Meet Mr David Callow.. a true English gent with some mad pencil skills at his disposal. A lot of his work houses his incredible ability to combine delicate drawing techniques with a more robust collage style in a harmonious fashion. The juxtaposition of the two mediums just works to great effect and creates a synonymous style.
Whilst he isn’t sharpening those pencils and rocking it in the dirty east end of London he’s teaching his trade to young hopefuls back at his old university, on the south coast. Rumour has it, he’s moving to NYC in the near future so keep ur eyes peeled for this englishman in new york. See more at http://www.davidcallow.co.uk
As we drag our asses out of what feels like the most anti-social winter ever, everyone’s askin’ where’s the party at? The answer is The Alibi. The Alibi is the new home of east London party starters and all round creative crew Real Gold. This lot basically run tings round this part of town and if there’s a party worth going to its usually one of there many off shoots. Having spent the last few years trawling east end back alleys for hidden warehouse venues, in a constant attempt to find the new fresh thing it looks like they’ve finally settled for a permanent address of their own design; 91 Kingsland High Street Dalton.
For anyone visiting London and looking for a proper night out its now well known that the basement bars of Kingsland Rd are the place to head (just look for the queue outside), like anywhere though this can still be hit and miss. Although still under-construction, the bars working which means the Alibi’s partying. For guaranteed London fun times your unlikely to do better than this.
- Out With The In Crowd
Everything in London seems to run like the buses, nothing for a while and then loads all at the same time. This is definitely true of the music scene - there are periods when you can’t move for amazing bands, DJ’s and club nights and then all of a sudden there’ll be a lull, everything seems a bit rinsed and everyone’s just waiting looking for the next thing, which is inevitably just around the corner.
Othello Woolf is one of the few bands I’ve seen recently that have felt genuinely fresh and exciting. All written and recorded by Oliver Woolf, he put a band together late last summer, aided by Ronojoy Dam of the Real Gold collective, who is also art directing the band. They’ve been honing the sound all winter and are set for a good run on the festival circuit this summer. The sounds of Roxy Music and Talking Heads are instantly recognisable as influences and, not in a bad way. Oli’s foppish looks backup the Ferry comparisons. What matters, is that this boy’s got soul, his tunes have groove and he plays a mean guitar. The debut single Stand was released on 7” through Young & Lost in January, which is now sold out, but you can download the single for free over at the Young & Lost site.
Also worth a mention is Joe Doyle, who is currently playing guitar in Othello, but also has his own solo project, which is just about to launch. Staying in the Doyle family, Joe’s brother Sam plays drums for The Maccabees, but also in a two-piece band, Phantom, with Tic Zogson from Jack Penate. Phantom are an East-London favourite, unlikely to do much in terms of releases, but these guys are a lot of fun live, with Sam being one of the best drummers in town their shows end up being a showcase for his considerable talents.
This set of photographs by Londoner Fergus McDonald perfectly describes what life has been like in the capital of our grey little island this winter. For me they fully evoke the grime and thrill that makes London the place it is: old-man pubs, sodden streets, political unrest, or just a blurred glimpse in the crowd. These scenes will be familiar to any young Londoner, an insider’s view for sure, but by isolating these moments, McDonald’s photographs force you to stop and re-appreciate ones daily experiences, both the good and the bad. We gave Fergus a shout to see what was behind the series, and this is what he had to say:
“I used to only take photos based on strict guidelines and projects I set myself. I found this way of working generally successful as my work was inadvertently more structured and focused. Over the last year or so, inspired by photographers such as William Egglestone and Wolfgang Tillmans, I have tried to work in a more instinctive way, photographing what I am instantly visually stimulated by. This has produced some interesting results and I have found that the perfect platform for these images is my blog.”
Follow Fergus’ travels around London on his blog.
- Out With The In Crowd
Hey all, we’d like to give a shoutout to Out With The In Crowd, whom we’ll be guest blogging with for the next month. Make sure to poke your head over there and see what we got to serve up. Who the fuck is OWTIC you say? Well check out this little interview we did with them to clear the air of mystery.
