grain-grinding, saw-milling wood, and processing spices, cocoa, paints and dyes, and tobacco.

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To see the first main kind of northern european windmill, you can take a trip down to Outwood, Britain’s oldest still-functioning windmill, built in 1665 by Thomas Budgen of Nutfield. It’s a post mill : the whole body, weighing around 25 tons, rotates on a central post made of a single enormous oak tree, to bring the mill round into the wind.

The post mill was the most common design in the twelfth century, when they were just getting going (the first reference to a British windmill is in 1191). By the end of the thirteenth century, though, the masonry tower mill had been introduced. These had the neat innovation of a turning timber cap, built on a stone tower – so the moving bit was lighter, and the windmill could be built taller with larger sails to get more power.

William Cubitt was a curious engineer from Norfolk, obsessed with the efficient use of energy. He straightened out an unsatisfactory bit of canal north of Oxford, and invented the prison treadwheel, a device which perhaps sums up that mechanical, peculiarly Victorian vision that every cog and wheel of society should find its place, in workhouse, town house or courthouse. He installed the first one in Bury St Edmunds Gaol in 1819, followed enthusiastically by ones at Cold Bath Fields (London), Swaffham, Worcester, Liverpool and probably more besides.

On the more picturesque side of his engineering, in 1807, he invented and swiftly patented a new type of sail, known from then on as ‘Patent Sails’, which combined the innovations of a Scottish millwright, Andrew Meikle (‘descended from a line of ingenious mechanics’ according to his tombstone) and Stephen Hooper. Meikle developed spring sails in 1772 made of a series of parallel shutters that could be adjusted according to windspeed, and had springs which let them open a little more if the wind gusted. Hooper invented a device in 1789 which let the sails be adjusted without ever stopping – he called it the roller reefing sail. Patent Sails became the basis of self-regulating sails, avoiding the need for tiresome constant supervision – and proved successful. Windmills on this design outlasted steam power and the industrial revolution – they were still in use as drainage pumps on the Norfolk Broads until 1959.

So, though grinding grain for bread has mostly been swapped for juicing up the national grid, some of the old guard hold on. And though I’d love to get confused about upwind turbines and Betz limits – why exactly the new wind power is generated from only three pretty fine blades slicing through the sky, we’d best leave it there for now.

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 What is the magic formula that the Secret Garden Party have got their bejeweled mitts on? Having just spent a weekend with them – and 6, for sale 000 happy, friendly campers – I would go so far as to say that there are cosmic forces at work which have taken all the ingredients needed to turn a great festival into a glorious one. For those who are as yet uninitiated, The Secret Garden Party is ever so much more than a weekend away listening to top tunes. It’s a soul liberating free fall of wonderment and the bizarre; a playground for grown up children to indulge in fairy tales and fantasy. I succumbed to such an extent that I feared returning to the harsher edges of reality would be a painful bump, but it turned out that the magic dust managed to stick and I awoke Monday morning with a serious dose of the happy’s.

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Our arrival didn’t have the most auspicious beginning. What should have been a mornings car journey turned into a 6 hour stint on the M25 and M11, where roadworks defied us at every turn. By the time we dragged our sorry selves to the camp site we were tired, hot and irritable. “This better be bloody brilliant” I muttered to myself as I hastily assembled my tent. (minor lie – my wonderful Amelia’s Magazine colleagues assembled it; I couldn’t erect a tent if my life depended on it). Yet, as we walked into the site, all grumblings melted away.

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The afternoons dark clouds had gave way to a glowing sunset which bathed everyone in a soft light. Not knowing what to expect, we were instantly struck by how beautifully visual our new surroundings were. Every inch of the vast grounds are designed in a way that your senses take a direct hit every time you turn your head. The activities take place around a great lake; lit up at dark, and open for swimming by day. At the centre is a floating island, home to the Tower of Babel (which serves a very important purpose later on in the weekend). Feeling very much like a group of Alice’s heading down the rabbit hole to a more peculiar, colourful world, we ventured over bridges, through patches of woodland, past strange sculptures, finding cosy hiding spots wherever we went. And the outfits we saw! It is common knowledge that dressing up is encouraged at SGP, but I wasn’t prepared for the dizzy heights that many had taken their creativity. Thousands of people had clearly had a determined rummage in the dressing up box; glitter adorned most, fairies mixed with pirates who consorted with mythical creatures who hung out with boys in dresses and feathers who were making friends with girls in top hats and tails.

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Eventually, our adventures took us to the main stage, which was perfect timing, because Phoenix were headlining, and they were one of the must-see bands on my list for the weekend. Grabbing a delicious dinner to go (think Moroccan Mezze rather than greasy noodles or burgers), we found a patch on the hill to watch the French alternative rockers have such a great rapport with their audience that they invited a couple of hundred to get up on stage and sing along, until the stage was so full that the band had to climb up equipment to make themselves seen.

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The rest of the night was a heady mix of dancing, drinking, sometimes being spectators and sometimes participating. Our packed schedule of what to see gave way to a more relaxed amble, stopping off when something took our fancy. Translated – we stopped every 10 feet. As we found ourselves in the ‘salacious hothouse of Babylon’ (the region south of the lake), it was only to be expected that we were treated to earthy pleasures of the flesh; once we found the pole dancers, we were transfixed. The boys around us were almost too incredulous to be turned on. “My God, that girl must have thighs of steel!” I heard one marvel to his girlfriend.

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It’s hard to recall too much more about the night, but pictures document wild dancing on bales of hay to seventies disco tunes in a heaving tent, and discovering that the party was clearly going on in the wildly popular One Taste venue, home to a mixture of live beat-boxing and ska, cheering crowds, and a bar dispensing deliciously spicy chai teas. We watched night turn into morning on the Eden side of the lake, (also known as the oasis) in the Laa of Soft Things, a tent where straw bales doubled as fluffy clouds and turned us into rag dolls. Limbs entwined, friendships were quickly formed over the common ground of happy tiredness and sensory overload.

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Saturday dawned to brilliant sunshine, which made swimming in the lake an extra special and necessary experience. For those who wanted more than music, a multitude of informative events and discussions had been laid on, such as The Bohemian Artists Studio, The Poetry Playhouse, and the Dodge Ball Tournament, to name but a few. Early birds could participate in the yoga sanctuary, ( I think you can guess that we didn’t make that one). Instead, we lazed the afternoon away watching some of our favourite bands; Soku, The Dø, Slow Club (interviewed in Issue 9 of Amelia’s Magazine) and Noah and The Whale, as well as our newest discovery, Rodrigo Y Gabriela, described as acoustic folk rock metal, with a Spanish flamenco twist.

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The highlight of the weekend had to be the events of Saturday night. As dark descended, Thai lanterns were released into the air, floating away and burning bright. We followed the crowds towards the lake to witness the epic spectacle of The Burn; the wooden Tower of Babel set ablaze and lighting up the night sky. As the organisers of SGP explained, this was the marriage and the end of the divide between Babylon & Eden. The SGP team had obviously learnt a lot from their trips into the Nevada desert to take part in The Burning Man Festival, and this union of art, nature and performance was the perfect example of the box of tricks which the Secret Garden Party have up their sleeve.

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The weekend drew to a close for us in the sweetest way possible – getting to watch Au Revoir Simone play their beautifully crafted melodies to a rapt audience. The girls sound more divine with each listen, and treated us to the songs from their sublime new album Still Night, Still Bright. As our regular readers know, Au Revoir bring out the fangirl in Amelia’s Magazine, so I shamelessly sang along at the top of my lungs to their harmonies. Thank God their keyboards were loud enough to drown me out is all that I can say in sober hindsight. By the way, I thought the guy that I was standing next to was absolutely adorable, but I was a little shy about saying hello, so if you were wearing a straw hat and a baggy red jumper, and are reading this, then get in touch!

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All that is left to add is to encourage you all to do whatever you can to get your hands on a ticket to 2010′s SGP. The organisers are already promising that they will ‘blow our minds’ with what they have in store. I don’t doubt that for a moment. From now on, I have complete faith that what whatever the Secret Garden Party organises, it will be like nothing that you have ever experienced. Now if you will excuse me, I’m off to plan my outfits for next years festivities.

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We owe a great deal to the 1970s. I shudder to think where we might be today without the post it note, pill without Punk, symptoms and of course without the phenomena that is The Roller Disco. Every element of the theme has triumphantly survived the three decades since it first hit the dancefloors and is still as much of a thrill today as it was then; pumping nightspot glam pop tunes serenading couples holding hands circuiting the room gripping to each other equal parts lust and fear; the wallflowers carefully inching along the handrails with unsure feet, the solo regulars strutting their fierce routines with every right to be showing off; everyone dressed in all that is spangly and sequined, flared and cropped; fuelled by diner dogs and sugary slushies, it was and still is the perfect night out.

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Tonight sees a huge homage to the roller disco down at Shoreditch’s top warehouse venue Village Underground, hosted by Vauxhall Skate and it promises to knock our knee high socks off. The all important music accompaniment is in the very capable hands of DJs ex Libertines Carl Barat, Smash and Grab darlings Queens of Noize, recently Mercury Prize nominated Florence Welch of ‘& the Machines’ fame, Alfie Allen, Sophie Ellis Bextor, Richard Jones and a last minute addition to the bill, NYC’s Cory Kennedy.

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Florence Welch

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Queens of Noize

The roller skating part is pitched as entirely optional, but for those who are concerned that having not been on a pair of skates since childhood might result in rather a lot of shameful cringing better watch out for the fabulous Jonny Woo, who will be hosting a ‘car-aoke’ sing song courtesy of Lucky Voice, with a brimming dressing up box full of props. No event would be complete without the option to update or completely overhaul one’s look, so thank the lord that the very talented Lyndell Mansfield will be joining the crew for the night with her ‘pit-stop salon’ for free hairstyling.

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Jonny Woo

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Kate Moross

In terms of visuals the guests are for a real treat. Kate Moross who has designed shop windows for Diesel, poster artwork for Animal Collective and covers for Vice and Fact magazines, has customised her first car, a Vauxhall Corsa, especially for the party in her signature cutting edge style. The Vauxhall Corsa was wrapped in white vinyl while Kate painted directly onto it with acrylic paint and Posca semi permanent markers. The colours were chosen because of the rainbow spectrums and light fields used in SciFi imagery, a key influence in the ‘Vauxhall Skate’ set design. ‘Vauxhall Skate’ extends Vauxhall‘s commitment to driving excitement on four wheels. the car company has also created a unique pair of roller boots, in true Corsa style, which will be showcased in all their glory on the evening. Other cars to be on show include a Car-aoke Vauxhall Corsa adorned with retro green UV wire frames and a rotating mirror-ball Vauxhall Tigra, most recently seen at the Vauxhall Style catwalk shows.

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Catering includes free hot dogs and cupcakes, and the all important bar is kindly provided by Bacardi Mojito. Tickets for the evening were solely allocated on a lottery basis to all those that RSVPed and entered the draw. If you managed to get your hands on a pair then congratulations are in order. If you were less lucky, then panic ye not- Dazed Digital and Vauxhall have partnered up to give away 35 pairs of free tickets. Click here to enter your email address for a chance to win. Alternatively, have a go here.

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The Village Underground

Vauxhall Skate

The Village Underground
54 Holywell Lane
London, EC2A

Wednesday July 29th
8pm – 1am

Free, but invitation only.

It might be worth arguing that more than any form of artistic expression, page fashion can be indicative of the societal state of mind. In particular we can witness changing attitudes towards gender norms within different social spheres – this is one of the premises that the exhibition at the Photographers’ GalleryWhen You’re a Boy: Men’s Fashion Styled by Simon Foxton’ grounds itself in, diagnosis and indeed one that Foxton has worked with throughout his whole career.

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The fact that it’s rare to for a stylist’s work to be put on show like this denotes that it’s a role that’s underrated by many, diagnosis but here’s a retrospective that vindicates the work of a stylist as a real agent of social commentary, working with ideas as well as clothes. Foxton in particular has admitted to “using clothes as a tool” to make a statement, paradoxically suggesting that while these are examples of photographs that might appear in fashion magazines, they are not necessarily about the clothes themselves.

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Taking its title from the David Bowie song, ‘Boys Keep Swinging’ the tight selection of images span Foxton’s collaborations with photographers Nick Knight, Alasdair McLellan and Jason Evans. Addressing issues of gender, race and class amongst others, we see our attitudes mirrored often by sartorial contradiction, through a process of revealing and concealing.

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Take the images from i-D magazine (shot by Nick Knight) under the title ‘English Heritage’, with one showing an image of the traditional English couple ‘Mr & Mrs Andrews’ with the husband standing dutifully behind his wife perched in an armchair. Yet in their place two muscular black male models, wearing leather bondage gear and a gimp suit respectively, subverting our preconceptions of hegemonic masculinity and femininity that are implicitly nothing more than societal constructs.

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Elsewhere, by continually addressing issues of butchness and effeminateness through the references to gay subcultures, we see the capacity of visual media to reconstruct and recreate by using fantasy (potentially) as a weapon.

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Foxton seems to share with Oscar Wilde a wry amusement about the way masculinity has been appropriated historically, by juxtaposing strange images and affronting us with a sense of disorder and fantasy to ask us questions about what we understand as normal. Race is also explored, with Jason Evans’ ‘Strictly’ series, uncannily presenting black models wearing plus fours and hunting jackets against urban backdrops, posing questions about ethnicity and Englishness, as well as masculinity at the start of the 1990s.

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The extensive and indiscriminate cultural references evident in Foxton’s scrapbooks are striking, with torn out images of tribal warriors wrestling in the dust sharing page space with flyers for gay leather club nights. Foxton is definitely a visionary, and one of fashion’s black sheep as somebody who has never followed trends, instead preferring to choose garments with a cultural reference. Styling here proves itself as an intellectual platform, a means of capitalising on what a readership attaches to a particular fashion – questioning our subscription to their ideals by playing on discrepancies. Fashion has been said to be about fiction and fantasy – but Foxton has proven that a far more interesting arena to be explored is, in fact, reality.
Are you tired yet, abortion of all the hazy environmental terms that are all too easily tossed around – adding green kudos like spinach to a red pepper salad? Well, to every sustainably developing ethically permacultured carbon footprint, reduce, reuse, recycle, ten easy ways to save the planet before breakfast, I throw down a musky oil-stained leather glove and ask : what do you mean?

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Illustrations by Faye Katirai

Politics and the English language are a combination sure to bewitch, bother and bewilder. That’s been clear enough since well before George Orwell wrote his essay all about it. The green politics is especially prone to obfuscation – greenspeak gets unclear easily.

Partly, this is useful for compromise : if tree-huggers and lumberjacks both agree that ‘sustainable forestry’ is the way forward, that’s wonderful – even if one thinks of preserving nature and the other of a guaranteed income. If words like ‘ethical’ ‘environmentally friendly’ and ‘sustainable’ stay vague, then they are the politician’s ideal toolkit. If what you say can mean anything from mild to moderate or radical, you need never have to go back on a promise again.

So when Gordon Brown calls something an ‘eco-town’ and rolls out the green carpet for ‘exemplar new developments, which have the opportunity to boost their neighbouring communities through their investment in new infrastructure and transport services and provide a stimulus to make existing towns more sustainable’ (that’s according to Gideon Amos, chief executive of the Town and Country Planning Association) – we have most every right to be sceptical and wait on some solid details before judging.

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Also, the science behind the theory that certain gas emissions (for which we are responsible) are heating up the planet, melting ice sheets and glaciers, slowly killing coral reefs, raising sea levels and spreading deserts – the science all seems so very distant. How could flicking a light switch possibly help my garden’s lettuce in five years time?

This is where the ‘seven things you can do to lead a greener life’ come in. Bitesize chunks of attitude for easy absorbtion. Tweak your lifestyle, join the club. Trendy, perhaps, but I am more than happy to see this trend. Just watch it rush on through, if it does, and see if, when the glossies stop chattering about it, there’s not a whole bunch more people quietly walking the walk.

Have you noticed at all how this has turned into something of an apology – perhaps not the wittily poised crushing attack the fiery-bellied might have been hoping to hear. You see, as much of a fan as anyone can be of good old fashioned plain speaking, that’s as much of a persuasive strategy as the estate agent’s patter as he tried to sell me a ‘cosy basement studio with original installations in an area with local colour’ (a tiny underground box room that had never been redecorated next door to a rowdy pub). I am writing a blog post, and language is kind of my game. So I can’t quite condemn it, slippery though words can be.

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Here, then is what I notice about green sensibility – what I notice about how it looks and feels and talks and acts with an eye on the environment. An aside, just quickly – the words ‘green’ and ‘environment’ could do with a bit of a look at. So, a bitesize chunk to take home and keep. Well, I mostly notice that to look and feel and talk and act this way means paying attention to the stuff that we get and use, the stuff we keep and where it goes. Everything is a gift : we didn’t bring anything with us when we first turned up here. But enough with the nearly-zen, the point to end with is a whole heap more down to earth. The way this green thing goes kind of calls back something I’m proud of in the British attitude – quite simply : make do and mend.
She’s been on the Grand Stage at The Secret Garden Party not ten minutes and Soko‘s fallen out with the sound man. After unsuccessfully trying to get his attention so he can turn up the levels of her guitar she spits, store “Maybe he’s gone for a piss.” She’s also fallen out with a member of the audience, medical one of the 100 strong crowd sitting near to Soko on the stage. “I don’t have any songs in French. Sorry that’s the other stage – go on!” She deadpans. And despite being best known as a French actress Soko has fallen out with Paris. Something she tells us all about in the song Goodbye Paris “It’s funny how you can break up with a city like you can break up with a lover/Paris is not so romantic when you have no romance to share.” A zealous vegan one of the chief issues she seems to have with Paris is that she can’t live in a city that treats vegetarians like weirdoes (or as she says treats vegetarians “like a dork”).

The truth is Soko is weird. But why shouldn’t she sing a song about how much she loves peanut butter or another about how much she wants to be a tiger? There’s no competition normal gives you Pixie Lott whereas Soko gives you, approved in heavily accented English, songs about killing love rivals (in I’ll Kill Her). Or rather she doesn’t. Despite numerous requests from the crowd Soko refuses to play her most famous song, the one which earned her radio coverage in various European countries and a number one in Denmark. Firstly she tells the audience, “I can’t play the killing people song anymore, I’m dead because I killed too many people” – which makes marginally more sense if you already know that she recently caused controversy by writing “Soko is dead” as her Myspace tagline. After more shouts for the song Soko admits that she can’t play it because her keyboard was too heavy to bring from LA. But third time’s a charm and the next person to heckle gets treated to an “Err, fuck off!” from the feisty singer.

Although this might seem hostile it’s the antithesis between this onstage diva behaviour mixed with the honesty and vulnerability of her songs that makes her so special. Ok so some of her lyrics are downright filthy but the rest have a genuine sweetness and naivety. Take my favourite song of the set It’s Not Going to Work, a story about a potential lover rejecting her advances, the lyrics swing between “What if I grab you and pull you in the bathroom and I could.. tell you I love you and I’ve loved you forever, even before forever” to “please stick it in I’m sure it’ll be great.”

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Soko has recorded a full length album but isn’t releasing it because “it sounded too much like a studio record and not enough like my Garage Band crap that I like more”. The only way that you can listen to Soko is to download her EP or root around Youtube or Myspace for the odd song. The exciting thing about seeing her play live is that you know this could be the only time that you hear each song, Soko is the only artist I know to whom popularity doesn’t seem to have any impression on the set lists.

And when the audience is still wondering whether Soko enjoyed her time onstage at all she ends her set by dispelling any “Soko is Dead” rumours of quitting music, shouting to the crowd, “Thank you for making me alive again”. C’est Magnifique!

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For those of us that have stationery fetishes bordering on obsessive, viagra 100mg the issue of paper manufacturing and environmental impact is a difficult one. On the one hand we have perfectly pretty patterned paper, prescription collections of cute cards and darling desk diaries. But on the other we have forest ransacking to worry about, potentially polluting inks and dyes, and unethical printing practices.

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Well no longer does it have to be a compromise. Based in Canada and proud to be using 100% post-consumer recycled paper, Ecojot is a range of beautiful products, including calendars, agendas and wrapping paper and every aspect of the packaging and production has been carefully designed to have minimum impact on the environment.

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Acid and processed chlorine free paper and cardboard, vegetable based inks and glues that are all bio-degradable, corn-based protective packaging and as much locally made raw material as is possible are the lengths that brother and sister combo Mark and Carolyn Gavin go to to ensure their stationery business keeps in harmony with the habitats and nature it so beautifully depicts in it’s artwork. In addition to all these principles, Ecojot refuses to use any new trees, and the paper mill harnesses it’s power from biogas created by a nearby landfill.

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Ecojot is a new direction for the 10 year old company Miragepaperco, who in 2007 noticed a trend in the industry for greener attitudes, and so rebranded themselves as a company dedicated to using entirely waste material. They believe that by making products that people feel good about buying, because they can trust the sourcing and processes, they are providing a better quality of choice for consumers. To further their commitment to eco friendly issues, Ecojot fully supports Evergreen and contribute to the worthy organisation a portion of their monthly sales.

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The bulk of the designs are the work of Carolyn Gavin, a mother of one living in Toronto with a passion for vintage fabrics, Mexican embroidery and Indian patterns. The website that catalogues Ecojot’s products provides link to her own blog, and to an anonymous ‘Eco-Enthusiast’ blogger, a fellow Toronto resident, and cites trees in all their various forms to be her muse. Both ladies use their online space to share new work, and discoveries of new and inspiring sights, sounds and artists.

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All us stationery addicts can now safely rest assured that our habits are at last sustainable. Huzzah!
Amelia’s Magazine is going to be making several jollies down to the pictures in the coming months – next week to Coco Before Chanel and in September, this site the documentary about the production of the most prolific issue of American Vogue, symptoms entitled The September Issue. We’re also attempting to find out where Sara Ziff‘s expose on the modelling industry Picture Me is knocking about, and if anyone knows and wants to take us on a date there please do. Anyway, here’s the poster for The September Issue, which, as a reviewer from Empire Online points out, looks pretty much exactly the same as the one from Sex and the City.

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Did you know that the September ’07 issue of American Vogue weighed nearly five pounds? Well that’s practically a healthy newborn child. 13 million Americans will buy a September issue of Vogue, so that gives you an idea of the scope of the thing. Directed and produced by RJ Cutler, the cameras were allowed unprecedented access to the issue’s development, documenting shoots (and re-shoots), fashion week, meetings and trips abroad. Most interesting to watch will be the dynamics between the notorious Anna Wintour and super-stylist Grace Coddington.

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Despite fostering hopes of playing out a real life version of the juicy lip-smacking bitchathon The Devil Wears Prada, the biggest shock so far to be gauged from critical reception is that Anna Wintour seems to be alright, actually. The trailer throws forth a few awkward moments, but quite frankly after watching The Devil Wears Prada our expectations are salaciously high.

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Certainly unmissable for any follower of fashion, you’ll catch us in September in the cinema, in the front row with a bob and a giant pair of sunnies on. And coming soon, a hard-hitting expose documenting the sex, lies and scandal in the hub of Amelia’s Magazine – where blogging gets bitchy, cake gets controversial and featuring employees who need a desperate fix of tea before we can make it out of bed in the morning. Ooh la la!

I imagine it was how Glastonbury started out at the beginning. Families, ailment bare feet, small scale, culture beyond music. Life affirming performances, shady woodland and well managed recycling schemes. New bands, old favourites, and pop legends. In fact Latitude’s slogan is ‘More Than Just a Music Festival’, and with all day poetry, theatre, cabaret, comedy and activities for children to partake in, it really lives up to the promise.

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I was prepared for a hearty British weekend of facing the rain and braving the cold. Instead we were blessed with blue skies and t shirt wearable afternoons, with only a couple of brief downpours worthy of mention. I’ve even returned with a bit of upper back sunburn peeling, which for such a dismally forecast weekend ain’t bad going. What distinguishes Latitude from it’s festival brothers and sisters is that the most of the camping and arena ground is fortified with sand, and so what would ordinarily be slushy shoe ruining post-drizzly bog, is within hours dry again. Result!

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Latitude is just the right size for tight city limbs to be gently stretched and new areas to be found, explored and adored, but not so big that making arrangements to meet up with fellow festival goers was necessary; everyone I knew was going to be there, I saw at some point over the weekend, either crossing the bridge, swaying at the sunrise stage, or purchasing the first fair trade coffee of the morning from one of the various ethical food stalls.

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Arriving mid afternoon on Friday allowed enough time for the ritual of finding a happy camper to borrow a mallet from for putting up the tent, pumping and re-pumping up the air bed with the valve actually in the second time round, and changing into the traditional wellies, cut off jeans and band t shirt before picking up a site map and making a make shift schedule plan of who not to miss.

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The first band of the weekend I caught were the wonderful Of Montreal, on the main stage playing to serene afternoon sun seekers lazing dozily on the grass. Leaping and prancing on stage in vaguely animal related sequined and feathered costumes. The evening set in and sets from Local Natives on the intimate Sunrise stage, Fever Ray, the great Danes Mew , and the gorgeous Bat for Lashes saw us through into the early hours.

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Saturday was an exploration day, and at Latitude there is plenty going on that caught our interest. Manned by several young friendly assistants dressed in Victoriana get up was ‘The Tree of Lost Things’, on which anyone was welcome to take a luggage tag shaped piece of card and write on it something they lost, be it literal or figurative, and tie it to the branches. There were several ‘umbrellas’ and ‘torches’, but also more poignant notes like ‘my Gran’, or the ever amusing ‘my mind’ and ‘my virginity’. In the same vain there was also a project in a small tent which invited people to share ‘something special’. It was surprising and heart-warming reading what people treasure; simple things like ‘the first bath after a festival’ or ‘waking up next to the woman I love’, as well as some which were purely pictorial or cryptic in their reference.

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Music wise, Saturday was somewhat epic. Just as the sun made it’s lazy journey to the horizon and turned everything a shade of golden on it’s way, Edinburgh’s retro lovers Camera Obscura played melodic head-nodding pop tunes to a swinging and swaying tent of appreciative fans. We heard the set from Brooklyn sweetheart St Vincent too, who sounded like a countrified Feist singing as she did about Paris, pearls and Jesus. Upping the tempo and causing the kids to surf the crowd were the band of the moment Passion Pit, who were every bit as energetic and exciting as I was promised. Old timers Doves didn’t disappoint, but my heart was holding out for the absolutely show stealing Grace Jones . No shrinking violet, Miss Jones performed to thousands of cheering idolisers braving the pouring rain, wearing very little but doing rather a lot of pole dancing. She may be in her 60s but she has the body and the energy to rival any of her younger contemporaries, and musically is still as talented and creative as ever.

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Talking of all powerful iconic females, the other high point of the day was catching the talk by national treasure Vivienne Westwood for which hundreds packed into a humid badly sound managed tent to see. It seemed from a rather frustrated Westwood that miscommunication had resulted in free copies of her ‘Cultural Manifesto’ destined for the audience (on which the talk was based and read aloud from) had gone missing, which meant her oration was in points a little hard to follow.

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Unusual scheduling saw Thom Yorke playing first slot of the day on Sunday, for which mellowed out couples, families and revellers made it out of their tents in time for. Playing a mixture of songs from his Radiohead lead singer days as well as music he has written and produced since, he provided the perfect start to a Sunday of good vibes. A pair of duos, newish pair of Scots Sugar Crisis and the not so newish pair of Sheffieldites Slow Club, were my day’s highlights.

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Over in the Gaymer’s Cider Tent they put on a very popular rock-aoke, which for those who aren’t familiar with the concept consists of a stack of LPs and a ready to rock and roll backing group who will play your chosen tune on drums, base and guitar while you sing (badly) over the top. As much fun to watch as it looked to join in. After some fun face painting with the Oxfam representatives, whose witty but effective message was to ‘talk about issues until you are blue in the face’, we hopped on board a bus of art, more specifically Peter Blake’s art, of Lonely Hearts Club Band cover design fame. The man himself was aboard, and his distinctive style of collage and multimedia was a pleasure to peruse during the brief afternoon downpour. Only a stone’s throw from the double-decker was a Brazilian couple hell-bent on teaching a group of festival goers to dance the samba on the same spot I noted the day before was sheltering a similarly sized throng wanting to perfect their howdy cowboy line dancing technique.

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Sadly as is the case with festivals, great acts overlapped and catching both the Gossip and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds meant missing some of each. The timetabling, I thought, would divide the crowd, if not by generation then by individual taste, but whether it was curiosity of the unknown or purely a chancing of mood that led people into whichever arena they enjoyed, I found both audiences to be a blend of teenagers, parents, dancing divas and mellowed out giggers, side by side and cheeringly contagiously.

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After hours we paid a visit to the cabaret stage, home of all things risky and naughty, for some nipple-tassle-tastic burlesque courtesy of the Whoopee club and some provocative comedy from cabaret veteran David Hoyle. It was the perfect decadent end to a cultural feast of a weekend.

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All Photos by Rachel Bevis

Categories ,Electro, ,Festival, ,Folk, ,Indie, ,Latitude, ,Review, ,Rock, ,Summer, ,Vivienne Westwood

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Amelia’s Magazine | An interview with Jamie McDermott of The Irrepressibles.

Illustration by Paolo Caravello

Illustration by Stephanie Thieullent

Illustration by Alia Gargum

Illustration by Jo Cheung

Illustration by Kellie Black

The_Irrepressibles_by_Helmetgirl
The Irrepressibles by Helmetgirl.

If Amelia’s Magazine had a wish list of character traits that would perfectly encapsulate its personality then you would struggle to surpass those of Jamie McDermott, viagra sale one of the magazines favourite performers. The founding member, page and centre piece of The Irrepressibles, could have tailored his CV to fit the remit of Amelia’s Magazine. The Irrepressibles’ creator, composer, arranger and avant garde curator wears his heart firmly on his sleeve and is intensely protective and proud of his conception, and rightly so. Their mix of love and lust, longing and tragedy is often borne out as cathartic confessionals. Jamie’s vision and passion, which he so effectively channels through his ‘performance orchestra’, were captured brilliantly, earlier this year on his bands debut album Mirror Mirror.
 
The Irrepressibles, Jamie’s very personal labour of love, have been a regular source of fascination for the Amelia’s Magazine, having been previously featured both in print and on-line. Their very original and ground breaking approach continues to push the boundaries of live popular music, as their choice of venue can also testify to. Having performed in places as diverse as Latitude Festival and the V&A, and from the Hackney Empire to a recent guest appearance at London Fashion Week you are unlikely to experience the norm.
 
It was shortly after their recent LFW performance that I managed to hook up with Jamie. With a little trepidation, a youthful excitement and a great deal of pleasure I tracked him down and interrupted his very busy schedule. I was not only hoping to get a little insight into the world of The Irrepressibles but also an idea of who Jamie really is. I wasn’t to be disappointed. Jamie talked vividly and most candidly about how it all began, where his influences have come from and above all what an incredible journey it has all been. (Just don’t mention the Pope, you’ll only be greeted with silence!) Here is Jamie McDermott from The Irrepressibles.

The_Irrepressibles_Cello_Bass_by_Helmetgirl
Cello and Bass by Helmetgirl.

Way back before the formation of The Irrepressibles was there a pivotal moment in your life where you decided that you would be a performer, a musician, a composer? What lead to your epiphany?
I had fallen in love with my best friend – another boy – and we were inseparable. He had a band and I wanted to be around him so I began to sing in it. But one night I explained how I felt. We fell apart as friends. I felt alone, I knew that I was gay and that people didn’t feel it was right… I wanted to throw myself of the cliffs of the seaside town where I lived. But when stood there in the air I heard music. My own. Instead of jumping I decided to explain to the world through music the beauty of being in love with another man in a way that everyone would understand. 

How did you go about creating The Irrepressibles, did you have a defined vision of how you were going to express yourself? Has it changed at all? Do you see it as an evolutionary process and if so what are the triggers to change? How did you all meet?
I had been writing music focused on what I wanted to say and the emotions I needed to express. I wanted to surround this emotion with a world, a soundscape that could explain the depth of feeling, so I began to work with orchestral instrumentation as they could offer the abrasive and the sublime the surreal and the polyphonic. Initially it was me and four others on a course in popular music studies. I had discovered the library and as a working class boy from North Yorkshire I was starving for the words and pictures. I read about Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McClaren, Andy Warhol and the KLF’s work with pop music subculture, about the political force of music in the words of Atalli and Eisler and fell in love with the iconic imagery of film makers Fasbinder and Kenneth Anger. I also read about the work with spectacle by Dali, Meredith Monk with The House and Laurie Anderson amongst others. I had been seeing visions since I was a child that accompanied the music in my head, I wanted to create something and these people gave me the confidence to make my visions real. I was irritated by the manufactured pop music and it’s lack of real emotion but also the boring visual aesthetics of indie music at the time and I wanted to create something fresh and reactionary. 

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Fluteplayer by Helmetgirl.

What do you see as your main influences and inspirations, both musically and personally?
The sounds of the world around me. I am most influenced by non musical elements. The world itself is musical everything from the sounds of laughter to the hum of the bus I’m sitting on now are singing. The movement of people and machines all have a complexity of nature a kind of polyphony in their interaction. My music has this interaction. As do my spectacles where movement meets light installation meets interactive set meets music meets movement to create one being of emotion – one machine of emotion. 
 
Of your contemporaries, are there any that you are listening to, any that you are finding particularly creative or challenging?
Yes Simon Bookish is incredible, I adore Peaches, Broadcast are consistently inspirational, The Knife are wonderful…

Many people have tried to capture the essence of your performance and creation without necessarily being able to convey the whole experience adequately on paper. How would you describe your music and performance?
It is an organic machine of emotion. 

The drama and theatre within your music and shows is clearly crucial and only serves to heighten the experience for the audience. At what point in the creative process does this become a consideration? Do you have a structured way of writing a song? How does it all work for you as the writer/composer?
I write automatically i.e. from my subconscious. I let my decisions be as spontanious and uncontrived as possible in order to explain fully the depths of my subconsious. I then see visions of how I can present the music in a space working with the parameters of lighting and set installation, movement and feeling. 

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Violin player by Helmetgirl.

There have been comparisons drawn with your style of music to Antony Hegarty and David Bowie among others. For me there is are also the theatrics of early Marc Almond solo work such as Vermin In Ermine as well as a sympathy and empathy with a lot of New Romantic sensibilities. Where do you see your musical style?
I am very much influenced by what I would call the leneage of gay artists. I also believe that gay artists create a slightly different aesthetic of sound and visual generally – a very varied one when you consider Grizzly Bear, Owen Pallet, Patrick Wolf and Me at this time – but there is an aesthetic. I am also massively influenced by female artists like Meredith Monk and Kate Bush of course. I believe like Kate I see music and performance as innately another world a fantasy world were emotions can be better expressed – a dream. 

Many of your songs, such as In This Shirt, are very personal and clearly connect with your audience. Do you find that laying yourself bare, so to speak, gives a song more truth, depth and sincerity and as such it is more credible and infinitely more appreciated? Is that what you strive for?   
I only ever write honestly and cathartically – I am completely open but I was bullied throughout all of my schooling you get to the point were you feel pretty much naked to everyone anyway. Sometimes you wont believe it as the songs sound melodramatic but when you consider that My Friend Jo was in fact about looking in the face suicide at a time of hysterical emotions it does make sense. Why does everything have to be simple in music? Life of course is complex and polyphonic and so I believe music should be too. Sometimes my music is more simplistic because the emotion is, other times it’s like a mad person you can’t understand. We are all mentally ill in some way. 
 
Both the 2009 release, From The Circus To The Sea, and this years album, Mirror Mirror, have been very well received garnering much critical acclaim. Do you now feel the swell of expectation and public consciousness rising as your audience grows ever bigger?
It’s been nothing short of incredible. I spend most of my time talking to fans all over the world. I always feel awful when people complement my work and I don’t get back to them. I have become a whore to Facebook and Myspace… ha ha! 

You have played some decidedly different venues this year from The Roundhouse and The V&A to three shows at Latitude. How were they for you and what can everyone expect from the forthcoming shows that are due to start at the end of this month? 
At the Roundhouse the orchestra performed 10 meters in the air on moving seats, at Latitude we opened the festival with ‘Gathering Songs’ which consisted of several pieces for different parts of the orchestra that were performed desperately all over the forest over 2 and a half hours which accumulated in a spectacle on the water, the year after I created the Light and Shadow spectacle with lighting installation. The V&A commissioned me in 2009 to create a spectacle for their Baroque Exhibition then came the chance to create my Human Music Box installation which was then taken to Latitude the same year. This year I created the Mirror Mirror Spectacle which began with a commission for the Queen Elizabeth Hall. We are touring this internationally now and present it again in London at the Scala tomorrow.  

The Irrepressibles are touring into 2011, are there plans after that to record any new material or are you working on other projects, if so what are they?
I am working on my new AIR spectacle which will be premiered in Modena Italy next week. I am then going to begin work on music for a Manga Opera with Hotel Pro Forma who famously created the opera with The Knife. The next album is now half written and we should begin recording this soon. 

Thank you so much for this, I really appreciate you taking the time. Best of luck for your forthcoming shows.

Categories ,Andy Warhol, ,Antony Hegarty, ,Atalli and Eisler, ,Broadcast, ,David Bowie, ,Fasbinder, ,grizzly bear, ,Hotel Pro Forma, ,Jamie McDermott, ,Kate Bush, ,Kenneth Anger, ,KLF, ,latitude, ,Malcolm McClaren, ,Manga Opera, ,Meredith Monk, ,Mirror Mirror, ,Owen Pallet, ,Patrick Wolf, ,Peaches, ,Roundhouse, ,Simon Bookish, ,the irrepressibles, ,The Knife, ,va, ,Vivienne Westwood

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Amelia’s Magazine | Festival Preview: Latitude

Alternative Fashion Week Day 5 2010 Viveka Goyanes
Alternative Fashion Week Day 5 2010 Kim Seoghee
All photography by Amelia Gregory.

Kim Seoghee may not be Flemish (I’m gonna bet he isn’t) but his work sure as hell feels the touch of Belgium. With a team of skinny stoney faced pretty boy models and ethereal girls, visit web Kim showed us a classic example of the sulky European genre. Eyes emphasised with kohl, visit this the models lined up to show Another 7th Day, prescription a pick ‘n’ mix collection in black, grey and cream. Amongst the upbeat surroundings of Alternative Fashion Week their cool collective attitude stood right out, but they’d fit right in at Paris or London fashion weeks proper.

Alternative Fashion Week Day 5 2010 Kim Seoghee
Alternative Fashion Week Day 5 2010 Kim Seoghee
Alternative Fashion Week Day 5 2010 Kim Seoghee
Alternative Fashion Week Day 5 2010 Kim Seoghee
Alternative Fashion Week Day 5 2010 Kim
Alternative Fashion Week Day 5 2010 Kim Seoghee
Alternative Fashion Week Day 5 2010 Kim Seoghee
Kim Seoghee with his models.

Laura Panter showed a clever collection – ‘This collection cries adolescent’ – God knows what being a teenager had to do with it though. The clothes were a curve enhancing mix of pastel chiffon and wool with bondage inspired straps and belt features.

Alternative Fashion Week Day 5 2010 Laura Panter
Alternative Fashion Week Day 5 2010 Laura Panter
Alternative Fashion Week Day 5 2010 Laura Panter
Alternative Fashion Week Day 5 2010 Laura Panter
Laura Panter.

She was followed swiftly by the work of another Laura. Laura Fox had put together a cute series of outfits inspired by ‘British Heritage, Harris Tweed and Oilskin’ – with the aim of promoting manufacturing in the UK. Her love for classic British designers such as Christopher Bailey for Burberry were clear in what I thought was a sweet and mature collection, and that was before I discovered that Laura is wheelchair bound. She has a good web presence with a Carbonmade website and a twitter feed so she clearly hasn’t let a little thing like a disability stop her from keeping busy. And my friends over at Creative Boom have also blogged on her here. Dead impressed.

Alternative Fashion Week Day 5 2010 Laura Fox
Alternative Fashion Week Day 5 2010 Laura Fox
Alternative Fashion Week Day 5 2010 Laura Fox
Alternative Fashion Week Day 5 2010 Laura Fox
Alternative Fashion Week Day 5 2010 Laura Fox
Laura Fox had business cards to hand: the way it should be done!

Sarina Hosking showed a couple of pieces titled Beauty and the Beast. I have to say I’m not surprised by the title – during a week when titles often bore abstract relevance to the collections they were attached to (at best), this did exactly what it said on the tin. The girl that really got all the photographers salivating was a sexy grown-up version of Little Red Riding Hood, complete with red lacy veil. An elegant gent in wolf mask looked on. They were a distraction from the rest of the collection but heck, why not mix and match your fairytale references? According to her myspace Sarina is principally a theatrical designer, so it all begins to make sense.

Transform by Elizabeth Wilcox was described as ‘Sportswear creating capsule wardrobe’. It was certainly sporty but I am not sure I was feeling the marl grey highlighted with neon sculptural thing.

Viveka Goyanes put together cutesy cream printed shirts with carefully styled black and white tailoring to present a mature collection called Brummella the Dandella. I particularly loved all the little touches, like the ripped and accessorised socks. It always pays to look down!

The first festival I ever had the fortune to attend was Latitude 2007. Still a fresher at university, page still fresh-faced and just a little naïve; a small hatchback, viagra order four friends, and every nook and cranny jammed with our camping equipment. We were green, and we didn’t know that you wouldn’t need six sets of clothes, nor a full foldable mattress, nor (as one of our group, bizarrely, thought) a full set of crockery. It was only due to our general keenness that left us arriving early and managing to snag a camping spot both close to the site entrance and (crucially) within 600 yards of the car park. That was, I discovered, exactly the limit of my stamina for being able to carry my own weight in paperbacks and camping stoves (three!) and several pairs of shoes. Oh, idle youth! These days I can take five nights of living in muddy squalor like a medieval serf in my stride, but that’s only down to training myself; I had to ween myself off such modern luxuries as soap, razors, and fresh underwear.

But I digress – this is meant to be a preview of Latitude 2010. The background: Latitude occurs every year in July in Southwold in Suffolk, and operates under the banner of Festival Republic (formerly Mean Fiddler), that gargantuan promotions company with fingers in many pies and still perhaps best know for the carnival of the damned that is the Reading and Leeds Weekender. Latitude is something of a pet project for Festival Republic, who felt that British festivals had lost track of what made them so culturally important in the first place – not just the bands but the atmosphere, the vibe, the performers on stilts and the chance meetings in the dark under the boughs of some off-to-the-side willow. Glastonbury has become something of a behemoth, but it used to be a small and intimate affair; Latitude’s raison d’être is to mimic what Glastonbury is suppose to once have been. My verdict, taking my experiences of 2007 into account, is that they have succeeded admirably, though it would be churlish to say that it’s exactly as the same. Many of those ideals that the hippies celebrated at the solstice three decades ago – appreciation of the earth, appreciation of humanity – have arguably seeped into the larger (regular) festival-going public, but these days we’re much, much better at recycling.

Capacity is relatively small, as far as festivals go these days, capped at 25000 since 2008, and the wondrous thing about Latitude is that you can go the whole weekend without seeing a single band. There’s a strong lineup of comedy acts, theatre performances, literature talks and other cultural oddities that mark it out as unique in the British festival scene. I’ll run through some of the things to look forward to this year, for those that are going, and if you’re not then be quick, because it’ll sell out soon.

There are several music stages scattered about the site. The largest is the main Obelisk Arena, this year headlined by Florence & the Machine, Belle & Sebastian, and Vampire Weekend. Other artists worth seeing include folkster Laura Marling, indie legends Spoon, insanely talented Mexican acoustic duo Rodrigo y Gabriela, gorgeous melody act Dirty Projectors, and even a recently-reformed James. They’ll probably sing that song about sitting.

Move across to the second stage and you’ll find the Word Arena, headlined by the National, the xx, and Grizzly Bear. The first is one of the best bands in the world, without question, and if you go you’ll probably find me there too, undergoing some kind of trembling transcendental spasm attack. I love that band. Oh god how I do. The xx are an interesting choice of headliner as their music, so heavy with meaning and yet so utterly minimal, might struggle to hold a headlining slot on a festival stage. I’ve seen them live before and they were bloody fantastic, so I’m sure they’ll be fine; I won’t be seeing them at Latitude, though. My reasons involve a broken heart, a worn mixtape, and shattered promises – I won’t burden you any further than that, but know that it was horrid. Grizzly Bear are sick, and will absolutely suit the beautiful site that Latitude is situated within. Also playing the Word Arena are Wild Beasts, Richard Hawley, the Horrors, and Yeasayer, etc. etc..

Then you’ve got your Lake Stage, which is (no surprises here) situated next to a lake, as well as the Sunrise Arena deep in the woods on the edge of the site. Exactly who shall be playing where on these stages hasn’t been announced yet, but what is know is that artists and bands such as the Big Pink, Black Mountain, Girls, These New Puritans, Tokyo Police Club, and a bunch of others. I’ve been looking back through past years and Latitude 2010 looks like being potentially the best ever with regards to the music acts (though 2009 was also pretty sick – Nick Cave!). But it’s not all about the music, of course, otherwise it wouldn’t be quite as sweetly unique as it is.

In the Comedy tent there are sets from Richard Herring, Emo Philips, Rich Hall, Phill Jupitus, Mark Watson, but also many smaller acts such as Mark Oliver and Doc Brown. In previous years this tent has had a propensity towards overcrowding when the bigger names have appeared, but hopefully they’ll have ironed out the creases there. We’ve already covered the Literature tent on Amelia’s Magazine, somewhat, but I’ll add that Jon McGregor is also giving a talk. He’s the author of If Nobody Speaks Of Remarkable Things, a novel that is in itself extraordinarily remarkable and one of the finest examples of prose-poetry I’ve read in the past decade. Also of note here is that Dan Kitson, who probably blushes when he gets described as, “perhaps the finest standup comic of his generation,” all time, will be telling a story for an hour every night at midnight on the Waterfront Stage. His work is rarely available on video as he doesn’t like the idea of his shows being pirated, so please take this opportunity to see him in the flesh.

John Cooper Clarke is in the Poetry tent – one of the towering figures of modern performance poetry in this country should be reason enough to raise some curiosity there, but there are also appearances from important figures on the British poetry scene like Luke Wright and John Stammers. Eddie Argos, of Art Brut fame, will also be doing a set – if you’re familiar with the man then you’ll know that’s an intriguing prospect.

I’ve barely scratched the surface here – there’s a Cabaret tent that parties on into the early hours of the morning, there’s the Film & Music Arena showcasing some unique new audiovisual shows (as well as more irreverent stuff from the likes of Adam Buxton and the Modern Toss crew), and there’s also a chance to wander into the woods to find both the opera performances and the In The Woods area, a woodland clearing set up for late night raving. There are numerous plays put on at the Theatre Arena, including performances from the Royal Shakespeare Company and Everyman Playhouse. There’s a huge childrens’ area that’s almost like a playground.

Hell, the whole thing is like some gaudy carnival from the middle ages transported through time for our enjoyment. There’s a parade at some point, there’s giant painting projects, you can row boats in the lake, you can watch a jazz band play all day on a floating stage on the lake, and so on, and so on. The beauty of the site just completes the package, and thankfully the Latitude team are very good at maintaining it. They’ve got a well-developed set of environmentally-friendly policies that have managed to recycle most of the waste from past festivals, including designated recycling bins, bags handed out to campers for sorting their recycling, and everything you can buy on site is sourced so that it won’t damage the environment both getting there and if it’s thrown away. Sorted.

So that’s Latitude 2010. Three days almost doesn’t seem enough, does it?

Categories ,2010, ,Adam Buxton, ,Art Brut, ,Arts, ,Belle & Sebastian, ,Black Mountain, ,Cabaret, ,comedy, ,Dan Kitson, ,dirty projectors, ,Doc Brown, ,Eddie Argos, ,Emo Philips, ,environment, ,Everyman Playhouse, ,festival, ,film, ,Florence & the Machine, ,girls, ,glastonbury, ,grizzly bear, ,ian steadman, ,James, ,John Cooper Clarke, ,John Stammers, ,Jon McGregor, ,latitude, ,Latitude Festival, ,Laura Marling, ,leeds, ,Luke Wright, ,Mark Oliver, ,Mark Watson, ,Modern Toss, ,music, ,Nick Cave, ,opera, ,Phill Jupitus, ,rave, ,Reading, ,Rich Hall, ,richard hawley, ,Richard Herring, ,rodrigo y gabriela, ,Royal Shakespeare Company, ,Spoon, ,Standup, ,the big pink, ,the horrors, ,The National, ,The XX, ,These New Puritans, ,Tokyo Police Club, ,Vampire Weekend, ,Wild Beasts, ,Yeasayer

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Amelia’s Magazine | Interview: The Hundred In The Hands

As I arrive at The Hundred in the Hands soundcheck, for sale the floor of the upstairs room of the Old Blue Last is littered with an array of guitars, information pills wires, and keyboards with cases of all shapes and sizes to match. On stage the Brooklyn two-piece seem to glide between their stations, calmly, almost nonchalantly, warming their instruments up and coiling endless lengths of cable around the compact space the Old Blue has to offer. Eleanor, Jason and the beat master extraordinaire (Mr Apple Mac laptop) whir into action for another slot on their summer tour, their appearance in London followed by a much anticipated debut at Latitude and Festival de-Affaire in the Netherlands. Even within the empty room my feet can’t help tapping as The Hundred in the Hands fine tune their breed of electro; sugar spun candy pop sprinkles on a thick, fuzzy electric whirlwind that you can’t help but get lost in.

Once the soundcheck is put to bed, Eleanor and Jason are kind enough to spare me a few minutes for a chat in the luxurious surroundings the Old Blue Last does so well- peeling wallpaper, endless sirens and multipacks of Hula Hoops. But the charming pair seem unfazed by the rush around them, the capital is now like a ‘second home’ to them as this venture brings their UK visits up to four, although Eleanor insists they ‘still don’t know how to get around, nearly getting run over because the cars are going the wrong way.’

As a pair they seem in sync, each listens to the other, feeds off their ideas, never overrunning each other’s sentences. For creators of such urgent and, at times, epic music, there is a calm patience about each of them. Their musical exploration references many shades of genres through history, although their own musical education began with the good old bastion of classic American music: the radio. For Jason it was the ‘golden oldies on the stations, Motown and stuff like that’, a passion shared by Eleanor: ‘Because it was on the radio it wasn’t really a conscious choice, it just drifted into your life. And I listened to a lot of brooding, moody music in the 90’s, of course, as everyone should. But I think when I came back around to pop music and pop forms I realised I did have that in my background, but it was all the golden oldies, the girl group sounds.’

The pop power behind The Hundred in the Hands is undeniable, intentional even, with the band working with four different producers including pop mastermind Richard X and LCD Soundsystem’s aural curator, Eric Broucek. ‘We chose songs that would compliment producers’, Jason explains. ‘They didn’t necessarily shape the idea of the song, but just help it go the extra distance. To tap into the knowledge and ability like that is amazing.’ For Eleanor the assistance of four varying second opinions ‘adds a rush of energy and settle the arguments,’ although few producers would complain about taking on the task of laying Eleanor’s sweet, crystal cut voice over the record. She might be the only girl of the group, but an unmistakable femininity resonates within the melodies, a throwback to their radio listening days.

Their upcoming album is due for release in September and was even originally conceived to be a hip hop album, a nod to their mutual dedication to decades of the genre (although after 1992 it does get a bit wobbly), but the follow up to the pair’s EP ‘Dressed in Dresden’ flirts more readily with a sense of catchy hooks and itchy basslines. With 70 to 80% of the tracks home recorded at some point along the way, The Hundred in the Hands are undoubtedly keeping a lo-fi arthouse panache to their sound, but a heavy touring schedule means the chance to write new songs has got to find its own time amongst the shows.

This is where Mr Apple Mac apparently comes in most handy, not only for spending hours geeking out on dub and hip hop inspirations, but for moulding the biology of The Hundred in the Hands’s sounds. ‘Beats seem to grow; we write as we’re recording and we can’t play it until we record it so it’s always changing. After shows, in between shows, on the way to the next show, we can get the laptop open and work. The difficulty is trying to make the beats feel like they’re happening now.’ Jason’s passion for melding the experience of pre-recording and live performance is evident and is something the pair have perfected for their touring schedule. The frequent appearance of Steve Job’s silvery, shiny plug-in babies on stages across the world has exploded in the past few years, but whilst DJs have benefited endlessly from software programmes that turn the bedroom into the studio, some bands have failed to translate this process into a tangible and exciting live performance. No doubt familiar with this problem, Eleanor explains how the band have moderated their sound: ‘We’ve designed things so with the year of touring we’ve got coming up we have eight different channels of sound coming from the back track, so we’re trying to make it adaptable to a more full on spectrum. Not dance music, but something full on.’

What better place to test the theory than the jammed Old Blue Last. By 10pm the air seems sticky with all the bodies and plastic cups of beer. Jason said he hoped people would ‘get sweaty’ tonight and I do not think he will be disappointed. Opener Tom Tom tip taps through your head and feet but pop the vibration intricacies that make the record such a stunner are somewhat lost in the air. As the songs are reeled out the energy onstage fizzles between Jason’s stopstart juts and stomps on the guitar, and Eleanor’s vocal emerge from her diminutive frame and dishevelled, parted hair. A panicked elegance emerges from each song and new material marks itself out from the darker edge of Dressed in Dresden. A disco electro undercurrent darts from the speakers and limbs start to get looser amongst the audience. The final word must, of course, come from the Man of the Masses, the Voice of the People, or the Man in Front of Me Using Blackberry… “the band is fuckin amazin!”


All photographs by Sabrina Morrison

Categories ,Apple Mac, ,brooklyn, ,electro, ,gig, ,Green Man, ,interview, ,latitude, ,lcd soundsystem, ,Mac, ,new wave, ,Richard X, ,The Hundred In The Hands, ,The Old Blue Last, ,THITH

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Amelia’s Magazine | An interview with Jamie McDermott of The Irrepressibles.

The_Irrepressibles_by_Helmetgirl
The Irrepressibles by Helmetgirl.

If Amelia’s Magazine had a wish list of character traits that would perfectly encapsulate its personality then you would struggle to surpass those of Jamie McDermott, one of the magazines favourite performers. The founding member, and centre piece of The Irrepressibles, could have tailored his CV to fit the remit of Amelia’s Magazine. The Irrepressibles’ creator, composer, arranger and avant garde curator wears his heart firmly on his sleeve and is intensely protective and proud of his conception, and rightly so. Their mix of love and lust, longing and tragedy is often borne out as cathartic confessionals. Jamie’s vision and passion, which he so effectively channels through his ‘performance orchestra’, were captured brilliantly, earlier this year on his bands debut album Mirror Mirror.
 
The Irrepressibles, Jamie’s very personal labour of love, have been a regular source of fascination for the Amelia’s Magazine, having been previously featured both in print and on-line. Their very original and ground breaking approach continues to push the boundaries of live popular music, as their choice of venue can also testify to. Having performed in places as diverse as Latitude Festival and the V&A, and from the Hackney Empire to a recent guest appearance at London Fashion Week you are unlikely to experience the norm.
 
It was shortly after their recent LFW performance that I managed to hook up with Jamie. With a little trepidation, a youthful excitement and a great deal of pleasure I tracked him down and interrupted his very busy schedule. I was not only hoping to get a little insight into the world of The Irrepressibles but also an idea of who Jamie really is. I wasn’t to be disappointed. Jamie talked vividly and most candidly about how it all began, where his influences have come from and above all what an incredible journey it has all been. (Just don’t mention the Pope, you’ll only be greeted with silence!) Here is Jamie McDermott from The Irrepressibles.

The_Irrepressibles_Cello_Bass_by_Helmetgirl
Cello and Bass by Helmetgirl.

Way back before the formation of The Irrepressibles was there a pivotal moment in your life where you decided that you would be a performer, a musician, a composer? What lead to your epiphany?
I had fallen in love with my best friend – another boy – and we were inseparable. He had a band and I wanted to be around him so I began to sing in it. But one night I explained how I felt. We fell apart as friends. I felt alone, I knew that I was gay and that people didn’t feel it was right… I wanted to throw myself of the cliffs of the seaside town where I lived. But when stood there in the air I heard music. My own. Instead of jumping I decided to explain to the world through music the beauty of being in love with another man in a way that everyone would understand. 

How did you go about creating The Irrepressibles, did you have a defined vision of how you were going to express yourself? Has it changed at all? Do you see it as an evolutionary process and if so what are the triggers to change? How did you all meet?
I had been writing music focused on what I wanted to say and the emotions I needed to express. I wanted to surround this emotion with a world, a soundscape that could explain the depth of feeling, so I began to work with orchestral instrumentation as they could offer the abrasive and the sublime the surreal and the polyphonic. Initially it was me and four others on a course in popular music studies. I had discovered the library and as a working class boy from North Yorkshire I was starving for the words and pictures. I read about Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McClaren, Andy Warhol and the KLF’s work with pop music subculture, about the political force of music in the words of Atalli and Eisler and fell in love with the iconic imagery of film makers Fasbinder and Kenneth Anger. I also read about the work with spectacle by Dali, Meredith Monk with The House and Laurie Anderson amongst others. I had been seeing visions since I was a child that accompanied the music in my head, I wanted to create something and these people gave me the confidence to make my visions real. I was irritated by the manufactured pop music and it’s lack of real emotion but also the boring visual aesthetics of indie music at the time and I wanted to create something fresh and reactionary. 

 The_Irrepressibles_Fluteplayer_by_Helmetgi
Fluteplayer by Helmetgirl.

What do you see as your main influences and inspirations, both musically and personally?
The sounds of the world around me. I am most influenced by non musical elements. The world itself is musical everything from the sounds of laughter to the hum of the bus I’m sitting on now are singing. The movement of people and machines all have a complexity of nature a kind of polyphony in their interaction. My music has this interaction. As do my spectacles where movement meets light installation meets interactive set meets music meets movement to create one being of emotion – one machine of emotion. 
 
Of your contemporaries, are there any that you are listening to, any that you are finding particularly creative or challenging?
Yes Simon Bookish is incredible, I adore Peaches, Broadcast are consistently inspirational, The Knife are wonderful…

Many people have tried to capture the essence of your performance and creation without necessarily being able to convey the whole experience adequately on paper. How would you describe your music and performance?
It is an organic machine of emotion. 

The drama and theatre within your music and shows is clearly crucial and only serves to heighten the experience for the audience. At what point in the creative process does this become a consideration? Do you have a structured way of writing a song? How does it all work for you as the writer/composer?
I write automatically i.e. from my subconscious. I let my decisions be as spontanious and uncontrived as possible in order to explain fully the depths of my subconsious. I then see visions of how I can present the music in a space working with the parameters of lighting and set installation, movement and feeling. 

The_Irrepressibles_Violin_by_Helmetgirl
Violin player by Helmetgirl.

There have been comparisons drawn with your style of music to Antony Hegarty and David Bowie among others. For me there is are also the theatrics of early Marc Almond solo work such as Vermin In Ermine as well as a sympathy and empathy with a lot of New Romantic sensibilities. Where do you see your musical style?
I am very much influenced by what I would call the leneage of gay artists. I also believe that gay artists create a slightly different aesthetic of sound and visual generally – a very varied one when you consider Grizzly Bear, Owen Pallet, Patrick Wolf and Me at this time – but there is an aesthetic. I am also massively influenced by female artists like Meredith Monk and Kate Bush of course. I believe like Kate I see music and performance as innately another world a fantasy world were emotions can be better expressed – a dream. 

Many of your songs, such as In This Shirt, are very personal and clearly connect with your audience. Do you find that laying yourself bare, so to speak, gives a song more truth, depth and sincerity and as such it is more credible and infinitely more appreciated? Is that what you strive for?   
I only ever write honestly and cathartically – I am completely open but I was bullied throughout all of my schooling you get to the point were you feel pretty much naked to everyone anyway. Sometimes you wont believe it as the songs sound melodramatic but when you consider that My Friend Jo was in fact about looking in the face suicide at a time of hysterical emotions it does make sense. Why does everything have to be simple in music? Life of course is complex and polyphonic and so I believe music should be too. Sometimes my music is more simplistic because the emotion is, other times it’s like a mad person you can’t understand. We are all mentally ill in some way. 
 
Both the 2009 release, From The Circus To The Sea, and this years album, Mirror Mirror, have been very well received garnering much critical acclaim. Do you now feel the swell of expectation and public consciousness rising as your audience grows ever bigger?
It’s been nothing short of incredible. I spend most of my time talking to fans all over the world. I always feel awful when people complement my work and I don’t get back to them. I have become a whore to Facebook and Myspace… ha ha! 

You have played some decidedly different venues this year from The Roundhouse and The V&A to three shows at Latitude. How were they for you and what can everyone expect from the forthcoming shows that are due to start at the end of this month? 
At the Roundhouse the orchestra performed 10 meters in the air on moving seats, at Latitude we opened the festival with ‘Gathering Songs’ which consisted of several pieces for different parts of the orchestra that were performed desperately all over the forest over 2 and a half hours which accumulated in a spectacle on the water, the year after I created the Light and Shadow spectacle with lighting installation. The V&A commissioned me in 2009 to create a spectacle for their Baroque Exhibition then came the chance to create my Human Music Box installation which was then taken to Latitude the same year. This year I created the Mirror Mirror Spectacle which began with a commission for the Queen Elizabeth Hall. We are touring this internationally now and present it again in London at the Scala tomorrow.  

The Irrepressibles are touring into 2011, are there plans after that to record any new material or are you working on other projects, if so what are they?
I am working on my new AIR spectacle which will be premiered in Modena Italy next week. I am then going to begin work on music for a Manga Opera with Hotel Pro Forma who famously created the opera with The Knife. The next album is now half written and we should begin recording this soon. 

Thank you so much for this, I really appreciate you taking the time. Best of luck for your forthcoming shows.

Categories ,Andy Warhol, ,Antony Hegarty, ,Atalli and Eisler, ,Broadcast, ,David Bowie, ,Fasbinder, ,grizzly bear, ,Hotel Pro Forma, ,Jamie McDermott, ,Kate Bush, ,Kenneth Anger, ,KLF, ,latitude, ,Malcolm McClaren, ,Manga Opera, ,Meredith Monk, ,Mirror Mirror, ,Owen Pallet, ,Patrick Wolf, ,Peaches, ,Roundhouse, ,Simon Bookish, ,the irrepressibles, ,The Knife, ,va, ,Vivienne Westwood

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