STREET COVERS
For the past 6 months I have had the privilege of working and collaborating on an incredible project for VUSE’S 10 year Street Covers anniversary! 5 DJS were paired with 5 artists, us from Liverpool, Dubai, Johannesburg, Columbia and Barcelona. The aim was for us to collaborate in our pairs and create a track and the accompanying art work for it.
I was paired up with an epic musical talent and Liverpool based DJ called DOWD. As soon as I heard his music I knew we would create something epic together. We began meeting in my studio and we chatted, chatted and chatted some more. We had loads in common and we were into the same style of Art and music. We were also lucky enough to have two titans in the wings to help us on our way. Yes! we were to be mentored by two incredible legends of the industry, Dowd with super star DJ Anfisa and myself with the legendary album cover designer Brian Canon. I had mentoring sessions over a few months with Brian and learnt so much! that opportunity was priceless and what an amazing fella.
In August (2023) Dowd and I welcomed a full film crew to Liverpool. For 2 days we were filmed showing them around our creative worlds and places that inspired us and made us the artists we are. We also got to showcase the magic of our wonderful city and culture within it, it was a brilliant and experience.
The documentary can be found here…
What an experience!!
Me and Dowd then spent the next few months collaborating. We would meet at my studio, he would play some mixes he’d been working on and I would draw. There was probably more chatting than actual working going on to be fare.
When I listened to Dowds track it made me think of space and the universe so I started to create something that looked like that but was still a representation of my style too.
I found designing whilst wanting to represent two styles an interesting process. My work is very intense and a more, more is more aesthetic were Dowds is a lot more minimalist and calm. We did edit my design down a little until we were both completely happy and this is the result.
The track is called More love, right here and its about our city, Liverpool!!
I originally designed the artwork to be still but I just didn’t think I did the track justice so decided to animate parts of it and this is the final design above!
After the track and artwork were finished and because it was the 10 year anniversary of Street covers they decided it would be a great idea for all us talent to meet… In IBIZA!!!
Me and Dowd packed our bags and flew to Ibiza to meet the others artists and DJs. We had the film crewe with us to film us for the 3 days we were there. All the talent arrived at different times because of where we were coming from but as soon as we met we all got on like a house on fire. We were staying at Ushuaia, I had a mirrored bar in my room! We met early the next morning to board our very own charted boat were all the DJs got the chance to hit the decks and us artist got to lounge and dance around chatting and enjoying the gorgeous horizon. We had an incredible lunch on a little island before heading back after the sunset to get ready for a VIP disco at Hi. The following day we had our interviews with the crewe at a private Villa before heading to ANTs at Urshuia and then back to Hi to party the night away. Thankfully mine and Dowds flight wasn’t until the Sunday night so we got a whole day to explore Ibiza town, eat some tapas and chill.
What an experience!
We both made some lifelong friends and I am in awe at the amazing work they get up to!
The final part of our epic project was an event at E1 in London where Dowd got to DJ alongside Ben Klock. My artwork was used to design the room and inspire the lighting technician. We had our final interview at the venue then got to celebrate all our collaborative work together! it was perfect!
Everyone who worked on this project was amazing! from all the crewe to the epic people who made it all happen. I Feel did proud and I have learnt so much! Because of the Vaping laws in this country we are limited to what we can share which is a shame. There was an article in Mixmag which featured us and the films and interviews they made of us too which we can’t share but they are out there so that a good thing!
