Brokaw / Farina Poster

Kogumaza 7" Artwork

Mock-up of the forthcoming Kogumaza 7" on Low Point for the purposes of checking how the colours fit together. It's transparent red vinyl with (deliberately off-centre so it looks wobbly when it plays) blue labels and it comes in a golden yellow vintage 7" sleeve that we're getting in bulk from the US. Songs are "Sevens" and "Mara" and it'll be out as soon as it all comes back from the manufacturers.
Both songs have just been put up here to listen to as well: www.myspace.com/oogamaza

Felix LP

I keep meaning to post a link to this:



Out now. Buy one whydontyou? Photo-diary of our recent UK tour to follow...

Italian Car Photos

Now showing at Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sumlin/sets/72157623398758364/

Limited Edition "Tiger" Screenprint

My first ever limited edition print is available on pre-order now from I Dress Myself by signing up to their mailing list which will give you first dibs on all their other marvellous print-based goodies. It goes on sale to everyone else on February 11th. It's a seven colour print on 270gsm paper measuring B2 size (50 x 70 cm) and thanks to Pete's patience and skills it looks lovely. The illustration was originally done for a poster for the Get Hustle back in 2007. Here's my page over at the IDM website: http://www.idressmyself.co.uk/shop/artist/chris-summerlin
There are plans afoot for a t-shirt design that will be the ultimate addition to any Fender Jaguar/Jazzmaster fan's wardrobe too. Watch this space...

New Energimolla Posters

Latest set of posters for the Energimolla venue in Kongsberg, Norway. This time we opted to make a virtue out of the press photos that agents send promoters for their acts. I reduced the press shots to high contrast black and white and then added a single bold colour to give the set a uniform feel and make them stand out among the countless gig posters that use a promo photo of the band concerned. That's the plan anyway.

Savoy Grand Tour Poster

A2 sized poster for the upcoming Savoy Grand European dates. They're listed here: http://www.myspace.com/savoygrand
Savoy Grand are in the midst of what rock biographers will retrospectively call their "Pig Period": Glitterhouse Records.

NO SHAME!

Ladies and Gents, my "No-Shame-1990s-Indie-Rock-You-Tube-Playlist":



Remember, no shame. No Smashing Pumpkins either, you've got to have standards.

Artwork for Fire Chief 5 CD

Some new illustration and layout work I've just completed for the band Fire Chief 5. They gave me a brief to come up with something that had the feel of the future, albeit 30 years ago. They sent me a series of images to give an indication of feel that included some early computer ads, the old BBC2 logo and some road sign fonts. Somehow this translated as a loose tribute to the awesome Russian packaging design of the 1960s and 1970s. The camera images are ink drawings converted to single colours and they broke my brain but I think the final thing hangs together very nicely. If I say so myself.

Baker Street

Christmas Covers 2009 was splendid fun all round. When I get chance I'll upload many videos to You Tube but in the meantime here's something to mist your eyes:

O HAI

"I TOOKD A MESSUG FOR U"

Don't Trust Brainwashed

Brainwashed's End Of Year Poll results are in here: Clickety-click

Not only does the this-is-pretty-good-but-I-really-wish-it-was-better-I-mean-how-hard-can-it-be? Om record God Is Good make it to number 4 in the Top 10 Albums Of 2009 but Brainwashed reader Anthony D'Amico has this to say about Bellini's The Precious Prize Of Gravity:

"All I remember about this album is that I put it on for a couple minutes, shrugged, and turned it off."

Thanks for that Anthony.

The Horse Loom - February 7 2010

FEBRUARY 7TH 2010
CLIQUE CLACK & DAMN YOU! PRESENT:
THE HORSE LOOM
KOGUMAZA
NICK JONAH DAVIS
@ Lee Rosy's Tea Rooms, Broad St, Nottingham
Doors 8pm / £4

THE HORSE LOOM
http://www.myspace.com/horseloom
Northumbrian guitarist and singer Steve Malley would doubtless be extremely embarrassed to read that anyone had called him a 'genius'. That says a lot. It's also one of the reasons why he might well be one. Steve played guitar in Crane in the early 90s, whose post-Husker Du take on The Byrds-meets-DC hardcore earned them a deserving reputation as one of the UK's finest live bands. He would go on to play in Kodiak, Four Frame and then most notably The Unit Ama. The Unit Ama's deconstructed take on rock music was extremely impassioned and almost spiritual at times in direct contrast to the more cold and calculated approach of peers indebted to the USA bands of the time. The Horse Loom sees Steve take this free and beautiful approach and apply to it to his love of British folk music to create wonderful acoustic songs that interweave his surprisingly tender vocals with his truly incredible guitar style that recalls Davy Graham or Bert Jansch at their finest. He's someone who has never stopped amazing us with his output and we think he'll amaze you too.

News Report: The World Just Ended

BE AFRAID!

Genuine headlines from the first issues of the Daily Mail and the Daily Express after Christmas Day. Everyone stay calm!

• BEWARE THE BOXING DAY PARKING LOTTERY
• NEW ICE BLAST ON THE WAY
• "YES, HE HAD HIS FAILINGS - NOT LEAST HIS OBSESSION WITH FALLEN WOMEN - BUT HOW BRITAIN NEEDS A LEADER OF GLADSTONE'S STATURE NOW"
• COMPENSATION CULTURE MAKES LOSERS OF US ALL
• BIN BULLIES' SECRET PLAN TO END WEEKLY RUBBISH COLLECTIONS
• OUTRAGE ON £250 TAX ON MOBILITY SCOOTERS
• SNOWBALL MURDER CHARGE
• REALITY TV GHOULS TARGET INJURED SOLDIERS
• VAT RISE COULD JEAPORDISE THE RECOVERY
• XMAS TRUCE? NO CHANCE...BUT EVEN THE TALIBAN CAN'T STOP US ENJOYING OUR TURKEY DINNER
• SEX ATTACKER, 11, SECRETLY SENT TO PRIMARY SCHOOL
• HEADS ENJOY 32K TRIP DOWN UNDER AND WE PAY
• A VERY YOBBY CHRISTMAS

RSH

Rowland Howard hangs up his guitar for keeps

Merry Xmas!

Kogumaza 7"

Reference mock-up for first of 2 forthcoming Kogumaza 7"s, this one on the Lancashire & Somerset label (home to Enablers and Nathan Bell amongst others).
Limited to 300 on yellow vinyl with the most insanely complex sleeve I've ever been involved in - black heavy paper embossed with silver foil if all goes according to plan.
Out sometime early 2010 fingers crossed and then the 2nd one out on Low Point around the same time. Artwork on it's way...
http://www.lancashireandsomerset.co.uk/
http://www.low-point.com/
The 2 tracks are up for listening to at www.myspace.com/oogamaza too...
Take some time to look at the source for the patterns: a series of physics demonstrations by Stephen Morris at the University Of Toronto: http://www.physics.utoronto.ca/nonlinear/chladni.html

Lungfish Live 1991

Henry Chunklet has decided to digitise and upload a shitload of cassettes that would otherwise be consigned to the great box-under-the-bed-filled-with-dust-and-pubes in the sky. Lots of these came from Chris Thomson but one of Henry's own is this sound-desk recording of Lungfish in Baltimore in 1991.
They do a mighty version of I Don't Live Today by Jimi Hendrix about halfway through too, as if you needed anyore reasons to have a listen...

Brooks Headley

Sam McPheeters profiles his former bandmate Brooks Headley for Vice, with photos by Glen Freidman:
http://www.viceland.com/int/v16n11/htdocs/the-dessert-psycho-223.php?page=1

Headley drummed for Born Against, UOA, Skull Kontrol and Wrangler Brutes among others and is now a renowned pastry chef in New York. No shit. As McPheeters puts it:

"The mystery of tragedy is a staple of news shows—the distraught parents who never thought their child would be capable of murder, the coworkers baffled by an incident of workplace violence. But its correlate mystery—the opacity of talent—gets relatively little play in the media. For me, it’s just as intriguing. How can someone rise to prestige without giving any indications of ambition? What made Grandma Moses take up painting in her 70s? What made G.W. Bush take his life seriously at 40? How do people pull off these radical and seemingly effortless course corrections? Thus was the mystery of Brooks..."

As a huge fan of both desserts and Headley's bands this is a grand read, so go read it...

And while we're at it, here's some of Brooks' drumming from You Tube, just don't read the comments: