Apologies for the crazy length of time since the last blog but been away a lot organising various projects for 2015. More on that later …
Kept in touch via the inescapable Twitter @andieairfix
with #MoodOfTheDay and #AirfixArchives. Twitter feed and follow …
First … The Holidays. I hope you all had a wonderful time …
Secondly … I’d like to thank everyone who had The Inclination and The Taste to buy Airfix Editions over the holiday period.
Thank You all.
Some Prints and Editions are still available of course … METALLICA, BOWIE, MADONNA, ROLLING STONES, DEF LEPPARD, LED ZEPPELIN, JIMI HENDRIX and more. Go on … you know you want to … andieairfix.com
To welcome you into 2015, I’d like to take the opportunity to thank my followers on Twitter and those loyal to my blog with a quote I love from the wonderfully anarchic and irreverent world of one of America’s greatest novelists and comic writers.
“HELLO BABIES. WELCOME TO THE EARTH.
IT’S HOT IN THE SUMMER
AND COLD IN THE WINTER.
IT’S ROUND AND WET AND CROWDED …
AT THE OUTSIDE, BABIES, YOU’VE GOT
ABOUT A HUNDRED YEARS HERE.
THERE’S ONLY ONE RULE
THAT I KNOW OF, BABIES
– GOD DAMN IT,
YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIND.”
A Happy, Healthy, Prosperous and Peaceful New Year to You from Andie Airfix at
I will leave you with an image commenting on the tragedy in Paris yesterday. It is poignant, wonderfully direct and implies hope and defiance in equal measure. Brilliant.
More very soon on Plans for 2015 … including taking a one-man show to Japan (and maybe more places!)
Finally on the road to publishing a novel ‘ I N V A G E N T S ‘
and a design book entitled – yes you guessed it ‘B*B G#LD*F STOLE MY SUNGLASSES’
and so, naturally, you’re out there looking for ideal gifts to shower on your loved ones to celebrate the occasion. And can you find anything that’s cool enough. Of course you can’t – it’s all predictably dull and boring for us music fans.
Well – look no further – problem solved …
Sticking very firmly to the belief of creating … art that DOES NOT match the sofa … Here’s a solution for all you Rock’n’Rollers.
Andie Airfix Limited Editions bring something unique to Christmas. They’re cool, very affordable and ideal for music fans. Here’s a brand NEW edition. available from November 18th 2013 …
Created from original pen and ink/pencil drawing of the logo for the Ballbreaker World Tour in 1995. This is pre-computer and was completely hand-drawn (very tricky to do!)
Don’t forget the recently released ‘Ninja Star 1′ & Ninja Star 2’:2 METALLICA editions created for the AIRFIX LOUNGE last March, editions Lars Ulrich, METALLICA’s drummer described as ‘AWESOME!‘ …
Editions also include: LED ZEPPELIN DAVID BOWIE JIMI HENDRIX
THE ROLLING STONES THE BEATLES MADONNA DEF LEPPARD and LITTLE RICHARD.
Order NOW to guarantee Christmas delivery worldwide.
All Editions are printed on the highest grade, heavyweight art paper by the latest digital technology to ensure the richest colours and to maintain the finest of detail.
Problem is – and I feel obliged to inform you – that many who purchase Andie Airfix Limited Editions, somehow forget (?!) to send them on to the people they bought them for. Shocking behaviour. The solution is obvious of course – buy one for yourself too – and everyone will be happy.
Archiving always throws up some oddball artwork ….
OWN SOME ART THAT DOESN’T MATCH THE SOFA
With literally 1000’s of items to catalogue there are always a few items that don’t really fit into categories: they arrive late or unannounced, are stuffed in some envelope or stuck to the back of something else. They certainly have value but can be released more randomly than through the AIRFIX ARCHIVES (GALLERY ONE opening in September by the way).
To give fans a chance for a real bargain – a few of these Little Rogues have been dropped into e-Bay.
Seems appropriate … after Glastonbury and Hyde Park
to remind you I created an edition for the Airfix Lounge launch in May …
I called the Dog ‘Skippy‘, inappropriate as it was – the design of a monstrous rabid dog fronting a Rolling Stones tour. The logo was for the brilliant ‘Urban Jungle‘ tour in 1990. I was commissioned to re-design all the elements of the ‘Steel Wheels‘ tour when it arrived in Europe. The band felt the corporate look which dominated Steel Wheels in the US needed to be much more ‘edgy’ for the European leg of the tour.
Much more on ‘URBAN JUNGLE‘ – PART ONE & PART TWO from blogs in 2012. They give an insight into working with The ROLLING STONES and there are some hilarious stories including serious embarrassment at the launch party for the tour in Rotterdam. Still makes me cringe after over 20 years.
Check out the website
to see the ‘Skippy’ edition and more
– including two editions Lars Ulrich described as ‘AWESOME!’
– the METALLICA ‘NINJA’ Stars, of course.
More very soon – I feel I need to catch up on some of the STORIES! and introduce you all to …
Now THERE’s a Pandora’s box that needed opening. some of it I’d almost forgotten about. I love the older artworks with the colour instuction overlay – amazing what you find …
Well … approaching launch of AIRFIX LOUNGE very quickly.
Firstly … Thank you all for your support in helping us with the AIRFIX LOUNGE.
It’s appreciated hugely – to make the event even bigger and more exciting. Bloggers please feel free to contribute. To see Sponsorship details and see the advantages of being A Friend of the AIRFIX LOUNGE, CLICK HERE.
For the Exhibition at the LOUNGE I’ve been looking through files, drawers and boxes and one helluva lot of original artwork. Constant surprises abound.
Coming next on the blog … METALLICA art revealed and details of the DEF LEPPARD and METALLICA weekends. STAY TUNED
… but before then I thought I’d give you a glimpse of what I’m finding … and what you’ll see when you come to the Exhibition as part of BRIGHTON FRINGE …
AC/DC Pencil drawing of logo …
THOMPSON TWINS triple picture disc …
DEF LEPPARD Circuit drawing for ‘Hysteria’ background …
METALLICA Close-up of original logo for ‘LIVE SHIT’
LED ZEPPELIN Hologram test for DVD label …
DEF LEPPARD award for back to back Platinum discs …
MOTLEY CRUE hand-drawn logo …
METALLICA Award …
LED ZEPPELIN original idea for ‘BBC Sessions’ approved by Jimmy Page …
ROBERT PLANT original for BBC Sessions …
DEF LEPPARD Original illustration for ‘Hysteria’ Picture Disc …
LED ZEPPELIN DVD printer’s proof of digipak
DEF LEPPARD Original art for ‘Love Bites’
And that’s just scratching the surface!
Enough Airfix – get back to your archiving. Oh my God what’s that?
A new Andie Airfix Limited Edition Series (only 50 of each) is launched at BRIFFA this week as part of the London Art Fair, 2011. (BRIFFA: 306 Gallery Level, Business Design Centre, 52 Upper Street, Islington, London N1 0QH)
Due to numerous requests for larger editions from andieairfix.com, I’m pleased to let you know your 6 most popular images are now available printed on A2 (22 x 16ins) Hahnemuhle Fine Art Paper – paper designed to maximise the vibrant colour and high definition of professional digital printing. Only the best for you guys! The first of each edition (01/50) has been mounted and framed exclusively for the exhibition. Each edition is signed and numbered by me and every purchase includes a certificate of authenticity and mounting and framing suggestions.
The mounted and framed 01/50 Limited Editions are available at BRIFFAuntil January 23rd and unmounted editions are for sale exclusively at andieairfix.com. Visit the site for more details.
Here are your favourite six …
NOTE: The last edition – METALLICA – ‘4 Scary Guys’ is a ‘work in progress’ and will be released to coincide with the next blog-post – 39. METALLICA – Part Two. It will be an awesome addition to your METALLICA collection!
Well, we may as well go straight in with this … not for the faint-hearted …
In 1993 I completed my first major project – a Box Set – for the legend that is METALLICA.
There’s a satisfying coincidence that I’ve just finished another Box Set for them as I begin a series of blogs about arguably the most successful rock band on the planet.
The stories over the next few weeks have never been published so be prepared for fun, insights and a very personal account of events spanning nearly twenty years.
Where do I begin? My admiration and respect for the band is constantly renewed by their adventurous, often anarchic, attitude to who they are and what they do. At the heart of my respect for them is their unswerving loyalty and dedication to their Fans – so let’s start with Victor …
Victor was seventeen and worked on reception at the gym I infrequented in Chelsea Harbour. Mostly I used it as a hi-tech bathroom/sauna/swimming pool conveniently situated between my Chelsea flat and the studio. I often chatted to Victor – a serious Metallica fan – and when he discovered I was involved in their artwork and knew the band personally, he hinted every now and again that maybe if I had a spare ticket to a gig …
I’ve been amazingly privileged over the years to be given tickets to major events and concerts and one thing I have always done when I go to one – is to find random fans to take along and maybe provide an opportunity for them to meet their heroes and heroines. Metallica were playing Wembley Arena in London and I asked Victor to join us for the gig. In those days it made economic and practical sense – if there were 8 or 10 of us – to hire a stretch limo. The car was allowed to drop its occupants right outside the ticket collection office and to pick us up immediately after the gig right outside the main entrance into the venue – avoiding what is often a nightmare journey to and from the Arena which was such a bummer, especially after a night out at a brilliant concert and your spirit was elated. (Also of course we could get wasted on the way there and back!). I’d asked Victor to meet us in Chelsea to head off to the gig and his face when he saw the white stretch Cadillac waiting for him was an indication of how overwhelmed he would be later as the evening developed.
We arrived, tumbled out of the limo, collected our tickets and our ‘Go Anywhere You Fucking Want‘ passes …
A couple of us headed straight for the band’s dressing room with Victor. He was already nervous and his mood rapidly alternated between that of a soldier about to meet his generals after a victorious battle and that of a shy 17-year old terrified he would make a fool of himself in front of his heroes. We met Gio – more of him later – and he escorted us to the dressing room through the labyrinthine corridors beneath the Arena. I knocked on the door. ‘In,’ shouted James Hetfield. Victor froze, his right hand glued to the dressing room door-frame, his feet establishing roots into the concrete floor. Eventually we managed to drag the ashen-faced, open-mouthed, wide-eyed Victor into the room. The band were having their pre-gig dinner. Lars jumped up. ‘Andie, Ricky – great to see you guys. Hey – who’s this?‘
And that’s the thing …
… Bands and artists of quality recognise how important fans are – you’d be amazed how many don’t – and Metallica are particularly brilliant at diffusing any embarrassment or awkwardness fans feel when they meet the band. I introduced Lars to Victor. Lars was in fine form. ‘Hey VIctor – how ya doin’? Cool jacket man – want us to sign it?‘ Victor’s mouth opened and closed several times but words refused to vocalise and his head moved around in a weird circular movement which kind of looked like he was nodding and shaking his head at the same time. ‘James,‘ Lars shouted, ‘grab that thick marker pen and we can all sign Victor’s jacket.‘
The jacket in question was a silver bomber-jacket. It looked brand new and I remember thinking at that point that maybe Victor had bought it specially for the gig. The band gathered round him for the Signing Ceremony. A flurry of flambuoyant marker strokes later and a storm of graffitti, autographs and dedications covered the entire back of the jacket. Victor of course couldn’t see what Lars, James, Kirk and Jason had done. We chatted for a while, left the band to their dinner and headed off to the Arena and our seats. Still not a word had escaped Victor’s lips and he was looking worryingly pale. ‘Look at your jacket,‘ I said. ‘It’s brilliant.‘ Victor stopped, closed his eyes, took off the jacket and opened them again. He stood there – motionless – just staring at it. Finally he managed to get words to connect both to his brain and his mouth at the same time. The reason for his endearing but acutely strange behaviour was suddenly clear. It wasn’t only Metallica that had caused him to be so excrutiatingly shy and freaked out in the dressing room – there was something completely different to add to his alarm and agitation … ‘It’s my older brother’s best jacket,‘ he croaked. ‘He doesn’t know I’ve borrowed it! He’s going to kill me. He’ll fuckin’ kill me.‘
Victor was, thankfully, still alive when I headed to the gym a couple of days after the gig. His brother had burst out laughing when Victor confessed to his hideous crime, enjoying every second of his younger brothers’ deep embarrassment, fear and trepidation. He gave him the jacket obviously. However, when Victor showed his MetalliMates his well-earned prize-jacket, not one of them believed the signatures were real – let alone spontaneously produced for him personally in the band’s dressing room before a gig.
If, by any chance, any of you see a guy wearing a silver bomber-jacket with all the band’s signatures on it, ask him if his name’s Victor. If it is just tell him you know how the jacket was signed and where. It’ll probably blow his head off.
METALLICA blogs will become pretty random over the next few weeks as I’m off to India. Be prepared for the odd Indian experience to infiltrate the METALLICA EXPERIENCE!
.. and in case you thought established bands went out on the road just to regurgitate tired old hits from the past … not this ONE. Check it out. Here’s a track from S&M, performed in 1999, ten years after the song’s original release (featured as their first ever video at the beginning of this blog). THAT’S why METALLICA are brilliant – hardly the same is it? – but without losing the songs sentiment and power in any way.
STAY TUNED … &ie
COMING UP IN METALLICA BLOGS …
… a competition to win an original piece of METALLICA artwork … Berlin … Lollapalooza and Lemmy … dinner with Lars and Marianne Faithful … a trip round Barcelona … mothers and fathers … the Viper Room … Some Kinda Monster … Anton Corbjin … and creating artwork for LOAD, RE-LOAD, GARAGE INC, S&M and much more.
Don’t forget to enter the COMPETITION below to WIN a HENDRIX EDITION PRINT
Before we get to SECTOR 27, I must start by thanking those who ‘commented’ on the last Blog – especially ‘the man himself’, Tony Tobias …
‘This is getting to be a vital link to the past of ‘The Worlds End’ I was privileged to play a small part, having owned two Noseagents. Customers, friends really, were from all walks of life, Barry Sheen, The Rolling Stones, dear wonderful Freddie Mercury, who used to stand in the shop in full drag, Adam Ant, Marianne Faithful, The Sex Pistols, Georgie Fame, David Bowie, and many other wonderful people, and the great woman newspaper scribe, Sue ‘the floating tenner’ Carrol, were frequent visitors. How I loved all you guys, and everyone else, I am what I am because of all of you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking the time to rediscover the past.” Love, Tony.
(The Cat, by the way, was The Professor, so-called because distinctive marks around his eyes looked like a pair of glasses. His name perfectly encaptures the Beast’s deranged and fierce(!) intelligence.)
Like Tony, I believe The World’s End Community was (and still is) something very special. As our Course moves into the 80’s, the 90’s and beyond, it always plays a pivotal role in my life and work. We will return to it many times I’m sure, (including how LARS ULRICH of METALLICA managed to devastate the Australian staff who worked at THE CHELSEA RAM), but now we are heading into Graphic Design for the music industry …
Back in the early 80’s it was a fascinating and exciting world to be involved in – not just with the artists and musicians but with record companies, promoters and merchandisers willing to take creative (and financial) risks to promote original and eccentric design ideas. One in particular, Pete Winkelman – then art director and promotional genius at Arista Records, now chairman of MK DONS – was wonderfully supportive of some pretty crazy ideas. More of him later when we reach THOMPSON TWINS and the fabulous FUZZBOX.
SECTOR 27
As I said it was Tim who introduced me to Tom Robinson. Although I’d had a little experience in sleeve design, Tom was the first commercially successful artist to hire SATORI to create an album sleeve for his new band – SECTOR 27. It’s quite odd looking back at the sleeve now but it’s one I’m still proud of and, in many ways, the brief for it is still relevant today. It was 1980 and the terrifying world of BIG BROTHER in George Orwell’s ‘1984’ loomed large. Tom was a politically-motivated musician – ‘Glad To Be Gay’ was hugely influential when it was released.
He was a committed anti-racist and gay activist with a fierce intelligence. Meeting him for the first time I remember his earnest charm was totally sincere. There was also an endearing contradiction in his character which was very appealing. The rage of his concerns was balanced with a genuine need to please. I believe his success as a communicator and commentator was partly because of that apparent dichotomy. His fragility combined with his serious commitment to revealing injustice in the world made him convincing and believable. As a musician the same applied. Beneath his clean, sharp image and brilliant songs was a ‘disorientating tension’ which took you by surprise. I liked Tom very much and he taught me a great deal about social awareness and politics in general. What I learnt from him was how to present well-informed arguments which were never patronising or self-righteous.
Tom was acutely aware of the growing surveillance culture in Britain and he wanted the album sleeve to be a defiant, positive statement – one which celebrated the triumph of Innocence and Exhileration over the Grey and Faceless which threatened to undermine and sabotage it. In words it sounds somewhat heavy-handed but the final sleeve portrayed something more intuitive.
The sleeve design can be split into three distinct areas; the graphics, implying harsh corporate control; the photograph portraying an anonymous bleak cityscape and the happy innocent child who defies the impersonal environment she inhabits.
For those of you not interested in the graphic process you can skip the next paragraph …
1980 was Pre-Computer obviously so each of the three elements had to be created separately. The starting point was the SECTOR 27 logo and it’s dynamic shape and positioning. After that the other elements were roughly sketched into position. On our way to BLITZ one morning I photographed the buildings as we emerged from the underpass in Holborn, deliberately shaking the camera. The chosen image was blown up to a 20×16 print and the graphic version of the underpass exit was drawn with Rotring pens (remember those anyone?). We hired a photographer and studio to photograph the Chinese girl and proceeded to ‘treat’ the image to give it movement and vibrancy. Colour Xerox was something I was experimenting with at the time and I’d found a wonderful shop where the owners encouraged artists and designers to experiment with their colour Xerox machines by allowing them on a Saturday morning to hire a machine by the hour rather than paying for each print. This meant that experimenting was not prohibitively expensive. It was amazing how many prints you could do in an hour if you were organised! Fooling the Xerox machine was the challenge – to get it to produce effects it was not designed for. Manipulating images then was the remit of photographic re-touchers. It tended to be a time-consuming and expensive process. To print an image on acetate and tracing paper, to run an image through the Xerox machine several times, to change images as the machine scanned the four process colours produced some astonishing ‘accidental’ results. I exhibited a series of ‘paintings’ constructed using the results of those revelatory Saturday mornings. ‘Timewall‘ by Andie Airfix, 1980
DESIGN OBSERVATION 1: Get Your Hands Dirty.
Don’t rely only on computer programs alone to create interesting imagery. However ‘clever’ Photoshop and however expertly it’s used it will always be 2-dimensional – however seductively it attempts to convince you otherwise.
From the first opportunity I had to design an album sleeve, with no knowledge of graphics whatsoever, I instinctively knew it would be an extreme and exciting experience. Thirty years on, the extremes and the challenges thankfully remain.
Many things have changed; the music industry, the introduction of computers and digital recordings, the means to communicate ideas over vast distances in the blink of an e-mail, even the relevance of sleeve design in the music download age.
Some over-riding positive factors remain however; the search for innovation and challenge, impossible deadlines, and most importantly of all – the joyous idiosyncracies of the musicians I work for and the characters who inhabit their world.
I have never felt the need to promote or encourage a particular style in graphics – only a need to communicate with musicians to find a solution which satifies my appetite for experimentation and their very real need to be represented visually in a way which complements their music and their talent. I suppose what I have always worked for is to be comfortable with compromise.
Compromise is too often a dirty word for designers and musicians alike but, by definition it’s a worthy objective. “To yield to reach agreement’, ‘to resolve difficulties’, to ‘give and take’. What better aim can there be in anything we do? There need be nothing negative about compromise – it can provide astonishing results beyond individual egos – solutions unimagined by designer or musician. Pretentious twaddle? Not on your life. The proof is in the pudding, as they say, and the ingrediants to create it have always been surprising, exciting and fun.
Behind the designs are numerous stories. There have always been stories. Whether they are about the Thompson Twins, Metallica, Def Leppard, Paul McCartney, Led Zeppelin, the Geezers Of Nazereth (who? – just listen), Tori Amos, The Rolling Stones, or my current obsession – The Perils, the stories are the thing which provide insight into how the design process works.
I have reached a point where experience and the joy of how I have achieved a satisfying degree of success should be shared. It’s a strange, hilarious and entertaining journey, but without doubt it’s an affirmation of the only thing that matters – enjoy your life, and whatever it is that provides opportunity to be creative.
Should we start at the beginning? I think so …. Remember Sector 27 …. I doubt it.
Secondly … I’d like to thank everyone who had The Inclination and The Taste to buy Airfix Editions over the holiday period.
‘Timewall‘ by Andie Airfix, 1980
andie airfix's 'B*b G#ld*f Stole My Sunglasses?' 