02. Light It Up
03. First Contact
04. Green Fire
05. Zion Cluster
06. Moment In Space
07. Heliosphere
08. Project Sign
09. Dubbrain
10. Farstar
11. UFO pon di gullyside
12. Gone Orbital
With 2017 a now a fading memory of political turmoil, social upheaval and high-profile perverts, we can at least look back at the year's musical output and say that it was a great one. As is the custom, we've put together a list of 40 notable releases from the previous twelve months that we think are worthy of praise.
To download it all you have to do is go to our bandcamp page here: https://intravenousmagazine.bandcamp.com/album/blood-pack-vol-5
“I get the feeling we are moving through a period of despair. Perhaps this is due to the state of the environment, politics, or dealing with being "social" in the electronic age. We are so frustrated, so exhausted...we don't have the energy or money to plan for the future.I wanted to write lyrics that people can related to, and music that would energize that to forge ahead.”
Saturday the 26th October - Hebden Bridge Trades Club, “Ted Hughes Festival”
Bridge, at a rather gorgeous venue, the Trades Club. Rosie will be there the day before doing some poetical stuff.
Sunday the 27th October - Preston Continental, “John Peel Week”
We have always claimed that John Peel changed our lives, among with many others. We did 3 Peel Sessions. So it is rather satisfying to play a tribute to him during John Peel Week, at The Continental in Preston, along with some fellow Peelite friends: Flesh For Lulu, John Hyatt from the Three Johns, and The Inca Babies. Quite a line up!
Friday 1st November - ?
We will be no doubt getting dressed up for something… tell you later ;)
Sunday 3rd November – Whitby, The Coliseum, “DV8”
We will be playing a nice little venue in Whitby, the Coliseum. An earlyish start, sometime after the footie and finishing early so you can head up to Nostalgia.
Sunday 10th November - Newcastle, Trillians.
A visit to the lovely city of Newcastle, Trillians. First gig here since the early 80’s!
Friday 22nd November - London, Islington O2 Academy.
Back to Islington London for a bit of a do at the O2 Academy 2.
Saturday 23rd November -Leeds, Brudenell Social Club.
Home for a Final Purple Party at the wonderful Brudenell Social Club.
“I think it's important to make every day and every action something magical and ritualistic, rather than make the distinction between something that's meaningful and that the remainder of time is spent immersed in the trivial.”
The Essentials:
Intravenous Magazine: How do you typically approach creating a new piece and do you have any particular creative rituals?
Nick Kushner: I think it's important to make every day and every action something magical and ritualistic, rather than make the distinction between something that's meaningful and that the remainder of time is spent immersed in the trivial. All of the artists, writers and performers whom I admire make no distinction between their art and their day to day lives which is something important in order to stay immersed within a creative mindset, even if the task at hand is something that isn't necessarily integral to one's art. To maintain a creative atmosphere and workspace it is important to surround yourself with images and themes which are inspiring and augment/prolong the creative state whether it's past works of your own or else objects and images of works that remind you of your base creative self and what inspired you from the beginning. Each new piece is its own entity and to immerse yourself in imagery and surroundings that are evocative of what inspired the piece is something integral and ritualistic in it of itself.
IVM: What tools and techniques do you use day to day?
NK: I approach my work similar to water color treatment of the medium. I also use predominantly only fine brushes, even for large broad areas as this is most conducive to the blending techniques I use as well as conducive to the intricacy of detail.
IVM: Which artists have been your biggest inspirations and/or continue to inspire you and why?
NK: Some of my biggest inspirations are actual artists / fine artist but are performers, authors and philosophers. I think it's important to surround yourself with the words and teachings of those who are smarter than you, because that's exactly what they all did in order to get to the state they've become. Salvador Dali, Timothy Leary, Marilyn Manson, Hans Bellmer are some of my biggest inspirations and heroes, as each as diverse as they maybe all have the common theme of not being afraid to compromise their art or beliefs based on the societies they lived in, or limited themselves to accommodate their audiences. Each chose to live their respective art and philosophies and in turn adopted the same alchemical pursuit of transformation through a dynamic life path of full immersion within their works.
IVM: Which piece of art did you find the most challenging to create and why?
NK: Each piece presents their own challenges as each piece represents an externalization or a wordless concept or emotion which is made into something finite to overcome that aspect of oneself. My self portrait 'The Immoralist' was challenging in its own rite in that at the time it was on the cusp of needing to undergo a new stage of evolution within myself, something which is continually important to undergo as to not encounter stagnation. Approaching the creation of the piece as something more ritualistic I painted an idealized portrait of myself in order that through its creation I might grow and become that change. Similar to a visualization or attainment chart that one wishes to project themselves into. Some pieces are done out of the simple joy of inspiration, other pieces are done with very specific intent and have many levels of psychic energy endowed into them.
IVM: Which piece or pieces are you most proud of and why?
NK: A few new pieces of mine which I'm looking forward to unveiling at my next exhibition are some which I'm currently most proud of that have probably the most intricate esoteric as well as technical detail I've portrayed to date. In terms of pieces which are currently public I would say I'm most proud of 'Maldoror'. Both as subject matter reference as well as it being one of the first pieces which I've approached as an all-blood medium portrayal.
IVM: Do you have any exhibitions/art book plans for the future?
NK: Currently I am working with 212 Productions to produce a Mexico City exhibition and I am also in discussion about a couple prospective Los Angeles exhibitions now that I've made the city my new home.
IVM: If someone is new to you and your art, how do you feel they typically react to it?
NK: I've had few people react negatively to my work. Some people have presumed that my use of blood is for incendiary value alone until they bother speaking with me and nine times out of ten they quickly change their attitude about it. Regardless of what medium a work of art is painted in it's the content and forethought motivation behind the piece which is most important and that should be able to stand alone regardless of what medium a work is created in. Most reactions to my work has been an increased interest after learning what medium the work is created in.
“This is my rock album. It’s all fully flexed muscle and proud of itself. I wanted us to capture as closely as possible the sound that we make when we play live and I believe that for the very first time ever we have succeeded.” – Wayne Hussey
“We are very happy to be joining the Dark Dimensions family. We are looking forward to expand the close collaboration with our friend and band-member Frank Francesco D’Angelo”
"I stress a lot running everything for the band and there is pressure for me as well. But I am an artist and I need to present my art to the world, so I do what I do. But once I am on stage I get pretty comfortable and have fun."