Everyone has heard that spooky tale, your in the woods. Alone. You hear a gun shot.
We have taken inspiration from Louise Cornish’s ‘Gun Man’ Image to conjure up endless amounts of spooky ghostly stories to run through our minds on Halloween. Just don’t go to the woods tonight, and if you do…make sure you avoid the man with the gun.
Debbie Learner does a drooling Dress Up in McQueen. Yes please!!
x
Today we have a whole day planned of spooky, creepy and outrageously scary imagery for you, so keep coming back every hour until night fall and until its time for us all to go out to play on the scariest night of the year.
The first fright of the day has been created by the wonderful Daria Hlazatova with a piece called ‘A Ritual’.
Hmm are those eyes watching me?
Delicate and Fresh Maria Prieto Barea paints the perfect picture of class and style. We love the selection of perfume bottles, we can smell the beautiful scents just by looking at them! Head over to her website to see more of her fine work.
If you scan your way back to probably the first music post on the Ballad site - the last Ballad site even, then you’re 1) impressively dedicated and 2) a conqueror of worlds with the knowledge of how much we love this band Meursault. A neatly Scottish outfit, they fail from Edinburgh and have their spiritual home with fellow blogger and label coordinator Song, By Toad. Their album was spectacular and the drag the tradition of folk influence Scottish music in to daring new territories of electronic influences which, horaaay!!, don’t over kill the greatly favoured ambiance and atmosphere that great folk influences create.
So, now they are on tour and we’re mightily excited because here is a rare kind of band that we could honestly watch play every day. We never get bored.
Their tour is…
27th Oct @ The Harley, Sheffield
28th Oct @ Royal Park Cellars, Leeds
30th Oct @ Luminaire, London
31st Oct @ The Playhouse Bar, Norwich - free show!!
2nd Nov @ Saki Bar, Manchester
3rd Nov@ Stereo, York
4th Nov @ Dexters, Dundee
5th Nov @ Beach Ballroom, Aberdeen
6th Nov @ Stereo, Glasgow
Our Lovely Monika interviews the equally as Lovely Micheal Bailey-Gates.
Monika: Tell us more about your work. Where do you get your inspiration from?
Michael: I get my inspiration from everywhere. There is a quote from Chuck
Palahniuk where he says, “Nothing of me is original. I am the combined
effort of everybody I’ve ever known.” I keep this idea very close to
me and believe it. I think the stories you hear, the people you meet,
and they way you live really creates a person. I don’t think I ever
lost my mind growing up. I still think the same way I did when I was
young. Most nights, I still talk to my gold fish and make new people
to talk to. Taking these stories and ideas and bringing them to life
with a camera is something that makes sense to me. I guess you could
say that my childhood way of thinking is really the reason why my
photographs are the way they are.
MZ: Do you think there is an emotion or aesthetic that runs through your work?
MBG: I hope when a person looks at one of my photographs, they see a story,
or at least a piece of a story. I try to bring that idea into each
one. When I was in my first year of high school I discovered the self
portrait series by Cindy Sherman. I didn’t know how popular that
series was at the time, but I realized, because of her, that a
photograph should tell a story. I bring that idea into every shoot,
always trying to build my ideas to create a story.
MZ:Do you have any artists, photographers that you look up to?
MBG: Oh oh ooooooh there are so many. There are just so many amazing
artists. Just a few of them are Lina Scheynius, Shona Heath, Steven
Meisel, Sofia Coppola, Tim Walker, Reed and Rader, and many more.
MZ:When you create a photograph do you think of it as a story?
Create a narrative for it?
MBG: Yes, it is almost always a story before it is a photograph. I think of
my shoots like small stories and I am just taking screen shots of them
as they are told. I always draw out my ideas first and bring the
papers along with me to explain to the model. The drawings usually get
blown away, or squished in a mud puddle, but they always help in some
way. I just love making up things. It’s something I’ve always used to
entertain myself.
MZ: What equipment do you use?
MBG: When I shoot digital I use my Canon Rebel Xti with various lenses. I
use my 85 and 50mm lenses the most i think. When I shoot film I tend
to use my canon AE-1 most of the time. Almost everything I do is
with natural light. Over the years I’ve started to collect filters for
older generation film cameras and i tape them onto my digital camera.
I’m obsessed with light and filters help me create the light and airy
feel like I try to create in my photographs.
MZ: Do you prefer digital photography to traditional photography?
MBG: I would choose to shoot film over digital whenever I get the chance,
but it gets expensive after a while. I learned how to shoot on
digital and then switched over to film. Now I just flop back and forth
between them as I please. There is just something about film that is
so nostalgic and magic.
MZ: When did you first discover your passion for photography? Did
you know then you wanted to be a photographer?
MBG: When I was thirteen, I begged my parents for a camera for Christmas. I
can’t even remember what the reason was to why I wanted one, just that
I needed one. To my luck, I got a small point and shoot camera that
year and I thought it was the greatest thing. I would ride my bike to
huge hills and climb under the farm fences to take photos of certain
trees I liked or sneak inside abandoned mills. I don’t think I knew
I wanted to be a photographer then. I don’t think I even understood
how the camera worked then. I just knew that I could capture something
I liked by pushing a button, and that was unreal. I was just in love
with it.
MZ: What do you love the most about what you do and what do you
find most difficult?
MBG: I love that spark and rush you get from shoots. You feel like you’re
on the verge of saying something really important, then you look at
the image and realize it’s right in front of you, saying it for you. I
can’t really explain it. I love being able to get that image in my
head and see it in reality. It takes so much work and patience, but it
is always worth it. Just being able to create something is what I
love.
I don’t think I’ve ever done a shoot where the image has looked
exactly as it did in my head. That is really frustrating and difficult
to me, but it makes me want to keep going with things. Also, when the
tape doesn’t stick to the walls or a string breaks. Things get tricky.
MZ: If you could collaborate with any artist, model, designer who
would it be?
MBG: Ohhhhh wow wow so many choices. I would be dreaming if I could work
with Shona Heath on a set for a shoot. A perfect dream. Any shoot with
Comme Des Garcons, or Rodarte, or Miu Miu, or ahh! even Prada! I would
just be so in awe to be able to use them. There are so many brilliant
models too like Sophie Drake, Lily Cole, Sasha Pivovarova,and of
course Lindsey Wixson.
I’m always having trouble finding clothes to use for shoots. If I
shoot with Comme des garcons, or rodarte, or ahh so many!
MZ: Describe to us your perfect day.
Well there would be some weird problem with the sun, so the day would
be twice as long and I could fit in twice as many things. I would take
the train in to New York and it would be raining. Friends and I would
run around shopping, sopping wet in stores, and stopping at an obsure
cafe where an old man with a beard would tell us about an underground
city just below New York. As I was on my way to the bathroom I would
find this door and it would lead to the city. We would sneak in and
there Bjork would drive us around on her flat bed truck singing and I
would be able to dance with her. She would hug me and I would be
really happy. Then I would find a ladder that lead out of the amazing
underground city and end up in Paris. Here i would meet a gang of
beautiful models who disguise themselves as ugly old women and we run
around dressed up as evil old Gypsies. We steal a hot air balloon but
I fall out and land in Russia. I’m falling when suddenly I hear a
beautiful voice yodeling in the mountains. It turns out to be Sasha
Pivovarova yodeling a Russian song about fairies. This whole time i
have my camera and I am taking photographs here and there.She brings
me to Milan where there is a Runway show and I meet Karl Lagerfeld. He
tells me a story about how he once made clothes for the Greek Gods and
then offers for me to try on all his clothes. I of course, say yes.
After a while I decide it’s time to go home, so I call for my
gryffindor and we fly back to my house. And I fall asleep in my bed.
With my favorite quilt. THE END.
MZ: If you could see any band play, which band would it be?
MBG: I think seeing Bjork or sigur ros live would be life changing.
MZ: What is your favourite drink?
MBG: An Irish Hot Chocolate ;]
MZ: What is your most treasured possession?
MBG: I have this box with a wolf on the cover ( so indie) that I’ve had
since we visited this hotel in the mountains when I was really little.
I’ve had it for so long and it has the weirdest things in it. I
always put things in there that has the smallest meaning. There is a
piece of my Halloween costume from when I was 5 and a quarter I found in
NYC last year. I don’t think I’ll ever lose it.
MZ: Are you more of a cat or a dog person? And why?
MBG: I’m just an animal person. I like dogs but.. I like cats a whole lot
too. I have 2 dogs and 3 cats. It’s always hard to choose. The cats
are winning though, they always seem to be winning. I think the
sabotage the dogs.
MZ: And finally what’s next in store for Mike Bailey-Gates?
MBG: It involves a lot of wall paper.
LOVELY extended weekend in Edinburgh with Little Murray and the Edinburgh lot. Too much drinking, shopping, eating, dancing and sleeping… Enjoyed the hat/glove/snood combo but glad it’s warmer back in the smoke! Was a bonus, however…too cold to be out doors, had to hop from food shop to vintage shop all weekend (:
x
…it’s been rattling about in the back of my mind that I want, sorry, NEED to get this band on to the blog. So here we are a few words about Magic Kids, who we should all go catch live this week.
hey kids!
The old American music styles have come to the forefront in 2010, with some hit and miss results. One of the best to emerge though are Texan born Magic Kids, a six piece from Memphis who slip the knot of pastiche to make modern music with a light glazing of times gone by in to 3 minute gems.
As the latest group to join the True Panther Sounds and Matador families, their sound appears to have mined the historical music landscape of the US, dropping in blues, rock n roll, and even 60’ s soul. So you’ ll find doo wops with hand claps and ‘ oooos’ that the beach boys would be proud of; bluesy tones that would make Elvis fans swoon; some chorus lines that the Shangri Las could easily have penned and, woah there, elements of early lo fi garage rock and roll that brilliantly stitch it all together. These past styles are known for doom and gloom stories of trials and loves lost in the dry sandy hot and wild America that once was. Magic Kids make a departure here and don’ t feel the way their predecessors once did by instead bringing out glimmering pockets of glory, fun and even romance; creating a bold collection of old guard drama meets new sunny pop music.
With this in hand the band have caused waves online, reaching the 2nd spot on the Hype Machine chart with song ‘ Summertime’ and number 4 in the blog aggreagtor el.bow chart. Not bad before you’ve released your debut album. This record, aptly names Memphis received bountiful numbers of good reviews in September and is the main cause for their celebrated tour of the UK this October. After tours supporting both acclaimed artists Wavves and Ariel Pink’ s Haunted Graffitti expect high energy, eccentricities and nostalgic summer vibes.
And playing:
Hare & Hound - Birmingham 26th Oct
Upstairs at the Relentless Garage - London 27th Oct
The Lexington - London 28th Oct
then in the USA american chums!
