BAIL-BOND: Ricky Adam photography

A few initial shots from the BAIL-BOND and SSS 'secret' show this past weekend. I feel privileged to have Ricky Adam come over and shoot for us. We have known Ricky since the very late 80's when Jailcell Recipes (previous incarnation of Bail-Bond) travelled to Ireland to play gigs organised by The Belfast Music Collective. It's a nice feeling to be surrounded by people who have a shared history with the band.
Ricky is an outstanding photographer, completely in tune with the subject matter. He's made a name for himself shooting BMX and has an art book DESTROYING EVERYTHING that has just about sold out it's first edition. If you fancy a copy.....happy hunting....he's also thinking about printing a second run.

BAIL-BOND basement gig

Next weekend we are putting our new (old) UK Hardcore band into action. With various members residing at opposite ends of the country, it's both costly and difficult to get together on a regular basis...any get-together needs to be exploited to the hilt!
We organised a weekend of activity:
Saturday afternoon/evening... rehearsing and band photoshoot.
Sunday afternoon...a low-key basement gig with a small 'invite-only' crowd at a secret location.
We plan to videotape this performance and use the footage to help promote the band.
Date is Sunday 8th July from 2pm-5.30pm. ALL AGES
If  you dig Hardcore and you fancy attending, get in touch and I will forward the info you will need. Super limited capacity (30 peeps max)
Band is comprised  of former members of JAILCELL RECIPES, SLEEP, KNOW NOTHING, BURN ALL FLAGS, LIE CYCLE and MASS OF BASTARDS.

UPDATE: Just confirmed..... S.S.S. added to the bill

DIRT QUAKE

Great day out at the DIRT QUAKE event I helped organise for Sideburn Mag last weekend. An unlikely mix of activities and hard to put a finger on why it was so good...Sort of a cross between a motorcycle race and a 70's Saturday morning kids TV show.
I was ultra busy on the day and didn't take a single picture. All these images are taken from various folks on the web, facebook etc.....hope they don't mind.
I'm indebted to the folks behind the scenes that helped to make this happen and to the racers for signing up for something that was an unknown quantity. It was a ton of hard work but I hope we can find a way to do this again, bigger and even better next year.

DIRT QUAKE: WORK WITH WHAT YA GOT!

The fast approaching DIRT QUAKE race event is Joe Public's one-time opportunity to come racing....no strings attached. It will be a one night stand of exhilaration, fear and a true sense of accomplishment.

Whatever bike you can lay your hands on, we got a suitable class for you to race it in. Novice, street-tracker/street-scrambler, inappropriate road bike and chopper classes.

Here's what was lurking in my shed. Given to me over 15years ago... a crusty, unloved Suzuki GS750 hardtail chopper. I say 'hardtail' but what I really mean is 2 iron bars bolted into where the rear shocks should be.

My mates, PITSTOP PAUL and his lad PITSTOP KEV dropped by today to make initial steps to get her running for the big day. When I aquired the bike in the last century, it was running. However, it seems to be missing a rectifier and the wiring loom looks like it was put together over the phone by Peters and Lee. The overall standard of engineering is so poor and ham-fisted....it's almost perverse.

I'm not gonna race this bike personally. I'm already racing my Rotax in both the club meeting 11am-4pm and then in the GNC at 7pm which is more than enough considering I'm suffering with a hernia. The deal is if they can get it running then Pitstop Paul can race it in the Chopper class.....I'm positive I'll get far more pleasure watching a newbie at the helm representing SKOOTER FARM/SIDEBURN than riding it myself. If Paul decides not to race.....I already got a subsitute. A guy who's last legitimate occupation was being fired out of a cannon in a stunt show!

The Pitstoppers left undaunted with a small shopping list: coils, plugs, plug caps, air filters and a rectifier.
Work continues next week.

I hope this post inspires folks who toy with the romantic notion of being a motorcycle racer to stop fantasizing and make it a reality...even if it's just for one evening.

Remember....Ride it like you borrowed it!

DAVE SKOOTER FARM....PLUS SUPPORT!

After three months of rigorous lifestyle change, exercise and healthy eating...my body rewards me by developing an inguinal hernia.
Inevitably, I'm going to have surgery...but in the meantime.......IN GOD WE TRUSS!
Made a makeshift cod-piece out of 2 pairs of underpants, a piece of camping bed mat and some duct tape and proceeded to skate the pool. This worked satisfactorily so I then purchased a cheap, generic hernia support belt online and went flat track racing last weekend with no obvious serious issues.....but I guess it's only a matter of time.......

FRANK SIDEBOTTOM FUNDRAISER MANNEQUIN



Better late than never....here's a project I did last summer during the six months or so I wasn't blogging.
The idea was to make a life-size Mannequin of Frank Sidebottom to help raise awareness of the Statue Fund to raise money for a bronze statue in Timperley village (6 feet outside Manchester)

 I took Franks head (there is only one in existence) to CNC ROBOTICS where I do freelance set building for their sister company LIVERPOOL SCENIC WORKSHOPS. They kindly 3D scanned the head and then machined a polystyrene replica for me to use as a base to create the head.
I sealed the polystyrene with pva glue and the painstakingly rendered the entire head with a thin but tough layer of car body filler. facial features the nose, lips, hairline and ears were sculpted and then sanded until they blended in.

At this point I also started to work on the body. A shop window dummy was donated by fellow Frankophile Alan Woods. Unfortunately, the dummy was tall, slender and gazelle-like...NONE of Franks attributes. I decided to modify the standard dummy to resemble Franks vital statistics. This involved shortening the arms, legs and 'cutting and shutting' the torso. That went very well so I decided to now reposition the arms utilising plastic plumbers 'elbow joints'. Again this worked out surprisingly well so I took it further and remodelled the left hand, cutting and repositioning each digit into the 'Thumbs Up' sign. I pinned it all together with short lengths of coat hanger wire.
I sourced an identical suit on ebay for a max bid of £11.37...which I won, spent £4 on the shoes in a charity shop and had a genuine pink tie previously worn by Frank and then passed on to me as a member of Franks backing band THE OH-BLIMEYS.

I'm really bad at painting and the plan was for Martin Sievey (Frank/Chris's older brother) to do the painting..... however this didn't happen for various reasons so I decided to apply the paint myself. I'm more than happy with how that turned out. Working for Frank/Chris for the last 5 years leading up to his death I even knew which particular brand of paints to use and their code numbers.....Chris even imparted a couple of tips on techniques he used to achieve the desired affect.

I'm very proud of my work and whenever the statue is on public show, folks seem to love it.
It is currently on display at Alans shop in Wigan and is scheduled to make an appearance at FRANK-FEST in Manchester on Saturday March 31st. Headlining is THE FALL also THE STAGS are on the bill and will play a couple of Franks best loved songs in the set.



KILLER DILLER RADIO guest spot

Had great fun on Tuesday night as a guest on KILLER DILLER radio show. Big thanks to Johnny Alpha for cutting me some slack with my choices. Listen again HERE for some 90's garage, '77 punk, surf instros and good old rock 'n' roll

DIRT QUAKE.....feel the rumble!!

Just announced...this will be a doozie! Lots of stuff planned but top of the heap for me is the UK's first ever dirt track chopper race. If it's heavy, hard to handle and totally unsuitable for track use...then it's in!
Pics are from a similar event that took place in Finland last year

THE PUPPETS ARE NOT WHAT THEY SEEM...

I like to collect all things Gerry Anderson-related. Here are some simple, customised 12" action figures I have. All aquired very cheaply at car boot sales. We have: 

Joe 90 dressed in a Captain Scarlet uniform.

Brains in the International Rescue uniform.

Barbie dressed in a Captain Blue uniform.

I have a ton of Anderson memorabilia but these cheap, simply customised dolls from the 90's are very pleasing to my eye!

I think it's the 'What if?' factor of mixing up elements of the different shows.....I think they look better than any of the standard issue figures released at that time.