I was born in the West Yorkshire town of Keighley. From an
early age I showed an interest in art. I was identified as dyslexic at school
and subsequently struggled academically and so art became a form of escape for me. It
was something I could practice and develop on my own terms.
I began by drawing characters from comics and films. I later
attempted to create my own characters and began producing comics around 1987.
The first one I ever made was called ‘Raid on the Moon’ and featured the
character Flash Gordon. I continued to produce comics, mainly in the
science-fiction and horror genres.
At this time a lot of these would have been
inspired by films that were popular at
that time like ‘Aliens’, ‘Robocop’ and ‘The Terminator’but I also enjoyed fifties science fiction films like 'It Came From Outer space' and 'The Thing from Another World' The two comics below represent earlier influences of things like Buster Crabbe era Flash Gordon and The Eagle.
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| The Adventures of Captain Pod (1987) |
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| The Adventures of Captain Thunderball (1989) |
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| The Dalek Invasion of Keighley (2012)/Doctor Who Comic (1990-91) |
Other notable stories
were ‘Alien Fleet’ (1990) plus its two sequels. ‘The Texas
Worm Invasion’ (1992) ; a tale of flesh eating worms that terrorise a small town failed to win favour with my art teachers and landed me with an (E) mark
in art G.C.S.E. I also made 'Future Punk' (1993), ‘Psycho City’ (1993-94) ‘Earth is Under Attack’ (1988) ‘The Sad Story
of Little Devil (1995) I still have most of these in my possession and hope to
put them in some sort of order one day. My interest in making comics slowed
down a little bit around 95 when I moved onto other things and became more interested in experimental cinema and painting.
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| Alien Fleet 3: The Mutation (1991) |
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| The Texas Worm Invasion (1992) |
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| The Texas Worm Invasion (1992) |
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| Psycho City (1994/95) |
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| Psycho City (1994/95) |
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| Psycho City (1994/95) |
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| Psycho City (1994/95) |
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| The Sad Story of Little Devil (1995) |
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| The Sad Story of Little Devil (1995) |
Between 93 and 96 I
completed an art and design foundation course at Keighley Arts Factory. I learned
a lot on the course from the excellent tutors there like Pam Brook, Louise Limb
and Bill Butcher. Part of the reason I moved away from producing comics in my
spare time (and this would not have been embraced on an art foundation course
at that time) was because the college gave me access to video equipment with which
I was able to make several student films.
I had always naively viewed making
comics as a substitute for making films, though in later years I have realised
that I prefer arts practice that one can do without leaving the house. You need a budget to make a sci-fi movie, but
I always liked the idea that with some good ideas and drawing talent you can
produce a sci-fi blockbuster for the
price of a pencil and paper.
I made three student films at Keighley College ‘The Eye’
(1995) ‘Telephone’ (1996) and ‘Black Out (1996) ‘Black Out’ was a typical,
angst ridden student film full of sub-Derek Jarman use of religious imagery
complete with bad poetry and Manic Street Preachers on the soundtrack.
During
this period I did more creative writing in my spare time and I wrote several
unpublished novels ‘Wires’ (1995)about a man who inexplicably begins to
grow wires from his skin ‘The Idiot’
(1995) ‘Nightlife’ (1995) ‘Prison house Honeys’(1996) and ‘Burn’(1996) amongst
them. I had always enjoyed writing stories at school, but I think returning to
it at this time was again a way of
enabling me to still be creative on my own terms outside of the restrictions of
the educational structure; this time by exploring a different medium.
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| Production Still 'Black Out' (1996) |
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| Untitled (1995) |
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| Untitled (1995) |
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| Untitled (1995) |
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| Untitled (1995) |
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| Jonathan Morrall in 'Telephone' (1996) |
In 1996 I secured a place at Dartington College of Art. This
was a life changing experience for me enabling me to escape the bleakness of
the North as I saw it then. The Dartington approach was highly experimental. I
had a great experience there and was lucky to meet a lot of of wonderful,
creative friends there. Once again, for better or worse, I ended up
concentrating on creative pursuits outside the classroom instead of finding a
way of channelling the same energy and ideas into my studies..
I was in two bands
over the course of the three years. The first was an arty glam punk band called
Movement. We were inspired by Manic Street Preachers, Gary Numan, early
Ultravox and Japan (Manics aside, these bands were all very unfashionable in 1996). You can listen to our song 'Dead Youth' here.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Movement+Dead+youth Sadly only early a handful of early recordings survive. These are in a straight ahead punk rock style.
You can read the full Movement story here...
https://repeatfanzine.wordpress.com/2022/03/17/anthem-for-doomed-youth-the-story-of-a-manics-inspired-band/
The other band was a minimal
synth act named Athena with my friend Asim Butt who was also in Movement. We
also did one disastrous gig under the name Myra Hindleys Children. It was great
being in a band for me at that time as I had always wanted to do something with
music but never had the confidence to put myself forward as a singer. An EP by Athena, originally sent out as a demo was reissued in 2018 and you can read
a more detailed history of that band here….
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| Movement Band Photo (1996) L/R Hero Zero, Kid Plastic, The Angelic Creation, Mandy Fantastic, Asim Vaseline. |
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| Movement Gig Poster (1997) |
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| Athena (1999/2018) |
I once again began producing comics and paintings in my spare time. ‘Boredom’ (1998) and ‘Workathon’(1998) and several under variations of the
title ‘Hell’ with my friend Adam Stewart were all produced around 97 to 99 and featured collections of macabre and vaguely amusing pictures and stories. ‘Workathon’ was a dystopian comic
inspired by a short stint the previous summer holiday working as a door to door salesman. It was a
hit on campus and for my final project at Dartington, I produced a short film
version of it which caused a sensation at the end of year show. .
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| Workathon (1998) |
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| Workathon (1998) |
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| Workathon (1998) |
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| Jason Kennedy in 'Workathon' (1999) |
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| Workathon (1999) |
During the early 2000’s I concentrated mainly on drawing and
music. I was not in a band anymore but I recorded several hundred tracks at
home on cheapo synthesizers under the name Cogs. I compiled some of the more memorable cuts on
‘Laughter and Footsteps’ (2005) and ‘Afternoons’ (2010) as well as recording an
album in the studio with my friend Adam Stewart ‘New Primitive’ (2008/though
mostly recorded 2006)
I also made several xerox zines of my drawings ‘Workhouse
Drawings volume 1-3’ (2000) and ‘Pure Hate’(2001) Most of the pictures in these
were done in various office jobs I was employed in. At this time it is fair to
say that a lot of my drawings were on the macabre side with an expressive,
looser approach that I had gained through my studies at Dartington. From my late teens onward my work contained a DIY, punk ethos. I was very inspired by punk, but in truth my aesthetic is as much a product of underfunded art departments and just using materials that I have to hand.
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| Cogs proper debut (2005) |
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| Cogs Photo Project (2003) |
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| Cogs Photo Project (2004) |
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| Cogs Photo Project (2003) |
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| Workhouse Drawings Volume 1 (2000) |
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| Pure Hate (2001) |
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| Demolished Man (2000) |
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| Untitled (2001) |
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| The Beginning (2001) |
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| Cogs 'New Primitive' pic (2006) |
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| True Love (1998) |
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| Ghost (1999) |
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| Faces (2000) |
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| Untitled (2001) |
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| Pure Pain (2001) |
During this time and into the late 2000’s I made several
short films, most of them in collaboration with my friend Lee Parry who I
studied at Dartington with. These were ‘Rightside of My Father’ (2003) ‘Rightside
of My Father’ was a homage to angst ridden student films and referenced my own effort ‘Black Out’
(1996)We also made ‘Cheapskate’ (2005)
‘Wednesday’ (2006) and an animation called ‘Pure Love’ made between 2004 and
2006. You can watch some of them here....
Rightside of My Father (2003)
Pure Love (2004-2006)
Cheapskate (2005)
We also during this period created the pioneering artist directory website dietsoda.net and created the post 9/11
computer game ‘Air Attack’. I also made a music video ‘Car’(2006) with Milo Reid
as well as a few photographic projects with him.
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| Cogs Photo Project (2003) |
During 2005 and 2006 I did around a hundred pictures on
post-it notes. These were mainly done while at work in an office and are some
of my favourite pictures from the last few years. The best ones were compiled
in a book ‘Post-its’ (2013)
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| Post-Its (2005-06) |
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| Post-Its (2005-06) |
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| Post-Its (2005-06) |
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| Post-its (2005-06) |
From around 2005 onward I began occasionally exhibiting work
and in 2007 had my first solo exhibition ‘Cuts and Bruises’ at Foyles gallery.
I also continued recording music sporadically over this period and played
around thirty concerts in and around London but I called time on the Cogs name and
project in late 2009. You can see an anarchic 2009 live performance from Cogs here...
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| Cuts and Bruises Exhibition (2007) |
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Come Home (2004)
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| Superman Cover (2005) |
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| Boyfriend from Space (2016) |
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| Gimmick Art (2019) |
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| Play Me Your Song (2018) |
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| Sing (2007) |
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| Untitled (2012) |
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| Untitled (2008) |
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| Hatcham Social Poster (2009) |
From around 2005 I began experimenting with drawing directly
on to t-shirts and have continued to produce these on a commission basis. I
also produced two printed designs in 2008 which sold well. The t-shirt art has
been one of the more popular projects of mine.
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| Alien (2010) |
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| Wonder Woman (2018) |
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| Vague Magazine (2014) |
In 2012 I returned to narrative based comic making with a
lo-fi Xerox comic called ‘The Better Idea’ which was based on the Its
Immaterial song of the same name. The same year I made a new Doctor Who comic
featuring my early 90’s Doctor Who. The new comic was a spoofy version created
mainly to entertain myself and re-familiarise myself with the process of making
comics. ‘Atom Phase Yellow’(2013) was published
in Geeked Magazine. I have also made an experimental porno comic ‘Amok’ (2014)
,‘Kron’ (2016) and the ghost story ‘The
Old Man of Haworth’(2016) amongst others.
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| The Better Idea (2012) |
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| The Old Man of Haworth (2016) |
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| Amok (2013) |
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In 2016 I also released some new music. A collaboration with Norwegian
singer/songwriter Mats Davidsen entitled
the ‘My Big Idea EP’ In 2017
I released the album ‘ICU on
Telephono1986’ During 2018 I had two radio musicals broadcast on resonance fm
entitled ‘Clapton Pond’ and
‘Christmas Night’ I am currently at work on various
art and musical projects with two forthcoming zines in the pipeline
‘Perforated Eardrum’ and ‘The Flood that Did Come’ due for 2019.
You can listen to 'Clapton Pond' Here....
https://www.mixcloud.com/Resonance/clapton-pond-a-musical/
Christmas Night
https://www.mixcloud.com/Resonance/christmas-night-a-radio-musical/
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| ICU on Telephono 1986 (2017) |
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| 'Clapton Pond' Pic (2018) |
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| The Flood that Did Come (Due 2019) |
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| Perforated Eardrum (Due 2019) |
