Still Friends, in Spite of it All?
I’m not generally in the habit of deleting people on social media. I have done it before, but circumstances need to be extreme. Or they did. Now I find myself considering it a lot. It was different a few years ago. Things just weren’t so much like this. Brexit and Covid have changed everything and … Read More
The Last Plastic Carrier Bag at Morrison’s
I meant to write this post for Global Recycling Day, but, as is often the way, I was too busy. The images I’m sharing with this post are by ScapaJoe. For Global Recycling Day, we shared their piece ‘Inside My Head’ on SHSO – a creative blog I run along with my mates Joe Haze … Read More
Tales from the Covoid
It’s been sunny. I have stuff to do. The restrictions are being relaxed. I feel a lot better now. Almost good in fact. But things did get quite grim for a while. I was listening to a radio show back in January, and the DJ spoke about not having been particularly productive during this last … Read More
Remembering Andrew Weatherall
This post originally appeared on Hideous Things It’s been a year today since Andrew Weatherall died. A long, strange year. Because of everything that has happened since, it seems, in a way, like a long time ago. But also, because nothing has really happened, it has passed like no time at all. I remember that … Read More
A Few Good Things
It’s not all been bad… It’s undoubtedly been a difficult year. A horrible year even. But… there are some things that weren’t shit for me in 2020. Here’s some stuff (in no particular order and with no particular theme) that have made me smile in the weird year of the pandemic. Some of it is … Read More
The Year That Wasn’t
This post originally appeared on Hideous Things I also share my writing on Medium *** I’m half entertained and half spooked by the fact that I titled our first blog post, back in February, ‘Sorry Guys, Do You Mind Not Dancing?’ At the time, everything that has happened since would have seemed unimaginable. Five months … Read More
Complexa Mix Series
Something I’ve enjoyed recently has been the Complexa Mix series. Put together by my friend, York-based DJ Jon Baker-Hood AKA Upside your mind and Brad Wood AKA Synthia, the vibe is spacey electronic sounds. The genres vary – which is always something I favour – but the cosmic, trippy vibe is strong throughout. The first … Read More
Imaginarium (Part One)
It’s been some time since I’ve documented any progress on our studio space. In my last post on this, we’d decided on a name for the space – The Imaginarium. Part of the reason for this lack of updates was just how busy I was. Also I didn’t want to be repeating myself. And then … Read More
Lockdown Diary (Part Five)
I’ve not written one of these for a while. Lockdown has got less strict and less weird, I’ve been busier, seen more people, felt better. In what I would deem as a responsible way, I’ve broken the lockdown since it began. I was dropping some post at a friend’s house at the beginning of lockdown, … Read More
Lockdown Diary (Part Four)
I want to go somewhere mad. But nowhere is open. Anywhere. A weird consequence of globalisation that none of us were expecting. The world is small and quiet. Tomorrow it will be six weeks since I had a beer in a bar. It’s been six weeks since I rode a bus. I’ve sort of lost … Read More
Lockdown Diary (Part Three)
I’ve not written for a while. I read my last post back and I felt that it was very negative and I didn’t even end up sharing it on any social media. That was quite early on in the lockdown. Since then I’ve been a lot more upbeat, and assuming that this doesn’t go on … Read More
Lockdown Diary (Part Two)
I think I dealt with the first part of this pretty well. In some ways I was even weirdly glad of it all. I wouldn’t be left homeless or completely broke and, after months of little free time, diminished amounts of work meant that I would have more time for creative projects. As the weekend … Read More
Lockdown Diary
Two weeks and two days ago I was sat in a bar, just next door to where I was living, planning many things for the year ahead. I went down to Outlaws Yacht Club, as I did most days, where one of the owners had kindly offered to help out with advice about licensing our … Read More
An Alternative Christmas Message
Years ago (I was about fourteen), I was at my friend’s house, stoned (I smoked weed back then) and tripping (we’d eaten some hallucinogenic mushrooms) and staring into the fire. Some terrible Christmas film was on, but we weren’t really watching it. What did happen, though, was that it inspired me (along with the mushrooms … Read More
Reflections on a Disaster
One of the saddest days of my recent life was Friday 13th December 2019, the day our election results came in. I wasn’t expecting to feel so gloomy. That part came as a shock to me, because the result didn’t. I was expecting that – and so I wasn’t expecting my own reaction to it. … Read More
Studio Space (Part Five) – The Imaginarium
It’s been a mad couple of months. When I started packing to move house and began the real task of sorting our studio space I knew it would be a mad few weeks. I underestimated how long it would all actually take. This is unusual for me. Usually I overestimate. We took on a warehouse … Read More
Distrikt Pride Courtyard Party Review
This post originally appeared on DIY Leeds *** I need to stop reviewing gigs I’ve played at myself. Or we need more writers for DIY Leeds (it’s a labour of love. Currently all content is written by me and Joe Haze). Anyway… Every so often you play at a party that stands out a little from … Read More
Future World Problems
There is a beautiful quote from The Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan that by its nature will always be relevant: “We are all flawed and creatures of our times. Is it fair to judge us by the unknown standards of the future?” A thought-provoking question. To put it in context, here’s the whole passage: … Read More
A Golden Weekend – The Off Licence presents CMYK
This post originally appeared on DIY Leeds *** This was such a good party. The Off Licence is the brainchild of my friends Ben Etherington and Alex Kelsall, who are also Schwein residents. They’d been talking about putting a night on themselves since before coming on board with the Schwein crew and it’s been awesome … Read More
The Opiate of the Masses
My mate Brett used to say ‘That’s dead seventies’ about anything he thought of as grim or old fashioned. ‘I think TV is dead seventies’ I said to him one day. ‘Like things still being on at particular times and just that people watch it at all.’ I’ve always found the notion of watching TV … Read More
Controversial, but…
The other day I made someone chuckle because they said something about feminists and I apparently pulled a face of disgust. “So you’re not a feminist, then?” my friend asked, laughing. “God no!” I said. This kind of response from me is usually either met with amusement or horror, so I feel I should maybe … Read More
Goodbye, Mint Club
This piece originally was originally written for DIY Leeds (for those not in the know, Google does not penalise this kind of duplicate content) *** I need to stop going to gigs on acid. Well, I don’t, because it’s brilliant, but I probably should when I intend to review them objectively because it makes everything … Read More
Studio Space (Part Four)
I’m conscious of repeatedly posting the same thing, so didn’t want to do daily updates on our progress doing up our wonderful new space. Also, I’ve been busy as hell as I’ve needed to make sure I’m earning enough to pay my share of the costs. Following the glorious multi-coloured walls, we needed to get … Read More
Words That Should Exist
The image above is something I’ve seen floating around the web for a while, and I always enjoy re-reading it. Number 12 prompted me to think of a word that doesn’t exist, but should… Anecdouche – A person who constantly interrupts others with their own anecdotes. (I will add that most people I know are … Read More
Nicolas Dixon Mural at Leeds Trinity
Last week I took up the brilliant opportunity of helping prolific Leeds artist Nicolas Dixon out as he painted a mural in the Trinity Centre. Along with Peachzz , Florence Blanchard, Raul33 & D7606, artists for Blackbox and OllyStudio, he has transformed the Albion Street entrance to the shopping centre. This will coincide with new … Read More
Studio Space (Part Three)
Swift progress is being made doing up our wonderful new space… After some discussion, we decided not to paint the studio ourselves. That was our original plan – and we even had some of our lovely friends volunteer to help. On thinking it through, however, we realised that the time we’d spend doing it would … Read More
The Moral Quandry of Greggs Vegan Sausage Rolls
In recent times I’ve made a concerted effort to eat less meat and I’ve started 2019 with an aim to avoid meat products altogether. This is the only new year’s resolution I’ve ever made. This was what one of my friends had to say about the new vegan sausage rolls at Greggs… “Profits from this … Read More
Studio Space (Part Two)
Following probably the best Christmas and NYE I’ve ever had (great time with Freaky Behaviour on Boxing Day, mint NYE and NYD Schwein gigs at Wire and 212 and then dancing all night at Hold The Relish), the time had come to get my brain back into gear and remember all the serious stuff I … Read More
Schwein NYE at Wire
The Schwein & Bad Ornament crew are back at Wire for NYE. I’ve done a full write up about this on our site. Have a read here
Studio Space (Part One)
A couple of years ago – the day after the hideously depressing Brexit vote, in fact – someone asked me where Schwein & Bad Ornament was. (Schwein & Bad Ornament being the art and music collective that I’m part of). “Oh, it’s not a place” I said. “But we would love to have a place … Read More
Making a Difference
“If one person makes a change it makes no difference.” I’ve heard that a lot, and it’s bullshit. A friend said to me the other day “You do realise that if you do this it won’t make any difference to the rest of the world.” Oh but it will. If everyone had that attitude, nothing … Read More
My Friend Marco
My friend Marco died like his heroes. It was a terrible waste – as is the death of any young person. Marco was talented and sweet, and he made us all laugh a lot… and he deserved to live long enough to realise that most of his heroes were douchebags. Marco loved the past. He … Read More
Underthinking
I don’t think much. I mean, I obviously do have thoughts, but I don’t really ponder things that often, I tend to just observe and do. I have been told that I’m ‘hard to read’, but on the few occasions when I would consider myself to be really THINKING, someone has always asked me: ‘Are … Read More
Bad Ornament Art Exhibition at Outlaws Yacht Club
Currently, myself and the good folks at Schwein & Bad Ornament have artwork on display and available to buy from my favourite teleport destination (as I once quipped to Nigel Rogers who has since adopted the description and used it widely), Outlaws Yacht Club. Nigel, Darryl Marsden, Al Bradley and our resident DJ Carl Sheppard played some tunes for the launch party, a … Read More
Balancing Gigging with ‘Normal’ Life
…I am just about managing this. I work as a freelance web designer and developer and I also run Schwein & Bad Ornament with a few close mates. We’re a crew of DJs and artists and we host regular events in Leeds and a few further afield. This includes two residencies on the third and … Read More
Studio Time
Up until now I’ve not had much time to work on tunes this year, but I got a few finished in the later part of 2017, after various reworkings and I got to have some studio time last week to do rough masters of these. My housemate and fellow Schwein resident Marcus Kitchen is studying … Read More
Pop Cult Chic
As a web developer/designer I get to work on some exciting projects. Some of these are a buzz in a nerd kind of way – like the technical side is fun and I get to make some cool shiz and solve weird problems. Others are inspiring because they tie in with the other side of … Read More
Gold Lego Minifigure Necklace
Gold Lego Minifigure Necklace Custom made gold Lego minifigure necklace. I made this a while ago and just shared a pic on Instagram and facebook. Had quite a decent reaction so going to make a few more to sell. Watch this _________
Charity Shop Gold
An ace find. Cheetahs. Completely the wrong size. Perfect.
Big Disco
Big Disco Our stall at Big Disco last week – prior to putting on Rhythm&Soul at Wire…