Keep It Creative Inspiration Factory

Album Artwork: Neil McKenzie - Bare Buff

2011-10-17T13:17:00.002+01:00

The art work is finished for my upcoming solo album. It's quite an uncomfortable feeling for me to bare my soul and record songs for posterity, but with no other creative musical option on my cards and some downtime. I felt it was time to take a big deep breath and just do it. I'm very pleased with the results.

For the artwork, there was no question but to work with Kenneth. He was the first person to listen to the tracks and gave me some support on continuing with my ponderous soul searching songs. He came up with the theme of baring my soul and not having anything to hide behind. We toyed with the concept of nudity and nakedness, and at one point thought of shooting me naked surrounded by all the instruments I'd played. With the fear of other people listening to my songs, the nudity was the least of my worries, but we abandoned the idea.

One summer evening when we were kicking our heels we went for a drive to the Dunaskin Industrial Heritage Centre. I don't think its open any more, but you can still get in and wander around the old buildings and all the industrial age machinery from the coal mines there. We wandered around with his dog Ruby and took influence from a bygone age.

A few days later, Kenneth sent through the draft album cover with the title "bare buff". I couldn't come to terms with nudity, nakedness and laid bare as an album title without thinking of sepia tinged shots of me staring into space like a pre raphaelite poet. Bare Buff means naked in a more archaic, joking, colloquial Scottish way, which I was much more comfortable with.

I found the artwork a little sparse initially, but it slowly grew on me. It has a darkness and the broken crane gives it a theme of interrupted productivity. There is also light at the end of the tunnel and hope on the horizon. Trying to build a future on a rusty history. I think it is as good a visual representation of the album and where my head was at when I recorded it as I can imagine.

Holy Bones Track 'Silence' now online

2011-08-01T20:15:00.000+01:00

We finished mixing the demo tracks for Holy Bones. You can sample them on the KIC website here:

KIC artwork becomes a collectors item.

2011-07-27T20:24:00.000+01:00

Everyone liked our KIC poster so much that we were asked to do the artwork for the programme too:

It was super short notice, so we kept it minimal. Calvin Ayre liked it too:

They are now fetching a decent price on ebay too....

Merchandising Freebies

2011-07-16T17:50:00.000+01:00

Kenneth is the coolest kid in the KIC offices since he got the limited edition(There's one) KIC Mug.

New Poster for Ayr United FC by KIC

2011-07-15T21:50:00.000+01:00

Kenneth was asked to do a post for Ayr United's upcoming game against Manchester United XI. We think it turned out pretty nice!

Fonz Fonzarelly - Recording to Kill - now on iTunes

2011-06-20T21:55:00.000+01:00

The Fonz' album has now made it to iTunes:

linky link link

Recording session with Holy Bones @ Jam Studios Amsterdam

2011-06-20T20:10:00.000+01:00

Recording Stone Corner

2011-06-20T19:31:00.000+01:00

Last night I recorded a band called Stone Corner. Audio will follow in a week or so

Artwork for Recording to Kill by Fonz Fonzarelly

2011-06-08T19:20:00.000+01:00

KIC have finished the artwork for Recording to Kill by Fonz Fonzarelly. It should be wining its way to your favourite digital music shop in the very near future.

Building an overdrive pedal with Angel

2011-06-07T19:04:00.002+01:00

Tubescreamer clone - built on the kitchen table in one evening

Recording Fonz Fonzarelly

2011-06-02T19:11:00.001+01:00

I've been recording Fonz Fonzarelly for his upcoming album:

How to busk electrically

2011-06-01T18:59:00.000+01:00

From Halfords to street performance within 3 hours

Last open mike

2011-05-30T18:36:00.000+01:00

Live Mixing and recordings of Neil's last open mike @ mollys in Amsterdam

Best image of South Africa 2010

2011-02-11T16:51:00.001+00:00

Plain and simple, I love this photo!

logo colour wheel

2011-02-08T22:39:00.004+00:00

Over designed

2011-01-27T11:46:00.000+00:00

This is amazing. It's very "thailand". You can imagine the thought process:

A: We've had these Sonic the Hedgehog bags sitting instorage for 15 years. How can we make them more "Now"?
B: Who's the american president? Is he Popular?
A: Yeah - Let's write Obama on it!!! That will make it resonate with the youth of today who don't know anything about the Sega Megadrive.
B: It;s still not selling!! As a last resort let's write Harry potter on it and use the same font as Mars. That's bound to shift them.

Popular + Popular + Popular + Popular ≠ 4Popular

Classy upcylcing

2011-01-27T11:29:00.000+00:00

As every mac lover knows there is a sadness about the dear departed friends who have fallen by the way side or been superceded through no fault of their own. This therefore appealed to me...

All I need now is a to find a pet that fits inside a 12" G4 Powerbook.

9 Inch Nails!

2011-01-21T20:40:00.001+00:00

I've always loved this image, it was taken with Neil's trusty old 3mp Canon ixus. The effort into the visual stage presence is as important as the sound, I wish all bands had this philosophy.

KIC logo idea....

2011-01-21T20:40:00.000+00:00

Working on ideas for Logo/Branding for my up and coming website, there is nothing even on the site yet but it still didn't stop some punk hacking it, Thankfully the issue has now been resolved!

Super Ayr!

2011-01-19T08:23:00.000+00:00

Super Ayr United broadcast live from Somerset Park for only the second time and a nice wee scalp of Hibs is the icing on the cake.... bring on St Mirran!

Upcycling

2011-01-19T06:19:00.000+00:00

I have been intrigued by Upcycling and how it could be used in art for sometime now. I love how converse have used the theory in there new poster campaign and this old spray can made into a nifty desk lamp!

Some old school inspiration!

2011-01-19T01:00:00.000+00:00

One day, way back when....... It was decided I would make a graphic to represent how my brain functioned. This is the result!

...the birth of creation....

2011-01-18T22:00:00.000+00:00

...while procrastinatiing about future, inspiration and more focused motivation, Kenneth and I decided to focus our creative procrastinations on a blog.... watch this space.....