Upside Down-The Creation Records Story

5 Minutes With Richard Haines of What I Saw Today

Richard Haines is the fashion illustrator behind the fantastic 'What I Saw Today', blog where he chronicles 'cool stuff guys wear'.

Q1. What was the first record you bought and what effect did it have on you?

'Satisfaction'-Rolling Stones, and it still has an effect on me. I remember the heady feeling of sliding it out of the slick, glossy 45 cover, punching the little spindle thing in it, and putting it on my record player. I was instantly transported to Carnaby Street...that kind of sexul preening was completely new at the time!

Q2. What's the best ‘fashion moment’ you’ve ever experienced?

I seriously have them every day. I always see something in NYC that gives me a moment. My first real one was meeting Twiggy (and having her autograph a sketch I did of her) at the British Embassy circa 1967. That was a moment. I was speechless. people gave me a lot of shit about it at school the next day though...

Q3. Where did you find inspiration for your illustrations?

Wow. Everywhere. The first time I saw a fashion illustration was looking at the New York Times couture report when I was around 11. I was dumbstruck at how a person could capture so much attitude in a few lines. And of course I love the fact that decades later I just went to Pitti Uomo for the New York Times. it's an amazing full circle.

In a more contemporary context, I love watching people, the way they stand, dress, the signals they send to each other. that's what i love to capture-the fashion is icing. and of course i ususally see the best people watching in brooklyn!

Q4. Where do you find the best street style ?

Right now I'm really inspired my 'Morgantown'-that strip of a couple of blocks off the Morgan stop. It's serious art boy style-right up my alley. It's about a 5 minute bike ride from my place so I bike over, have a coffee, people watch, then head into the city to do what ever I need to do.

Q5. Please finish this sentence: rapid information exchange via the Internet means that...

...I couldn't have started my blog, which means I wouldn't be here answering these questions. On the other hand, it means there's a lot more bullshit flying around.

http://designerman-whatisawtoday.blogspot.com/



Rolling Stones - 'Satisfaction'

5 Minutes With....The Man Who Fell To Earth

The Man Who Fell To Earth - Original Trailer

5 Minutes With Mark Maidment of Ben Sherman

Mark Maidment studied Menswear at Harrow School of Art, graduating in 1993. After working for brands in the UK and USA he joined Ben Sherman in 2002 as Design Director. Following 3 successful years he was made Creative Director, expanding his role to include, interiors, marketing and bringing the whole brand identity, concept and dream together.



Ben Sherman Gets Nicked in New York.



Ben Sherman x Dazed & Confused Englishman in New York.


Q1. What was the first record you bought and how did it change your life?

Mark Maidment: ‘Embarrassment’- by Madness. It had a song called “Crying Shame” on the B side and I actually listened to that more than the A side which was “embarrassment” (which is a superb song), anyway, “Crying Shame’ taught me what it felt like to lose the girl you wanted to keep even before I had met a girl I wanted to keep.


Q2. Ben Sherman has been worn by five decades of musicians. Today every brand and designer is trying to claim music as their DNA and inspiration. Has the fashion/music crossover become just another cynical marketing device?

MM: For many yes! We are lucky that our music and youth culture roots are solid. The mods, one of the first and most powerful clothing and music connected youth movements, loved Ben Sherman. They loved the Ben Sherman shirt and that was our future, made right there in 1963.

Q3. Would you agree that Ben Sherman's uniquely British Mod heritage makes the brand difficult to understand for mainstream America.

MM: For some maybe, but for those who don’t know or understand our mod roots, just the pure ‘Britishness’ and strong style and attitude are enough for them to like what we do. We are very proud and very grateful to have such a great fan base in America

Q4. Fashion seems to becomes more about business and less about inspiration every year-Have the accountants taken over?

Fashion has become such a big business, and its success grows every year in terms of business growth and opportunities. It some ways this is good: its keep fashion alive and keeps it from being something that just done for the sake of it. One thing has not changed and that is, if you walk through the offices and studios of any successful fashion company you will find the designer. These are still the exiting creative people pushing the boundaries as they always have done. Long live design, long live breaking the mold and long live creative passion.

Q5. Can you share a funny story-something 'off the wall' that has happened to you at Ben Sherman?

MM: I have been at this great brand for many years. It’s a great place to work and a great brand to represent and work with. It’s a very addictive place to be. I have had some great fun and many, many laughs at Ben Sherman, lots of funny stories, but I guess one that sticks out in my mind is when we were presenting the new collection to the American sales team in a big mansion house in the Hamptons a few years ago. I had a brand new young designer on stage with me, who was very ‘green’ and had not really traveled before. The sales guys got so excited with the presentation they jumped onto the stage and grabbed this new young designer and put him on their shoulders and walked him up and down the street all chanting his name. it was very funny to see. This young lad was pretty freaked out. It was even funnier when someone shouted ‘ there's free booze back at the house’ and they dropped him like a stone. I thought to myself there's a life lesson in there. You can go from zero to hero very quickly and you can come back down with a bump just as fast!!


Madness - Embarrassment

Marc Almond - New Romantic at The Warehouse, Leeds

Marc Almond - New Romantic at The Warehouse, Leeds



Rowan Atkinson as Marc Almond



Marc Almond interview 1984 on a kids morning TV show

5 Minutes With Rankin

Rankin is a Photographer and director who lives and works in North London. Over the last 22 years he has earned a reputation for his exceptional portraiture and is repeatedly commissioned for global advertising campaigns, editorial features and is exhibited in galleries around the world. As a director, he frequently shoots music videos, commercials and documentaries as well as directing an award-winning feature film, The Lives of the Saints.

Rankin studied Photography at London College of Printing. During this time, Rankin met Jefferson Hack, with whom he formed a working relationship. The two decided to start a magazine together called Dazed & Confused once they had graduated. And the rest is history...

Q1. What was the first record you bought and what effect did it have on you?

The first record I bought was by the Beatles. It was Live at the Hollywood Bowl. I was late getting a record player, my parents didn’t own one, so I think I was about 13. We all just listened to the radio. It did have an amazing effect on me. Since then I have been a life long Beatles fan and I’ve never got bored with them. However it was The Who and The Jam that I really became obsessed by, pouring over all of their album sleeves. Looking for details that would tell me a little bit about the bands I loved so much.



Rankin by Jarvis Cocker.

Q2. When did you start taking photographs and who or what influenced you to do that?

When I was 20, I started taking pictures and realized photography was what I really wanted to do. So I dropped accountancy and went back to my A-levels, back two years almost-to study photography. At that time I wanted to be a photojournalist, as I’d seen a show by W. Eugene Smith, who’s work I loved and admired. But I realised pretty quickly that I was more of a portrait photographer, I was a bit shy on the street and couldn’t get my head round the decisive moment. Eventually I moved on to Bailey and Avedon. I love their work and they have both inspired me to try to have my own vision.

Q3. The photography in Dazed & Confused defined the 1990's. Do you think that rapid information exchange via the Internet means that print is a dying form of media?

I don't think print will ever die, there is something incredible about the feel and look of print, whether book,magazine or a just a print in a gallery.

Q4. How did you become involved with Oxfam?

I was asked to do some celebrity images for them and at that point I suggested that perhaps I could do more – go to a conflict zone, or something like that and take portraits in my style. I really believe in the work Oxfam do and try to support them as much as possible. I hope that my photographs can help people understand that we are all human beings and we should help each other. It’s not about pity and powerlessness, it's about making people realise that we need to respect other humans.

Q5. Give us a really off the wall anecdote/story. Something that not many people will know about-could be about anything related to your work.

I guess one of the most unusual things I do is present documentaries on photography. I’ve done three so far and I’m just filming the fourth one, all for the BBC. I love photography and photographers, so it’s a great way to meet and learn about people who’s work I admire. But I feel a bit of an idiot being a presenter, as I’m not that comfortable being in front of the camera, so make lots of gaffs! I also love chicken pie!

http://rankin.co.uk/

http://rankinfilms.com



The Noisettes - Ever Fallen In Love

5 Minutes With Alan McGee

Alan McGee with Malcolm McLaren

Alan McGee a music maverick known for co-forming and running the independent Creation Records label from 1983–1999, and then Poptones from 1999-2007. He has managed and championed successful acts such as The Jesus and Mary Chain, Primal Scream, Oasis and The Libertines.
TEDxOxford - Rachel Felder and Alan McGee - A Discussion on the Music Industry.



Q1. What was the first record that you bought and how did it change your life?

Alan McGee: It was T.Rex 'Get It On'- it was number one in the UK at the time I was 11 and I knew from that point on I never wanted a job.

Q2. Would you agree that kids today look at video games and technology the way we looked to music as a way to define our identities?

AM. Yeah, culture and times change all the time music is less important for identity in 2011.

Q3. I interviewed Malcolm McLaren extensively in 2008 and he talked about your support and funding for his run for Mayor of London. Given that you are very open and vocal about your political views, would you consider entering into politics?

AM. No because politicians don't run anything, they are all puppets. Elite families run the world and have done since Egypt.

Q4. It was recently reported that you have lost interest in music and are now more interested in the esoteric and occult teachings of Aleister Crowley. True or false and if so, what would have to happen musically to get your attention these days?

AM. I am more in the the chaos majickians than Aleister Crowley. Peter J Carroll and Austin Osman Spare. Music wise the Primals still have it so I still believe.

Q5. First Creation Records, then Poptones. It's said that there are no second acts in American lives but there obviously are second, third and forth acts in the life of Alan McGee. What's next for you?

AM. I don't know. I don't want a real job ever, as long as I never have to ''work'' in a job I hate, then I won.



Primal Scream - Rocks (Live From Abbey Road)

http://www.upsidedownthemovie.com/

Wombles Rock Glastonbury

The Wombles, joined by Chris Spedding, rocked Glastonbury. Opening their set with 'Remember You're A Womble', the band drew a big audience, many wearing cardboard Womble masks. The set included 'Nashville Wombles', 'Wombling Merry Christmas' and the finale of 'The Wombling Song'.
"You will clean up all your litter afterwards, won't you?" said the ever socially conscious Orinoco near the end of their set.

"They must have been like junkies in a crack den with all that litter" said Liam O'Meara, a Wombles fan from Islington who used to play 'Wombling Free' on his organ when he was a youngster.

The Wombles courted controversy earlier following comments by festival organiser Michael Eavis, who said he regretted that the band had been booked for the event. Spoil sport.

Thanks to: http://www.sex-pistols.net/

5 Minutes With Max Blagg - He Rants It Like It Is

Max Blagg is a British-born poet, writer, and performer from Retford, England. Blagg came to New York City in 1972 and is recognized as an influential performer, respected writer, and poet in the New York literary scene. In 1992, his poem "What Fits?" was the soundtrack to a commercial for Gap jeans.
The venues where Blagg has performed include the Kitchen, Guggenheim Museum, Jackie 60, Cable gallery, Nuyorican’s Poet’s café, St Marks Church, Bowery Poetry Club, CBGB, KGB Bar, Performing Garage, Mudd Club, and many other cultural landmarks.




Q1. What was the first record you bought and how did it change your life?

The first record I bought with my own money, earned from my paper round, was the Rolling Stones’ second single, ‘Not Fade Away’. For some reason we had a set of maracas and with these in hand I accompanied the Stones on this single for hours at
a time as it spun at 45rpm on my sister’s Dansette player, pursing my way too thin lips savagely as Mick snarled out lyrics like ‘I’m gonna love you night and day’, an astonishing concept to a kid of fifteen. Do it in the daytime? Sounds good. Something
about that music broke things open, the possibilities were endless, it was part of an enormous wave that engulfed my teenage mind, filling my tiny head with eccentric alternatives to apprenticing at British Ropes or Hurst’s Plumbers the minute I left school. There was a larger world outside my little town, pulsating to the rhythm of this music, and if I really wanted it, and it was mine to explore. Yes, all that from a fucking single!

Q2. When did you come to New York and how has the city changed since then?

I arrived in New York one a one way ticket in 1972, after a horrible four year stint in dark and gloomy London, hammered by vile weather and bootleg psychedelics. Arriving in New York was like stepping into a poem by Frank O’Hara, and after about three days here I knew it was the only place I wanted to live.

It still is, despite the recent overload of blatant Wall Street looting and the presence of the name 'Trump' on way too many buildings, Barnum and bailouts for this gullible age. In New York you can always feel the Bohemian history running
underneath, that powerful city nerve throbbing like a boner, no matter how slick with scum the surface. This crass too will pass. Wherever I am in the city, within a few miles or a few yards there are trace memories, remnants of some writer or artist whose work inspired me. That’s why kids still wake up every day in the Midwest or in a small town in Yorkshire and say, “Hey sugar, take a walk on the wild side!” and start planning their escape. Global schmobal, New York City is still ‘the place where’. Everything and anything, from writing, art, music, fashion, food, coming out of New York always has a tad more authentic ‘oomph’ to it than product from any other location in the whole wide world.



Q3. Your publication 'Bald Ego' brings poetry, prose and photography together into a volume of work-what inspired you to create this mix?

Bald Ego was a co-production with Glenn O’Brien, and it was truly a case of two clashing egos making a third thing that was really a very cool artifact, a perfect blend of high and low, contributors famous and unknown. Also, tits and ass cheek by jowl with high-falutin’ art, all superbly contained in one 6 by nine inch vessel. After the first two issues, I was looking at everything through this 6X9 frame, and some things fit just right. And the dirt blended so well with the more refined stuff. Everybody wanted to be in the mag, so we even started inviting people we didn’t know, after the blatant nepotism that helped us fill the first two issues. But you need money for such a project. I hated the business side and so did Glenn so that part of the adventure was kind of a drag. We had a little bit of money from ads but it wasn’t enough. Everybody worked for free and we made a
beautiful magazine and it ended up losing money. We did get some money for the third issue but that turned out badly in the end, money was promised for more issues but it never materialized. and the plug was pulled while I was in the midst of the fourth issue, gathering some incredible stuff, including twenty pages of Cecily Brown sex drawings that are just phenomenal… . I still can't figure why one of these uber-wealthy artists, constantly crowing about their private jet flights, how much their new accountant is making for them, what a great job their publicist has done, etc..why don’t these un-sacred monsters add a little more luster to their seraphic arty glow and just underwrite a few issues of the mag for fucksake? Or some of our friends with restaurants and hotels who make millions yearly catering to the faux hip. What do they do with all that moolah? You just want to turn some of these monetarily constipated folks upside down and shake the alligators out of their pockets, loosen up that long green that’s wadded up in there like so much impacted shite.

So many of the wrong people have made so much money in the last few years, and a lot of them have made it from investing in art, but do you ever see any of them putting a tiny fragment of their ill-gotten gains back into art? Not really. One reason the rich have so much money is that they truly love money, and it seems to actually physically hurt them to part with any of it. I once triggered a spontaneous nosebleed in one well- known garmento CEO when I asked for a very modest retainer for my unique poetical services to help sell his chinos. He pretended ignorance of the fact that his company had just turned $40 mil profit that year and referred me to his hatchetwoman accountant who was only too happy to say no to this Bohemian. It was just business. Or this heiress who’s spending a million dollars on her latest divorce, gladly feeding insane amounts of cash to lawyers when she could have financed the next issue of Ego for a mere bagatelle, say 20 grand. Or the other guy who got paid a hundred mil for his company but still had to screw me in a business deal. I love it when these turd burglars say “Oh, of course we’re friends. It’s just business.” You want to reply, “Yeah, and this is just a Glock, and it’s just loaded…” haha, where was I, Bald Ego, yes, marvelous experience, editing that mag! And distributing it by wheelbarrow to bookstores throughout the city. And trying to collect from the people who took out ads. I’d do it all over again in a minute, but this time without the Vicodin.

Q4. You have performed your poetry at a number of iconic venues-can you share a crazy story about one of your performances?

One of my favorite performances, which was happily recorded on very low quality VHS, took place back in the mists of time, around 1981, at a fantastic bar called Tin Pan Alley, on 47th street, which alas no longer exists except in some Nan Goldin photographs. Even though the owner, darling Maggie Smith, was a raving feminist, she was a big fan, and I read there quite a few times. On this occasion I was performing with musical back up by a composer named Jim Farmer and twelve [12] female back up singers dressed as girl scouts. Two days before the show I had discovered the uniforms in a vintage clothing/ bookstore hangout called Sohozat, which like so many other iconic spots in NYC is now a Korean grocery. Lee and Stanley, the two cool cats who ran the place, happily loaned me the outfits and it was no problem finding twelve girls to wear them, even if they couldn’t sing a note. After the performance, we all went downtown to J.S. Vandam [now the Greenhouse]. When I walked in, twelve girl scouts in full uniform, accessorized by heels and fishnet stockings, were draped along the length of the bar, drinking martinis. I felt like I was in heaven. And in a way, I was.

Q5. Do you that social networking and Twitter are a positive force for distributing the written word?

I’m an oral poet, at heart, though of course I also want my poems to stand up on the page. Poems are word bombs that ideally should be unleashed into the air, where they will explode or fall harmlessly to earth, according to the charge they carry. The very word “Twitter’ for me invokes an image of budgerigars chatting inanely in a cage, like twits and twats, chattering. People clogging the airwaves with lots of useless information, photographing themselves and sending photos of the food they are eating, giving you a play by play of their every move, kind of tedious and surely superfluous when everyone is already working various other social nets; IM and FB and the DL. And it can get you in all kinds of trouble. Weiner and his weiner, and just today poor old Roger Ebert made some nebbishy comment on the sudden demise of Ryan Dunn, who was a funny guy but
he did after all drink and then drive at 130 mph with a friend on board, and killed them both, so Ebert was not totally out of line. Yet poor Roger has been absolutely stoned to metaphorical Internet death by a raving horde of truly barbarian Jackass fanboys out there. It’s interesting the amount of pure hate that people spew, there seem to be no rules for any kind of civility on the interwebs. I guess it’s easier to talk shit to people if you’re not standing in front of them. Another problem with all this social networking is that it has empowered everyone, not always in a good way. It’s given everyone a voice, and some of these voices should really keep their traps firmly shut. What they think simply doesn’t matter enough for it to be let out of their house, which is probably made of cheap glass anyway. Everyone has an opinion, and we really don’t need everyone’s opinion, because ‘everyone’ is not an expert. So filter ON and STFU already. Also, this shorthand way of writing is an insult to anyone who can read. How much longer does it take for the eye/brain to scan and understand ‘see’ than ‘c’?



The Rolling Stones - 'Not Fade Away'.

My Favorite Shop - Agent Provocateur

Agent Provocateur
133 Mercer Street
New York
NY 10012

Opening Hours
Mon – Sat: 11am – 7pm
Sun: 12pm – 6pm

Agent Provocateur was founded by Joseph Corré, the son of Vivienne Westwood, and his now ex-wife Serena Rees in 1994. The first shop was opened on London's Soho district in 1994. Since then, the company has opened 30 stores in 13 countries across the globe.

http://www.agentprovocateur.com/

5 Minutes With Peter Gray

Photo: Sølve Sundsbø
Hair: Peter Gray







Peter Gray is known for creating sculptural hairstyles for advertising and editorial in the world's premium fashion publications.
Gray is also an emerging director of innovative music videos and short films.

Q1. How did you get into hairdressing?

I went to an all boys boarding school and ended up cutting friends hair in order that they could avoid the school barber. The first haircut I ever did I cut the chaps ear, the second time I cut his hair a few months later I cut the other ear... fortunately this hasn't happened since!

From cutting pupils I progressed to cutting staff and even the headmasters hair. When a parent who owned the biggest salon in town saw my handiwork and invited me to be a shampoo boy in school vacations, the transition from an all boys boarding school to a salon full of women... became a gap year which turned into a career...

Q2. You are known for exceptional cutting and sculptural hair. What's the most adventurous look that you've ever created?

Creating 5 yeti suits, boots and waist length wigs for the Super Furry Animals music video Golden Retriever (which I also scripted) they then went on to use the costumes in their live performances for the next 12 months of touring.

Under wraps still: I recently helmed a campaign for L'Oreal Professioneel which comprised some of my most adventurous work yet, this is due for release shortly.

Q3. Your formative years were spent in Manchester during the Acid House explosion. What was that like?

300 days of rain per year created a fertile ground to cultivate and nurture my imagination and love of film, literature and music. Between the exploding music scene and club culture, amazing opportunities and influences opened which led me to the path that I am now on.

Q4. You've recently moved into directing music videos. Can you tell us about the 3 videos of Super Furry Animals singer Gruff Rhys.

Between a twisted sense of humour, a glut of imagination and the need for another creative outlet I came up with a series of completely different concepts tied together with character threads that are satires on certain societal conventions; a tele novella series on acid, brought to fruition with a fantastic team and a supremely addled and deranged editor: Billy Rainey

Q5. Give us a really off the wall anecdote/story. Something that not many people will know about-could be about anything related to your work in video or hair.

During a fashion shoot with a prominent celeb there was an uncomfortable moment as she was asked to remove a rather intimate body piercing as it was creating an 'odd' reflection on the image, she turned on set, removed it and handed it to me without missing a beat, and then accidentally left with me as a keep sake...



Honey All Over - Directed by Peter Gray

In the latest installment of director Peter Gray's Hotel Shampoo hallucinatory faux aspirational tele novela video series, Gruff Rhys plays a despotic honey manufacturer, who's fall into greed and decadence eventually leads to his dismissal as CEO of the Honey Cult board of directors. Gray takes aim at religion, cults, royalty and druids in one satirical video punch shot in Wales, London and the sickest recesses of his mind.

The Man Who Fell To Earth

A new 35mm print of the complete, uncut version of Nicolas Roeg's science fiction classic The Man Who Fell To Earth (1976), starring David Bowie as an extraterrestrial visitor in search of water for his dying planet, will run at Film Forum in New York from Friday, June 24 through Thursday, July 7 (two weeks).

The complete, uncut version of Nicolas Roeg's The Man Who Fell to Earth will be re-released nationally in the USA this summer.

HUMAN LEAGUE - THE SOUND OF THE CROWD (30/04/1981)

HUMAN LEAGUE - THE SOUND OF THE CROWD (30/04/1981)

The Anti Style Bible

The Anti Style Bible

5 Minutes With Nigel Barker

Nigel Barker is an acclaimed photographer who is also known for his role on America's Next Top Model.

Q1. What was the first record you bought and what effect did it have on you?

Nigel Barker: The first vinyl single that I actually bought rather than being given by my older brothers was "Don't You Want Me" by the Human League (1981). My younger sister and I used to lip sync it together and perform to bemused house guests. I loved the glam dandy look of the lead singer and it sang to the conflicted adolescence that most of us go through. FYI it's still on my iPod!

Q2. When did you start taking photographs and who or what influenced you to do that?

NB: I first bought a camera at 11 years old. It was a 1957 Brownie Kodak camera which shot 120 medium format film. I have always loved fashion and film growing up with photos of my Mum everywhere as a model and young starlet. I started early on trying to shoot fashion orientated shots but truly it was being creative in any form that really mattered to me back then and now.

Q3. Why did you move to NYC and what is it about the city that attracted you to it?

NB: I moved to NYC in 1996 having spent a few months here and there in the Big Apple ever since 1991 because I was chasing my yet to be wife as she globe trotted around the world pursuing her modeling career. Crissy (the wife) is from Alabama and as you know I am from England and having met in Milan, lived in Paris we decided to see if we could make it in New York. For me New York represented everything I had ever wanted in a city. Truly cosmopolitan or as I like to say a soup not a salad bowl. In other words a place where the ingredients are blended together rather than a salad where they are mixed yet separate nonetheless. All my life as young Anglo-Sri Lankan boy growing up in an upper-middle class family I was always asked, "Where are you from". So it's no surprise that I headed out into the world early on to find out. Who knew I was a New Yorker all along.....

Q4. Do you think that rapid information exchange via the Internet means that photography is a more instant art form?

NB: The digital era has definitely changed the photographic landscape and whether my brethren like it or not you have to go with the flow or get lost. Photography as always been a sort of instant art form, certainly with Polaroid film you received an instant result but even with regular film photography your creative moment was being caught in a fraction of a second. The internet has made photography and video for relevant than ever and of course more accessible. Every Tom Dick and Harry has a camera either on their phone or as a compact, DSLR etc etc But everyone is also given a pencil when they learn to write but that doesn't make us all authors or painters just because you have paint.

Q5. Give me a really crazy anecdote/story. Something that not many people will know about you.

NB: Crazy ....where does one start. Well did you know I was a back up singer for Barry Manilow when he toured the UK in the 1980s and I sang in front of the late Princess Diana at the Royal Festival Hall. Now I just sing in the shower or lullabies to my tolerant children.



Human League - "Don't You Want Me Baby".

Rebel Rebel-Anti Style UK Cover

http://www.adelita.co.uk/cutting/index.php

Japan -Ten Great Singles

Japan-Ten Great Singles.

"Gentlemen Take Polaroids EP" (UK Chart Position #60, Germany, Japan) 1980

"The Art of Parties"/"Life Without Buildings" (UK Chart Position #48) 1981

"Quiet Life"/"A Foreign Place" (UK Chart Position #19) 1981

"Visions Of China"/"Taking Islands In Africa" (UK Chart Position #32, Australia) 1981

"Ghosts"/"The Art Of Parties (live version)" (UK Chart Position #5 and most other countries except Japan) 1982

"Cantonese Boy"/"Burning Bridges" (UK Chart Position #24) 1982 - also a double pack version with extra tracks

"I Second That Emotion (remix)"/"Halloween" (UK Chart Position #9, Germany) 1982

"Life In Tokyo (remix)" (UK Chart Position #28) 1982

"Nightporter"/"Ain't That Peculiar" (UK Chart Position #29, Germany) 1982

"All Tomorrow's Parties"/"In Vogue" (UK Chart Position #38) 1983

5 Minutes With Clem Burke of Blondie

Clem Burke is an original member of Blondie, a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee and, although Clem is too modest to say it, he is undoubtedly one of rock's drumming greats alongside Keith Moon, Ginger Baker, Charlie Watts, John Bonham and Ringo Starr.

Photo: Mick Rock

Q1. What was the first record you bought and what effect did it have on you?

It was probably "I WANNA HOLD YOUR HAND / I SAW HERE STANDING THERE" by THE BEATLES. Like everyone else of my generation, seeing the Beatles on the ED SULLIVAN T.V. SHOW , Feb. 1964, was a life changing experience and would go on to have a profound affect on my life. Anytime I Recieve an award, Like being inducted into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, I always make sure to thank John, Paul, George, and Ringo. Today's pop culture role models just do not stand up to what the Beatles represented and stood for.

Q2. When did you start playing drums and what influenced you to do that?

I started playing around the same time I saw the Beatles on T.V. I'm left handed so although I wanted to play guitar I had a difficult time learning to play right handed. I do play a right handed drum kit and coincidently I've come to find out that Ringo Starr is also left handed and plays a right handed kit. The British musical invasion of the 60's really inspired me, groups like the WHO,the Kinks, the Yardbirds, the Rolling Stones,the Dave Clark Five are my rocknroll roots.

Q3. How has down town New York changed for creative people since the 70's? I think the energy in NYC is just unbelievable, you can feel it everywhere.

A. The city has changed, in many ways for the better. When I lived on the Bowery it was obviously a very downtrodden place, now it's one of the chicest neighborhoods in NYC. Artists and musicians will always be attracted to the inspiration the city gives, it will always be a muse for us.

Q4. Do you think that file sharing via the Internet means that music can't develop away from the public eye anymore?

A. Life is more immediate now, things seem to happen alot quicker, that has do do with the internet. Everyone is famous for 15 minutes ,as someone once said. There will always be creativity and creative outlets.File sharing is part of the new media.

Q5. Give me a really 'off the wall' anecdote. Something that not many people will know about. It could be about the early days of Blondie or even before that.

A. I'll never forget the time I was touring with Iggy Pop around 1980. We were opening for the Rolling Stones at the Siver Dome in Detroit, Iggy's home town. 72,000 people indoors, no soundcheck. The arena felt like something out of the Gladiator movie. Right before we go onstage Iggy decides he's gonna where a pair of panty hose for trousers, as soon as he walks on stage, the lights hit him and he looks like he's naked from the waist down.The crowd just went nuts throwing anything and everything at us, THIS WAS BEFORE THE DAYS OF METAL DETECTORS and security checks at concerts. The promoter, Bill Graham thought it was so funny that he made the roadies go out after we played to collect everything that was thrown and before the Stones played Bill came out with a list and read everything that was thrown at us then ladies and gentlemen, THE ROLLING STONES!!

The Man Who Fell to Earth (Nicolas Roeg) 1976

The Man Who Fell to Earth (Nicolas Roeg) 1976

Slinky Vagabond 'Glitterbug'

Slinky Vagabond: Glitterbug

The Man Who Fell To Earth-Best Quotes Ever

Photo copyright Keanan Duffty

So this is just the end scene to the movie in which we find Thomas "Tommy" Jerome Newton alone in a cafe drinking away his pain and suffering because he is completely and totally alone, failed his mission, and has nothing but his money. Here he and the scientist, Bryce a.k.a Rip Torn, share the two best lines in the whole movie.

"Don't you feel bitter about it? Everything?"
"Bitter, no. We'd have probably treated you the same if you'd come over to our place."

"Whoa I think Mr. Newton has had enough."
"Yes, I believe he has."

"Slow Down Arthur, Keep to Thirty."

5 Minutes With Mick Rock

Mick Rock is a legend. He needs no introduction.

Photos: Debbie Harry, Peter Gabriel, David Bowie, Syd Barrett.

Q1. What was the first record you bought and what effect did it have on you?

I believe it was 'Peggy Sue' by Buddy Holly, and I was hooked on rock n roll forever. Totally magical, totally mesmerizing, and absolutely contagious. An entire new universe. My photographic aspirations were still years away, but the beat was in my blood.

Q2. You were certainly the photographer of choice in Glam rock's royal court. How did you become part of that scene?

My fortuitous pursuit of David Bowie/Ziggy Stardust, starting with 'Hunky Dory' (especially 'Life On Mars') and seeing him play in front of a very modest audience at Birmingham Town Hall in early March 1972. I did an interview, took a few photos, totally convinced of the uniqueness and brilliance of his radiant talent, and couldn't stop looking and listening! Through David I met and photographed Mott The Hoople, Lou Reed and Iggy Pop (including their album covers) and after that anyone who aspired to the 'glam' moniker came to my door, including Roxy Music and Queen. I was a Rock with a role and 'glam' was the key.

Q3. You took some very definitive pictures of Blondie. Who would you consider to be a contemporary artist or band that carries the same iconic status?

Some might say Lady Gaga (whom I have photographed) or Gwen Stefani (whom I haven't), but as delightful as they are, neither really mirror the natural born beauty of the divine Ms Harry in her prime. She was (and still is, of course!) the 'Marilyn Monroe of Rock n Roll'. That's just the way God planned it and it's hard to imagine anyone equalling the charm of her classic image. She wears it with such ease and so little manipulation. Her nearest modern equivalent may be Kate Moss (whom I have photographed.....check out my latest book collection 'EXPOSED'), but of course she doesn't sing or write.....although some might argue that's she's more 'rock n roll' in her lifestyle than any modern rocker! She once told me she'd stayed up for four nights with Keith Richards, so she certainly has the credentials!!

Q4. Do you think that rapid information exchange via the Internet has changed the way photography is viewed?

Probably. Certainly photographers get so much more respect these days. In my youth the sonic output ruled. In the modern world the visual probably dominates, thanks to the power and prevalence of digital technology. So photographers and their spawnings have acquired a much more significant status. I probably do on average around three or four interviews a week and my photos both old and new are constantly being pumped into the public consciousness. That would have seemed like a ludicrous concept when I first photographed Syd Barrett in the autumn of 1969.

Q5. Give me a really off the wall anecdote about one of your pictures. Something that not many people will know.

There is a photo of Andy Warhol wearing a Santa Claus outfit cuddling with Truman Capote. It was shot for the Xmas 1979 issue of 'High Times' magazine, back in the day when it aspired to being more than just a magazine for marijuana aficionados, when a William Burroughs or Norman Mailer might contribute. It was actually the second time Andy was featured on its cover. I remember that Truman was blind drunk and that there was a lot of discussion about who should wear the Santa suit. Andy thought it suited him better, so Truman acquiesced. It was shot at the 'Factory' which was then located at Union Square in Manhattan. There was stuff all over the floor and in every nook. The tricky part was finding a corner to set up my lights. I was in high gear when Andy suddenly pointed to my feet: "Excuse me, " he said quite softly, "I think your standing on some of my canvases." It was a bunched up roll casually thrown to one side, and I had so little room to manoeuvre. It could have been just any old junk. But of course it was in fact probably several million dollars by today's Warhol sales standards. Very sobering. But Andy didn't seem too concerned about it. "I just thought you might like to know," quoth Captain PopArt.

5 Minutes With Anita Sarko

Anita Sarko is an influential night club DJ who has been based Manhattan since 1979. Anita was the DJ at Mudd Club, Danceteria, Rock Lounge, Area and Palladium's VIP Michael Todd Room. Musically Supervised and produced music for Banana Republic CDs throughout the mid to late 1990's. Has DJ'd private parties for Prince, Whitney Houston, Cher, Leonard Bernstein, MTV, the White House Correspondents' Dinner, the CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America), NYCB (New York City Ballet), "Details", "Playboy", "Vanity Fair" and innumerable others. Musically supervised fashion shows and parties for many designers around the world, including Marc Jacobs, Betsey Johnson, Thierry Mugler, Nicole Miller, Stephen Sprouse, Calvin Klein, Vivienne Westwood and Donna Karan. Was the first DJ to be treated as a celebrity and booked into venues around the world.
Anita is currently writing a book based upon her Palladium diaries from 1985-1997.

Q1. What was the first record you bought and what effect did it have on you?

A1. Favorite record ever: "The End Of The World", sung by Skeeter Davis. An absolutely perfect piece of work. She was a star of the Grand Ole Opry. I once mentioned this when interviewed in "Interview". I received a thank you letter from her because a friend had shown the piece to her. That meant SO much.

As for the other 9...forget it. Always in flux. Besides, my faves (except for the most favorite) are VERY personal to me. I would rather talk about the deepest dirtiest secrets of my sex life than my favorite records...Not that anyone gives a shit about my sex life & you are probably REALLY creeped out by the fact that I even mentioned it (hahaha).

The first record that I owned was "Willie the Whistling Giraffe" b/w "Pokey Little Puppy". It was on yellow vinyl. I don't know who bought it, but it was my first. The effect it had on me was to tap into my then unknown obsession with music. I literally dragged my record player (it was battery operated) with me wherever I went and forced everyone to listen. By the time I got to the second one, "Eggbert the Easter Egg", I was as unstoppable as I was unbearable. (Make your own jokes here).

Q2. What's was the first drug you ever took and did it change your life?

A2. The first drug I ever took was the 1/2 Valium my mom would shove in my mouth before any Algebra or Geometry test. I was horrible at math, but, oddly, I got good grades. Thank you, Valium. The next thing shoved in my mouth (another time for a joke) was some sort of diet pill when I began to get chubby during puberty. I had been skinny & my mother did not like fat people. The first drug I voluntarily took was, naturally, pot ("the gateway drug!"). I was the last of my friends to do it. The first song I heard when it hit me was "Sunshine of Your Love" by Cream. I also fell madly in love with a giant Heinz ketchup bottle I caught a glimpse of when someone opened up a refrigerator door. And I still love that song & that condiment. How did it change my life? For the better...for the most part.

Q3. What is/or was the best club experience you've ever had?

A3. I've worked in clubs for so long that there have been many best experiences. The thing with working in clubs...especially during my heyday (before entourages) was that you really got to know people when they were at their most relaxed and had their defenses down. That said, so many of the "best" experiences are far too personal or complicated to go into here. sorry... you'll have to read the book...

Q4. Where do you find the best street style?

A4. The best street style is where people really look upon fashion as a form of self-expression. I've been lucky enough to travel quite a bit, so I've seen a lot of great looks in Tokyo, London, New York, Paris, etc. I've found Italy to be a bit staid and, though I adore the versatility of the sarong, I wouldn't rate Bali near the top.

Q5. Please finish this sentence: rapid information exchange via the Internet means that……

A5. Rapid information exchange via the Internet means that one is gratified instantly and I do like to be instantly gratified. Rapid information exchange via the Internet means that no one has an excuse for not communicating ("you weren't home"/"I must have dialed the wrong number"/ "it got lost in the mail"/ "it was a misunderstanding"). rapid information exchange via the Internet means that one can satisfy one's curiousity immediately about whomever or whatever they're interested in. It also lets you know immediately if someone really doesn't give a shit because your info is readily available to them. rapid information exchange via the Internet means that if someone wants to find you, there's a good chance that they can. I am a total information junkie/ a complete research junkie, therefore " rapid information exchange via the Internet means that..." I am very happy that such a thing/situation exists. on the other hand, sometimes the exchange is only reliable during that instant and, after a nice sleep or a bit more pondering, the information exchanged might be turned on its head. there's a good deal of sense in expressing yourself, saving it and not pressing "send" until you've looked at it again with a clearer head and a different perspective. finally, not all information on the internet is true or positive, so what then are you exchanging? A lot of shit.

Leigh Bowery in 3D Glasses

I Was A Teenage Gender Bender

I Was A Teenage Gender Bender

Photos of Keanan Duffty From The Face, i-D magazine, Smash Hits, The Sunday Times and Seventeen magazine. 1984-1985.

All Photos by Iain McKell and Marc LeBon.

5 minutes with Mauricio and Roger Padilha of MAO PR.

After years of working in the fashion industry separately and together, brothers Mauricio and Roger Padilha launched MAO Public Relations. In its first decade, MAO has successfully introduced new talent to the fashion industry as well as conceptualizing and producing runway shows for various top Fashion Designers.

Now in its 13th year, MAO Public Relations is enjoying a reputation as one of the hardest working Fashion PR Agencies in the Industry. In addition to Public Relations in 2010, the Padilha brothers wrote The Stephen Sprouse Book which was published by Rizzoli and continues to be one of tha best selling fashion monographs.

Mauricio Padilha

Q1. What was the first record you bought and what effect did it have on you?

Mauricio Padilha : Hmmmm...jeeze I think the first record I bought was when I was like 8 and it was the sound track to Disney's Peter Pan ...but if we are talking REAL music then I can remember buying Blondie's The Tide is High (from the band's fifth album, Autoamerican), I loved the cover and thought Debbie looked Amazing!!!! But then I took it home and heard it and most of it was reggae ...and I hate reggae so I was very pissed. The first album I can remember that I bought and loved every song was the soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever, I played it sooooo much over and over again and there was some crazy disco song that talked about Aladdins lamp and the first words were OPEN SESAME!!! I loved it..hahaha

Q2. What's your favorite 80's moment ‘fashion moment’?

MP: Madonna on the wedding cake on MTV...that changed everything for me and that was the official start of what we think of as the 80's and the MTV generation now!

Q3. Please tell us about your Stephen Sprouse book. How did it come together and how long was the project?

MP: Same as Roger's answers but what I can tell you is that Stephen's aesthetic really pulled together everything that Roger and I loved, the Day-Glo colors, Edie Sedgwick, Andy Warhol, Teri Toye, Outer Space, the 60's, the 80's and the FUTURE...it was like we were all separated at birth...and I believe we were destined to do this book from day one!

Q4. Give us a really off the wall anecdote/story. Something that not many people will know about-could be about anything related to your work.

MP: In my line of work what I have learned is that you never ever ever know where someone is going to end up, todays intern in the fashion closet at Interview Mag can end up the Fashion Director of Vogue one day sooooooooo be nice to everyone and always keep the doors open. And in my personal life I have taken this to heart as well, life is very very very short and Ive learned to " try " and be nice to everyone I come into contact with and have fun every day that I'm alive !!!

Q5. What does the rapid information exchange via the Internet mean to the fashion publicity business?

MP: I never thought the internet would affect the fashion industry the way it has...now a days everything is sooooo FAST! By the time something is photographed and uploaded 5 minutes afterwards it can be seen by soomeone all the way on the other side of the world...before the internet, things would take a lot slower and I think designers had more time to grow and establish what they were about, now there isnt much time for development of talent...its the strongest survive !

Roger Padilha

Q1. What was the first record you bought and what effect did it have on you?

Roger Padilha: The first record I ever bought was Grease soundtrack immediately after seeing the movie when I was 6. My mother brought us to Korvettes ( a now defunct Sears type of store)...Im not sure I was that into the music but I loved how Olivia Newton John looked in her black spandax leggings and red candies. The first record I bought that changed my life was Kissing to be Clever by Culture Club. Aside from the incredible music, Boy George offered an alternative to the Shaun Cassidy/Peter Frampton/Frank Zappa, etc look of male Rock stars that I really coulnd't relate to. I truly believe that Boy George was my generation's version of David Bowie (for the generation prior to mine). he really paved a road musically and stylistically for me.

Q2. What's your favorite 80's moment ‘fashion moment’?

RP:Debbie Harry!! The way she played with all sorts of iconic media imagery such as Marilyn Monroe, Betty Boop, punk rock, etc highly influenced me and i feel has truly influenced the world.

Q3. Please tell us about your Stephen Sprouse book. How did it come together and how long was the project?

RP: When I say that it was 25 years in the making, Im not joking. Mauricio and I first saw Stephen's work on a news clip on TV when I was 12 and he was 16 and we were immediately hooked. We spent every penny we had from summer jobs, allowances, even stealing our parents credit cards to buy his clothes. He was a real catayst for both of us to get interested in the fashion industry. When he passed, we were disappointed to see how he was featured in the media and felt that the obituaries really didnt do any justice to his work. At the time, Mauricio and I were publishing our own magazine called MAO MAG and we did a huge tribute to him in it. Somehow, the magazine got into the hands of Stephen's mother who wrote us saying how much she enjoyed it and how on point it was. One thing led to another and suddenly we were responsible for our icon's legacy! That book is one of the htings I am most proud of and for it to have become the success it did was just icing on the cake.

Q4. Give us a really off the wall anecdote/story. Something that not many people will know about-could be about anything related to your work.

RP: Our entire existance is off the wall! What Ive learned to expect in my line of work is to not expect anything!!!

Q5. What does the rapid information exchange via the Internet mean to the fashion publicity business?

RP: It has really changed the landscape of our industry. We are able to get things out to the public so much quicker than before. A pro to this is that we are able to get information directly to the consumer instead of having to go through the media and let them decide which of our clients are worthy to publish. The con to all this is that with so much information out there, a designer unfortunately seems to have a much shorter life span than before.

http://www.maopr.com/

5 Minutes With Larry Tee

Larry Tee is a DJ, club promoter, and music producer who coined the musical genre term Electroclash and helped launch the careers of such artists as Scissor Sisters, Fischerspooner, Peaches, W.I.T., and Avenue D, and has collaborated with Amanda Lepore and Princess Superstar. In 1992, Tee co-wrote the RuPaul's top 40-hit "Supermodel (You Better Work)". Currently he is remixing for a range of artists including Lady GaGa and La Roux.

Q1. What was the first record you bought and what effect did it have on you?

Larry Tee: Omg, the first record I bought was Helen Reddy's 'Crazy Love' which is a true stinker! But the next two were 'Indian Reservation' by The Raiders and 'Henry The 8th' by the Herman's Hermits'...so maybe that can explain why I am living in london and such an anglophile...and they were both very visual groups, I would have to say!

Q2. What's the best club you've ever been to and why?

LT: Well, the Pyramid in the 80's had to have been the most exciting place I have ever been or maybe it was just the time. I remember seeing Madonna, and Andy Warhol there and been there when the Butt Hole Surfers played early, the Del Rubio Triplets, 3 Sixty old triplets that played banjos and sang Pet Shop Boys songs and Salvador Dali's transexaul friend International Chrysis all play on the same day! But Love Machine, my first club in NYC, also had a young Rupaul as MC and Lady Bunny as a host...with Linda, Christy, and Naomi always standing in a supermodel cluster...Tom Hanks, Sinead O'connor, New Order...that was a pretty amazing club too!


Larry Tee - Licky by deserteaglez


Q3. The first drug you ever took was....Did it change your life?

LT: First drug was alcohol and yes, it changed my life sadly. I was raised when people thought that drugs actually made you cooler, more creative, and one of the gang, which is true to a certain point. but I am an addict, clean for 13 years, of all drugs and alcohol and SOOOO happy about it. I have so much more fun now that I am clean and can actually make the music I always wanted to make...I dont regret my drug and alkie years, but I wish someone had told me that life could be better without! thanks NA!

Q4. Where do you find inspiration for your music?

LT: I can find inspiration for my music everywhere; on the train, the bus, at the grocery store, when I listen to old music, when I hear pop music on the television. when I am out dancing I often hear sonic ideas that I will try ot push farther with my own music or think I hear something in a song, only to realize, I hadn't heard what I thought I heard. hehehehe and then when I thought I heard, becomes a song. Mistakes and just writing down all my bad ideas, often lead to something brilliantly stupid and catchy!

Q5. Do you think that rapid information exchange via the Internet means that club culture can't develop away from the public eye anymore?

LT: Well, underground clubs will probably exist always, but it is harder to keep a secret for very long. I do find that big city cultures often dont appreciate great new dance music because they are spoiled with choices and can have it whenever they want it. In smaller towns they are crazy because they have to create their own fun and underground scene. That’s often a healthier place to create new ideas than big cities where everyone is encouraged to fit in and be like everyone else. and now with the new technology, everyone can be a DJ, so soon Djs are not going to impress anyone. get read for a time when DJs, like heavy metal acts, rockabilly stars, and doo wop acts are going to be the fringiest of fringe entertainment! I am ready! I am taking up pole-dancing!

Malcolm McLaren "Buy Something Else Johnny!"

Keanan Duffty interviewed Malcolm McLaren in August 2008.

McLaren talks about the young punks and their suburban mums, who would turn up at 430 Kings Road looking for t-shirts.

5 Minutes With Billy Morrison

Billy Morrison is a guitarist, singer and actor who performs with the Los Angeles-based cover band Camp Freddy alongside Dave Navarro, Matt Sorum and Donovan Leitch. Morrison is also a member of Billy Idol's current touring band and former member of The Cult. Morrison hosted the radio show, Camp Freddy Radio, on Los Angeles based station Indie 103.1 for three years with with Navarro and Leitch.

Q1. What was the first record you bought and what effect did it have on you?

The first record I bought was a 7" Gary Glitter single -"Leader Of The Gang"..... but the first LP I bought was "Never Mind The Bollocks" by The Sex Pistols. Effect on my life?....... changed the course of my life forever. Made me wanna play guitar, speak out, do it my way, and most importantly made me understand that my truth is as valid as the next guys. Before that album, I was headed for a life behind a desk, being groomed to excel at apathy, boredom and averageness.

Q2. The best moment you’ve experienced with Camp Freddy so far was....?

Too many to narrow down to just one, but top five would include playing "Venus In Furs" with Lou Reed in New York, playing "Mr Brownstone" with Slash, Duff, Izzy and Matt, doing "My Generation" with my old pal Robbie Williams at the first ever Camp Freddy show in LA, watching Billy Corgan sing "Every Rose Has It's Thorn" and making the audience sing along with him, and finally performing to a packed Times Square from a ROOFTOP in Times Square!!

Q3. You are credited by Ozzy Osbourne in his book 'I Am Ozzy' as helping him find his way back. I am guessing that was not from getting losing on a hiking trip?

You'd have to ask Ozzy that! It's his book, not mine. I will say that Ozzy and Sharon are very close and special friends and I would do anything for them.

Q4. You are currently working with Billy Idol. Will you be playing 'King Rocker', Kiss Me Deadly' or any of the other Generation X
material?

The set list is up to Steve and Billy, but I did get to choose "King Rocker" and "Running With The Boss Sound" on last years tour. Billy asked me what Gen X songs I'd like to do (knowing that I was a huge Generation X fan back in the day) and we played them every night. What a fucking blast that was........ I got to do the solos in "Boss Sound". If I was asked what ones I would choose next time around, I would go with "Paradise West One" and "Youth Youth Youth" or "One Hundred Punks" (because "Kiss Me Deadly" is already in the set).

Q5. Please finish this sentence: rapid information exchange via the Internet means that……

...... I can stay ahead of the game, stay in touch with fans and peers alike, and enjoy a level of connection previously unavailable to us.



http://www.billymorrison.net/

5 Seconds With Goldie

Goldie is one of the most important figures in the Jungle and Drum & Bass scene and has had a profound role to promote these styles globally. Goldie made his name during the 80’s as a graffiti artist in different breakdance crews in the West Midlands, UK. 1994 saw him setting up his own imprint, Metalheadz. The label was a huge success, releasing some of the most important 12″s of that era.

Q1. First record = Supertramp, "The Logical Song"

Q2. First drug = Acid, Wolverhampton 1989.

Q3. Inspiration = Picasso

Q4. Best Street Art: T.A.T. CREW, Bronx River

Q5. Rapid information exchange via the internet means that....
"We’re fucked when it comes to real social interaction"...Goldie ..




http://www.eddielock.co.uk/goldie-agent.html

5 Minutes With Wayne Hemingway

In 2007 Wayne and Gerardine Hemingway and the Hemingway Design team developed a concept of a festival that celebrated the history of British Creativity. Working with a team of researchers from Wolverhampton University they forensically assembled the archives, the experts, the knowledge bases that would enable an authentic celebration of the music, fashion, art, design, film and food of the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s and be able to look at how these “decades of cool” are influencing today’s world renowned British creative culture.

Q1. What was the first record you bought and what effect did it have on you?

Q2. Do you remember the first item of clothing that you bought for yourself and what was so special about it?

Here goes for one and two:

The first concert that I went to on my own was David Bowie’s Aladdin Sane tour at King George’s hall in Blackburn in 73. I went out got my hair “feathered”, bought a tight fitting canary yellow T shirt from Clobber and the album from Ames Record Bar in the Arndale Centre.
When I saw the furore in the Blackburn Evening Telegraph calling for Bowie to be banned from returning to Blackburn for appearing on stage in “just underpants” I knew that this was a pop star worth following.

Q3. Which designers/fashion brands have inspired you?

We are totally self taught ..we learnt by selling secondhand clothes on Camden Market ..so I suppose we were inspired by all those old labels like Horrockses , Biba , M & S and the prints of people like Lucienne Day

Q4. How did you get inspired to create the Vintage Festival?

I was Djing a festival a few years back + it was peeing it down , the whole site was a Sh*thole and people were dressed down . We were sat with our eldest kids who told us that they were becoming jaded going to festivals with their mates and that getting dressed up and going to clubs and being able to feel glamorous was more fun than getting filthy in a field with a load of 16 year olds on the lash !

we all agreed that a festival where music , fashion , art , design , film and food ..the better things in life ..could all be celebrated together , where you could properly dress up ..would be a blast ..and it is !!

http://www.vintagebyhemingway.co.uk/about-page/history

Q5. Give me a really crazy anecdote/story. Something funny that has happened in your design career.

In our Red or Dead days we designed some one legged leggings ..thinking “how cool would that be” ... they were on our catwalk show that year we put a few pairs in our flagship store on Sloane St none sold for weeks ...it became a source of amusement and then a man came in and bought a pair for his wife... wild celebrations ...then two days later he came back and returned them with the simple words “my wife that I was going doollaly”



“Loved the atmosphere, the amazing attention to detail, the music, the fashions....everything was so inspiring .My new favourite festival” - Simon Price / The Independent

“Simply the best festival I have played in a very very long time .A truly inspired festival weekend” - Norman Jay MBE

“Brilliant, loved it .We had such a great time” - Sir Peter Blake

5 Minutes With Kristeen Young

Originally from St. Louis—where Young started out in life as a half-Apache, half-German foster child, then was adopted by strict Christian parents—KRISTEENYOUNG is currently based in New York City. In addition to making music, Young also designs her own eye-popping stage wear.

For the new EP V The Volcanic, Kristeen Young drew upon the cinema, writing originals inspired by supporting characters—some of them quite unexpected—in seven different films: Violet Bick in Frank Capra's 1946 favorite It's A Wonderful Life("V The Volcanic"); the Angry Apple Tree of 1939's The Wizard of Oz ("I'll Get You Back"); Lucy Westenra in Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 take on Bram Stoker's Dracula ("Why Can't It Be Me?"); Old Lodge Skins in 1970's Little Big Man ("Now I'm Invisible"); the android Pris from 1982's Blade Runner ("The Devil Made Me"); Sarah Jane Johnson in Douglas Sirk's 1959 melodrama Imitation of Life ("Imitation of Life"); and Cleopatra in the 1963 Elizabeth Taylor/Richard Burton adaptation of Cleopatra ("Fantastic Failure")....the exception to the supporting character rule.

To promote V The Volcanic, the band shot its first video (for "Fantastic Failure") amongst the landmarks of hometown, St. Louis. The video was directed by (Los Angeles based) Seaton Lin. Following the album's release in May 2011, KRISTEENYOUNG will embark on series of month-long residencies in four major metropolises—Los Angeles, New York, London, and Chicago—plus side dates in nearby markets.

For tour information please visit:

http://www.kristeenyoung.com/

Q1. What was the first record you bought and what effect did it have on you?

A. Probably something Christian Rock. As an imprisoned child, it was the only music I was allowed to own. I did sneak Prince records, which would subsequently be broken by foster mother.

Q2. Your latest E.P. 'V the Volcanic', features the song 'Fantastic Failure'. What's the story behind the song?

A. Each of the songs on my new 7 song EP is written from the perspective of a minor character from a major film of the past 7 decades. Fantastic Failure is the exception....it's written from the lead's perspective....but, I couldn't resist. It's Cleopatra's song (from the Elizabeth Taylor film, Cleopatra). I was always so struck by the grandness of her "failure". No one remembers it as such BECAUSE it was so grand. That's the way to do losing. The music was inspired by the scene where she parades into Rome atop a giant stone sphynx. It's the most dramatic moment I've ever seen in a film. I could watch it endlessly.

Q3. You've done some great musical collaborations, David Bowie, Patrick Stump and Tony Visconti as a producer and have toured extensively with Morrissey, who else would you like to work with?

A. Someone the opposite of all of these people.

Q4. Do you feel that rapid information exchange via the Internet means that musical formats like albums and singles have been killed off?

A. No. I think that money flow regarding those formats have changed....but, not the art form. Maybe it will rid us of the leeches that were only in it for the money anyway. But, I doubt it....they'll always figure out how to use artists for their own means.

Q5. Give us a really quirky, off the wall anecdote/story. Something that not many people will know about-could be about anything related to your work.

A. Hmmm. When I was a teenager, I respected and loved Jello Biafra so much that I drove all the way to San Francisco (from St. Louis) to meet him (we had previously become pen pals). I picked him up at his apartment and we drove to lunch. In the course of all of this, he ended up teaching me how to parallel park (for just about the first time I ever did). Now, whenever I parallel park I hear his voice in my head giving me instructions. And I open-heartedly welcome his voice in my head at any time. As a follow-up note to this. A few months ago, I saw him on stage at one of his shows. His voice is still top notch and energy is beyond what anyone younger than him can muster. I kept thinking, "This is how it's done. I've never seen better."

Keanan Duffty-Clothes For Pharoahs 1985

The Face No. 58 February 1985. Photos by Iain McKell.

The Clothes belong to the mysteriously titles Afterlife collection, the setting is Cleopatra's Needle, the look pyramid pastiche and the designer simply Keanan-a 20 year old textile and fashion student at St Martin's art college. Pictured left/right in his own glam-Sixties reinterpretations of Egyptian chic.

Follow Me Gentlemen Sept/Nov 1985.

Barry Kamen in Keanan's Egyptian collection.