Cool News

Michael

Right, I promised you on the last blog entry that there will be cool news and cool news I bring you!

We’ve had a meeting with a bunch of guys from Informal Art, who also produce zines (I have my own copy of “Making it Look Accidental”, which is visually stunning and very witty... damn them) and we are going to support them with their launch on the 22^nd October at the Writers Block North East headquarters on Albert Road.

They are still firming up details of what will happen on the night but we will (possibly and hopefully) be performing some stuff from Vol 1 and some sneak previews from Vol 2.

Exciting!

So, get the date in the diary and make sure you keep your eyes peeled for more details (as always, we’ll put them on the blog and facebook page).

Also, make sure you have blocked out the 13^th October, as on at the Arc in Stockton that night will be Bob Beagrie and Andy Willoughby’s Heroes and Skullduggery night. Yours truly will be performing, aided by video put together by Tim M and starring moi!

I will provide no further details at this point. Suffice to say, it will be worth popping along just to watch the celluloid (actually, if you keep reading Tim gives you some... just keep reading).

In terms of stuff for the zine, I am starting to get together my ideas for my content and short stories for Vol 2.

To start with, I have to confess that my original intention was to primarily use some stuff I had written over the past few months for various, recent performances nights but... that seemed too easy and convenient and I have been genuinely inspired by some of the provisional discussions we have had about the art work for Vol 2 and how we can possibly play with the form and layout of the stories to support it.

So there you go. Once I have drafted some stuff in early October(ish) I’ll provide a preview and ask for some initial feedback.

As for inspiration, well, it has been an interesting week.

I reckon most people have five, possibly ten staple bands/musical artists they fall back on. You only have to look at my Last FM page to pick out mine, which are currently (no need to be too consistent, that’s for the anals and nut jobs) The National, Miles Davis, Tindersticks, Coil, John Coltrane, Ben Throbbing Gristle, Oxbow, Antony and the Johnsons and Swans.

Swans.

It just so happens that Mr Michael Gira and chums (bet he never ever refers to them as that) have just recorded a new album, and I can’t stop playing it.

In fact, I am worried that I like it initially too much and will fall out of love with it sooner rather than later. I am kinda figuring that if this occurs that passions will be reignited after seeing them in Leeds at the end of October (yes, I am officially gloating).

Till then I am going to continue with my compulsive behaviour, if you want to join in there is a link below to the album on spotify.

Swans – My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky

Following is a link to an eight minute documentary about the band on Youtube, which is worth a watch if you’re interested in them or a fan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqG9s1NUZsU

And for the diehards, check out Gira’s Angels of Light stuff on spotify, which to my mind is a natural evolution of the countrified, acoustic led but still powerful stuff on the later Swans stuff and some of the albums are just as good (“How I Love You” is my personal favourite).

Angels Of Light

Tim

Hello there. Time for an update on our filming endeavours.

I awoke with a jolt and an unambiguous whiskey hangover at quarter to six last Saturday morning. Michael arrived at six and shortly thereafter we set off for South Gare with video cameras and tripods aplenty. The wind was blowing and the light was good: the skies over South Gare always provide a fantastic back drop for filming, dog walking and disposing of bodies.

We began by shooting some footage for our first short promotional film. I don’t want to say too much about this as the film itself will be released next week. Suffice to say it involved fisherman’s huts and Michael doing lots of running. The footage has been edited and the film is almost ready to go.

Next, we made for the beach proper. The mission was to get footage for a short film to accompany Michael’s reading of ‘Dagon’ at the Heroes and Skulduggery night at The Arc on October 13^th.

Under the gaze of an arc of video cameras, Michael made for the sea beneath heavy overcoat, gloves and thick tights. I might add that the tights were over his head, rather than on his legs. We got some great footage of Michael entering the sea, submerging and resurfacing before loping up the beach with a monstrous gait.

So, this week’s film project is to edit the ‘Dagon’ footage in preparation for the Heroes and Villains night at The Arc (October 13^th).

Watch this space for the first ‘I’m Afraid of Everyone’ Volume II promotional film, coming soon!

Trial and Design

Pretentious, moi? Well, I have to keep the titles vaguely enigmatic.

Anyhoo, we had our first meeting on Wednesday at the Thomas Sheraton in Stockton. Nice place actually, good selection of real ales and nice and quiet (it’s all in the detail).

The topic of discussion: art work.

John Chadwick is manning the design helm once again and with Tim and board and in the spirit of keeping the zine fresh and interesting, well, we are looking at doing something different to with the next edition.

Whereas Vol  1 was very much a Burroughs informed cut and paste experiment, keeping true to the feel of a zine and making the art work bespoke for each story, we have decided to go the other way.

This time we are going for a cleaner look, where the stories will fit in with the artwork and as Tim, John and I write our stuff we will respond to John’s artwork as it develops, so that the stories are not only influenced by the design etc. but also grow organically with it.

Well, that’s the theory and challenge.

In terms of look we fell back on some of our first loves in terms of design: record art work. Specifically Factory Records stuff. I am a massive Joy Division fan and love how the coolness of the Peter Savilles’ designs reflect and compliment the music.

We then looked at Saville’s influences: Bauhaus, de Stijl and other record sleeves, particularly those of Raster-Noton, who are making some of the coolest, glitchy electronic stuff to date and have a touch of Factory about them in their attitude to making truly independent music and maintaining a certain consistent ascetic.

Below is a link to a very short and cool film about the Bauhaus school , which is part animation and is great fun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_c6AlBBCCI

Also, below is a link to Alva Noto’s (he’s one of the head Raster – Noton guys and my favourite in terms of output) records on spotify. If you are feeling adventurous start with ‘Transform’, if you are a bit timid then go for ‘Insen’, it is a lot more laid back but equally interesting.

Alva Noto

So, what do you think? Come on! We want feedback, tell us if you think we are betraying our roots or if you are genuinely interest if we can pull this off.

Have you any suggestions, maybe someone who has created similar artwork and we should look into as it could help inform our vision. Please let us know.

We should have some cool surprises/news for you guys soon, stuff we didn’t even know was going to happen! Sometime next week we will officially let the cat out of the bag.

Also, John and Tim will be making some form of contribution to the blog, giving you their thoughts and feelings on how it is all going, what is inspiring them.

Till then, have a good weekend and stay safe out there.

Join Our Club

Well, we are three quarters through the weekend already and what have we to show for it?

In my case a deficit of sleep, as I foolishly didn’t capitalise on my Saturday sleep'in (got woke by the kids at seven, never got back off to sleep, thanks in no part to the urge to pee  furiously), a greater appreciation of Duke Ellington and Count Basie and a huge amount of ambiguous feelings about Benny Goodman, thanks to a great documentary about Swing which was shown on BBC 3 ages ago, which I have only just caught up with tonight after half a bottle of wine, two gins and a rather large whiskey. Scunthorpe.

How about you? Answers on a postcard. The comments facility will cost less.

However, what you guys really want to know is what are the guidelines and rules for getting something in the Vol 2 of “I’m Afraid...” (I hope).  Well, they are fairly simple:

·         We have six A5/zine pages of space for guest material.

·         Two of them are going to go to a guest of our choosing. This is not because we are elitist and/or want to get stuff written by our mates. We just want publish stuff written by people we admire and like and if we continue to churn these zines out it will be a reoccurring thing. That is if they will write something for us. If they don’t, it could be quite embarrassing. I might have to do a Phil Spectator.

·         That leaves four A5/zine pages worth of space which you guys can send in stuff for. What we are looking for is content which is edgy, unsettling, maybe even funny or satirical. The main thing is that it has a similar tone to the stuff that was in Vol  1. For reference, get a copy of Vol 1 of “I’m Afraid...” Buy one or borrow. Preferably buy. Please.

·         We are looking for poetry, short stories, art and even articles/essays, whatever floats your boat and twists our melons.

·         Please keep any contributions short e.g. short stories of no more than 400-500 words.

·         The deadline for contributions will be the 5^th November, so there is plenty of time.

·         All guest contributions should be e-mailed to me at michael.t.hann@googlemail.com.

Now for inspiration.

I am currently writing my first novel (shameless plug alert) and have just drafted the first instalment/story (it’s a collection of five interconnected stories, set in the seedy underworld of the North East). All through the writing of this particular story I couldn’t stop playing Antony and Johnsons, particularly the break through second album, “I am a Bird Now”.

Its themes of romance, doomed loved, personal and sexual transformation have heavily informed this particular piece of work of mine. I hope what I write scrapes its coat tails.

Below is a link to the album in spotify. In my opinion, it is one of best of all time (there are a few niggles, I don't really like the guest led stuff).  If you haven’t listened to it give it a whirl. If you have, when did you last do so? Probably too long.

Antony & The Johnsons – I Am A Bird Now

Also, strategically placed below is a link to the video for Antony’s latest EP. Apparently the album is out soon. Expectation hangs heavy in the air in the Hann household.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-Xdm5yS6PY

As for the zine, it is very much a bud at the mo, waiting for invigoration.  

Next week we have a meeting to discuss the art and a few surprises. Keep an eye out and we’ll reveal all, on the QT.

In the Beginning...

Hi! Well, this is my first blog.. ever. I am vaguelly nervous, not sure why (wonder how many blogs start off with such pathetic vunerability, making such a cynical and obvious appeal to people's better natures), so I will just get down to business and brass tacks.

If you are reading this then you'll have read the facebook page for the zine (yay!) and if you have done that then you probably want to know more about our plans for the launch for Vol 2.

Well, what we are planning for the next couple of months is as follows, some of which you will already know:

• A performance event at the Python Gallery in Middlesbrough on Friday 10^th December, which will include spoken word and poetry, music and film.
•  Vol 2 of “I’m afraid...” which will be longer and evolve in terms of content and accompanying art. I will also not be flying solo for this zine and will be assisted in the writing duties by Tim Marshall and John Chadwick, both of whom have plays being produced by Writers Block North East and Northern Stage as part of their joint ‘LISTEN@LUNCH’ scheme.
• We will be providing some space within the zine for people to make contributions, which can be anything from poetry, short fiction or art. All we ask is that people keep it edgy, funny and dark (more details will follow).
• We will be putting together pieces of promo film, roughly one or two a month between now and the launch, which we will put on the zine face book page.
• Accompanying the existing facebook page there will be a blog, where we will share drafts of art, stories etc. for the zine and ask for feedback as we go through the process of writing and producing it. We will also share with people what music, films and stories are influencing our work, as we want to make the experience of creating Vol 2 as interactive and as inclusive as possible.
• We will be performing at a bunch of performance and open mic nights running up to the launch in order to promote Vol 1 and spread the word about Vol 2. Dates will be announced on the facebook page.

So, those are our plans. What do you think? Do you think we're mad, or are we playing too safe. Please send us a comment and let us know.

In the next couple of days I'll put some more info on the blog about contributions and what we are after, deadlines etc. as I suspect that is going to be one of the elements people are most interested in. I'll put a posting on the FB page first to let people know to come here for details.

All this exciting stuff has got my adrenaline going and I must admit that there is one particular song I can't get out of my head at the mo.

It's by a band called The Scientists, who I saw at All Tomorrow's Parties a few years ago (I think it was the year that the Yeah Yeah Yeah curated), and the song is called 'Lead Foot'. You can find it on spotify via the following link:

http://open.spotify.com/album/7BwajgFMGtpc9YQNoC6KMG

There is also a video of them performing the song live on youtube and man it is a fxxking stomper. If you like this then do check our their albums on spotify, particularly 'Blood Red River', which has got that bluesy, Suicide riffing vibe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMVhSXKUrBs

Again, drop us a comment, let us know what you think, maybe you've seen them live some time, maybe you're Australian, or know someone who is (in case you were wondering, that's where the band are from).

It's good to talk (again, wonder how many times that has been used in a blog)!