Captain Najork's Hired Sportsmen: "post-feminist industrial noise pop"

http://www.gold.ac.uk/news/week-with-the-warden/

"post-feminist industrial noise pop"

Well despite my guitar breaking the night before, having to borrow my mate Blake's "Big Muff" pedal (cue dirty jokes from engineers all round), accidently destroying my bike, and someone unplugging me just before I was about to play - it seems the warden of Goldsmiths himself did actually love Stacey and I's performance. He came to see us on Friday, allegedly loved it (I have to get a CD together) and has even included us in his weekly blog, as "post-feminist industrial noise pop". See http://www.gold.ac.uk/news/week-with-the-warden/ Thanks Geoffrey! Anytime if you want us to play your lounge or any Goldsmiths events - we are ready. All we need is one drumkit, one electric guitar, some crockery and a loud amp! aaaaaah bliss www.myspace.com/DUKKESMUSIC. I think those capitals are vital...

we broke lots of crockery

Staz and myself had our first gig as the newly named DUKKES on Friday as part of the Pure Gold Festival and the glorious Albany, Deptford. And apparently the songs went down rather well.

I took most of the kitchen china with me and a large hammer. We didn't like the idea of doing a big theatrical posh shiny "show" so we decided it was going to be just like a rather chaotic home rehearsal. We brought a carpet and we made a set which looked a bit like a bedroom/lounge (complete with uplighter), broke a lot of crockery, and dismantled the drumkit whilst still playing it.

We got interviewed by a film crew so shortly our loverly mugs will be immortalised somewhat on utube, both jumping around on stage and rabbiting on a bit about the music. We were desperate to get a beer after the show so we are slowly edging towards the bar during the interview.

The warden of Goldsmith's is apparently a fan. If he wants us to play his lounge at home we will, any time. Simon, our mentor and teacher at college, when asked exactly what genre of music we belong to, described us as DIY, post-feminist, noise pop rock. We are not sure about the post-feminist. Maybe post-ironic is more apt? We are thinking of inventing a logo / coat of arms which somehow integrates "By appointment to the Warden of Goldsmith's". It is gonna be awesome...

Band naming headaches

I formed a new band with my mate Staz and we went on myspace www.myspace.com/DUKKESMUSIC along with 3 trillion other bands.

We spent about 3 years trying to work out what to call ourselves. There are some terrible band names out there. Think the worst two I can remember are: Crispy Ambulance; Shitgoblins. Having said that, "The Beatles" doesnt sound like a great name when you think about it. Who wants to be called after a bunch of insects?

We wanted to be called something which wasn't:

- about the fact we are 2 girls (we hate "girly" band names like something -ettes or girls something or pink or any girls names)

- not about the fact we are 2 girls (something really boyish or macho - as if we were a bunch of macho dykes)

- lesbian sounding. We are not lesbians. A fact that apparently is not clear if 2 girls get on stage and play together. Apparently everyone will think we are lesbians. (Or so says our gay mentor, Simon). Why? Do we need to tattoo "we are not lesbians" on our foreheads? Or hand out little flyers to the audience clarifying that we are not lesbians? Or make some kind of announcement? rubbish. Is this because of Tegan and Sara? We don't even have acoustic guitars (just a guitar and drums). Thinking about it, there aren't actually that many lesbian bands. Apparently the original members of 4 non blondes were and of course there is Lesbians on Ecstasy but we hadn't actually heard of them...

Naming is such a nightmare. Weird thing is, after only 4 days on myspace, this really cool DJ guy called Teambrick or team bric (www.myspace.com/teambrick) offered us a gig in Bristol, supporting his album launch. Brilliant. Anyone who says myspace doesn't work is lieing. It is, apart from anything else, a great place to collaborate with other musicians. God I sound like "Tom" the happy virtual myspace welcome bloke (I reckon he doesn't actually exist but has been devised in photoshop from a merge of all the faces of the shady people running myspace).

Hoorah for rock and roll.

North Korean rocket launch - but where is it going to land?

Am I the only one who is disturbed by the launch yesterday of the North Korean rocket? The news seems to be reporting only that the rocket was launched and they every nation in the world is "disgusted" (cue big philosophical discussions about North Korea, rockets etc etc). But during the whole of the news reports they seem to be missing out one rather important piece of information - WHERE ON EARTH IS THE ROCKET GOING TO LAND?

Call me old fashioned but from an everyday, sitting in our tenement in South London perspective, this seems rather important. Is it coming down on our heads next? Should we run? Is it aimed at Japan (again?) Apparently the last ones just went over Japan. That must have been comforting. Can someone please tell us where it is going to land so that we know who should be panicking / running away very fast / crouching in a corner with a bag over their head. It won't help anyone but it would just be nice to know.

Please.

That is all.

The beautiful textures of Water

I went to see "Roni Horn aka Roni Horn" - an exhibition of a contemporary artist who is obsessed with water and doubles/multiplication. She also likes to make the audience make some effort to appreciate her work - walking around it or craning their necks to read it.

I didn't really know much about Roni Horn until I read Jeanette Winterson's fantastic article about her work in the Independent magazine a few weeks ago. Her article was brilliant because instead of simply delivering some type of verdict - a star rating or "this is good/bad", she actually went into what the artist is doing and how it works. Roni Horn uses text as imaginatively as she uses images and this article returned the favour, creating a piece of artwork itself, by describing the textures, the "curious sense of depth", and the "mutability and change" of the work.

Seeing the work itself it put me back in touch with my love of the river. I have been doing a phonography project recently recording the sound of the river thames. I have always loved rivers ever since paddling in the tiny stream at my grandmother's house in the Highlands. And she shares my playfulness - her pictures of the thames point out the different textures of the river, numbering every tiny event and creating words to decribe its impact. I wished the Tate hadn't put the photos in glass frames, so that the reflection wouldnt have been there to blur the textures of the water. Similarly her "paired gold mats" placed in the light coming from the river, follows the lines of the floor away from the flow, "like sun on the water".

The idea of placing the glassworks in rooms immediately looking out on The Thames itself created a type of reflection of the flowing water below us, playing off the river itself and the lights shining on the water itself. If I had been curating this exhibition I would have given these sculptures their own space, separately from the drawings, and placed them in a more fluid relationship to the space in the rooms, to allow them to shine. Pink Tons is a huge block in glass, glittering with lines and shapes, reflecting the light from the Thames flowing below the Tate.

The best part of the exhibition was the room "You are the weather" itself. The text attached to the photographs was as important - if not more so - than the pictures. The way there were presented was also very effective. Before viewing them we read a sign describing the subject of the photos (which were taken in pools across Iceland in rain, fog, wind and sun) as making expressions due to the weather conditions. "But when you are in the room with her it's as though you've provoked these responses, you become the weather". This adds a layer to the work - suggesting that the expressions may or may not be personal, may or may not be directed at the photographer and the relationship she has with the woman. Then there is another layer in the way the work is set out. Standing in the middle of the room, with all the photos of the woman and her different expressions surrounding us, it does feel that we are being watched by her, rather than watching her. And our faces change, mirroring our interpretations of her face, and our attempt to work out the mystery of what she is feeling, feeling the frustrations ourselves. I would like to video or photograph (or both?) the members of the public as they stand looking at these photographs, to track the expressions on their face in response.

Paul Greengrass rocks

Paul Greengrass came to talk at Goldsmiths today for the Olive Till Memorial debate. Paul Greengrass, a very politically concerned director, got his directing chops doing World in Action on TV in the '80s and basically developed a style honed in documentary, do-it-all-yourself small crew film making. An unlikely guy to end up directing Hollywood blockbusters (such as Bourne Supremacy and Ultimatum and United 93) except, as he pointed out, we now live in the age of the mobile phone when film making is accessible to all and people see the world through a much more instant form of film than the traditional stock shot "vicar walks in to tea room - cut to close up of teapot" style. Also, in the US film making is more about everyone trading jobs and not sticking to fixed roles as it is in the UK.

He even said that during the car chase shooting day in Bourne Ultimatum, he saw many members of the public, phones held aloft. After filming, that evening on Utube there were a whole load of mobile phone films of exactly what he had been filming that day. Must have been interesting to see if any of the general public who filmed on their mobile got a better shot than he did.

He also said that he saw the British film making tradition as still too influenced by text and plays and the "Hampstead dinner party" scenario. His vision is that screenwriting and directing are getting closer and closer. He writes the screenplay for most of his work - Bourne excluded - a legacy from his documentary days and in line with his belief in winning the war of the director versus the writers in a film. In 10 years he said he thinks they will be the same thing. Writing will be about conceptualising and more about ideas than so many specifics. He does not do traditional storyboards, but visualises in line with the ideas, not with the script. Script and visuals are a moving feast, influencing each other. Before even writing a script we can now collage so much with an apple mac that the visualising and concepts can influence the action much more.

Fascinating. I was discussing with my friend that, as a creative, when asked - "what is the best way to get into this?" at the end by his interviewer, he answered as all creatives do. And it is the best advice: find out what you really want to direct, as a topic, what subject really concerns you. And then make the film. And keep just making films as much as you can. And that's it.

Today I found an old list of films I gotta see:
Badlands - Terence Malik. Watched today. Absolutely incredible composition of the shots. So subtle. Watched it today
Manhunter - Michael Mann
Repo Man - Alex Cox
Fanny & Alexander - Ingmar Bergman
Dogville - Lars von Trier
Chinatown - Polanski
A bout de souffle - Godard
Block Party - David LaChapelle
The Firm / Elephant - Alan Clarke (massive influence on Paul Greengrass)
The Ipcress File
Eraserhead - Lynch. Couldn't get through it last time. But this time it is on at the ICA. So possibly try again...