Social Assassin

If Larry David had written social commentary books for Pelican in 1971.

Budgie Bird

In the summer of 1985 a Friday night would have consisted of watching videos round my good pal Glen's house whilst his mum was out for the night. In the middle of a nights viewing we’d always pause to watch the repeats of Budgie on Channel 4. I only knew of Budgie because I’d watched Charles Endell Esq as a nipper and could do a fair to middling impression of him. I loved Budgie, it had a grim world view which could have existed in the same universe as The Sweeney. Comic book realism would be one to describe it I suppose.

The great thing about Budgie is the acting, Adam Faith was born to play the part of the optimistic loser. Budgie was always on the edge of getting the big score but never quite got there. He also appeared to annoy anyone who came into contact with him especially the people who actually liked him. Then there was Charlie Endell a brilliantly psychotic bear of man who tolerated Budgie for reasons unknown. He was played by the late great Iain Cuthbertson in a role which is so far removed from his character in The Railway Children that is humanly possible.

For this piece of “lost novelisation” it was decided to convey Budgie’s optimistic world view whilst the other people in his world look at him in sheer disdain for all the trouble he brings to them. Released in a limited edition of 42 copies which are signed. Available here.

John Carpenter's Film Festival

Promotional quad poster, brochure, postcards and tickets for a festival that never happened.

Kurt Cobain Grunge Paper Doll

Comes complete with interchangeable Daniel Johnston, Sounds and Captain America t-shirts as well as optional dress, grubby raincoat, stripey jumper, clever specs and Vaselines single.

Smile

Back in 1991 I was in an indie rock band called Smile, I only mention this as a few weeks ago I stumbled across a demo we made. Listening to it I was pleasantly surprised to learn it was actually listenable though very derivative of Sonic Youth which wasn’t a shock as they were the only group we all liked. Deciding this needed to be digitised I then realised it needed a cover. I thought back to my 22 year old self and what he would have asked for if we’d been signed to Hut or Creation like we wanted to be. The brief would have gone “err, something 60s and psychedelic, a bit like Loop’s early sleeves”. I decided to make the sleeve in true 1991 style by truly missing the point and creating a 1991 version of what a “60s, psychedelic” sleeve would look like. I think we would have liked this sleeve…

Prick Up Your Ears

A commission piece of Leicester's finest Joe Orton. With thanks to Laura McKenna.

Red With Purple Flashes

Yes, its that time again - Piper Gates Design will be attempting to DJ at Biff Bang Pow on February 16th upstairs at Firebug Leicester 9pm-3am.

Plateau

A cover for Ross Keen's first book 'Plateau'. The book is published as a kindle edition and has the ghosts of Peter Cook and Roald Dahl looming large in its text. It can be bought for a very reasonable price here

Talkin About the Good Times

The very wonderful Spy Vibe blog interviewed Piper Gates Design's head honcho Ian Percival, here is the results with a big thank you to Jason Whiton.

Merry Christmas Everybody

As mentioned this time last year Piper Gates Design is primarily a one man concern but is helped by a wonderful network of people, so many thanks goes out to Matt Poynton, Chris Perkins and Steve Marmite for all their help this year. A special thanks goes to the lovely Sue Thompson for support and putting up with my artistic temperament. Finally I'd like to thank everyone who has bought pieces or commissioned work - a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all!

And the same goes for Christmas

Piper Gates will once again be attempting to DJ at Biff Bang Pow's Christmas Psychedelic happening at Firebug, Leicester on Saturday 15th of December. See "wool hat" above for details.

Shindig!

This month sees Piper Gates Design in the illustrious company of The Rolling Stones & Joe Meek in the latest issue of Shindig. Being a avid reader of Shindig this comes as a great honor. With many thanks to Andy Morton.

Biff Bang Pow

Just a reminder that if your Leicester bound this Saturday Piper Gates will be DJing at Biff Bang Pow with live music from The Junipers 9pm-3am.

Happening Right Now Pt 2

Piper Gates will yet again be displaying his lack of DJ skills at Biff Bang Pow on Saturday the 20th of October with live music of the psychedelic pastoral persuasion from The Junipers.

Bradley Wiggins Mod Paper Doll

Having seen the Donovan Paper Doll some years ago Piper Gates has been been waiting for a subject worthy of such treatment. Cue cycling champion and all round ace face Bradley Wiggins. With his cycling by day and ace face by night persona Bradley made the ideal candidate for the paper doll treatment. This Paper Doll set contains two 400 mm x 300 mm prints. One contains the actual paper doll which can be cut up to make Bradley's different personas. The second print contains the made up paper dolls for those who don't want to go crazy with the scissors. Each print is signed by the artist and printed on high quality 250 gram silk paper this set comes as a limited edition. Last copy available here

Advert

Ad for forthcoming Bradley Wiggins Mod Paper Doll.

RIP Bill Doss

Piper Gates was very sad to hear of the death of Bill Doss from The Olivia Tremor Control. For me 1996 was a terrible time for new music where the main aim seemed to be about achieving the achievable. With little new to like I started obsessively collecting vinyl reissues of 1960s psychedelic albums by the likes of July, Skip Bifferty and The United States of America and often wondered why no one was following this template of taking the pop song to the outer reaches.

As if by magic I received a phone call from my best friend who at that time owned a record shop saying “I’ve just got this album in that was invented for you, it’s like all your favourite groups rolled into one”. He was right; the album was Dusk At Cubist Castle by The Olivia Tremor Control. If you haven’t heard it you should: imagine Alex Chilton singing to unreleased White Album songs with The Beach Boys providing backing vocals and a dollop of Floyd/ early Soft Machine weirdness thrown in for good measure. This wasn’t about recreating the past it was about continuing it.

Bill was the principle songwriter along with the equally talented Will Hart and together they created some of the best psychedelic music ever written, it also helped that their voices went together like a psychedelic Everly Brothers on an Alex Chilton trip. Olivia’s gigs were a joyful celebration of life with band and audience smiling from ear to ear which makes Bill’s death at 43 all that more shocking. Hideaway, No Growing, Jumping Fences, A New Day and NYC-25 are the tip of a musical gift for generations yet to come. RIP Bill you will be missed.

Jimmy

Returning to the world of the lost novel it was decided to tackle the wonderful world of the 1979 film Quadrophenia. The novel released at the time doesn't really capture the essence of the film and so the decision was taken to to reimagine the novel how it should have been. Taking inspiration from Bruce Robertson's cover from the 1962 Scootering novel and mixing it with pop art a design was created which reflected the "four" personalities of Jimmy combining it with the accepted imaginary of mod culture. The limited edition print measures 30cm x 40cm and printed on 250 gram silk paper.

Business Cards

Following on from last years "Milk Tray Man" style business cards it was decided to create a set of 8 business cards to hand out to interested parties. Taking inspiration from the initial exploration into the wonderful world of the marber grid it was decided to rework these and present them as a set of business cards.

Caracus

This in the first in an occasional series of Piper Gates favourite things. Gregory's Girl is possibly the best film ever; to go into its genius would take longer than 12 elephants to explain. The influence on this series stems from reading "Lord of the Flies" at school and being facinated by the fact that there were variant covers, memory now suggests that I was handed the book with a different cover every week. Deciding to take this further it was decided to make an occasional series of novels done in this style with the subject being a favourite of mine. Gregory's Girl has been released as a novel but the cover doesn't do justice to the subject matter, hopefully this interpretation does it proud.

Cowley the Cowl

As a accompaniment to the Bodie & Doyle Poster Set it was decided to tackle the head of CI5; Mr George Cowley himself! The scotch whiskey drinking head of CI5 is rendered in the style of a Penguin Book from the 1960s. This limited edtion poster is 30 cm x 40 cm in size and is printed on high quality 250 gram silk paper and is signed in an edition of 25 copies only. Available here

Cult TV Postcards

Based on the “Cult Crimefighting Duo” posters this postcard set contains eight postcards together with a wallet to keep the set together. Again the look is based on Penguin Books crime novels from the 1960s with the colour of each postcard representing the main colour used in then opening title sequence of each programme. The wallet is signed and numbered with both postcards and wallet printed on high quality 250 gram silk stock. This is limited to 25 copies only. Available here

You're Nicked!

Like The Persuaders and The Professionals The Sweeney is another favourite of Piper Gates. Jack and George’s gritty violent world with a sublime sense of humour is total genius. To celebrate this genius Piper Gates has included it as the fourth and final piece in the “Cult Crimefighting Duo Sets”. Again the look is based on a vintage Penguin Crime novel from 1960s. The set of two posters is available as a 30 cm x 40 cm print on 250 gram silk paper and is signed in a limited edition of 35. Available here

Happening right now!

Piper Gates will again be attempting to DJ at Biff Bang Pow, expect the usual psychedelic and indie mayhem!

Cover Me

The Professionals is another Piper Gates favourite. Essentially a British version of Starsky & Hutch The Professionals is completely over the top and all the better for it. The three leads play it straight which gives the sometimes implausible plots credibility; it also helps that the show is also brilliantly entertaining. This set is part 3 of 4 of Piper Gates "Cult Crimefighting Duo Sets" along with the previous Randall and Hopkirk and Persuaders sets. The design for this set is again based on Penguin's 1960s Crime series taking the marber grid from the past and presenting it in the present. The set is available as a 30 cm x 40 cm print on 250 gram silk paper and is signed in a limited edition of 35. Available here

Homo Superior

As mentioned before The Tomorrow People has always been a firm favourite of Piper Gates despite having plot holes bigger than Mount Everest and special effects which makes classic Doctor Who look like 2001. Like Ace of Wands before it The Tomorrow People is a child of 1960s counterculture and brilliantly of its time. There has been a number of tie in books but they don't really capture the essence of The Tomorrow People so it was decided to create a 'lost novel' which hopefully captures the weird psychedelic world of The Tomorrow People: a world where the lightshow from the Floyd's days at the UFO is housed in a science lab with a wondefully camp robot called TIM who serves burgers and fizzy pop by the means of teleportation. Printed as a very limited run of 15 copies only its printed on 250 gram silk paper and is signed. Available here