What Was, What is And What will be

Past And Future - With the family and my nephew at The Natural History Museum

A short update on schedules and recent happenings.

English Heretic go free-jazz... Smoking

The New Lexicons Of Dark was an enjoyable event. I performed with a line up of Dean Brannagan and Sarah Sparkes, who both excelled in their parts. The symposium was a highly stimulating talk with Kevin Quigley, Martin Sexton and Leslie Goosey, the discussion covering all manner of topics  including Cognitive Dissonance, the alchemy of the black sun, and theatre as a form of collective witness.  Following on from this event,  I'll be appearing as English Heretic with a Free Jazz ensemble! at the Apiary Gallery for a Summer Solstice Happening, on Monday 20th. Briefly, it'll be a talk in three parts backed by cosmic jazz, discussing the Black Sun and lumen naturae as creative meditative devices,  following onto the perils of literal interpretation of the soul's nekyia, with allusions to the work of Sun Ra and Artaud, culminating with a performance of a Mithraic Ritual. Please come along, in your best black poloneck, beret and beatnik beard.

Wyrd Tales 2

All writing and re-drafts completed.  Release will be September, with hopefully at least one gig around the launch. The Book is approx 150 pages A5, with 8/16 page colour inserts. Authors are as outlined previously. Artwork by Sarah Sparkes, Dean Kenning, Lisa Cradduck and Phil Legard. The CD will be approx 45 mins of entirely new material divided into three sections. It'll come in a digipak with artwork by Dean Kenning and Lisa Cradduck.

1] The Dunwich Tapes (a 20 minute collage of  pieces gleaned from the stories in the book)

2] Anthropophagic Rituals Of The Old Ones (a ritual soundtrack)

3] Nostradamus - a take on Peter Bellamy's beautiful folk song (written by Al Stewart)

It's been over 4 years in the making and has encompassed a time in my life of great change, tribulations and insight - but necessary in the most archetypal sense of the word - alluding to ananke, the Goddess of necessity.  Wyrd Tales 2, I hope stands as testament to the creative force in the nigredo. It's very much dedicated to my kids Dave and Hannah, though sadly they're too cool to play in The English Heretic Youth Orchestra - way too much like the scouts and girl guides, probably. However, they're a constant source of inspiration.

Night Of The Black Plaques

I am in rehearsals with killer bassist Dean Brannagan to perform a new set of gigs called Night Of The Black Plaques. These will be events to honour some of the recipients of this coveted award. Provisionally, the first series will cover: Robert Cochrane, Ian Ball and Robert Vaughan (anti-hero of Crash). More on this as it happens.

Abraxas Journal Two

Will feature a new English Heretic track called 240 Hours based on the final days of tragic figure Robert Cochrane. Master Of The Clan Of Tubal Cain, Cochrane took an overdose of Belladonna and Librium at Mid-summer 1966, an attempted self-sacrifice that left him in a coma for 10 days, before he slipped to the other side. Analogizing Cochrane with Ian Curtis, 240 hours is a play on the Joy Division title 24 hours - and is an imagined pop song playing in Cochrane's head as he sank into his coma. The CD also includes some wonderful artists (Cyclobe, Raagnarok, Arktau Eos, Phil Legard, Psychogeographical Commission).  More details on purchasing the Journal and CD here

Wish You Were Heretic

A bumper compendium of literary and visual postcards from the modern qliphoth, beneath the cinematic substratum of England - with a closely sympathetic album of psychoprography Wish You Were Heretic - well it was bound to happen, I fully intend it to be a bloated behemoth of a beast. Writing and recording is under way, though release will like be in time for the Mayan apocalypse.