Me and Matilda have been on art attack missions this week. Old newspapers, PVA glue, puzzle pieces and loads of poster paint has been the order of each day. We’ve made a start on some masks, made a huge puzzle piece flower, and I’ve mocked up a rough / potential limited edition album box set. Loose idea for this is, we sell the new album plus some other crooked goodies in a 10 inch box set, like the one shown below. All just ideas, all experiments, all subject to massive change, but whatever, this has been the perfect way to waste away the last of these mad March days . . .

A few weeks ago, Tom had this idea of making a sculpture out of my head. One thing led to another and now we’re on a mission to make death masks out of modroc, which is loads of fun. Not sure what they’re gonna be used for yet, but I’m sure they’ll come in handy. Here’s a picture Jenny Hardcore took whilst Tom was slapping wet strips of cement onto my face. The process is great, however, trying to sit still for a further 15 minutes is proving very difficult!

Since then, creative juices have gotten flowing. After questioning my intentions, the Tool Factory let me purchase a fresh saw. After searching through almost every skip and back alley in Chatham Town, I found myself found a nice bit of rotten wood. Come the evening, with the assistance of a child, a few blades, a stencil, and a tin of white and black paint, a huge ‘Lupen Crook’ sign had been unveiled. Maybe for use during photo shoots, installations, gigs or I might just no-more-nails it to some random wall around town. Anyway, t’was a good day for creation and general nonsense. More to come.

x x x

Hello hello,
Spring time is here at last!
Its been a while since I left a post. How is everyone?
Just to let you know we are playing Latitude this summer.

Who’s going??

Other festivals are in the pipeline, I’ll let you know when they get confirmed.

I hope things are good.

Tom

x X x

The weeks seem sure to start rolling into one and other. It’s been crazy! We spent a day transfering the analogue tapes onto a digital format at Sensible Music with Jon Moon, and then Tom and I ran them over to Producer Howie B, who is now working with us on the new album. Howie and his engineer Ben are, as we speak, putting the finishing touches to what we recorded down at Jim Riley’s. We’ve been popping in throughout the week, and spent the evening up there last Sunday doing some over dubs. Its sounding pretty wicked. The whole album should be sorted within a few weeks, so we’re all really excited to hear the results.

Thanks to everyone who came out to support Tom and me last week. Despite a slow nervy start in Portsmouth, the gigs soon gained pace.  Though it took us a while to get used to it being just the two of us, we got there in the end. Taking a few new tracks for a test drive was cool, plus we got to dust down some of the older songs and breathe new life into them. All in all, great shows, especially in Maidstone and Medway, which rounded off a mental week – the crowd were in high spirits, and we loved every minute of it. Aprils mission will be whipping the rest of the band into shape. Our good brother Bob has been sorely missed, but he returns with the fools, so we’re all looking forward to playing with him again. Will be a fucking joy!

This week seems sure to continue in the same fashion as the last, waiting for Bob to return, and zipping around London with Tom, probably popping in to see Howie a few times, and throwing ourselves into the album art work. Watch this space, we’ll be updating you guys and girls as we go.

x x x

You might have noticed a few little tweaks here and there on the website recently… a shiny new music player, more compact gig info, enhanced recent comments details and so on. Now it’s time for the big one. We’ve given the site a new front page, which we hope provides a clearer and easier to understand overview for visitors unfamiliar with the website and the world of Lupen Crook.

We’re aiming for a balance between simplicity and richness of content. The blog is by no means forgotten or sidelined. For anyone who gets alerted to new blog posts via e-mail, Twitter, Facebook or Atom/RSS, it’s business as usual. If you usually go to the website home page to read the blog posts, just click on “Blog” on the menu or bookmark www.lupencrook.com/blog/ for future use.

The messy Gallery page has gone; the best pictures will now be showcased on the front page.  We’ve added a Press page to highlight some notable reviews and to provide various media resources.  As ever, thoughts and feedback are welcome. Mr Crook’s sketch above shows you part of the planning process from a couple of weeks ago. No, that particular gallery picture doesn’t exist. Not yet, anyway…

Last year we used the phrase “growing pains” to describe the difficulties of getting (re-)organised.  Skin stretching, bones busting, shooting outwards, haphazard and Alice-like, banging into obstacles, constrained by walls and windows.  This Spring has been a more positive phase of growth, as last week’s mini-tour demonstrated.

Four nights in Portsmouth, Brighton, Maidstone and Gillingham, performing a set whose intensity only increased as the week wore on.  A mixture of old favourites, songs from the forthcoming album and a couple of brand new numbers (The Counting Song and Big Top Disaster Scenario) receiving their stage debuts.

Here are a few murky videos (Maidstone was LOUD, forgive the odd squelch every now and then)… darkened mementos for everyone who was there and hopefully a good enough second-best for those who couldn’t make it.

Thanks to everyone who came along to the Cellars at Portsmouth last night.  Tonight, Mr Crook and Tom move in an easterly direction along the south coast and will be playing at the Freebutt in Brighton.

Unfortunately the gig at Guildford’s Boileroom tomorrow night will not be going ahead.  Sorry about that, unforeseen circumstances as ever.  Maidstone & Gillingham on Friday & Saturday are definitely on.

A lot going on in the back rooms at the moment, working out the ways and whereabouts of getting this record out. For myself, I met with the darling Sara Norling last week to discuss ideas for some photos.  Here’s a test shot above. That afternoon I found a spring in my step which turned out to mean a whole weeks worth of work in London. First stop Highgate, where Tom and I met with a potential crooked family man, talked analogue tricks and the possibility of some dirty licks, all very exciting stuff, cant say more than that at the moment. One thing led to another and I woke to find my head set in concrete and a cream floor covered in sticky black unforgiving vomit. I escaped to Hackey where I met with The Mrs, we walked talked and tippled as we went and so the week went on.

Friday a glorious sun was waiting for us, like an old friend. The Mrs and I met Hg and together we headed to Billy Childish’s exhibition at ICA – great artist, bit of a shit white wash show to be fair – has anyone else been, what did you guys reckon. Anyway, as the day wore on, Hg and I hung desperately on in Camden til the early hours. By Saturday I had been spent, savaged from a weeks worth of misadventure. Since then its been back to writing up words and worms, and working out the plan for this month – talks with Miss Hardcore and Jim Riley, generally gathering up all the shards of necessary nonsense that will make this year all it should be.

As for next week, got a bunch of gigs that I’ll either be playing solo or perhaps with the talented Tom Langridge – Portsmouth, Guildford, Brighton, Medway and Maidstone (but maybe not in that order). Probably a mis match set of songs past, present and future, who knows. If you’re about, pop in, be good to see ya.

x

CroOK

Crook has been scribbling.  We’ve now added the entire back catalogue’s lyrics to the website.  We’ve also thrown in everything from the forthcoming third album, The Pros and Cons of Eating Out, for good measure.

You can get to the lyrics either by choosing the Lyrics option from the black menu bar or by using the drop-down list in the Browse page (also on the menu bar and a source of many other treasures besides).

Got a lyric stuck in your head but don’t know (or can’t remember) the song name?  No problem, just type a few words into the search field (at the bottom of the sidebar or in the Browse page) to find out more.

I’ve loved going through this stuff and finally reading the occasional line that I’d never been able to work out.  I always suspected that “peachy raw innards” wasn’t quite right, though it seems I wasn’t too far off the mark…

You can leave comments or questions at the bottom of each individual lyrics page.  Now’s your chance to ask away, or to tell everyone how you came across a particular song or why it means so much to you.

Last week we scrabbled together with the view of getting some up to date photos taken for the forthcoming album. As is the way with some experiments, in didn’t quite yield the results we wanted. The long winter has taken its toll. For the most part we look moody and far too serious, perhaps our spirits had other things on their mind, not willing to play game for the lense and lights fantastic, but in the end, they just didn’t quite capture the essence of what we believe, is who we are. Of all the photos taken, here’s the most animated. As you can see, we look damaged, tired and worn, a little perverted, and only mildly psychotic, and that I feel, is being too kind.

Other news. I’ve been finishing off a series of illustrations called CAN’T BEAR, which at some point will appear as a little booklet. It’s kinda light-hearted, a beginners guide to the darker sides of my mind, and yours too, perhaps. I’ll let you know more when they’re ready to go. Here’s a rough taster . . . “CAN’T BEAR SMACK HEADS”

“

Otherwise, after 7 painful years of words and worms, Hg, Sam Hayes and myself, gathered round a few bottles, and with pens and pads, between disgusting the Oxford comma, agreed to kick start the beginning of what might see the End for that damned story I’ve been writing. No dead lines or dates, just heavy editing to come. If confusion and certain madness doesn’t infect them also, a completed draft is more than likely some time this year.

And finally, now album number 3 is nearly ready to go, just waiting for an official release date, I’ve been getting back to picking and plucking, and after months of shít spilling out of my mouth, I am pretty pleased with the way things are beginning to go. Glimpses of Spring has brought with it the welcome return of mild mannered insomnia, long walks less any particular destination, and evenings gently drowned in cheap red wine – all I need to tempt me from this bleak winter depression. At long last. Inspiration!

x

CroOk