I was very kindly asked some questions by Joe from Threads Radio. It’s been a while since I did an interview and you can tell because I really put some effort into my replies…!
Here’s the first question and answer, with a link to the full interview at the bottom.
You established yourself as Army of Cats Creative Studio back in 2006, but on your website, you allude to a lifetime of artistic output. When did you first make the connection between your visual art and the music of others?
I’ve always drawn and had a love of visual arts, but the music side of things actually came first.
Art was never something I was encouraged to pursue as a career, and I didn’t follow the usual route to university. I started college, taking Art as an A Level, but dropped out as I just wasn’t enjoying it and at that age, I simply had no idea what I actually wanted to do. I decided I may as well try and get a job (which coincidentally turned out to be in a typesetting and printing company, though I was just doing basic admin work).
My musical love at the time was punk rock. Initially all the second wave American stuff but going to gigs at the infamous Duchess of York over in Leeds meant exposure to lots of UK bands and the scene that surrounded them.
I loved the low-fi art and design work that adorned records, flyers and fanzines. It’s funny but the concept of ‘graphic design’ had previously never really clicked with me but all this stuff was DIY and scrappy enough that I could see how layout intersected with illustration.
I started to notice different individuals’ styles and see the names of people thanked for their art in record inlays. It felt like something I could do.
There was a small record label and mail-order distro in Leeds called Crackle Records. I’d order from them all the time and always received hand-written notes, flyers, and little catalogues with my orders. I drew up a few random illustrations and an advert for their label and just posted them off to them with a note saying, “use these if you like.”
They had never requested any artwork, of course, and I think they were initially a bit confused! The idea of any payment exchanging hands never entered my head, I just wanted to get involved, be one of those punks that makes artwork.
Some friends and I started a band, moved to Leeds and became more involved in what was going on musically there. This was late 90’s and it just seemed like the model lots of folk were following – a group of friends move out to Leeds from various neighbouring Northern towns to live in a crappy student house and start a band, label, or fanzine, or put on gigs – or all of the above.
Naturally, we started promoting our own gigs and so I took up the role of drawing and designing the flyers and posters. That was the beginning of my design education really, as I started to put myself in the shoes of the people who’d see the flyers – what will catch someone’s eye? What will stand out on the wall of other posters in the record shop? What references to the band or style of music can I drop in?
I started getting asked by other people to design posters and record artwork and it developed into something I was known for, eventually overshadowing me actually playing in a band. All that early work was very DIY, done for favours or beer money, and I was absolutely nowhere near making a living from my artwork. My skills were improving, though, and without really intending to I had built a modest little portfolio of design and illustration work.
It was far from an immediate transition into a full-time design career – there were plenty of unrelated jobs and other stepping stones on the way – but those early experiences definitely set me on the path to the work I do today.
