Thanks to all those who Tweeted me the choice secret shames and hidden gems from their record collections.  Some people nominated embarrassing records which I actually own, so I don't know what that says about me...

But anyway, here is the result and a couple of honourable mentions:

My favourite embarrassing record has to be from Joe Maples with his Never Ending Story record with the words cut out from Smash Hits magazine and sellotaped on the back.  I think the personal touch just gives it the edge.  Well done Joe, I'll get a shirt sent off to you.

Other contributions worth mentioning are Beefy with a seemingly endless cursed-treasure trove of ska-punk, and John Tarbet Walker with a Wombles record which was the first record he purchased, coincidentally also the first record I ever bought.

Thanks guys, that was fun!

Shirts are now available on the AoC Shop, and I'll be sending out 7" records with the first 10 orders.

Following quickly on from my previous record related post, I have a new shirt design available featuring my friend and yours, Mr. Recordshop. He misses people and would like to see them a little more often...

These were printed by the lovely people at Awesome Merchandise, who you may recall teamed up with myself and the other Poster Roast artists to design some rather fetching tshirt-garments.

BUY: 

This shirt will be available to buy from the AoC Shop on Monday 23rd Jan at 10am GMT.

The first 10 orders will be sent with a random 7" vinyl record from my collection!

WIN:

I am giving away one shirt & random 7" before they go on sale - in order to win all you have to do is:

1. follow me on Twitter: @armyofcats

2. send me a tweet telling me the most embarrassing record in your record collection and including the hashtag #buymorerecords

3. the record owner I take the most pity on will win a free shirt and I'll announce the winner on Monday morning when the shirts go on sale

PS (Include a picture of your embarrassing record and you are far more likely to snag a shirt)

Thanks for looking and I will speak to you soon my Internet comrades. x

As regular readers are aware, much of the work I do is connected in some way to music. The vast majority of my friends were met through a shared love of music and I could not live without it - either listening to it or making and playing it.

One of my first musical loves was the output of an independent record label from Berkeley, California -- Lookout Records.  They specialised in pop-punk and are perhaps most widely known for putting out the first few records by Green Day, before they moved on to major label success.

Strangely, even though Lookout largely documented the bands of the Berkeley scene, thousands of miles away from me, it gave me a taste for music that inspired the listener to get involved, where anyone could be in a band, start a zine, or start a label.

As well as the actual music, there was a very specific visual aesthetic that accompanied the label - it was very much a hand-drawn, cut & paste endeavour, and all the more characterful for it.

Without a doubt, Lookout Records nudged me onto the path that got me involved not only with punk & DIY music, but with producing art for music, and I remain ever fond of them for that.

Sadly, after a rocky few years Lookout have had to shut down permanently. The reasons are varied, and far from black and white, so not something I feel I want to focus on...

For now I'll just say, thanks and farewell.

 

Earlier in the year I picked up a subscription to Creative Review magazine, which is a great way to be exposed to new ideas and imagery which I might not come across (or even search for) when in front of the computer screen.

Subscribers also get an extra little publication called Monograph, which is like a nicely printed little zine about a different subject each month.

For the December issue, Monograph features some of the gigposter art by various designers involved with Screenadelica, including my Lucero poster.

It's an absolute pleasure to be included alongside quite a few friends & peers, thanks to all involved!

Some of my posters were recently displayed and sold at the Orlando Calling Festival in the Shining Lands of America, thanks to the hard work and constant travelling of the Mobile Screenadelica Exhibition Crew!

The Screenadelica designers were asked to produce posters for some of the bands playing the festival, and I was chuffed to do one for those good ol' Lucero boys:

An edition of 50, with a delightful colour-blend, I hand printed these beasts myself and they are now available on the AoC Shop here.

A little while ago I was asked by the lovely Mara Piccione to contribute to a special 25th Anniversary Exhibition for the Netherlands Venue EKKO.

Each designer in the exhibition produced a poster for a band that had played excellent and memorable gigs at EKKO. This is the poster I designed & printed for Manchester krooners, I Am Kloot.

This is a super-limited run of only 32, and the few that I have left are now available on the AoC Shop.

So this weekend myself and good friend Cameron Steward (twoducksdisco.co.uk) taught our first Screenprinting Course at WYPW, the place where we both print. I'm very happy to report we were both really pleased with how it went.

As well as taking everyone through the print process we spent some time showing our enthusiastic group of 6 a few tricks for prepping files in Photoshop, such as trapping and halftoning.

I designed a 2 colour print as a sort of certificate for the course, and each student took home the one they printed.

The students were keen and enthusiastic and were an absolute pleasure to work with. Everyone was able to print their own artwork on the second day, and you can see a few of the prints here, here and here!

Fantastic stuff and I look forward to teaching further courses in the future!

 

 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Not only is this portentous day signified by mischievous ghosts and goblins making merry by the moonlight, but it is also the launch of my design for the Awesome Merch Vs Poster Roast Series.

The design will be sent out as postcards and posters with each order placed with Awesome Merch throughout November and will also be available in gruesome t-shirt form - although move quickly human, there are only 50 available!

Just for fun, I have also adapted this design for wallpaper, which you can download for free!

Available sizes:

1280 x 800 / 1440 x 900 / 1680 x 1050 / 1920 X 1080 / 1920 x 1200 / 2048 x 1152 / 2560 x 1440 / ipad / mobile

 

Be Spooky; Stay Safe.

LEARN TO PRINT!

Myself and my esteemed colleague Cameron Steward (www.twoducksdisco.co.uk) will be facilitating a 2 day screen printing course, taking place at the West Yorkshire Print Workshop, the studio where we both print much of our work.

The course is aimed at people who have an interest in printing gig posters, so will cover such topics as:

• Working with bands/labels & the legalities gigposters
• Making your design 'screenprint friendly' - understanding the pros and cons of the medium
• Using such techniques as trapping and overprinting
• Screenprinting accurately and at speed!

The ideal participant would be someone with a sense of humour, who is willing to ask daft questions and get their hands dirty.  Also they must be aged 18 or over.

For more info, please go here: http://www.wypw.org/courses/18/Screen_Printed_Gig_Posters.html

And if you are interested - move quick friend as I think there many only be 1 or 2 places left.

At this very moment there is also an exhibition of gigposters at the studio, aptly titled 'This is a GigPoster.' If you were interested in having a look at the studio, you should swing by soon and check out the work on show.

 

Very pleased indeed to have been included in the new Gig Posters book. I received my copy through the post today, and let me tell you it is absolutely beautiful and each page is perforated so you can pull out and display your favourites.

The book is not out on general sale yet but you can preorder it here, and it should be readily available in lots of places when it is out.  A perfect gift for music and art fans.