ZAGORO MOJA
Ante Tešija
Hrvoje Bubić; PAUL STONE INTERVIEW
Hrvoje Bubić
Paul Stone je britanski glazbenik i gradički dizajner specijaliziran zaizradu majica, plakata i naslovnica albuma. Za Solin Live govori o sebi, kao o svome osebujnom opusu
1. First, could you introduce yourself to our readers and say something about yourself?
Paul Stone, known as Stoney to most people since I was about 8 years old, (not for any drug references or coz I’m a dealer as was asked in L.A. by the security guard at A & M Studios once either, coz he thought I was Biohazard’s dealer connection apparently! lol), or Stoney Strike from my 13 odd years being frontman/lead guitar player/song writer for Keyside Strike. I’ve been fairly active in the hardcore music scene for a long time, and playing in bands consistently from about 1991 right up to Covid in 2020, when I was hospitalised with it. Suffered severe lung damage, and was so dehydrated my kidneys suffered long term effects as well. I started concentrating on my artwork much more seriously while recuperating from that, and was house bound for several months because of it. That negative was turned into a positive on purpose because I decided that it would give me a way of staying active in music when I knew playing gigs was not going to be possible, possibly for good……. I’d been doing artwork for my own bands and for various friends here n there for a long time, but the Covid thing made me reassess what I was gonna do pretty much. My portfolio increased exponentially from there really, I’m fortunate that I have the faith of some pretty well known bands and people in the scene who like what I do art wise and trust me to give their releases and shirts designs they can be proud of.
2. As far as I have noticed, you have been involved in music for quite a long time, so I would like to ask you to tell me something about your beginnings.
I started my life long love affair with guitar heavy music early on, my dad was a big fan of bands like FREE, CREAM, The Band, Humble Pie, early Fleetwood Mac n stuff like that, as well as the Stones n Beatles. So I was exposed to some great guitar playing but more importantly song writing from very, very early on. I remember seeing CREAM at the Royal Albert Hall on tv, and a programme about FREE as a kid of about 5 and being transfixed with what was going on. I started going to metal gigs at 13 years old back 1981. Heavy metal was massive in the UK back then, and I loved absolutely everything about it. Gillan, Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Whitesnake, MSG, Scorpions….. NWOBHM stuff like Raven, Diamond Head, Tygers Of Pan Tang, they all seemed to have great artwork on their records and I think that was without a doubt the catalyst that started me on the journey into doing cover art myself. Derek Riggs’ covers for Iron Maiden, the Marillion covers by Mark Wilkinson and Hugh Sime’s Pallas artwork were all big favourites of mine. When I started getting into Venom, and then thrash metal and hardcore punk via Discharge n Dead Kennedys in 83/84 I started seeing the stuff in Maximum Rock n Roll by people like Pushead, Ric Clayton, Sean Taggart, Pettibone and people like that. I became inspired by what they were doing and seriously looked into taking Graphic Design at university. I got accepted to a degree course in 1984, but didn’t get the exam results I needed so had to stay on a year at school to get them, which I did. But by the time I’d done the re-sits I found out I knew a few people who had done that same degree course but hadn’t been able to get jobs in graphic design……. So I went into draughtsmanship for a year. Then ended up just taking all sorts of jobs (printing/paint mixer/engineer spares, basically whatever paid the bills lol), over the years totally away from art and design altogether…… But the desire to do artwork for music never went away and when I started playing in bands myself, I would always end up doing the artwork in the band I was in. Flyers, shirts, covers on demo tapes or whatever. Eventually I did my first cd cover in 1998 for Lowlife Uk’s …On Your Knees album. We did a lot of gigs and got to tour in America for 2 weeks in ’99 with my friends Murphy’s Law, even played CBGB’s before we went back home to normal life! lmao
3. You played in bands that you would like to mention: Keyside Strike, Anti-System, Nailbomb, and Lowlife UK. Tell us more about the mentioned bands.
Over the years I’ve just been in constant motion really with my playing and writing. Nailbomb (UK not the Sepultura side band who stole the name!), was my first gigging band we played quite a few great gigs over the 2 and a bit years I was in the band, with Biohazard, Sick Of It All, Slapshot, M.D.C., Voorhees and others. We were very much in the then new school NYHC style I guess, like Killing Time/Biohazard/Rest In Pieces I guess. After Nailbomb folded I joined what was left of Anti-System and we called ourselves MINDFIELD in 94 and we rehearsed a lot and played a handful of gigs in Bradford. We recorded a couple of demo’s, got some label interest and had a feature in Terrorizer magazine that Ian Glasper wrote. But it just sort of faded away and I left really frustrated. Ironically I rejoined Anti-System again in 2018 for almost a year and we did a European Tour finally using the friends and contacts I’d made along the way after I started my own journey with Lowlife and then Keyside Strike! It felt like coming full circle almost, and was a lot of fun to play those songs live again. There was some great gigs along that tour.
Lowlife was already gigging with Mick from Anti-System/Mindfield on drums but he quit when I quit Mindfield. We got a new drummer just set about playing a lot more, writing better songs and we got to be a really popular band on the UK scene at the time. We put out a couple of cd’s and gigged with a lot of my favourite bands who are still my friends to this day over the next 6 years. Murphy’s Law, Agnostic Front, Warzone, Madball. Ignite, Dropkick Murphy’s, Misfits, Horny Toad (Louiche from Suicidal Tendencies’ side band), Dog Eat Dog, The Business, Exploited, English Dogs, Dickies and a load more. The idea was always to be a hardcore punk band like 7 Seconds or Dag Nasty, catchy songs, with good backing vocals and a bit of the Oi/punk going on as well. No one sounded quite like us, and then Agnostic Front reformed and that first Epitaph Records album, the Something’s Gotta Give record, seemed to have a very similar sound suddenly! lol I guess we might have been trend setters! …. I left the band to move from Bradford (my hometown) up to Darlington (about 30 miles south of Newcastle) when I met my now ex wife through playing gigs a lot in the area in 2001. I’m still here 23 years later!
Keyside Strike was the band I formed after about a year of living in Darlington. I had been busy writing new songs for a while and just took my time to get people in who were capable of playing the sort of music I was writing. I wanted it to be a kind of mix of Poison Idea, NYHC and psychobilly I guess, at least that was the intention. We started to get quite a lot of gigs and released 3 albums on my own label as well as split releases with Iron Cross (the original American skinhead mob!), Rust (Australian street punk), a split with Crashed Out from Newcastle and Bricktop / Fighting 48th (both from Tucson Arizona) and a split mini album with English Dogs – 7 Deadly Sins which is possibly my favourite release of ours.
4. You play in the band Juratory, which combines industrial metal with dance music. Please tell me about the influences as well as the band members.
Juratory was formed initially only as a recoding project for me and H who had been bass player in Keyside Strike between 2006 and 2009 but he decided he really wanted to play gigs with project and it quickly evolved into a real going concern, it was the first time I’ve ever had a proper manager and a “record deal” with a decent size label to be honest, and really became a much bigger project than I’d expected. Our album was mixed and mastered by Reza Udhin who was the keyboard player in Killing Joke at the time!. The idea musically was to mix heavy guitar like say Killing Joke/Prong/Antisect/Amebix/Godflesh and the industrial-dance vibe of Ministry/Cubante/Prodigy. There’s a band called Optimum Wound Profile that had Phil from Extreme Noise Terror that I’d not heard of before we started Juratory that had a fairly similar feel. I spent a bit of time working on the lyrics (not a single piece of “bad language on the records we’ve done!) and the whole aesthetic of the band so that we had a whole ethos and image before we did a single gig. We actually re did a song I wrote when I was in Anti-System/Mindfield in the 90’s and Mortal Lie became the first song on the album funny enough. I decided that if we were gonna play then we should have something unique right from the start. So the military stage gear/camo face paint, back drops and screens on the side of the stage were all in place right from the start. I incorporated a lot of my own pagan/religious beliefs and political stance into the lyrics as well, it seems to me, if you’re gonna write angry music, then you need to put your beliefs in there or it’s just a pose. If the news doesn’t make you angry then either you’re not paying attention, or you must be a really wealthy Tory voter. Otherwise the things our governments are up to are not doing you n me any favours pretty much. Having lyrics I believe in and feel passionate about just lends itself into a more driven performance I think. Though it caused some problems for H, who didn’t see things quite the same way sadly. The band has put out an album and 6 eps. There might be another album at some point, but we’ve not played a gig since February 15th 2020. Covid stopped everything for a couple of years almost for everyone really. We had a handful of practices in early 2023 with new line up, including a live drummer for the first time ever, but it wasn’t really working out, so the band is in hibernation pretty much. I have an album worth and more of songs to record at some point and the record label (Buil-2-Kill Records in Genoa) is still keen to have new music so who knows. I have a few well known collaborators to work with as n when the time feels right and we have time to do it.
5. In addition to music, you do graphic design for T-shirts, posters, books and album covers. Could you tell us something about it?
O.T.P. Graphics is my artwork outlet, I’ve signed my flyers with that name for years n years (coz putting your real name on fly posters is a real easy way to get caught and fined!) and it’s kinda evolved into my own company basically.
I’ve dome album covers for a lot of people and bands that I really like and respect, from Discharge who I’ve done quite a bit for including shirts, record covers, official down load art for the Hatebomb single, posters, stickers n stuff. Boneless Ones shirts, a skateboard, cd and record label art. Varukers again records, shirts, tour flyers etc. English Dogs re-issue split release covers, the whole package for the 7 Deadly Sins split and shirts, System Of Hate, and a load of others. One of my favourite covers is for Meltdown album by Israel Joseph I who was in Bad Brains and Fireburn with my mate Todd Schofield (rest in power!) who was in Danzig, Murphy’s Law, Bloodclot, Warzone and Agnostic Front (when he was 13!)……. But I’ve done cover art for Partisans, The Vile, Abrasive Wheels, and others for Rat (Varukers) Vile records. I’m pretty much the resident label artist at this point. I’ve also been working with Scene Report Records a lot over the last 18 months or so on artwork for Unified Action (GREAT NEHC band who I’ve just done the new 7 inch cover for as well as their 12″ and demo as well as a shirt design!), Rank, and others.
I’ve just about finished work on the cover for the infamous Neuroot/Fratricide split lp that was supposed to come out in 88 on Pushead’s Pusmort Records, but was postponed and eventually shelved when the label folded. I’ve been working like crazy to source the original Squeal art for the front cover and eventually got a fairly good scan of what we believe was the original sketch. I then designed what is intended to be as close to the original as I possibly can. I can’t wait to finally make that legendary record a reality finally!
6. You’ve been active on the scene as a musician and illustrator for quite some time, so I was wondering what names you’ve collaborated with?
Artwork wise I’ve worked on a couple pieces with other artists, Eric Malmuerte sent me a piece he’d drawn that ended up being a flyer for the Berlin gig we played and I used the skull he drew on the label of the new re-issue of No Laughing Matter actually! (Eric has done some great art for Carcass amongst others!) I also drew a new Broken Bones logo and used a new version of their skull logo that was drawn by Gareth P Marks that is being used on a Brazilian cd release of the 1988 demo and shirts as well. (Check out his stuff on Instagram, he does some fantastic skulls!) I’ve got to do a piece with legendary NYHC artist Sean Taggert at some point as well. We talked about doing a piece together when I was at his art show in NY a couple of years back, I need to get my arse in gear and sort that out!
Some of my favourite pieces that I’ve done have been for my old mates from Bradford, Southern Death Cult. I’ve designed 3 different shirts that have been done to raise money for charities. So far I’ve raised about £5,000 give or take for the North American Heritage Association, Standing Rock Legal Defence Fund and S.O.P.H.I.E. Lancaster Trust. The shirts have become quite a cult thing among the S.D.C. family and people were arranging meet ups at the Death Cult gigs last years, all wearing their shirts. Death Cult was the next band after S.D.C. formed by Ian Astbury and it morphed into The Cult eventually obviously.
But as I said the previous answers I’ve been quite prolific and fortunate to be working with some great friends and quite important bands along my art journey…..
Discharge (I’m really proud to have done the 2 album covers for Demo-lition and Live 1980 albums), Southern Death Cult, Varukers, Israel Joseph I, Poison Idea, Prong, Boneless Ones, Murphy’s Law, English Dogs, Gimp Fist who I did a lot of shirts for early on and drew up their famous Clockwork logo that’s been on shirts records n cd’s all over the place and played guitar on a couple of European tours for them years ago as well, , System Of Hate, Man Destroys (Jeff Harp from Final Conflict’s side band), Rust, Decontrol (I guested on guitar with them and produced their tracks on the It’s Still Grim Up North cd that I also designed the package for, Boilermaker (I designed their logos and 2 albums), Days Of End (ex Stamping Ground and my old band Nailbomb), The Unholy Concoction (great metal band), Hagstrom Guitars promo posters loads of stuff really.
I’ve also done the covers for 4 or 5 books by Marquis H.K. with more in the works.
Ironically I’ve done the cover art for 2 re-issues of the classic Anti-System records from the 80’s. There’s a compilation of the Defence Of The Realm and Look At Life ep’s with some compilation only tracks that’s is titled In Defence Of Who’s Realm (the front cover is a shirt design I did for the band when we toured Europe in 2018) and also the No Laughing Matter album that I’ve updated a bit and gave the classic art a bit of an upgrade to make the issue look a bit different. No Laughing Matter is one of Pushead’s favourite records I found out in 2022 when I went to New York to go to a Pushead Hyperstoic art event. We talked for quite a while about music and I mentioned I’d been in Anti-system twice. He was really well informed about the band and asked me a lot of questions about my time playing with them. It was a really cool experience having that really personal conversation and finding out he was aware of my artwork as well as the bands I’ve been in.
7. In addition to the above (music and illustrations), what else do you do?
I work for the local council, and have done for over 15 years, as well as being a very active union rep, health & safety rep and branch officer for Unison. I represent members at disciplinary hearings, AMI’s and investigation meetings, as well as during grievance procedures and other stuff. I was on the regional Health And safety Committee for a couple of years, but struggled to give it enough time to be truthful. Felt like I was spreading myself way too thin so stepped down from that role. I try and go to the gym when I’ve time as well. I used to go years ago, and had just let it slide really. It’s not always easy to find the time, but I’ve been going for a year and enjoy it to be honest. I go on my mountain bike when the weather’s good enough, I use the journey as an extra 30 minutes exercise and it’s a good way of working my lungs and getting myself into better shape at the same time. I’m a father and try and see my sons as often as we can, my eldest son puts on gigs in Newcastle and has a small label that puts out hardcore n straight stuff Conviction Records, I helped sort out the Overstand from Arizona, (ex Warzone) release on his label and did the cover design for it. My middle son is at university studying sound engineering and my youngest is at college studying photography and graphic design so I guess it must run in the family a bit.
8. For the end, what are your future projects? What would you recommend to our readers?
Lots going on as always with me. As I said earlier, I’ve been putting a lot of work into the Neuroot / Fratricide split that’s coming out on Scene Report Records. Rescuing the Squeal art, making an original Henk Vermeer pencil sketch look like it was done in ink for the inner sleeve and scanning some letters Pushead sent to Neuroot back in 85/87 for the booklet.
There’s the Anti-System and Anti Pasti reissues coming out in the next couple of weeks. As well as some covers for Abaddon (original VENOM drummer and all round legend!), Israel Joseph I (ex Bad Brains/Fireburn), Varukers, Unified Action’s new 7 inch and some other releases in the pipeline for peolpe. I’ll be doing another book cover for Marquis H.K. and we are also looking into starting a podcast combining him interviewing various authors and other people involved paganism and occultism, while I will be talking to some of my musician and artist friends around the globe. (At least that’s the plan, very early stages right now so we’ll see how that pans out. On top of that I’ve just started a new band with some old friends, not making the project public just yet so watch this space! But I’ve been having a blast just playing guitar and writing new stuff and playing in a loud and fired up band again! It’s been too long, but I was just not ready physically (my lungs have been permanently damaged from my run in with Covid and I’m still not sure I could do a full set as lead vocalist still to be honest!) or mentally.
I’ve also been in the recording studio doing the demo’s for a project with some heavy hitters from the metal and hardcore scene. We’re doing a 12” ep with 2 of my songs and covers of songs from their bands. When we can go public with it I guarantee it’ll make the music press take notice! The guys involved literally created genres of their own back in the day! (That’s all I’m saying…… 😉 ) It’s taking a while to get the project done, but all good things come to those who work hard!
Anyone who’s interested checkout the O.T.P. Graphics page on Facebook, I try n keep it updated as often as I can. There’s a hefty chunk of my artwork on there. I’ve had my stuff bootlegged by shirt companies in the States and Far East so I guess I should be flattered they think it’s good enough to steal eh?
HRVATSKI PRIJEVOD
1. Prvo, možete li se predstaviti našim čitateljima i reći nešto o sebi?
Paul Stone, poznat kao Stoney većini ljudi otkad sam imao otprilike 8
godina (ne zbog aluzija na drogu ili zato što navodno sam diler, kako me
jednom upitao zaštitar u A & M Studios u Los Angelesu, jer je očito
mislio da sam Biohazardov diler! haha), ili Stoney Strike tijekom svojih
13 godina kao frontmen/glazbenik/tekstopisac za Keyside Strike. Bio sam
prilično aktivan u hardcore glazbenoj sceni dugi niz godina i svirao u
bendovima konstantno otprilike od 1991. pa sve do COVID-a 2020., kada
sam završio u bolnici zbog toga. Pretrpio sam teške oštećenja pluća, a bio
sam toliko dehidriran da su moji bubrezi pretrpjeli dugotrajne posljedice.
Počeo sam ozbiljnije posvećivati pažnju svojoj umjetnosti dok sam se
oporavljao od toga i bio sam zatvoren u kući nekoliko mjeseci zbog toga.
Tu negativnu situaciju namjerno sam pretvorio u pozitivnu jer sam
odlučio da će mi to pružiti način da ostanem aktivan u glazbi kada sam
znao da sviranje na koncertima vjerojatno neće biti moguće, možda nikad
više…… Dugotrajno sam stvarao umjetničke radove za svoje bendove i
razne prijatelje s vremena na vrijeme, ali situacija s Covidom natjerala me
da ponovno procijenim čime ću se zapravo baviti. Moj se portfelj
višestruko povećao od tada. Sretan sam što imam povjerenje nekih
prilično poznatih bendova i ljudi na sceni koji vole moj umjetnički rad i
vjeruju mi da im pružim izdanja i dizajne majica na koje mogu biti ponosni.
2. Koliko sam primijetio — dugo ste bili uključeni u glazbu, pa bih vas želio
pitati da mi kažete nešto o vašim počecima.
Rano sam započeo svoju dugogodišnju ljubavnu aferu s glazbom s jakim
gitarskim prizvukom; moj je tata bio veliki obožavatelj bendova kao što su:
FREE, CREAM, The Band, Humble Pie, rani Fleetwood Mac i slični, tu su
također bili Stonesi i Beatlesi. Uglavnom sam bio izložen sjajnom gitarskom
izvedbom, te još važnije – vještom pisanju pjesama, već od vrlo rane dobi.
Sjećam se da sam gledao CREAM-a u Royal Albert Hallu na televiziji i
program o FREE-u kao dijete od 5 godina i da sam bio hipnotiziran onime
što se događalo. Počeo sam ići na heavy metal koncerte s 13 godina, tamo
oko 1981. Heavy metal je tada bio ogromna pojava u Velikoj Britaniji, i
volio sam sve u vezi s njim. Gillan, Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Whitesnake,
MSG, Scorpions… NWOBHM, zatim bendovi poput Ravena, Diamond
Heada, Tygers of Pan Tang: svi oni su imali sjajne omote na svojim
pločama i mislim da je to bez sumnje bio katalizator koji me potaknuo na
stvaranje vlastitih naslovnih ilustracija. Omoti Dereka Riggsa za Iron
Maiden, omoti Marilliona koje su radili Mark Wilkinson i Hugh Sime, te
ilustracije grupe Pallas su bili svi veliki favoriti. Kada sam počeo slušati
Venom, a zatim thrash metal i hardcore punk preko Dischargea i Dead
Kennedysa 1983./1984., počeo sam primjećivati radove u Maximum Rock n
Roll časopisu koje su stvorili ljudi poput Pusheada, Rica Claytona, Seana
Taggarta, Pettibonea i sličnih. Bio sam nadahnut onime što su radili i
ozbiljno sam razmišljao upisati grafički dizajn na sveučilištu. Primljen sam
bio na diplomski studij 1984., međutim, nisam dobio ocjene na ispitima koje
sam trebao, pa sam morao još jednu godinu ostati na faksu da bih ih dobio,
što se na koncu dogodilo. Doduše, do trenutka kada sam nanovo položio
ispite, saznao sam da poznajem nekoliko ljudi koji su završili taj isti studij,
ali nisu uspjeli dobiti posao u grafičkom dizajnu…, tako da sam se odlučio
godinu dana bavio tehničkim crtežem. Poslije sam prihvaćao raditi razne
poslove tijekom godina (tisak/miješanje boja/zamjena dijelova za
inženjering, uglavnom sve što je plaćalo račune haha), pri čemu sam bio
potpuno udaljen od umjetnosti i dizajna uopće… Međutim, želja za
umjetničkim radom za glazbu nikada nije nestala i kada sam počeo svirati u
bendovima; redovito bih se bavio umjetničkim radom za bend u kojem sam
bio u danom trenutku. Letci, majice, omoti za demo vrpce ili što god.
Konačno sam napravio svoj prvi CD omot 1998. za album On Your Knees
benda Lowlife UK. Odradili smo puno koncerata i imao sam priliku ići na
turneju po Americi dva tjedna 1999. sa svojim prijateljima iz benda
Murphy’s Law, čak smo svirali i u CBGB-u prije nego što smo se vratili kući
u normalan život! Haha
3. Svirali ste u bendovima koje biste željeli spomenuti: Keyside Strike, Anti-
System, Nailbomb i Lowlife UK. Recite nam više o spomenutim bendovima.
Tijekom godina bio sam stalno u pokretu sa sviranjem i pisanjem. Nailbomb
(UK, ne onaj prateći bend Sepulture koji je ukrao ime!), je bio moj prvi
bend za nastupe i odsvirali smo prilično mnogo odličnih koncerata tijekom 2
i nešto godina koliko sam bio u bendu, s bendovima poput Biohazard, Sick
Of It All, Slapshot, M.D.C., Voorhees i drugima. Bili smo naglašeno u
novom stilu NYHC-a tog vremena, pretpostavljam, poput Killing
Time/Biohazard/Rest In Pieces. Nakon što se Nailbomb raspao, pridružio
sam se ostacima benda Anti-System i prozvali smo se MINDFIELD 1994.
godine te smo puno vježbali i odsvirali nekoliko koncerata u Bradfordu.
Snimili smo nekoliko demo snimaka, privukli pažnju nekoliko izdavača i
dobili članak u časopisu Terrorizer koji je napisao Ian Glasper. Ali nekako
je sve zamrlo i ja sam otišao prilično frustriran. Ironično, ponovno sam se
pridružio Anti-Systemu 2018. godine na gotovo godinu dana i napravili smo
europsku turneju koristeći kontakte i prijatelje koje sam stekao tijekom
svojega puta s Lowlife i zatim Keyside Strike! Osjećaj bio gotovo kao da se
vraćam na početak i bilo je jako zabavno ponovno svirati te pjesme uživo.
Bilo je nekoliko sjajnih koncerata tijekom te turneje.
Lowlife je već svirao s Mickom iz Anti-Systema/Mindfielda na bubnjevima,
ali je on otišao kada sam ja napustio Mindfield. Dobili smo novog bubnjara i
jednostavno smo nastavili svirati više, pisati bolje pjesme i postali smo jako
popularan bend na britanskoj sceni tada. Objavili smo nekoliko CD-ova i
svirali s mnogim mojim omiljenim bendovima koji su mi još uvijek prijatelji
do danas tijekom sljedećih 6 godina. Murphy’s Law, Agnostic Front,
Warzone, Madball, Ignite, Dropkick Murphy’s, Misfits, Horny Toad (bend
Louichea iz Suicidal Tendencies), Dog Eat Dog, The Business, Exploited,
English Dogs, Dickies i još mnogo toga. Ideja je uvijek bila biti hardcore
punk bend poput 7 Seconds ili Dag Nasty, zarazne pjesme s dobrim
pratećim vokalima i malo Oi/punka. Nitko nije zvučao baš poput nas, a onda
je Agnostic Front ponovno osnovan i taj prvi album za Epitaph Records,
album Something’s Gotta Give;, odjednom je imao vrlo sličan zvuk! haha
Pretpostavljam da smo možda bili trendseteri! … Napustio sam bend kako
bih se preselio iz Bradforda (moga rodnog grada) u Darlington (oko 30 milja južno od Newcastlea) kada sam 2001. godine upoznao svoju sadašnju bivšu
suprugu kroz česte nastupe na tom području. Još uvijek sam ovdje 23 godine kasnije!
Keyside Strike je bio bend koji sam osnovao nakon otprilike godinu dana
života u Darlingtonu. Bio sam zauzet pisanjem novih pjesama već neko
vrijeme i uzeo sam si vremena dovesti ljude koji su bili sposobni svirati
vrstu glazbe koju sam pisao. Želio sam da to bude neka vrsta mješavine
Poison Idea (hardcore punk bend, op.prev.), NYHC-a i psychobilly-ja, barem je to bila namjera. Počeli smo dobivati angažmane za dosta koncerata i objavili smo 3 albuma na mom vlastitom labelu, kao i zajednička izdanja s Iron Crossom (originalnom američkom skinhead skupinom!), Rustom (australski street punk),
zajedničko izdanje s Crashed Out iz Newcastlea i Bricktop/Fighting 48th
(oboje iz Tucsona, Arizona) te zajednički mini album s English Dogs – 7
Deadly Sins, što je možda moje omiljeno naše izdanje.
4. Svirate u bendu Juratory, koji kombinira industrijski metal s plesnom
glazbom. Molim vas, recite mi nešto o članovima benda i tko je utjecao na
Vaše sviranje u bendu.
Juratory je prvotno osnovan samo kao projekt snimanja za mene i H-a, koji
je bio basist u Keyside Strike-u između 2006. i 2009. godine, ali je odlučio
da zaista želi svirati koncerte s projektom i brzo se razvio u pravi posao. To
je bilo prvi put da sam imao pravog menadžera i “ugovor za snimanje” s
pristojno velikim izdavačem, i zapravo je postao mnogo veći projekt nego
što sam očekivao. Naš album je miksao i masterirao Reza Udhin koji je u to
vrijeme bio klavijaturist u Killing Joke-u! Glazbeno, ideja je bila
kombinirati teške gitare poput Killing
Joke/Prong/Antisect/Amebix/Godflesh i industrijsko-plesni vibe
Ministy/Cubante/Prodigy. Postoji bend nazvan Optimum Wound Profile u
kojem je bio Phil iz Extreme Noise Terror-a, koji nisam čuo prije nego što
smo započeli s Juratory-em, a koji je imao prilično sličan osjećaj. Proveo
sam neko vrijeme radeći na tekstovima (nema niti jednog primjera na albumima koje smo napravili!) i cijeloj estetici benda tako da smo imali
cijelu etiku i sliku prije nego što smo održali i jedan koncert. Zapravo smo
ponovno snimili pjesmu koju sam napisao dok sam bio u Anti-
System/Mindfieldu 90-ih i Mortal Lie postala je prva pjesma na albumu,
zanimljivo. Odlučio sam da, ako ćemo svirati, onda bismo trebali imati
nešto jedinstveno od samog početka. Dakle, vojni scenski
kostimi/maskiranje u kamuflažu, pozadine i ekrani sa strane pozornice sve
su bile postavljene od samog početka. Uključio sam dosta svojih
poganskih/religijskih uvjerenja i političkih stavova u tekstove, čini mi se,
ako pišete ljutu glazbu, onda u to morate uključiti svoja uvjerenja ili je to
samo stav. Ako vas vijesti ne izluđuju, ili ne obraćate pažnju, ili ste zaista
bogati Toryjevski glasač (pripadnik Konzervativne Stranke, op.prev.). Inače, ono što rade naše vlade ne čini nikakve usluge gotovo nikome. Imati tekstove u koje vjerujem i radi kojih osjećam strast samo doprinosi još odlučnijem izvođenju, mislim. Iako je to izazvalo neke probleme za H-a, koji nažalost nije gledao stvari na isti način. Bend je objavio jedan album i 6 EP-ova. Mogao bi postojati još jedan album u
nekom trenutku, ali nismo održali koncert od 15. veljače 2020. Covid je zaustavio sve na nekoliko godina svima u biti. Imali smo nekoliko proba početkom 2023. s novim sastavom, uključujući i živog bubnjara po prvi put ikada, ali nije baš funkcioniralo, pa je bend zapravo u hibernaciji. Imam dovoljno pjesama za snimiti još jedan album u nekom trenutku, a izdavačka kuća (Buil-2-Kill Records u Genovi) još uvijek želi novu glazbu, pa tko zna. Imam nekoliko poznatih suradnika s kojima mogu raditi kad bude pravo vrijeme i kad imamo vremena za to.
5. Osim glazbe, bavite se grafičkim dizajnom majica, postera, knjiga i
albumskim omotnica. Recite nam ponešto o tome.
O.T.P. Graphics je moj kanal za umjetničko stvaralaštvo; već godinama potpisujem svoje letke tim imenom (jer staviti svoje pravo ime na letke je zaista jednostavan način da vas uhvate i kazne!) i to se nekako pretvorilo u moju vlastitu tvrtku, zapravo. Napravio sam naslovne omote za mnoge ljude i bendove koje zaista volim i poštujem, počevši od Discharge-a za koje sam napravio dosta toga uključujući majice, omote ploča, službenu digitalnu umjetnost za singl Hatebomb, plakate, naljepnice i slično. Majice Boneless Ones, skateboard, CD i omot za izdavačku kuću. Ponovno izdanje omota Varukers-a, majice, letke za turneju itd. English Dogs opet ponovno izdanje omota, pakiranje za split izdanje 7 Deadly Sins; i majice, System Of Hate, i još mnogo toga. Jedan od mojih omiljenih omota je za album Meltdown; od Israel Josepha I koji je bio u Bad Brains i Fireburn s mojim prijateljem Toddom Schofieldom (neka mu je vječna slava!) koji je bio u Danzig-u, Murphy’;s Law, Bloodclot, Warzone i Agnostic Front (kad mu je bilo 13 godina!)……. Ali napravio sam i omote za Partisans, The Vile, Abrasive Wheels i druge za Rat (Varukers) Vile Records. U biti, u ovom trenutku sam praktički rezidentni umjetnik za etiketu. Također sam puno radio s Scene Report Records u posljednjih 18 mjeseci na umjetnosti za Unified Action (ODLIČAN SJEVERNOISTOČNI HC bend za koji sam upravo napravio novi omot za 7 inčni singl, kao i njihov 12 inčni i demo, kao i dizajn majice!), Rank, i druge. Upravo završavam rad na omotu za zloglasni Neuroot/Fratricide split LP koji je trebao izaći 1988. godine za Pushead-ovu Pusmort Records etiketu, ali je odgođen i na kraju je odložen kada se etiketa raspala. Radio sam kao lud kako bih pronašao originalnu umjetnost za naslovnicu i na kraju dobio prilično dobar skenirani prikaz onoga što vjerujemo da je bio originalni skica. Zatim sam dizajnirao ono što je namijenjeno da bude što bliže originalu koliko je to moguće. Jedva čekam da napokon pretvorim tu legendarnu ploču u stvarnost!
6. Bili ste aktivni na sceni kao glazbenik i ilustrator već neko vrijeme, pa me
zanima s kojim ste se imenima surađivali?
Kad je u pitanju umjetnost, radio sam na nekoliko projekata s drugim
umjetnicima. Eric Malmuerte mi je poslao crtež koji je na kraju postao letak
za koncert u Berlinu koji smo svirali, a koristio sam lubanju koju je nacrtao
na etiketi za novo izdanje No Laughing Matter, zapravo! (Eric je napravio
neke sjajne umjetnosti za Carcass i druge bendove!) Također sam nacrtao
novi logo za Broken Bones i koristio novu verziju njihovog lubanje logotipa
koju je nacrtao Gareth P. Marks, koja se koristi na brazilskom CD izdanju
demo snimki iz 1988. godine i majicama također. (Pogledajte njegove
radove na Instagramu, radi fantastične lubanje!) Također, u planu je
suradnja s legendarnim umjetnikom iz NYHC scene, Seanom Taggertom. Razgovarali smo o zajedničkom projektu kad sam bio na njegovoj izložbi u New Yorku prije nekoliko godina, moram se pokrenuti i to realizirati! Neki od mojih omiljenih radova koje sam radio bili su za moje stare prijatelje iz Bradforda, Southern Death Cult. Dizajnirao sam 3 različite majice koje us izrađene kako bi se prikupila sredstva za dobrotvorne svrhe. Do sada sam prikupio oko £ 5,000, više-manje, za North American Heritage Association, Standing Rock Legal Defence Fund i S.O.P.H.I.E. Lancaster Trust. Majice su postale pravi kultni predmet među obitelji S.D.C.-a, ljudi su se dogovarali za susrete na koncertima Death Culta prošle godine, svi noseći svoje majice. Death Cult bio je sljedeći bend nakon S.D.C.-a koji je osnovao Ian Astbury ikoji se na kraju pretvorio u The Cult. Kao što sam već rekao u prethodnim odgovorima, bio sam prilično plodan i imao sreće surađivati s nekim sjajnim prijateljima i prilično važnim bendovima tijekom svoje umjetničke karijere… Discharge (ponosan sam što sam napravio 2 omota za albume Demo-lition i Live 1980), Southern Death Cult, Varukers, Israel Joseph I, Poison Idea, Prong, Boneless Ones, Murphy’s Law, English Dogs, Gimp Fist za koje sam napravio puno majica u početku i osmislio njihov poznati Clockwork logo koji se nalazi na majicama, pločama i CD-ima svugdje, svirao sam gitaru i na nekoliko europskih turneja s njima prije mnogo godina, System Of Hate, Man Destroys (sporedni bend Jeffa Harpa iz Final Conlficta), Rust, Decontrol (svirao sam gostujuću gitaru s njima I producirao njihove pjesme na albumu It’s Still Grim Up North za koji sam također dizajnirao omot, Boilermaker (dizajnirao sam njihove logoe i 2albuma), Days Of End (nekadašnji Stamping Ground i moj stari bend Nailbomb), The Unholy Concoction (odličan metal bend), Hagstrom Guitars promotivni plakati, puno toga stvarno. Također sam napravio omote za 4 ili 5 knjiga Marquisa H.K. s još nekim u pripremi. Ironično, napravio sam omote za 2 ponovna izdanja klasika Anti-System iz 80-ih. Postoji kompilacija ep-ova Defence Of The Realm i Look At Life s nekim dodatnim trakama koja se naziva In Defence Of Who’s Realm (naslovna stranica je dizajn majice koju sam napravio za bend kad smo bili na turneji po Europi 2018.godine), a također i album No Laughing Matter kojemu sam malo osvježio omot i dao klasičnoj umjetnosti malo nadogradnje kako bi izdanje izgledalo drugačije. No Laughing Matter je jedan od Pusheadovih omiljenih albuma saznao sam 2022. godine kad sam otišao u New York na Pusheadovu Hyperstoic izložbu. Razgovarali smo prilično dugo o glazbi I spomenuo sam da sam bio u Anti-systemu dva puta. Bio je dobro informiran o bendu i postavio mi je mnoga pitanja o mom vremenu sviranja s njima. Bilo je zaista cool iskustvo imati takav osobni razgovor i saznati da je bio
upoznat s mojom umjetnošću kao i s bendovima u kojima sam bio.
7. Osim glazbe i ilustriranja, čime se još bavite?
Radim za lokalno vijeće već više od 15 godina, te sam vrlo aktivan kao predstavnik sindikata, zastupnik za zdravlje i sigurnost na radu i član uprave Unisona(Britanski sindikat, op. prev.). Zastupam članove na disciplinskim saslušanjima, sastancima AMI- ja i istragama, kao i tijekom postupaka vezanih uz pritužbe i druge aktivnosti. Bio sam član regionalnog Odbora za zdravlje i sigurnost na radu nekoliko godina, ali iskreno sam se borio dati mu dovoljno vremena. Činilo se da se previše raspršujem pa sam odstupio s te pozicije. Trudim se ići u teretanu kad god imam vremena. Prije sam išao prije mnogo godina, ali sam to malo zanemario. Nije uvijek lako naći vrijeme, ali već godinu dana idem i uživam, da budem iskren. Kad je vrijeme dovoljno dobro, vozim se na planinskom biciklu. Put koristim kao dodatnih 30 minuta vježbanja, a dobar je način za rad na plućima i poboljšanje kondicije istovremeno. Otac sam i trudim se viđati svoje sinove što češće možemo. Moj najstariji sin organizira koncerte u Newcastleu i ima malu diskografsku kuću koja izdaje hardcore I straight stvari, Conviction Records, pomogao sam oko izdanja za Overstand iz Arizone (bivši Warzone) na njegovoj etiketi i dizajnirao omot. Moj srednji sin studira tonsko inženjerstvo na fakultetu, a najmlađi je na koledžu gdje studira fotografiju i grafički dizajn, pa pretpostavljam da nam je svima struka u krvi.
8. Za kraj, koji su Vaši budući projekti? Što biste preporučili našim čitateljima?
Što se tiče budućih projekata, ima puno toga što se događa, kao i uvijek sa mnom. Kao što sam već rekao, uložio sam puno truda na temu rascjepa Neuroot-a i Fratricide-a koji izlazi kod Scene Report Records-a. Spašavanje umjetnosti za omot, izrada originalnog Henk Vermeerovog skica olovkom tako da izgleda kao da je nacrtan tinta za unutarnji omot i skeniranje pisama koje je Pushead poslao Neurootu 1985./1987. za knjižicu. Tu su i ponovna izdanja Anti-Systema i Anti Pasti koja izlaze u sljedećih nekoliko tjedana. Kao i nekoliko omota za Abaddon (originalni bubnjar VENOM-a i općenito legenda!), Israel Joseph I (bivši Bad Brains/Fireburn), Varukers, Unified Actionov novi 7-inčni singl i neka druga izdanja koja su u pripremi za ljude. Napravit ću još jedan omot za knjigu Marquisa H.K. i također razmatramo pokretanje podcasta u kojem bi on intervjuirao razne autore i druge ljude koji su uključeni u poganstvo i okultizam, dok bih ja razgovarao s nekim svojim glazbenim i umjetničkim prijateljima diljem svijeta. (To je plan, trenutno smo u ranoj fazi, pa ćemo vidjeti kako će se to razvijati.) Osim toga, upravo sam započeo novi bend s nekim starim prijateljima, još ne otkrivamo detalje pa pratite ovo mjesto! Ali uživam svirajući gitaru, stvarajući nove stvari i svirajući u bučnom i uzbudljivom bendu ponovno! Prošlo je predugo vremena, ali jednostavno nisam bio spreman fizički (moja su pluća trajno oštećena od susreta s Covidom i još uvijek nisam siguran bih li mogao obaviti cjelokupni set kao vodeći vokal) ili mentalno. Također sam bio u studiju snimajući demo snimke za projekt s nekim teškašima iz metal I hardcore scene. Radimo 12′ EP s dvije moje pjesme i obradama pjesama Iz njihovih bendova. Kad možemo to objaviti, jamčim da će privući pažnju glazbenih medija! Ljudi koji su uključeni doslovno su stvorili vlastite žanrove u svoje vrijeme! (To je sve što ću reći…;) ) Projektu treba malo vremena da se dovrši, ali sve dobre stvari dolaze onima koji naporno rade! Svima koji su zainteresirani preporučujem da posjete stranicu O.T.P. Graphics na Facebooku, trudim se redovito je ažurirati. Tamo je velik dio mojih umjetničkih radova. Shvatio sam da su moje stvari bila krivotvorena od strane tvrtki koje rade majice u SAD-u i Dalekom istoku, pa pretpostavljam da bih se trebao osjećati polaskanim što misle da je dovoljno dobro da bi se ukralo, zar ne?
