Monday, July 13, 2009

Fairfield Street


Here’s something (please forgive the rough scanning job; in five parts no less) from a book of filler I’m working on to plug the gap between Berlin And That and whenever my future son can entertain himself for 10 months and I can start another one proper, with the help of funding, cos I’m fucking skint, from some rich gay benefactor of a fan who flies me over to Sweden or Canada to bless them with my chicken scratches. Think of it as my live album. I’m getting little done at the moment because of the cricket but, pleasingly, it doesn’t take long for me to get restless and walk somewhere or draw something.

Iain Sinclair, the psychogeographer and massive influence on Trains Are…Mint is giving a talk at Urbis this Thursday. He’s done some walking in Manchester and produced a podcast about it. He’s walked pretty much the same route as Trains Are…Mint 5 (which is the start of Proper Go Well High) but with bigger words and less pictures. Unfortunately he’s not reading the podcast and the dour Swede (?) given the job makes it almost unlistenable; I’d wait for the book. If you can make it to the talk you should. If not, pick up Sinclair’s London Orbital and see how Trains Are…Mint would look if I weren’t dyslexic.

In Proper Go Well High news; I’ve been told to expect a proof in two weeks and the book to be released late August but I’ll believe that when I see it. It’s not Blank Slate’s fault, rather their printers are screwing them.

In Berlin And That news; I’m speaking to a gallery in Manchester at the moment to try and sort out an exhibition of all the artists-I-collaborated-with’s pages. It’ll act as a book launch as well and I’m aiming for early ’10. It would seem daft not to organise such a thing given the nature of the book and the only reasons why it wouldn’t happen would be a lack of funds or laziness on my part. Well, Blank Slate has offered funds for flyers and beer and that and, well, lazy? Now that doesn’t sound like me does it?

Over and out.

Thursday, July 02, 2009

dull and annoying news

My scanner's gone belly up. Combine this with the fact that I seem to have lost my camera and you'll understand why you won't be seeing any new work here for a while, which is annoying as I've just done the best drawing ever by anyone. With a four-year wedding anniversary sandwiched in between us not having an expensive sprog and us having one, this blog may become a tad text heavy.

Nothing to see here then; move along.

Tits.
from a friend in Berlin

Wednesday, June 24, 2009




I posted off all the pages of Berlin And That that have text on for Kenny to spell check for me today. Might seem early but we thought we might as well try and get a head start, maybe learn from the lateness of the other two books. After sorting out the pdf for Kenny I realized the pages of the book with text on make up just over half the book, with the other 70 pages being silent. This was part design part accident, but I’m very happy with this ratio turn out. Definitely different from Trains and Proper anyway.

Hopefully this early start in the process of realising the book means you may see it in ’09 rather than '10. Fingers crossed

The pictures above are from my efforts to decorate the nursery on a shoestring.

Monday, June 22, 2009

I’ve started another book.

There was only so much decorating that needed doing, and although there’s still the front room to do, I was getting restless, bored and doing Clare’s head in, so I set off for some proper Trains Are…Mint walking today. With no specific route in mind I headed off in the general direction of Leeds, going via Piccadilly and Ardwick Station rather than Victoria and Ashton. After about 5 and a half hours and 20.02 k (thanks Google Earth) I called it a day at Mossley Station, at the eastern edge of my Manchester A to Z. That felt good I can tell you; first Trains walking since September.

In other news Kenny and I are waiting on a print proof of Proper Go Well High and I’ve just 3 pages left to get back for Berlin. I miscounted earlier and the OCD friendly 50 artists are now 53. One guy wanted to screen-print directly onto his page but is having trouble setting up his table or whatever screen-printers use, another guy has a ball ache of a page as he has to work directly onto photographs I provided and a girl friend has been sent to the Outer Hebrides for her job at the BBC; all valid excuses for being late.

I’m off to pop an awesome blood blister.

Kisses

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Berlin And Sarah Thompson

Sarah didn’t trust me when we first met as I was sniffing around her friend Clare who already had a boyfriend. Luckily I ending up marrying her and, after putting the hours in, eventually won Sarah around as well. She loves me now; you can see it in her eyes.

Kisses Sarah

Artists so far:
Scott Alexander
Gareth Brookes
Chris Butler
Stanley Chow
Malcy Duff
Nick Dunn
Joe Devlin
Jenny Discombe
Clare East
Stuart Edmunson
Andrew Gannon
Dave Garner
Guy Garvey
Annie Gibson
Pete Gilfellon
Tony Gilfellon
Andy Glynn
Liam Guy
Andy Hargreaves
Matthew Holding
Dean Hughes
Steve Hunt
Peter Jobson
Karen Jupp
Mia Kiuru
Stuart Kolakovic
Gavin Macdonald
David Mackintosh
Steve Manford
Jim Medway
Miguel Navarro
James O'Hara
Natalie O'Hara
Lee Patterson
Katie Popperwell
David Price
Magnus Quaife
Maeve Rendle
Jarek Salata
Katell Sevellec
Richard Shields
Chris Thorpe
Steven Tillotson
Emma Unsworth
Emma J Watling
Daniella Watson
Graham Watson
Jo-anne Wright

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Berlin And Scott Alexander

When Clare had an operation to try and fix her broken back Scott was the first person to send her flowers, which I’ve never forgotten. Cynics might say that this is because he works next door to a florist and over the road from the hospital but it still meant a lot to me. Scott’s my old boss from The Temple and even though I gave him many an excuse to fire me, he never did. He started a rumour that I was sexually attracted to dwarfs and I think he’s said it so many times he’s convince himself it’s true. I gave in ages ago and, playing along, say it’s because their small hands make your appendage look bigger. He said he thought of me as family yesterday which made me well up but, saying that, we were both drinking on the roof at 9.45 am. Good times.

Scott owns both Big Hands and The Temple bars in Manchester, is the lead singer of Indigo Jones and runs Skinny Dog Records with Guy Garvey and Peter Jobson, fellow Berlin And That alumni.

Artists so far:
Gareth Brookes
Chris Butler
Stanley Chow
Malcy Duff
Nick Dunn
Joe Devlin
Jenny Discombe
Clare East
Stuart Edmunson
Andrew Gannon
Dave Garner
Guy Garvey
Annie Gibson
Pete Gilfellon
Tony Gilfellon
Andy Glynn
Liam Guy
Andy Hargreaves
Matthew Holding
Dean Hughes
Steve Hunt
Peter Jobson
Karen Jupp
Mia Kiuru
Stuart Kolakovic
Gavin Macdonald
David Mackintosh
Steve Manford
Jim Medway
Miguel Navarro
James O'Hara
Natalie O'Hara
Lee Patterson
Katie Popperwell
David Price
Magnus Quaife
Maeve Rendle
Jarek Salata
Katell Sevellec
Richard Shields
Chris Thorpe
Steven Tillotson
Emma Unsworth
Emma J Watling
Daniella Watson
Graham Watson
Jo-anne Wright

Berlin And David Mackintosh

David is the ‘Dr. Piss’ referred to in the back of the self published Trains Are…Mint books as he leant me the money to publish the first one and set the ball rolling. A load of his drawings were collected in his book “Imagine You’re In A Room Full Of Blind Fools Desperately Grasping At Nothing” which you should all buy, and he did the cover for my old band’s only release. He’s mint.




Artists so far:
Gareth Brookes
Chris Butler
Stanley Chow
Malcy Duff
Nick Dunn
Joe Devlin
Jenny Discombe
Clare East
Stuart Edmunson
Andrew Gannon
Dave Garner
Guy Garvey
Annie Gibson
Pete Gilfellon
Tony Gilfellon
Andy Glynn
Liam Guy
Andy Hargreaves
Matthew Holding
Dean Hughes
Steve Hunt
Peter Jobson
Karen Jupp
Mia Kiuru
Stuart Kolakovic
Gavin Macdonald
Steve Manford
Jim Medway
Miguel Navarro
James O'Hara
Natalie O'Hara
Lee Patterson
Katie Popperwell
David Price
Magnus Quaife
Maeve Rendle
Jarek Salata
Katell Sevellec
Richard Shields
Chris Thorpe
Steven Tillotson
Emma Unsworth
Emma J Watling
Daniella Watson
Graham Watson
Jo-anne Wright

Thursday, June 11, 2009

my 4th stab at a trailer for Berlin And That

England are busy getting spanked by South Africa so I thought i'd try and find my way round iMovie. I'll probably do another one as soon as I figure out how to add text.

Berlin And Nick Dunn


The other half of this mint picture, that look’s like it’s from New York in the 70s, somewhere near CBGBs, but is actually Levenshulme, Manchester, is Nick Dunn. I had to message Jen a minute ago as, although I’ve known Nick for a while now, I had no idea what his surname was. Clare knows everything so I asked her first but we both stared blankly at each other and felt more than a little guilty. The bugger’s not on Facebook so how else was I supposed to know his surname?
Anyway, Nick’s top. He’s the head of third year architecture at Manchester Metropolitan University and he looks like that. Cool as fuck. He also used to be in a band called The Obsession.

Artists so far:
Gareth Brookes
Chris Butler
Stanley Chow
Malcy Duff
Joe Devlin
Jenny Discombe
Clare East
Stuart Edmunson
Andrew Gannon
Dave Garner
Guy Garvey
Annie Gibson
Pete Gilfellon
Tony Gilfellon
Andy Glynn
Liam Guy
Andy Hargreaves
Matthew Holding
Dean Hughes
Steve Hunt
Peter Jobson
Karen Jupp
Mia Kiuru
Stuart Kolakovic
Gavin Macdonald
Steve Manford
Jim Medway
Miguel Navarro
James O'Hara
Natalie O'Hara
Lee Patterson
Katie Popperwell
David Price
Magnus Quaife
Maeve Rendle
Jarek Salata
Katell Sevellec
Richard Shields
Chris Thorpe
Steven Tillotson
Emma Unsworth
Emma J Watling
Daniella Watson
Graham Watson
Jo-anne Wright

Berlin And Jenny Discombe

Jen Disco’s got a mint job as a conservator at Manchester Museum. Anyone who grew up in Manchester will have seen this crab.
She looks after shit like this every day. How cool’s that?

Artists so far:
Gareth Brookes
Chris Butler
Stanley Chow
Malcy Duff
Joe Devlin
Clare East
Stuart Edmunson
Andrew Gannon
Dave Garner
Guy Garvey
Annie Gibson
Pete Gilfellon
Tony Gilfellon
Andy Glynn
Liam Guy
Andy Hargreaves
Matthew Holding
Dean Hughes
Steve Hunt
Peter Jobson
Karen Jupp
Mia Kiuru
Stuart Kolakovic
Gavin Macdonald
Steve Manford
Jim Medway
Miguel Navarro
James O'Hara
Natalie O'Hara
Lee Patterson
Katie Popperwell
David Price
Magnus Quaife
Maeve Rendle
Jarek Salata
Katell Sevellec
Richard Shields
Chris Thorpe
Steven Tillotson
Emma Unsworth
Emma J Watling
Daniella Watson
Graham Watson
Jo-anne Wright