I’ve been sent in lovely Shenyue the other day. We got very lucky with the weather as it was quite a rainy day. Luckily it’s stopped just before finishing the make-up and we where able to have fun around east london without getting all wet!

We also shoot a video, I’m in the process of editing it , exciting.

Backstage pictures of Charlotte and Shenyue @ m and p models.

Related posts:

San Sicario

happy holidays

Lost in London no more.

Which Bits Of London Get Photographed The Most? – Londonist

London 2012 mascots make almost exactly no sense whatsoever. 

Before the holidays Matthew Hay created a very special Alexander McQueen tribute illustration for LCMS for all of us to enjoy. Due to being a techno-idiot I haven’t managed to upload it for you all to view. So I suggest you go and check it out on his blog. http://www.matthewhayart.blogspot.com/

However I have managed to track him down for chat to give you an insight into the life and mind of this talented illustrator.

Enjoy (I’ve started with the easy reading…)

What are you studying?

BA Illustration at Camberwell

What’s your favourite place in London?

Mile End Skate Park

Favourite illustrator or artist?

Ed Templeton or Mark Gonzales

If you could illustrate anything in the world what would it be?

Something to do with Wayne’s World I reckon, maybe a zine or a graphic novel.

If you could work with anyone, from any field, dead or alive, who would it be?

Ghandi (laughs) I think it probably would be Ed Templeton, perhaps do an exhibition of drawing and photographs.

What do you do when you’re not hard at work?

Well I draw as much as I can but otherwise I just waste my time skateboarding and on Facebook.

What would you say the biggest crime against illustration is?

It’s just that it’s become ephemeral and people consider it like throw away art essentially, it hasn’t really got much space in galleries.

What would you say your biggest achievement is?

In terms of my illustrations, it would be getting into Camberwell.

Would you describe yourself as less common or more sense?

I would like to say I’m more sense but I think I’m less common

And onto the rest…

How long have you been doing illustrations for?

I guess I first got into illustration on my foundation course, so almost two years now. We had to pick pathways on my foundation and the tutor was a really awesome dude and really encouraging, and apart from anything it was one of the only things I was interested in.  I’ve never done a painting or anything so it made sense for me to do something that incorporated more drawing.

What made you decide to study it as a degree?

Well at first I was torn between fashion illustration and textile design but I’m not, how do I word this, I’m good at working to a short deadlines, I’m not very good at setting myself work. I like the pressure more than anything.

Do you have a plan of what you want to do after uni?

I’ve got a few things going on. Ideally I’d like to a Masters but I’m definitely going to stay living in London. Whether or not that’s getting a job that doesn’t involve illustration but just draw all the time anyway but hopefully  I’ll have a job that will and making zines and stuff.

So what inspires your work the most?

I would say skateboarding. It might not be obvious in terms of the things I draw but the people that I’ve met through skateboarding and all the things that now influence me are because of skateboarding.

How long have you been skateboarding for?

Nine years now.

What’s your next big project about?

I’m currently working on an animation about the scientist Marie Curie. It’s an autobiographical piece about her, and so that will be online in the next month or so.

Want to tell us about Fresh Prints?

Fresh Prints is a project that myself and a few other people on my course are doing. It’s basically to start raising money for our third year final show. So theoretically by the time we’re third year, instead of rushing around trying to make loads of money and have all the stress from our work in the third year we should be able to be easy sailing.

What kind of thing are you thinking for your final show?

It’s going to be a big external show, we all want to produce small publications to go along with it, I think. So hopefully we can get a really good venue, like a really big venue, perhaps even a prestigious one if we can, so the more money we can get now the better. So it’s me and a few other people and it’s starting off as a club night which will hopefully turn into a relatively frequent thing; a small venue at first, like the Amersham then onto bigger venues eventually. We want to perhaps set up zine fairs and stuff like that in the future, but for now it’s just the club night.

Do you have any advice for your fellow illustrators?

Just try everything would be my advice, when I was doing my A Levels I would never have thought  I’d be doing illustration, I didn’t even know I wanted to do any sort of artistic degree. So, from trying everything, all the different pathways on my foundation I then realised that, guys especially, they can do textiles, and they can do fashion and they can do anything they want. Yeah, just try everything.

 Fresh Prints. Tuesday 18th May. Amersham Arms, New Cross. £3 entry. 9pm – 2am.

Sneak peeks of the editorial I did for Esquire HK the other week. It’s already out so if you’re in Hong Kong go get yourself a copy! I’m going to put it up soon when I get the PDF or scans of the shoot. These are images that I didn’t end up using but quite liked. Enjoy!

Photograph by Harry Crowder.

 The names Harry, Im 17 years old from just west of london. I went to college but dropped out a couple of months back to pursue photography much more seriousley and working my ass off to get better and better, building up my portfolio and progressing to go into work etc. I balance between part time work and as many shoots I can get done. I have a real passion for fashion photography … I picked up my first SLR just over 4 months back, and hear I am now.

•  View Harry’s Flickr stream.

Betty and the Werewolves are a four-piece indiepop outfit hailing from London and are possibly the only band that can make you dance to a song about David Cassidy; so they’re definitely doing something right! They recently played at one of London’s top indiepop nights (the awesome Club Baby Honey) and I was lucky enough to get an interview with them! Fans of indiepop (and David Cassidy) unite!

Less Common More Sense: Who are you?

Doug: I’m Doug, I’m the drummer.

Helen: I’m Helen and I play keyboard and guitar.

Emily: Hi I’m Emily and I play guitar and sing a bit.

Laura: I’m Laura, I play the bass and I sing as well.

LCMS: Who’s the main David Cassidy aficionado?

Girls: Doug!

H: Doug’s his lovechild!

D: Lies!

E: This is the song that Doug really put a lot into; he got into the whole spirit of it! (giggles)

D: Lies, lies, lies. (possibly in denial?)

LCMS: Some people get together for a love of the Ramones or whatever, have you decided to get together for a love of David Cassidy?

L: Exactly, David Cassidy is the only thing that unites us.

LCMS: Has being featured on the Rough Trade Indiepop ’09 compilation been much help?

E: I get a lot of phone calls from friends who are in pubs and say “I’m in a pub and can hear your song!”

L: That’s been the main thing really!

H: The only thing!

L: Emily gets more phone calls from her friends.

E: Yeah, more people call me up; it’s really nice, which is basically why I’m in a band!

LCMS: Who is ‘Betty’?

H: Umm, Doug is.

L: Who do you think Betty is?

LCMS: (In a feeble attempt at a ‘smart guess’) I think Betty could be your manager… your evil manager.

L: She’s sort of like a fantasy aunty character. She’s like a mad aunt in our minds.

LCMS: (Pointing at an empty seat) Is she sitting there right now?

L: She’s always over our shoulders, telling us to eat more cookies saying “I made these especially for you.” (There were some cool animal shaped cookies on the table)

LCMS: Could you give me a brief outline of the music making process?

H: We all do a bit. Sometimes Laura comes into practice saying “I wrote this, took me 10 minutes last night” and it’d be like a ‘David Cassidy’ or something and we’ll just do parts. I’m not very good at writing lyrics so I’d just write a chord sequence at times, then Emily would write a riff and Emily writes lyrics sometimes too.

E: We’re a lot more collaborative, I think we got a bit lazy and just write together whereas before we’d do our ‘homework’ and have it all properly sorted out and practice with a song that’s written.

LCMS: Who – apart from David Cassidy – would you say are your main influences?

E: 60s girl-bands!

H: Some c86 bands.

L: Sorry my mind’s just gone blank!

E: Has it really?! (giggles) We like Twee-pop bands from the 80s too.

LCMS: What about bands out there now?

H: Wetdog.

E: We love Wetdog.

H: Je Suis Animal, Veronica Falls, Male Bonding, Not Cool, KASMS, the human RACE.

LCMS: Any future plans?

H: We’ve got an album coming out.

L: Eventually!

H: Yeah, probably June 2011!

E: Late late May/ Early June is the current date and we’re playing Camden Crawl on both dates as well.

LCMS: (The lights dimmed dramatically as Emily mentioned the Camden Crawl) You mentioned the Camden Crawl!

E: It’s the curse of Camden Crawl!

LCMS: Finally, have you got a message for the youth of today?

L: Read. (giggles)

H: Don’t go on the internet!

L: Read – but not on the internet.

E: You could just put the first bit; (to the girls) it’s going on his blog! (giggles)

(I think what they meant to say was read blogs, especially this one. Like everyday. Religiously. As if your life fucking depended on it. Seriously.)

So there you have it, a possibly soon-to-be-released album, two dates on the Camden Crawl and some brilliant advice for the youth of today. Make sure you check out Betty and the Werewolves on the Rough Trade Indiepop ’09 compilation and if you’re going to the Camden Crawl, you know what to do.

Girls Girls Girls w/ The Racket, Peter Parker and Betty and The Werewolves @ The Old Blue Last 06/03/10

A drummer playing bass, a bassist playing drums, a former church guitarist and a singer who didn’t believe me when I said she had a beautiful voice. Who’d have thought it would work out in the end?

The Racket are a brand spanking new band from London combining members of The Duloks, Official Secrets Act, The Sexual Hot Bitches and Dance Magic Dance to make the kind of music the Ramones would have made, if they were mainly female – and wrote songs about boys. They played their first ever gig at the Old Blue Last and I got their first ever interview.

Less Common More Sense: Who are you and what do you do in The Racket?

Helen MacBain: I’m Helen and I sing in The Racket.

Mar Sellars: Hey I’m Mar; I play bass and attempt to shout back-up vocals.

Lawrence Diamond: I’m Lawrence Diamond and I play drums.

Laura Hernando: Hi I’m Laura and I play the guitar and do backing vocals.

LCMS: Who inspired you four to get together?

MS: Lawrence, me and Laura were at my house watching Ramones documentaries and Rock ‘n’ Roll High School, eating takeaway pizza and just making jokes about starting a band and Lawrence was like “Yeah!” and he didn’t really think that me and Laura were serious.

LH: I thought you weren’t serious too!

MS: OK, I was the only serious one.

LH: I used to play guitar 10 years ago, in church, and I hadn’t played ever since.

LD: God loves this band Johny.

LH: We’re on a mission from God!

HM: Please don’t quote that, we’re not on a mission from God!

LH: But that’s from The Blues Brothers! Oh yeah, (back to the story) I was like “I wanna play guitar again.”

MS: So we formed the band so Laura could play guitar, I hadn’t played bass in a band for eight years and was like “I wanna play bass, I haven’t played bass for so long and I hate playing drums!”

LD: Ignoring the fact that I play bass for a living.

MS: And I was like “Lawrence, I’m playing bass – you can’t play bass!” so he got ostracised to the drums but he’s never played drums so it’s basically a band for everyone to learn to play their instruments and then…

HM: I was at a gig and I kind of knew Mar from round and about and we were in the toilet together – not in that way  we were just queuing for the toilet – and she was like “Yeah, I’m gonna form this new band and we’re looking for a singer.” And I was like “Oh, I can sing a bit! I could try-out or something.”

MS: I basically offered the singing spot to Helen without checking with Laura or Lawrence and they’d never met her, I was like “Wicked you’re in my band!” then two days later I kinda sobered up and realised what I had done!

LD: Helen kinda cheated because she can actually sing and none of us can actually play our instruments.

MS: Helen’s old band and my band played a few shows together and that’s how we know each other.

LD: Helen and Laura like the same boys.

LH: It was only one!

MS: Oh yeah they shared one boy.

HM: No we’ve only kissed the same boy! (lots of giggles)

LCMS: Err, who has main song-writing duty?

Girls: Lawrence!

LH: Dictator!

HM: Lawrence ‘The Dictator’ Diamond! But can I just say that Lawrence is a genius.

LH: Mar and I tried to write a song once…

MS: We’ve written half a song, it’s about teenage boys and was inspired by you Johny.

LCMS: Why thank you, what’s it like being in a band?

HM: It’s really fun to be in this band at the moment. When we rehearse we just gossip.

MS: It’s really hard for Lawrence, I don’t think he’s been in a girl band before so he’s not used to the amount of talking that happens during practice.

HM: Yeah we do talk a lot about boys at rehearsal. We get half an hour to talk boys then half an hour to do rehearsals.

LH: I’d say it’s more like 90% talking about boys! (frantic giggling ensues)

LCMS: Give me a brief outline of the music song writing process.

LD: Lawrence sits in a room crying over a pen. Then he comes in, listens to Laura, Helen and Mar talk about boys for three hours, asks them if they wouldn’t mind learning some chords and then we write a song. Does that sound about right?

Girls: Yes! (more frantic giggling ensues)

LD: And then they complain about how the songs are shit.

MS: I only did that once! Things got better after that.

LCMS: Any future plans?

All: We’re gonna conquer the world!

HM: And meet lots of hot boys.

LH: Groupies! Groupies! Boy groupies!

LD: The only reason this band exists is so these girls can meet boys.

HM: That is not true! It’s all about the music!

LH: Nah, I’m only about the boys!

LD: If you want a Racket quote it’s got to be “Music is good but boys are better!”

Girls: Yeah!

HM: We’re probably gonna have more sleepovers and watch some DVDs.

LD: The Breakfast Club!

HM: The Devil Wears Prada, St. Elmo’s Fire…Definitely, Maybe’s a brilliant film.

LD: But it’s not as good as St. Elmo’s Fire!

HM: Have you seen Definitely, Maybe?!

LD: Have you seen St. Elmo’s Fire?!?

LH: Can we watch Working Girl?

LCMS: What about Sixteen Candles? That’s a pretty cool film.

LD: Sixteen Candles! Now we’re talkin’!

LH: I dyed my hair red because of Molly Ringwald and also because of Claire Danes in My So-Called Life.

LCMS: That is dedication. Final question, have you got a message for the youth of today?

LD: Don’t do drugs. Do boys!

LH: Don’t date boys in bands, but date girls in bands!

HM: Go out, have fun, do lots of dancing and drink some alcohol!

LD: Go straight-edge if you want to!

MS: Don’t worry about the future and enjoy the present.

LH: Carpe diem…Get a black eye/guy.

HM: And remember, it’s easier to go out in trainers than it is in heels.

MS: Don’t wear heels, they’re ridiculous!

LD: Wear heels they’re ace! (Lawrence was wearing heels)

MS: Boys wear heels, girls wear proper shoes!

HM: That was quite a few messages.

MS: Oh, and move across the world because it’s ace and then you’ll meet new friends. Like I have!

LH: Yeah, we’re really international!

LD: And if you’ve got spare time don’t start a band with three people who’ve never played their instruments before!

After their first ever interview, The Racket played their first ever gig and instantly became everyone’s new favourite band.

Laura in riff-tastic action...more photos to follow (hopefully)

Their set was short but pretty sweet as a majority of the crowd would agree. It was even uploaded onto YouTube a few hours later! Check it out here.

After a The Racket’s shining debut it was time for Scottish glitter punk outfit Peter Parker who were only playing their second gig. Sadly, I missed most of it. But here are a few pictures courtesy of The Racket/Dance Magic Dance’s Laura (She was very busy that night. She played, DJ’d and took photos!).

Rough Trade compilationees (it’s a new word, it means someone who’s been featured on a compilation) Betty and The Werewolves were up next and showed the crowd why they were on it. They played some of the catchiest pop I’ve ever heard (trust me, I’ve listened to ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’) and got the crowd all dancing.

One song that will forever be etched into my memory is ‘David Cassidy‘ which is out now. Be sure to catch them at the Buffalo Bar on the 12th of March.

All in all, a brilliant night had by everyone in attendance.

Interview: Johny Chhetri

Photos: Freya and Laura

With Paris taking centre stage this week in the global fashion market, London Fashion Week feels like it was left back down the rabbit hole. But fashion wonderland still exists in London via numerous shows and events.

Source: shop.showstudio.com

SHOWstudio’s exhibition ‘Headdress’ opened during fashion week, but now is the time to appreciate the collection. Located at the SHOWstudio SHOP on Bruton Place, it showcases exquisite and rather fantastical millinery by Jordan Askill, Stephen Jones, Charlie Le Mindu, Nasir Mazhar and Noki.

“The theme, it seems, is very much the idea of ‘dressing’ the head.”

Some cross between hairpieces and hats, whilst others could even function as quirky mantelpieces. Charlie Le Mindu’s pouting lips made from blonde synthetic hair is the kind of hairband fit for Lady Gaga’s current Monster Ball tour. Nonetheless, Nasir Mazhar’s orbiting wire headpiece was seen on her last year –twice! The exhibition closes this month.

Source: npg.org.uk

The National Portrait Gallery’s homage to Irving Penn is a beautiful collection of one of the greatest photographers of the 20^th Century. Simply titled ‘Portraits’ the exhibition is categorized into seven parts, taking you through his career. Photographers be sure to watch out for a one day workshop with Anthony Luvera this month.

Source: vam.ac.uk

Then there are events we must sit tight and eagerly wait for. Next month the Victoria & Albert museum will introduce ‘Grace Kelly: Style icon.’ The exhibition will trace the evolution of her style, displaying her film dresses, clothes as Princess of Monaco, the gown she wore when she won her Oscar, and the original Hermès Kelly bag. They will be accompanied by film clips and posters, photographs, and (since Oscar buzz is in the air this weekend) the original Oscar statuette.

Last but not least, Spitalfields Market will see Alternative Fashion Week kick off next month, as over 70 young designers take part. Fashion shows will be at 1.15pm every day from 19^th to 25^th April. Whilst the event is free it does get crowded so be sure to reach there early. If not The Fashion Market will be open selling clothes, textiles and accessories.

Lots to enjoy, and I hope you do!

Sejal Kapadia