“There are some fishes and some birds that are kind of fluorescent, but to me the colours represent this man-made madness. I mean, if you look at fluorescent colours all the time you go blind, they actually kill your vision.”
By day Jordan Atkinson designs merchandise for some of the UK’s most trend-setting bands, such as the Klaxons. By night he critiques popular culture through his own design label, Oh-Death, which uses figures such as Amy Winehouse as symbols of a mass market turned mutant.
“Amy Winehouse is portrayed in the media as this creature of the night, this bad thing that sits brooding in a pub in Camden,” says Jordan Atkinson of his gruesome caricature of the songstress on his Oh-Death tee shirt. “I drew her as a vampire because, like vampires, she is despised by mankind.”
Musicians such as Winehouse have often used fashion to set themselves apart from the rest to help them sell records. Just as fashion can propel pop groups into the eye of the mass media and the mainstream, it can also trap them in that movement, sealing their fate as people look to the next trend.
British fashion designer Katherine Hamnett’s FRANKIE SAY RELAX tee shirt became a symbol of 80s popular culture, adopted by Frankie Goes to Hollywood with the popularity of their hit song “Relax”. As the shirts became popular, counterfeit versions emerged featuring the word “SAYS” instead of “SAY”.
Atkinson has designed his own version of the FRANKIE tee. It features Frankenstein, a classic symbol of the way popular culture can mutate something decent into a corrupt, sensationalised, and generally avoidable character. In this case, Frankie wears a pair of Ray-Ban Wayfarer sunglasses. The reintroduction of the original Wayfarer design earlier this year meant that every hipster from New York to London and beyond bought a pair, although none of them knew whether it was cooler to have a genuine 1950s edition off eBay, a genuine latest issue or a fluorescent-coloured rip-off.
“Once the mass market gets hold of something, where it is from fashion or music, it very quickly becomes mainstream,” says Atkinson. “When The Klaxons first hit the scene they weren’t really influenced by the 90s UK rave culture. They were a bit electro and a bit more upbeat than the indie bands but all of a sudden NME got hold of them and hyped them as ‘new rave’ and attached this whole scene to them.
“That’s the thing about pop culture – people want something they can tap into. Trends like new rave or indie or emo give kids something to relate to and form an identity from. In the case of the Klaxons, the kids are still dressing up in this new rave style, thinking they have to wear fluoro tee shirts and carry glow sticks. The band has to play up to that with their merchandising and so they’re kind of stuck in that movement.”
Artists striving to set themselves apart from the rest through fashion should beware the slimy kiss of death from the mass media. It could send them mutating into some frightening creature of the night, worshiped by the masses but left for dead by those clever enough to keep moving on.
‘Relax’ illustration and front page ‘Oh-Death’ illustration by Jordan Atkinson. You can buy the Oh-Death tee shirts via Jordan’s blog at: oh-death.blogspot.com
What should you expect when a major fashion label launches a record label and starts signing indie bands? This is the case with new Australian label Levity, an arm of the Levi’s jeans company. By Natasha Ludowyk. Illustration by Martin Duhovic.
Cynics might tell you to expect songs about blue jean babies, or perhaps albums entitled ‘Wash In Cold Water’ as first offerings from Levi’s Australia new record label, Levity. And the cynics would be onto something if the first addition to the Levity family is anything to go by. Cut Off Your Hands (nee Shaky Hands) first release on the label is titled ‘Blue on Blue’.
Levity say they are ‘giving something back and playing a role in developing the careers of artists we love’. Well that’s lovely. Let’s not pretend that they don’t also want their pound of flesh though. Taut young rockstar flesh. The first COYH release coincided with large street posters of singer Nick with appropriately rakish hair strutting around behind a mic in NOTHING BUT LEVIS JEANS. Gasp.
Cut Off Your Hands are not the first rock band to sell out. They’re perhaps just the first to do so exclusively. And while angst-ridden artists roll their eyes, at least COYH are getting their records cut. Mercy Arms have followed suit (ba da boom). The label claims that it is only signing bands for short-term deals (‘til the novelty of each new act wears off, or the risk can be assessed perhaps?).
As independent labels continue to snuff it, and we all prefer our music on 1s and 0s, the money to record, tour and promote a new artist has to come from somewhere. And with a very few exceptions, it probably won’t come from record sales ever again. So Levity’s claim has more than a little truth to it – they are developing the careers of the artists they’ve signed. Those kids are popping their shaggy heads up everywhere.
The kind of affiliation might work well if your music/look is deemed likely to sell some denim (or sneakers – insert hip hop act, or handbags – crocodile-skinned divas eat your hearts out…it’s easy to extrapolate the possibilities). Because at Levity, despite what they may say, your potential to sell jeans is gonna be far more profitable than your albums. It’s an insidious, but maybe inevitable shift that makes puppets out of our dear young rockers even as it empowers them to finally give up those bar shifts and get paid to gig. While relief from the pressure to sell albums might arguably allow artists their creative freedom, replacing it with an impetus to sell jeans (the measures for which are dubious at best) is a new constraint, and one that places the music second.
Natasha Ludowyk is Co-founder and Features Editor of Melbourne’s Is Not Magazine.
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I’m trying to figure out what Australian electro-rock trio the Midnight Juggernauts would wear on the road as they support Digitalism on their UK tour, but they’re not giving much away. Maybe they’re not wearing anything. I hope they have good heating in the van.
“There is an obsession with fashion and trends surrounding music,” says Midnight Juggernauts guitarist Andy Streetcrime. “The music scene is so cyclical. Sure, if you did fall into certain movement and the fashion trends associated with that, it could work in your favour and push you along. But it could end really quickly and you could get stuck there.
“We always try to be bigger than that and make sure it’s all about the music.”
Everyone loves being able to categorise a band; put them neatly into one pigeonhole or the next. If you must do so with the Midnight Juggernauts, you could try indie rock, dance or electropop. They’ve even been described by Rolling Stone as – shock horror – new rave. They have, however, managed to avoid the hype and fluorescent stigma attached to any one movement, thanks largely to their versatility to mix it with some of Europe’s biggest acts. Before joining Digitalism on their UK tour, the Juggs played with the Klaxons and the Crystal Castles in Europe, and before that with Justice on their US tour.
“Justice do attract a lot of dance kids at their shows but there is also a pretty strong rock crowd there,” says Andy. “We’re finding that as we get our music out there, we’re getting a much wider following, too.”
Ah, so they DO notice what kinds of people are showing up at their gigs, and even what kinds of things they wear. And maybe a teeny part of them wants to help kids look the part at their gigs: the Midnight Juggernauts produce limited edition tee shirts for each tour, inspired by album artwork and films.
“I grew up listening to a lot of metal like Slayer and I really loved the look of the artwork on the Slayer albums,” says Andy. “As for the other guys, our drummer Daniel (Thunderfist) has always been into the Pixies. Vincent (Vendetta, on synth) is obsessed with Prince.
“We’re a bit of a mixed bag, really.” That may be so, but the Midnight Juggernauts are getting it together on the world stage , something they’ll be celebrating as they jump back in the tour van for the summer festivals back home.
myspace.com/midnightjuggernauts
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If everything works out well, everyone is covered in sweat, says Madeline Davy of the mayhem that she and former !!! front man John Pugh create through their band, Free Blood. She told Frock how music shapes the designs for her clothing label Octopi.
Where does the name ‘Free Blood’ come from?
We are the Free Blood. When you put something out there and perform it others share in the experience. Maybe it’s just in bits and pieces, or droplets.
How have your musical influences shaped your style and your designs for Octopi?
At the moment dance and choreography are things that are grabbing my attention more than any particular music; how the body moves to music or in costume; how someone else organizes those movements. I definitely admire the precision of Busby Berkeley. I’ve also been thinking of Michael Clark who makes wonderful contemporary work melding disciplines through his collaborations with, for example, The Fall and Leigh Bowery
What are you listening to at the moment?
Studio 1 recordings. The sparseness in some of those songs is heartbreaking; it’s what’s not there.
What is the best live show you saw recently?
I.U.D., which consists of two badass lady drummers: Sadie Laska, and the singer of Gang Gang Dance, Lizzy Bougatsos.
Is there a particular style among people at your gigs that you can easily identify?
I don’t know about a scene or style but if everything works out well everyone is covered in sweat. I’d say it’s more of a mindset.
Before joining Free Blood you were known for creating mayhem at parties, dressed in your own handmade pieces. Do you now do this on stage? Do your fans dress up to emulate your style?
I pretty much wear the same things on stage as I do on the street which does
A new movement we’re seeing in music at the moment is experimental groups such as Battles, whose music is not so much defined songs, but rather passages of sound. Can you comment on this in relation to ideas behind the Free Blood sound?
I like the idea of passages of sound. I think Free Blood also works in this way; it’s like putting a string of phases together.
Can you draw similarities between the experimental nature of Free Blood and Octopi designs?
I think fluidity is important to both Free Blood music and Octopi. I also think it’s a process. In both cases revision seems to be a constant.
myspace.com/freeblood
octopinyc.com
Oh joy! Gay Against You duo Joe Howe and Lachlann Rattray are making live shows what they should be. They combine joyous, frenetic and sometimes frightening music with homemade costumes from tennis outfits to wolf masks. Frock got the lowdown from Lachlann, who also designs clothes that you too can own.
How do you make your music?
the moment we make our music using Cubase and other programs, it means we can do it from home and don’t have to waste money on recording studios.
How do you replicate this in your costumes?
I don’t think it’s so much replicating the music with the costumes; ever since we started we have dressed up for shows. I hate going to shows and watching a bored-looking band recreating the sound of their records. Live shows should be a totally different thing form the recorded work, so i suppose we make costumes to make us more interesting to look at. Plus it’s fun to dress up.
What’s the best thing you’ve heard recently?
Joe bought me an audio tape of Star Trek in which Spock and Q have a debate. It’s pretty awesome. I suppose also hearing Man Aubergine – they’re pretty sweet.
You have a song called Princess Diana Walkman. What is it about?
It’s a love song to a personal cassette player, from Princess Diana’s point of view.
Do you think Lady Di would have listened to it on her Walkman?
I don’t think so; I imagine she would have been more of a David Bowie kind of girl.
What was the best thing you saw someone wearing at one of your shows?A while ago we made these wolf masks and some guy asked us how to make them so we made a how-to template. At our next show the guy had made one that was ten times better than the ones we made.
Tell me about your Holy Wow! designs.
Holy Wow! is clothes I make in my spare time. I have been customising clothes for ages but I bought a sewing machine last year and I’ve been making appliqués to sew onto tops and stuff. They tend to be all shiny as my favourite material is silver lamé. I sell Holy Wow! clothes, zines, music and some artwork at cliff-lipp.com.
You like pictures of clouds, eyeballs, human limbs and…
I like conspiracy theories and The Illuminatus! I am quite into iconography and pyramids.
You like jumping. Does this also mean you like lycra, spandex and active wear?
I wouldn’t say ‘like’; it’s more of a necessity for our active lifestyles.
myspace.com/gayagainstyou
Watch Gay Against You in action here