Laurenniko's Journals

'Johnny "Please-use-your-Scissorhands-to-Snip-my-Pants-off-Immediately" Depp'

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Praaaaaaauuuud. With separated out paragraphs for easy reading.

What were the main aims of the Pop Art Movement?

The pop art movement started in the UK in the 1950s but really took off in America in the 1960s when the children born in the post-WW2 baby boom became teenagers and everyone was suddenly surrounded with a new wave of culture in film, music and fashion, resulting in disposable mass marketing that was frequently changing to keep up with the consumer's attention span. The Pop artists didn't take this sudden flood of mass culture at face value and looked at what it really is, parodying the lack of depth and meaning in what they were suddenly encircled with.

One of the earliest examples of pop art is Scottish artist Eduardo Paolozzi's I Was a Rich Man's Plaything, not only the first piece of the movement to actually feature the word 'pop', but it also showed a strong sense of irony and mocking to a certain extent at the way women were displayed in the media. The collage, featuring a cover of Intimate Confessions as the focal point, puts the top story of the magazine - which was probably designed in a way to look shocking to sell copies - in a context where it looks superficial, petty, and shows that the woman who was the 'plaything' is just another of the many people who have allowed the popular culture of the time to 'brainwash' them to look shallow and unintelligent.

The tone of British pop art reflected the false image of affluence and glamour in the US, whereas pop art in America - in a similar vein but with different influences - looked more at how popular culture could make something or someone a hugely famous but disposable icon, then move onto something else when they tired of it. "Hard-core pop art is essentially a product of America's long-finned, big-breasted, one-born-every-minute society, its advantages of being more involved with the future than with the past."

Andy Warhol showed this through his use of household names such as Campbell's soup, Brillo and Coca-Cola, and well known faces such as Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor. He put this idea of disposability into practice with his ever-evolving posse of 'Superstars', a clique of personalities that would follow him and congregate casually at his New York 'Factory', they would help promote Warhol's work in return for fame and attention, this epitomising his quote "In the future everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes." Warhol, a man who appeared to have little affection towards these followers, displayed directly in his behavior exactly what Paolozzi's ...Plaything was displaying - people mindlessly subscribing to a shallow lifestyle that relies on fame, money and rawness to maintain - and could and would drop these Superstars as soon as soon as he lost interest.

Pop art was a means for the artist to give the public an outsider's view on their way of lives in order to let them see how they behaved in such a self-centred, meaningless and out-of-touch manner in relation to the actual proportion of their perceived dramas; their immersion in popular culture had warped their view of the world and it was the result of the initiative of the artists that give them a cross-section of life that would put into perspective for at least some people that they were in need of more depth in their life.

I HOPE YOU ALL UNDERSTAND POP ART NOW.
[The quote I referenced, but took the reference out here]

Horrors interview.

The Horrors give me the horrors. Not because of their fright-night hairstyles and apparel, noise-attack first album or impossibly confident stage show. No, not because of any of these things. They give me the horrors, the willies, or whatever you want to call the creeping, unsettling torment that climbs one's neck in the middle of the night, simply because they exist. They shouldn't, you see. How can they? They do not appear to fit in with any current musical genre (more of which later); they seem to do whatever the hell they like and nevertheless reap rewards - other bands may find this unfair. What's more, they are blissfully unaware - at least obstensibly - of what is going on around them. And still, they exist. They thrive.
Add to this the fact of their recent seismic shift in direction - from Damned-like screamo-trash to groovy psychedelia - and we appear to have ourselves a bit of a headfuck to deal with.
Cynics, of course, may - with that knowing smile cynics get that implies any other view is mere naivety - accuse The Horrors of deliberately adapting their sound to a more "user-friendly" one, in order to increase their audience. And pragmatic industry 'experts' may say that this is a perfectly acceptable thing to do - natural, even. (We should always bear in mind Hollywood writer William Goldman's succinct final-word declaration on such matters which applies equally well to the music industry: "Nobody knows anything."
But to the actual members of The Horrors such thoughts are out of the question, and the people who have them, more challengesfor the untameable multi-headed beast that is The Horrors. "Tell those people to come to my house, have a beer and look at my record collection," challenges Tom Furse, The Horror's bassist. "They'll soon change their minds."
Rhys Webb, keyboards, is more exasperated. "I can't even find the words to answer such and idea. It's so ridiculousa point that it doesn't make sense to me. It's literally beyond my understanding. It's so far away from what we're doing - that's why I can't be bothered to explain." He looks away in disgust.
There are others still - usually those in the know, in the right crowd, in Shoreditch - who state confidently that 'Primary Colours' is the album The Horrors were supposed to have made, the album that represents the band members' real interests and characters.
Furse agrees with this last section of society: "People who know us won't be surprised by the new record - they're quite aware of who we are and why we do what we do. Most people don't have that access, though."
"I think this record is a lot more personal," says Webb, pulling himself together. "A lot more involved. We went off and got completely involved and lost in the music. So it ffeels really close - every tiny sound. This is our record and we're completely in it."
Furse: "But that's because we've learned to express ourselves in a more effective way."
Webb: "It's not something that's preconceived or calculated. You can't explain in rational terms."
So, how does Faris Badwan, impossibly tall and impossibly slender frontman, feel about such matters? A man hounded by tabloids, now seemingly forgotten by them (a development he seems to be relieved about); a man who clearly feels his bands time has come. "We haven't ended up with a mainstream sounding record, and Geoff [Barrow, of Portishead, and producer of 'Primary Colours'] is not a mainstream producer. But pop music is something we're all into. Mainstream production is disgusting though. Cheap, throwaway and disposable. I genuinely can't handle it."
As he speaks, the edgy head Horror skthes manically on pieces of paper. The drawings are funny and impressive, little men with absurdly-filled speech bubbles. Badwan, like PJ Harvey before him, had his illustration degree at St. Martin's interrupted by the onset of his band's career. "Sixties prodution is generally amazing - really warm - it sounds real," he continues. "Anyone who talks like that [cynically]... it's just a knee-jerk reaction. The songs are ours. That argument doesn't make sense on any level. Selling out implies a compromise of ideals, and we would never compromise sonically as a band at all."
These expressions of feelings all ring true, As The Horros speak, you can tell that it really is straight from the heart. There is no artifice, even from the most aestheitc of bands.
What cannot be denied, though, is the marked difference between the two albums. And this is something the band acknowledges. "Strange House was recorded more than two years ago," explains Webb. "Initially we were never thinking about releasing an album - we were just concerned with being in a band. We got together and just played Sonics covers and 'Jack the Ripper', and suddenly we were in the position of being able to make an album. But we felt we were making great music. The band grew. We're just a punk band, and the way it goes with punk bands is like that. Look at the Sex Pistols and Public Image - the difference is amazing."
But they were two different bands - albeit with the same leading light. Which actually brings us to an interesting point: I don't think I was the only reviewer to make remarks to the effect that 'Primary Colours' could have been made by a different band than the one that made 'Strange House'. Do The Horrors feel like a different band?
"I think we move very quickly," says Furse. "There are lots of bands that don't want to get better - we do. We're a much better band from the one that made 'Strange House'."
Webb: "A lot of the ideas in the first album continue into the new one. Although it sounds different, many of the ideas are similar."
"We feel like exactly the same band," declares Furse, as if to draw a line under the matter.
But Webb has more to ass: "There's a lot of stuff we recorded that people haven't heard, from between the two albums. If people heard that stuff, they would hear the transition."
Badwan concurs: "People forget that there were two years between the two albums. You don't make a record and then not do anything for two years and suddently there's loads of new songs. You're doing stuff all the time. We ended up with about 40 songs. We're about to record a new single which is not on the album, and that's from those sessions. It's really just a gradual progression, and a totally natural one aswell."
The thought of massive amounts of unreleased Horrors material seems too enticing to ignore. Will we (the punters) ever hear it?
"There is about three album's worth og material [from the intervening period]," says Badwan. "But I don't believe in bands showing every single stage of the process; because you don't like bands for that reason. I don't want total transparency from a bands. I don't want to know eveything about them and their lives. I can see it's interesting, but it sometimes detracts from the music.
"I think that the way everything is - the internet and the rest of it - everyone's trying to pull as much mystery away as they can. We're trying to keep as much as possible.
"The Horrors will never have a twitter.
" I don't want to be aware of all these annoying aspects of people's personalities. It's thrust in my face how awful people are. People think every mundane aspect of their life is worth broadcasting."
So, there you have it - Faris has spoken: The Horrors will never twitter, tweet, or whatever it's called. I believe he really means it. And I'm glad he means it (I don't have a Twitter, and have no intention of getting one). Stiktin to it, however, is another thing entirely. The Machine has a way of insisting, advising, bullying, coercing.
The Horrors though, as previously stated, do whatever the fuck they like, seemingly without even a nod to possible consequences. They can also, at times, seem blisfully, charmingly, beautifully unaware of what's going on around them.
For instance, how can a band much regarded as leaders of the 'dark rock' scene be oblivious to its existence?
"I wasn't aware there was a scene," says Badwan convincingly. "And if there is one, we're definitely not in it. But I love some things, like HTRK. Great album. Many of these bands, though, just play the same venues around London again and again - it's annoying." Ah, some attentiveness then. "If something's totally accessible to me then it's like it's disposable. Friends forming bands all the time sounds good at face value, but when it's not bery good, and you have no new ideas... and there's a million bands doing that, saturationg an area of London with rubbish. On the other hand that's kind of how we started. I guess my main issue with it is that I don't really feel that many of those bands have it in them to push to the next level and raise their game. That's the problem really."
So The Horrors are not the kings of darkrock, then?
Furse: [laughs] "Not at all!"
Webb: "No way! We don't feel like we have anything to do musically with any of those bands, although I do really like some of them."
People have a natural tendency to form patterns," adds Furse. "I'd rather have people invent their own genre."
Although there is a dramatic difference between The Horrors' two albums, we haven't (yet) heard the transitional process.
There is a theory that creative people work all their lives on what is essentially one project, which forms the series that makes up individual works. The artist just keeps trying to perfect, trying to get it right. Faris Badwan seems to agree with this, and that perhaps 'Primary Colours' in its groove-oriented elegance is one step closed to an imagined, eternally-elusive destination.
"Yeah, you can't even finish. You're lucky if you vcan create something as close to perfect as you can get it."

Richard Davis.

Fucking hell. My neck's killing me.

I HAS A SENTENCE.

Sitting down at the piano, Chopin fell from his fingers.

That's all. I was listening to Butterfly Etude and that came into my head. I guess it could be about Adrian Brody, because if Chopin sat down at a piano and he fell from his own fingers, it would be unusual.

It's not summer until the MML lineup's announced.

Bands I will probably see are in colour.

The Love Middlesbrough Main Stage
[Centre Square]

The Zutons
The Sunshine Underground
Master Shortie
Zion - Tribute to Bob Marley
Raygun
Rosie & The Goldbug
Will & The People
General Fiasco

Sumo Rock Stage
[Town Hall Courtyard]

Frank Turner
The Ghost Of A Thousand
Future Of The Left
Dinosaur Pile Up
Twin Atlantic
Heavens Basement
Pulled Apart By Horses
Your Demise
Turbowolf
Saving Aimee
Such Great Heights

Evening Gazette Sounds Stage
[Town Hall - Main Auditorium]

The Rumblestrips
Golden Silvers
Tommy Sparks
The Qemists
The Chapman Family
Detroit Social Club
The Black Box Revelation
Screaming Lights
Sound Of Guns
Official Secrets Act
Be Quiet Shout Loud

Ten Feet Tall Stage
[The Empire - Main Room]

Noah and the Whale
SPECIAL GUESTS TBC!
Dan Black
The Panics
Stornoway
Skint & Demoralised
Wallis Bird
White Belt Yellow Tag
Das Wanderlust

Harry Houdini Stage
[The Empire - First Floor]

The Black Box Revelation
Gold Teeth
The Brute Chorus
Me My Head
Billy The Kid (Solo Acoustic) Fuck off, Chipchase.
The Space Agency
Kovak

Cosmos Club
[Upstairs in The Central]

Bear Hands
Babel
Goldheart Assembly
Beth Jeans Houghton
Pete Greenwood
Georgia Seddon
Sal Paradise
Timothy James Oxnard
Acrobatic Society
The Woven Project

Homegrown Outdoor
[Outside The Empire]

The Hitchers
Our Secret Sins
Lifeless
This City Romance
Jezzle
The Reverse
3 Foot Ninja
Idiot Savant
Seething Floors
Said The Gramophone

Homegrown Indoor
[Pacific Bar]

Pellethead
The Scarlet Desire
Emmy Shot A Unicorn
Four Mile Drive
Slip
Russell & The Wolves MAYBE
Electric Nightmares
Jimmy Buillet & The Baby Shakers
Anchor Fast Anchor

The Sneaky Extra Stage
[Town Hall Crypt]

Maybe Myrtle Tyrtle
Ska-Boom!

The Hairy Lemon

The Beerpigs
Elvis Tribute [Niall Southall]
Frantic Sound Collective Part #2
Frantic Sound Collective Part #1
Lovesick Cowboys TBC

That's only 5 bands at the moment so I'm going to have to develop a taste for some of the other listed bands.

Neato.

http://www.myspace.com/uptheneat

Punk-era Neils Children meets Black Wire/early Televised Crimewave demos.

Can't fault that.

Sicksicksicksick.

My school wouldn't let us celebrate Comic Relief or celebrate Red Nose Day.

Why? Because they supply contraception to people who are in need of it which conflicts with the beliefs or Roman Cathloics. If that's not fucking disgusting then I don't know what is. If we had more contraception in the world there wouldn't be half as many of these people starving to death or deteriorating with illnesses that could be prevented with an injection that costs a couple of pence.
But the school's fundraising cause for this academic year is to raise money to take people to Lourdes. Lourdes is lies.

Tomorrow I'm going to buy one of the Stella McCartney Madonna shirts as a big 'up yours' to the school.

I don't even care if I'm being fattist because it's the silly fuck's fault for being such a pig.

Hannah "JESSSSSSS!" says:

that woman wasn't amused with us on the train though

Lauren says:

The one in the red coat? I don't care, she was a fucking whale.

Hannah "JESSSSSSS!" says:

Hahahaha true

Lauren says:

I bet she can't touch her chin.

Funniest thing a Roman Catholic has ever said.

'Can you believe that thousands of years ago people used to worship the Sun?'

Hahaha! Yes I fucking can, because the Sun actually exists.

Happyooyer,. MSN and Yooyear review.

Hannah "Epic Hugs!" says:

everytime i've gone to try and sleep i feel awake again and i can't sleep. it's awful

Lauren says:

Awww, I got home, got changed into shorts and T-shirt, had some lunch, then fell asleep on the sofa until like an hour ago when I had to have tea.

Lauren says:

As if Alex made a pie, I've been sleeping all day.

Hannah "Epic Hugs!" says:

i came in, had some orange juice, got a random celebration out of the box for a sugar rush and i've just been dying since then

Hannah "Epic Hugs!" says:

haha wow!

Lauren says:

Who makes a bloody pie?

New Year's pie.

Hannah "Epic Hugs!" says:

Alex does obviously

Lauren says:

Yeah.

Hannah "Epic Hugs!" says:

bless.

SO THEN. NYE. Convinced the mother that I was going to Harley's Dad's house because she was having a 'sleepover' there. Actually at this guy's house who turns out to be called Andrew and is portugese. Graham invites everyone to other people's houses. Saw Alex who seemed really happy to see me and shouted 'GREEK LAUREN' across the kitchen, hugged me, introduced his friends, then started complaining about Hannah missing Cold Pistols for a sock puppet show. Continued banter [He uninvited his girlfriend because he didn't want her hanging around him all night, maaan.] then Hannah, Harley, Bethan and her boyfriend Peter showed up.
Sat round the table chatting and stuff, exchanging drinks fags [but not me, I'm a good girl] etc. Went into other room for a dance, Hannah got cherry Lambrini spat all over her by Bethan. Alex, Graham, Hannah and I take a very drunken Harley [Archers, Peach Schnapps, Smirnoff Ice] for a walk, while Peter and Bethan get into their taxi for wherever. Harley loses ability to walk, so we have to drag her down the alley and try to stop her injuring herself, then took her inside, whilst narrowly missing a big pointy stone thing that she almost crashed into.
Harley gets carried upstairs and onto the landing where we kindly hold her hair back while she throws up into a conveniently-placed bucket. Try to make her drink water but she decides to spit it everywhere instead. We end up in Erskine's bedroom where Harley dribbles and sleeps in his bed for two hours or so.
Can't remember exactly which order the next bits happened in but we spent midnight in Erskine's room with Harley, I can remember Ross going to Yarm and coming back with a fucking huge cigar, Jack lying on me, prodding my back, epic hugs, lying on Hannah, Mani falling out a window, and Lewis singing Time Warp. Oh yeah and at some point Jack beat some guy up because his girlfriend was girating on him.
At some point we were all goffing it up in this room full of musical instruments singing to Strokes and listening to the piano. Then we moved into the front room where I was told I was cute. Callum threw up everywhere then got kicked out. We then moved onto the kitchen after Tom and Mani and Lewis and Callum and Jack went back to Tom's, because he lives round the corner. We talked about children's TV shows and other things while Erskine tried to plean up his house. University student humour is good crack.
Wnet to bed, tried to sleep but Hannah wouldn't turn the light off because she couldn't fit on the bed [she could if she tried] and Graham's feet were in my back and he was abusing Harley or something. After about an hour of that we went to sleep for a couple of hours but then we were all woken by Hannah's phone.
After hanging around downstairs and peeling Harley out of bed I went home.