Just a quick, post Christmas post. If you see what I mean.
Amid all the hectic drawing activity for the launch of The Phoenix Comic (first issue 7th Jan!), I just had time to do this brush pen and colour pencil drawing for my mum for Christmas. It features my little lad and his two North Western cousins in a very typical granny’s house scenario.
She who holds the remote wields the power.
It’s almost time to let the cat out of the bag. And the dogs. And the pig…
The ginormously long drawing above is a cheeky sneak preview of the characters I’ve been drawing for The Phoenix Comic. Tabs, Iris, Scoop, Bruno and Chops are currently working extremely hard to get the fantastic first issue ready, due for launch in January. Watch this space for more info, as soon as the big fiery feathered fella allows me to share it.
Oh, and there’s a new Phoenix website coming soon, with subscription details and all that malarkey. Here‘s the current website, just to keep you going.
The past few weeks have seen cracking gigs by Elbow, John Grant, The Antlers and Beady Eye. As I’ve already drawn the first two tune-meisters (see earlier posts), and my penmanship isn’t sufficiently dexterous to do full justice to The Antlers’ luxuriant fringes, here’s a crack at the latter.
Liam Gallagher’s post-Oasis turbo-pub-rock feather-cut combo played the Brighton Centre (a venue capable of sucking the rock and roll spirit from even the most debauched performer) and put in a sterling effort, despite the soulless seaside shed in which they performed.
Gibbon-walking onto the stage, the band was greeted with an impressive volley of hundreds of half-finished pints, hurled by the audience (in a gesture of celebration, rather than derision… I think). As the boozy plastic pots rained down, my pal Kenny Ken leaned to me and shouted, “Bloody hell Matt. The recession hasn’t hit Hove… that’s £4.50 a pint.”
Once more to Camden, where Wheel and I found ourselves on Tuesday night. We were at Koko (formerly the elegantly scuzzy Camden Palace) to watch the filming of the Album Chart Show (no, me neither): a hot ticket, given that Bury’s finest sons Elbow were due to perform a brief seven song set. Needless to say, the besuited grizzly northwestern anthem botherers were fantastic: an ace taster for their proper tour later this month. Can’t wait.
++Newsbeat++
Hearty thanks to Guy Garvey and producer Peter Hardy for adding my Elbow drawing and a link to this here blog from Guy’s BBC 6Music website. Cheers chaps.
In November last year, my friend Wheel and I found ourselves in darkest Camden at the fantastic Roundhouse. Ostensibly we’d gone to see Texan beard fanciers Midlake, but the real standouts for me were the support acts. First up was bobble hat-sporting ex-Grandaddy main man Jason Lytle , followed by the big fella above: John Grant.
A wonderful set and a total surprise. It turns out his debut solo record Queen of Denmark is one of the best of 2010. You owe it to your ears to buy it.
All of which goes to show: get to the gig early. You never know who you might catch.
In the spirit of the Reading List drawings, here’s the first of a new set based on recent gigs.
First up: Ultrasound, who played at Cargo in Shoreditch in December last year. It was ace to see the prog-indie behemoths back on stage and sounding amazing after a ten year hiatus, with Tiny Wood (pictured centre) looking resplendent in his wellies. Well, it was snowing.
