To Nunhead…

click on each image to view full size, a huge thank-you to the crooked family for a great weekend and a very merry unbirthday to hg,

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as it was, is, and may well be again,

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a much delayed but no less valued peek at the events of this summer just gone including recording at ranscombe studios, gig at the barfly, a dash of breaking and entering and some good old fashioned chaos.

hope it brings a smile to some lips  x

[sorry to subscribers who got a couple of dud e-mails about this post yesterday, slight technical hitch, all fixed now]

A few shots from the recent exhibition of pain[and other]tings by Lupen Crook and The Mrs at the Nucleus Gallery in Chatham, which opened on Friday 21st August and ran until Friday 28th:

The Nucleus Gallery’s trippy ambience (particularly the shiny floor and mixed light levels) pushed my meagre photographic skills to their limit, but hopefully this gives you a flavour of how the exhibition looked.

It certainly made an impact on visitors.  On the couple of days that I was there, everyone who entered the gallery passed comment, favourably or otherwise.  “Marvellous” was one; “base, ugly surrealism” another.

I’m not trying to depict every single exhibit in this Flickr set.  Plenty of Mr Crook’s paintings are visible via this website’s archives.  The Mrs has a MySpace profile for now and will have a website shortly.

The slideshow above is just a taster.  You can see larger versions of the pictures, either as a full-screen slideshow or on a shot-by-shot basis, by going to the set page on Flickr (choose “Slideshow” or “Detail”).

Artists are now responsible for their own marketing, says Andrew Keen.  Every band needs a brand.  Crook considered this proposition. Emboldened by miscellaneous wines, other peripheral measures of alcohol and the company of f(r)iends, he concluded that a literal approach was required.  Under the untimely lunacy of an afternoon moon, he took a hot rod from the fire and made his mark.

The wound was sterilised with Chekov vodka, the mind calmed with a blast or two on the trusty nicotine inhaler.  Days passed and the body set about its task of repairing the cauterised flesh and scabby skin.  Another letter now sits on the document of the body: a C reversed, a worm straining to eat its own tail.  Maybe a hungry, punning bird will fly onto his shoulder: a rook come to see.

a 10 x 8 print for whoever can name the songs and/or lyrics that inspired the characters!

quick hint – lupen has at least 2

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ps all comments on these photo’s much appreciated, thank you.

Because we are bitter and twisted. Finally after hours of interogation via immigration our lost and found murderbird has managed to make his way to the english shores, and whislt here, we have done what has needed to be done, and now, until next time , here he is, in all his fuck and fight glory . . . we love you mother fucker . . . x . . . ROCK.

amidst MANY trains back and forth, newspapers, sneezes, coffees and clicks here is a little moment of magic from the studio where final touches are being put to the album.

i think its a track called dorothy deserves they are working on, anyway LOADs more to come when the mood takes me and the illness leaves me.

for those in the area, remember to come down to The Eagle Tavern in rochester this eve for more musical meanderings and magical merch,

Jh x

Hi there punk rockers. Mr Crook here; speechless, spinning plates, but full of summer spirit all the same . . .

A quick note to all of you . . . because these little fuckers take bloody ages to put together, and I have responsibilities of song, psychosis, finishing the new album, the book, and probably some other things that I can’t remember, only 120 of these are available in the ‘pretty canvas sleeves’.  20 are going to be on sale in the Rough Trade shops, and the rest will be available from us at the 3 gigs in July. Otherwise, if anyone lives a million miles away, you can pre-order your copy by going to our shop / releases section on this website, and we will send it out to you. I hope that’s Ok.

Below is the sleeve that has been nicely held together by a punk rock pin and puzzle piece attachment.

Here’s what happens when you take apart the sleeve . . .

And here’s another pretty picture of what it looks like when you open it up . . .

If anyone wants to use the canvas sleeve, the idea is that you can pin it, stick it, frame it, or throw it:

‘Just so you know, ‘The Lost Belongings’ is a 5 track EP. It will give you a taste of what we have been doing and hopefully excite you enough to keep in contact with us, as we make the finishing touches to our New Album which is due out in September.

Please understand, that we are presenting you with a gift. This is something that you can hold in your hands, touch with the ends of your fingers, and if you enjoy the way paint, piss, and blood, feels on your tongue, even taste. Let’s face it, we have all been forced to accept the uncomfortable, though very convenient way, in which downloads, emails, mp3s, myspace, blah blah blah, fucking blah, has changed the way music is distributed. Nevertheless, contrary to popular belief, this does not mean music must appear as an impersonal transference of binary bollocks. After all, we are human beings, and we enjoy touching, we crave skin to skin, and we like to hold, to have, and to remember. The Crooked Family do anyway, so please enjoy.

Your SINcerely, Lupen Crook

PS – At risk at sounding like a fucking corporate(?)cuntpany(?), I will say this quickly and only once, so read it as if I have . . . EVERY SLEEVE IS DIFFERENT, because each one has been hand painted, so do not piss and moan if they look different from the photo. Anyway, I am sure you could have worked that out for yourself.

Once again, peace, punk, and poeTRY, I hope to be hearing from you soon.