Butcher phase comes to completion...

This is always an evocative time of year as it reminds me of being in Berlin. the chill of outside and the orange light of indoors and the hope of Obama being elected.... a mirroring of experience.

On Sunday we took down the exhibition, I wasn't looking forward to it, but the event was extremely practical and not an emotional wrench....we took the work down in three hours whilst listening to radio 4 ramblings and radio 6 excitings. That episode is now complete, it feels good. We have work to re-exhibit. We have a live-show format. We have one set of experiences to work from. Next move to take the work and ourselves on a journey....back to Berlin. we have grown into artists who make work. As musicians one is channelled into 'chasing'. No more chasing, because the chasing leads not nothing at all. Chasing shadows. Nope, now is for being authentic, sharing ideas, making worlds for folks to visit and having fun.

Third week of exhibition...

The launch events were tantalising... both the War Memorial and Horse Hospital events were a stunning experience for us and the audience, genuinely so ( apart from some crying children).
A real feat of energy, stamina, holding our nerve and being there.
Sustaining the momentum is more of an uncomfortable ride.... there is so much more to see and feel and listen to, but one doesn't want to keep hounding ones' friends and colleagues.... now we are really learning how to hold our nerve....
But swimming in the sea of a newly launched product is bewildering, we did a fantastic dive into launchdom, now we are swimming in the dive pool, here's a plan.... hop out, then into the long distance pool and show some real strength.....
Next stop Berlin..... come and slap our wet arses and give us a towel whip before we leave, one more chance to join our world at the Horse Hospital London on Thursday 1st Nov.....7.30pm, £6.50 or write to us, tell us things, request a pass and get in free! See you there

The Wire: Adventures In Sound And Music: Article

The Wire: Adventures In Sound And Music: Article

Two weeks to go

It will be difficult to remember the intensity of these last few weeks and indeed the coming 14 days. each day consists of many different tasks finishing at midnight either screen-printing, doing risk assessments, making lists. Sal and I walk against the tide to Stew on a Friday night, dressed for cold and dirt, ready for the business of book building. The previous two weeks were full of panic attacks, waking up with your heart thumping with a list of things not done, not even considered. Sal has been prescribed a paper bag to breathe into to calm herself down, by the doctor. I spend a lot of time talking myself down and being kind to my brain and accepting kindness from others, my friends and colleagues have shown support and willingness to help that has been beyond what I thought possible. Ask, it's worth it, it takes you into a realm of interaction that is great. Is this enjoyable? Well, it is uncomfortable. I have moments of rising fear, but also excitement. I want this to be brilliant, to make others feel something. To be able to put on an other-worldly show.... to invite folk in and play sounds that will make their heads feel something good/scared/thrilled/ step out of yourself be somewhere else, even though you are close to home. escape only really happens in your head. Therefore the potential for escape is always.

Time to think

There is so much to do and I'm busy doing it rather than saying what I have done. Equally I want to log what I'm doing because I wont remember once it is complete. Yesterday I worked 9-5, had an inspiring meeting with Butcher Roz, went to Stew did 80 silkscreen prints. On the way home I dropped into the arts centre to meet up with Bradley to do a temporary events notice (TEN)for our Norwich launch. Today I am trying to leave the house in order to do more screen prints before Sal arrives at 12.30pm. Today we have to get the private view invites out. Tomorrow is a sticking day, I have gathered several friends together and we stick book pages together. I buy lunch and a thank-you booze after. We go into a world of 'flow'. Our conversations are unique because silence falls easily. We don't try and fill the gap because our attention goes to our sticking. It has been nick named the sweatshop....but it is far from it....it's the relax and strengthen friendships....

One fold a day

So now I am thinking that I want to do one fold a day.
That could involve 140 passes times 4 through the photocopier.

First though it's paper chopping and flattening and cutting to size.

Ahoy there land in the distance..

RepetitionRepetitionRepetition

Today I cut paper, 300 sheets or there abouts.
I printed 2 different pages from Book 1.
I took the prints to Ecoprint to chop to size.

I had to measure each of the 300 pages because I had not lined them up to an edge but used the central line-up. This took a long time.

Each day I doubt I will be able to print the entire set of books for mid-September, just because it is physically impossible.

I have perhaps 15000 pages to print.
I have 64 days til Sept 9th. (excluding next week which I am away for...resting)
So, on average 234 pages to print a day.
The most of one page I have to print is 140.
So, if I aim to print 2 full sets of pages a day, that seems a little easier.

I know this is boring to read, but it is making things easier in my mind!
Here is a Butcher picture to lighten the content.

The gig that was a turning point

Reflection on the gig and listening to the audience has stirred me...... I realise we are achieving our desire to alter the gig going experience.... As I have ranted about in the past, the gig format is conservative and gig going should be anything but. Most gigs you know what you are getting, three bands on a stage, clapping, encore, then chucked out by security....but Stories From The Sonic Basement show it tantalised the audience by being full of unknowns. Led through darkness, which is not only disorientating but encourages listening in a more in depth way. Then the slow reveal of the room/building with solid harmonically fueled songs, not just weirdy beard noises to confuse and upset....thou we did do a bit of that too ....it's just too tempting, hee hee. We The Butcher's Of Common Sense, The Neutrinos, will continue the quest. I believe this gig is a turning point because we have done most of our experiments in art galleries and done unconventional shows inside conventional venues. This show was in a derelict tower block basement. We used the acoustic, we played with the building. We led the audience through the building......everyone loves nosing around buildings, or exploring places they wouldn't normally be allowed into. Every city and town has abandoned buildings. Every building has songs to be harvested......a sonic to explore. Our next set of shows we have been planning since Feb are called 'I Am A Building'. After Wednesday's show, I think it is the perfect choice.

A Low Ebb

I can't believe how much this is costing, It's mounting to more than my annual income.

What the hell am I thinking of?

I'm upsetting folks who lend out their photocopiers.

I'm pulling in favours and weighing heavy on others .

For what?

What for?

wrapping

amongst the printing, so much wrapping and labeling.

The secret skill of wrapping demonstrated here by S.

Fear and 29 days til completion

Today is a challenge, I am visiting a photocopier, a new one, It sounds good but I have no money to buy it.
Why would I be given it?
Can we be borrow it?
Can we negotiate a price?
Can we pay in installments?

I also need to visit the manager of Wicks to request a discount on paper.
We need to visit the Cloth House to negotiate felt prices.

I have to talk to people , ask for help, not stew and worry.

Book World

Yesterday the world that the book has created was at its most abundant.

The cast....
Steve, computer training 10.30am re debosing artwork for book cover
talk to HQ of Cloth House re felt purchase, can we get a deal/support in kind?
talk to Konica Minolta local rep , Mark re a replacement photocopier.
Dan at Service Point photocopying images on tracing paper for silk screening. 12.30pm
Lisa at Stew to expose tracings on silk screens 2.30pm
Konica 1216 photocopier at Stew, to flatten lining paper ready to chop to size.
John at Ecoprint to chop paper exactly to A3 on laser machine. 3.30pm
visit Henry at the Book Hive for pricing and release schedule advice 4pm
Norwich Arts Centre to use their super photocopier 6pm
Go to Planet Beet Fridge and make music noise 9pm
Wrap and label all printing.

We Have a Deadline...

So a couple of weeks ago we were given a deadline and I have been in the fear zone and the 'do' zone and forgot to write.
10 books by May 14th
10 books by June 5th
Remaining 140 by the publishing date of October 15th 2012.

So the Stew photocopier is acting up enormously, but Ecoprint are helping with some B+W prints.

Binding.....I went to see Peartree, they will bind 10 books if we sew.
Aidan Abernethy will show us how to sew.

Peartree need two weeks to bind.
Deliver books by May 1st.
We need a week to sew. April 23rd.
We need a week to put books together April 16th.

We now are finishing any printing not done in batches of 20.

We have to buy rubber, felt, tracing.

We have to solve the problem of housing the vinyl.

We have 26 days before the books need to be assembled.

screen printing continues The Deadline arrives

Today I will screen print more.....

Last session I managed 100 or so prints from 11.30am - 3.30pm

It's quite hardwork on yer upper body.

The Deadline has arrived, the book will be released on October 12th 2012.

I will outline the journey to this guillotine!

silk screening

Today I will silk screen some more black pages.....totally black pages.

I have been using photocopiers with the lid open, but the amount of ink smoothed onto the paper

feels a bit criminal......

I managed 50 prints in 3 hours which included a lot of mucking around getting a system.

today i would like to do 200 prints, but I think I should be happy with 100.

Perhaps a better plan is 100 today, 100 on Friday.

I will learn my roleplay at the same time.

Last print session I got so in the zone I could barely speak.

Risograph Printing

HATO PRESS and BLACK BOX PRESS

Great find, lovely books and the mention of Munken Lynx!

The start of my journey into building a book was the need for a tactile paper to print on.

I wanted the pulp of cheap books, old colouring books....this is called Munken Lynx.

I never found Munken Lynx because it seemed only to be sold in tonnes from China and now here it is mentioned and used at Hato Press.

Foxing is the discoloration around the edges of the page, due to light/moisture, great stuff.

All roads lead to home.

Photocopier Surfing

So like one might sofa surf, I am now photocopier surfing.

I've been in a secret location on a digital Konica Minolta machine and have done 640 copies in 3 hours.

The blacks are good, the textural quality is good.

This is the answer for the single pages, often single as attached to colour.

Not sure whether to re-do some colour if the reverse image needs to be solid black.

'Old Konny' at Stew is not doing her blacks anymore, not without a lot of pfaffing and warming of the room, removing condensation from the machine and warming the machine.

The only task in all of this is cutting, flattening and then precision cutting wall lining paper to A3.

It's a world I have created with Sal, we will live in it for a while yet.

Book Building is full on.
Sal and I took a stocktake of all the printing since the beginning of August......
I gathered the info and tried to create optimistic % s....but the truth is we are not half way.
In the region 19,000 pages printed, but with a total knocking on 52,000.......sigh

So, a massive focus to turn things around, see what is to be done, see if there are easier ways.

The ugly truth is though that I am having to print pages twice to get the blacks black.....hmmmmm

I'm liking the zone, my daily routine takes me across town in the gales with a bundle of prints to be cut to size.
Then over to Stew for printing.
Then home for paper chopping, collect more stuff for the the machine at printers to chop in bulk.
Stride across town in the gales with a bundle of prints to be cut to size.
Then over to Stew for printing.
Then home for a rest, more paper chopping, listen to music, write lyrics ( good ones and crap ones )
Then drink some whisky.