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Today on our weekly look back at older work, we’re heading all way to February 2015 and release of my band’s five track EP Earth Tribe Technocracy. This was from that era when I was doing a lot of psychedelic post apocalyptic UV photo composite stuff, a proper trippy collage style, the piece here was a visual collab between myself and Chris from the band. Packaging for this one was mint I thought. We printed the CDs and covers up in little A5 anti static bags, like something scavenged from a scrapyard server room. I’ve always thought packaging is just as important as art or music or can be part of art itself in a way, we went for that ragged earth tribe, found technological vibe. Something that felt assembled from whatever bits had survived the collapse.
Artwork itself is this evil clown flogging tickets for an event that no one in their right mind should attend... It tied in with track Everything For Sale, which was basically our middle finger to art and music establishment. Back then, and even more so now, it felt like whole system was built for a different class of people... never people like us, a different world entirely...
No one from that world is going to put you out there... No gallery is waiting to pluck you from obscurity, no label is standing by to lift you up... You have to build your own platforms... your own noise... your own hype... your own worlds...
It’s same ethos I still go by now... that anti museum stance... that DIY spirit... that refusal to wait for permission... Some habits are worth keeping... looking at old work reminds you of the fires that we once lit... and everything that came after...
That we still have to push back against the gatekeepers...
"if you’re worrying about what people will think or say, then you better forget it now because whatever you do, they're going to slake you off and criticize you into the ground."
So crack on... build your own paths... make your own damn gates... and let whoever wants in come find you...