superflake custom graphics

Back when I was pretty young my Grandad regularly visited and often arrived with some new book or other. They weren’t kids stories books but glossy, large format reference books often full of beautuful photography and illustrations on subjects such as history, architecture, nature, transport – pretty educational stuff.

My mum often fretted over me handling these ‘expensive’ books and always stressed the importance of taking care of them. To this day I like to keep anything and everything in as pristine condition as possible. New records immediately went into plastic sleeves, and when reading paperbacks my primary concern is not creasing the spine.

It’s why i don’t like lending stuff out. I’ll usually make an excuse to get out of it but on occaision when backed into a corner I have relented. More often than not the item is returned covered in someone else ‘fingerprints’ – scratches on records, book spines cracked, page corners folded over, inside sleeves missing.

Sometimes these things don’t come back at all. Here’s my top 5 “Bad Lends”…

1/ At the time I was fixated on 60’s music and post punk DIY and  never quite got to grips with the newly emerging House music scene. To be fair I wasn’t in a position (geographically/age-wise) to experience these things in the correct environment and they passed me by. That was until Peel started playing something called “Acid House”. My interest was tweaked, in that i immediately imagined some type of psychedelic sounding stuff, and gradually I stopped fast forwarding through these tracks on the C90 tapes i made of Peels shows (i am sure I am not alone in this, taping the whole show to listen back to the following day) and began to look forward to hearing more of these strange, liquidy sounding tracks.

Cash strapped, there was always more stuff on the to-buy list than I could afford to pick up, and I never really bought any acid house records (I suspect I wouldn’t have been able to find them locally even if I’d tried). I did however pick up this great looking double 12” set.  The sleeve remains one of my favourites and the title is a beauty, “House Hallucinates: Pump Up London Vol 1”.

In the mid 90’s I leant this record out to a housemate of my friend Nick. I was always round there so it didn’t seem like too much of a gamble but alas…a month or so later with the lease up Nick moved out and this great record slipped from my world.

Regret level/ 7/10

I’ve kept this high because it ticks all the boxes; great, bizarre sounding record, excellent cover that goes someway to replicating the  sounds within without harking back, relying on any kind of 60’s graphics/acid refs and an excellent title. It could be lower as I recently purchased it again 2nd hand for the princely sum of £1.99 (The covers not as pristine as I would like it but hey…)

2/ At school the glue that held the gang I was in together was Mod. Specifically, i think, The Jam. Too young to have been with them from the get-go, I joined the party  as they really hit their stride, around ‘Going Underground’. I was immediately hooked and set about picking up as much of there back catalogue as possible, and eventually had a full set of vinyl albums. On hearing the band were splitting up, my disapointment was eased by the fact that Polydor re-released all their singles and all paper round funds and lunch money were diverted towards picking up these 7” singles.

Towards the end of the 90’s these Jam records were leant out to someone so he could tape them. It’s hard to believe how I would have let go of these previously, most-cherished items but I did. They were gone. Forever.

Regret level/ 5/10

I’m not sure why this isn’t higher (it was all the albums, some 7”s AND the Paolo Hewit Beat Concerto biog). By this point however I guess my interest in The Jam was at an all time low – even today I have a surprisingly lack of enthusiasm for the band aside from the Sound Affects and The Gift albums and a few singles).

3/ Discovering that such a thing as Graphic Design existed and going to college study it coincided with the rise to superstardom of Neville Brody. At the time people were just begining to talk about design and for a brief period Graphic Design was clearly THE thing to be involved.

My parents collected me from college at the end of my first term and during a quick trip round Colchester town I persuaded my Mum to get me ‘The Graphic Language of Nevill Brody’ as a Christmas present. the book instantly became a favourite.

Fast forward a couple of years my girlfriend at the time was studying in London. She asked if she could use the book for a college project and as I was not due to visit for a couple of weeks I posted it down. Unfortunately she was out at college the day it arrived and my poorly packaged book sat on the doorstep of here flat in a torrential downpour until she returned.

I still have the book (not the girlfriend) but the pages are hideously warped, some of them were stuck together and tore when they were eventually separated.

Regret level/ 3/10

I’m keeping this low. I still have the book at least.

4/ My first musical love was The Specials closely followed by anything on their 2-tone label. The ska revival they spearheaded burned brightly but briefly but at the time it seemed that every kid, every where in the UK was kitted out in pork pie hats, shades and loafers. Even if they had none of the above their lapels were sure to be covered in badges pledging their allegiance to this fine new musical movement.

The whole thing started to die down pretty quickly but madness remained as the torch bearers. I had read that they produced a comic strip called The Nutty Boys. On discovering this was actually there fan club magazine I joined as soon as i could save the three quid it cost. The mags were great, with 7 or so page comic strips detailing some latest adventure or other as well as interviews and loads of pics of the band. I must have re-newed my subscription because I ended up with 8 of these quarterly released mags.

I rediscovered them one day and took them round to my then-partner-in-crime Gaz’s ( a fellow music/pop culture nut who collaborate on zines and played in the same band as me). In a smoke filled haze we delighted in laughing out loud to the Nutty Boys antics (as well as the fact that I had actually joined the MIS (Madness Information Service).

When I asked about these years later I was informed they had been part of a whole stash of stuff that had been left in the attic of a house after a recent divorce.

Regret level/ 4/10

Difficult be too harsh on Gaz here – he too was a collector of cultutral nonsense and musical mayhem and did ‘lose’ a load of his own collection in the incident that saw my Madness comics gone forever. Having said that I would love to still have these.

5/ I’m not a massive comics fan but i did fall hook, line and sinker for that most fantastic of British weekly’s 2000AD. It had it all. Futuristic tales, bizarre characters, great stories and the most incredible, awe-inspiring artwork.

For years my copy was delivered from the local newsagents on a saturday afternoon. I would immediately dive eagerly into each new issue (read on the floor in the lounge to the sound of the final football scores coming through on World of Sport). I kept my collection of these next to my bed and would read and, re-read them again and again.

On moving to comprehensive school I met up with a new friend Rob and leant the box of comics (my whole prized collection) to him. When I asked for them back I was eventually informed that his mom had donated them to a jumble sale at a local school.

Regret level/ 9/10

A high score. Rob remains a good friend (we produced our first fanzines together, started out first band and began promoting wild/shambling gigs at our local Arts Centre) but out of all the stuff here its these comics I wish I still had to sit and leaf through. Years later, as the graphic novel boom hit its full stride,  many of the stories were released in softback compendiums but they didnt feel the same somehow as reading them as instalments (tho’ I did get the full set of my all time favourite Nemesis the Warlock).

most played last couple of months, left to right, top to bottom;

moon wiring club – somewhere a fox is getting married / anworth kirk – avonwaith / mf doom – operation doomsday deluxe edition / panda bear – tomboy / grouper – alien observer / marijata – this is marijata / bruner – songs for a friend / dexys midnight runners – don’t stand me down / bonny prince billy & matt sweeney – superwolf / the caretaker – an empty bliss beyond this world / eric b & rakim – follow the leader / cookin’ with kent comp.

Most played in recent weeks are…

left to right/top to bottom:

eccentric soul the tragar & note labels comp / the creation-how does it feel to feel comp. / applehead – applehead de applehead / natalie beridze – forgetfulness / margaret dygas – how do you do / light sounds dark presents after the void / those shocking shaking days comp / tandy love – turk jerk / solla solla – Ilaiyaraaja / ogdens nut gone flake – the small faces / viking moses – the parts that showed / funkadelic – america eats its young

It seems like an age since we posted anything new here – pretty lazy even for us. We have been kinda busy setting up our subbaculture blog, somewhere we can stick all the stuff we come across in our obssesive attempt to trace and link up all the things that connect all manner of youth street and subcultures from recent years. Check out subbaculture.co.uk here.

Forthcoming from House of Superflake:

sflake 019 / Hoarder 8 (zines 2)

sflake 020 / Hoarder 9 (random rubbish 2) available on line now here

sflake 021 / Shrapnel 6

sflake 022 / Hoarder 10

Issue 7 of our favourite flattrack glossy sideburn is out now. Buy it here.

Also do yourself a favour and check out the work of David Chappell (got the heads up on this from the sideburn blog). Awesome looking collages, not sure if they’re all personal work or whether they’ve been used for illustrations in mags, record covers or something. The site hasn’t got a load of information but its the images that matter right? Fill up on more more collage-craziness here

Regular readers will be well aware that pretty much all of our posts begin with an apology for the lack of posts. We have however been mildly busy.

First up the next 3 (yes 3!) issues of Hoarder are in production, along with a new collection of shrapnel (No.6). We’ve also found time to get a new blog up and running to deal with our obsession with youth cults, fashion and music. Its just a place for us to dump all the stuff we come across from photos, to music to info on all manner of street urchins, club kids and reprobates from yester-year. Alongside the site we’ll be releasing some limited edition t shirt designs – all fresh from the superflake custom graphics drawing board. Can’t wait eh?  The site has just gone live so apologies if you find bits of it missing/not working – we’re on it. Hit it up here