Thursday Night at Sticky Mike’s

Posters hanging in Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar

 

This Great Escapee may help distract from the slightly tiddly photography – maybe not

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Poster-Maker Profile : Tommy Davidson

Screen-printed gigposter : Tim Burgess – Tommy Davidson

Introducing a brand new sticker-upperer, a dark horse and mystery man : Tommy Davidson. We have encountered a lot of gigposter artists at festivals, exhibitions, police line-ups etc. certainly the majority of the British poster-makers, but as yet this mysterious drummer and scritcher of the North has so far evaded our investigations.

One thing for sure is he is at large in Leeds, as there is much printed evidence showing how he has been active in the vicinity of the Brudenel Social Club (a venue of underground repute). We will try and get some security footage or perhaps a photo-fit soon, in the meantime, his posters are in our custody at the Stick Up shop – we appeal to you the Brighton public and also folks attending the Great Escape to come down, witness and leave a statement.

Look out for fine lined drawings that have clearly been the work of a professional and an obsessive. Hours (probably moonlit ones) have been spent getting the detail down on these designs – give them your close inspection.

Screen-printed gigposter : Thurston Moore – Tommy Davidson

Click here for Tommy’s site

Click here to find more of this year’s Stick Up gig-poster artists

Poster-Maker Profile : Petting Zoo Prints & Collectables

Screen-printed gigposter : Moon Duo – Petting zoo Prints & Collectables

We are the curators of The Stick Up, we are the ones who persuaded all the other artists to participate, who secured the venues and then received, unwrapped, stock-checked and hung all those posters.

We’re the ones who sat up till stupid o’clock making this blooming site, the flyers, the bloody printable/downloadable trail map!… we’re the ones who have to smile and greet you, to have a float ready, and the tubes and the answers to all the questions. We’re the ones who’ll have to take it all down and recheck the stock, reparcel the stock and then send it home to the respective studios… we’re the one’s who’ll do it again next year.

Look out for …uh… look out for …zzz …zzz

Screen-printed gigposter : The Walkmen – Petting Zoo Prints & Collectables

Click here for the Petting Zoo Prints & Collectables site

Click here to find more of this year’s Stick Up gig-poster artists

Or read about what we wrote about ourselves in 2013

Poster-Maker Profile : Nick Rhodes

Screen-printed gigposter : Richard Hawley – Nick Rhodes

Well what do you know? We have managed to get one of the UK’s most established contemporary gig-poster makers on to Brighton walls this year – possibly for the first time since the very first Great Escape Festival, when The Basement arts foundation of The Argus Lofts hosted the seminal Sub-Screen Sonic poster show.

Based in his Switchopen studio in Manchester, Nick was one of the first UK gigposter artists that we knew of and certainly the first that we shook hands with. It’s great to have his work in the show and we’re pretty sure many of you will recognise his style as it has long adorned posters for such festivals as The Green Man and End Of The Road.

Look out for some posters depicting fairy-tale like bird-boxes, hot air balloons and arboreal scenes, and others that explore spookier themes – all busy with Gustave Dore inspired lines and hatching and all lit by some dazzling moon, distant nova or sparkling gemstone.

Screen-printed gigposter : White Lies – Nick Rhodes

Click here for the Switchopen site

Click here to find more of this year’s Stick Up gig-poster artists

Poster-Maker Profile : Clint Wilson

Screen-printed gig poster : St. Vincent – Clint Wilson

We have a treat for the pop-pickers who are heading along to our poster show – how about some posters for Beyonce, Justin Timberlake and Taylor Swift gigs? Yes yes yes!
That’s not the sum total of Clint’s work but it’s certainly worth a mention we feel…

Clint hails from Austin Texas and was one of the very cool and hospitable hosts to the travelling poster-makers who headed that way to take part in the Flatstock convention… so you know, there was an awful lot of bbq and beer going on over there – every night! It was actually tricky to get to see a band over there for all the ale and cooked meats flying around – wow.

So yes, we hope y’all will extend a hearty welcome to the posters of our transatlantic friend, come and grab a tube-full.

Screen-printed gig poster : The Get Up Kids – Clint Wilson

Look out for very professionally printed wares on good quality stock, they feel real good and are registered perfectly… there’s a real range of formats, including portraiture and textural space vistas

Click here for the Clint’s site

Click here to find more of this year’s Stick Up gig-poster artists

Poster-Maker Profile : Jacknife

Screen-printed gigposter : Wilko Johnson – Jacknife (Hopewell)

Debuting this year at The Stick Up Poster Show is the work of a design studio / print-press / gallery space located in deepest darkest Bristol – well, Stokes Croft – just round the corner from the somewhat legendary nightclubs Lakota and Blue Mountain. We’re not sure if the Jacknife gang are the “throw some shapes” sort of outfit however, their posters (though varying in style) tend to be a celebration of all things gritty and rock – Top Dogs Chris Hopewell and Bear Hackenbush for example, both produce work with a key-screen that appears to be printed with motorbike oil!

We gather that along with their posters, there will be examples of artwork from the rest of the group – Rosie Lea, Ashley Clarke, Sepr and Tape Ears, but as this little profile is written, we haven’t yet had a peep at the outfit’s tubes. It is with considerable confidence however, that we can say quite plainly, the rock’n’rollers amongst you will most definitely enjoy their work.

Look for long tall posters with a characteristic black key-line (the last, outlining colour) and a throng of grease-bats, punks, pinball machines, hot rods and buxom biker chicks.

Screen-printed gigposter : Dragster – Jacknife (Hackenbush)

Click here for the Jacknife site

Click here to find more of this year’s Stick Up gig-poster artists

Poster-Maker Profile : New Analog

Screen-printed gigposter : The Wailers – New Analog

We kicked ourselves last year at The Stick Up’s launch when we realised (too late) that we had neglected somehow to invite Manchester’s Toby Whitebread AKA New Anaolog to participate.
That error was not repeated this year and we suspect that his work is going to go down quite a storm on the trail. A strong new(ish) contender on the UK scene, we’ve not yet met the man behind the work – but it’s great to have somebody involved on the scene that gravitates to the more dancefloor and scratch-deck end of the musical spectrum – notably quite a few reggae stars have been penned and proudly pinned in his portfolio and the penmanship is outstanding (if for some reason you need us to tell you that while two great examples hang either side of this paragraph).

Look out for very smartly rendered portraiture, dynamic, characterful and poised with attitude. Toby’s colour choices are often strong primary selections played off with a flat grey, lavender or similar giving his work a certain vitality (and well-founded confidence).

Screen-printed gigposter : Roots Manuva – New Analog

Click here for the New Analog site

Click here to find more of this year’s Stick Up gig-poster artists

Poster-Maker Profile : Factory 43

Screen-printed gigposter : Indians – Factory 43

Bleep! bzzzzzzzzzzzzz… Bleep!
Factory 43 is a big old clanking, buzzing and bleeping press located in Seattle. Its shadow looms long over the city and the robotic drive-wheels never stop turning, cranking out editions of neatly drafted comical designs.

Bleep!
The last humans seen entering the gates in 2007 were Andrew Saeger and Veronica Velasco – according to concerned family members, they had packed lunchboxes with them but not enough that could have sustained them all this time…

Bleep!
Their signatures still appear on the numbered editions of gig-posters produced however and, whilst a little kooky (read gently twisted), the factory’s wares are still instilled with humour – the robots can’t surely have learnt that could they?

Look for collage and illustration hybrids of a Terry Gilliam-esque world whose populace of unfortunately proportioned wanderers, wildeyed critters, monsters and the fantastical machines they’re operating, don’t always work in harmony…

Screen-printed gigposter : Father John Misty – Factory 43

Click here for the Factory 43 site

Click here to find more of this year’s Stick Up gig-poster artists

Poster-Maker Profile : Scotty Roller

Screen-printed gigposter : The Reverend Horton Heat – Scotty Roller

We were so pleased to get a positive response to our participant invitation from this Nevada based poster-maker … this busy fella was not just selling his wares at this year’s SXSW Flatstock event but was promoting the launch of his latest project “Rock City Posters” which by all accounts will be Reno’s first gigposter gallery.

A thoroughly nice guy, (we hung out at Hamburg’s Reeperbahn Flatstock in 2012 too) Scotty designs and prints posters that are not just simply concert memorabilia, or to use the more pedestrian term “merch”…
…no, his posters actually promote the shows, sell tickets and get bums on seats (and that, in truth, is pretty rare amongst Stick Up exhibitors).
Designing a piece that shouts to passersby, lures them, informs them and then is desirable enough to be bought by them at the show – well, the savvy and the negotiation skills required to do that deserve a good deal of respect. I hate to imagine how many “make the logo bigger” conversations that this guy must have had to take control of!

Bravo Scotty Roller – Roll on!

Look for posters steeped in the tradition of rocknroll show promotion, that display a long learnt balance of showtime information and imagery… though all of the Stick Up exhibits are examples of official band commissions none will “feel” more authentic than Scotty’s.

Tour Poster : Charles Bradley – Scotty roller

Click here for Scotty’s site

Click here to find more of this year’s Stick Up gig-poster artists

Poster-Maker Profile : Adam Pobiak

Screen-printed gigposter : Sleepy Sun – Adam Pobiak

Originally hailing from Pittsburgh, the mighty Adam Pobiak now resides in a giant cave beneath central London, strewn with exotic furs and echoing with the growl of his “Way-Out Thunder Plunder” playlist (which pulses hypnotically through distant speaker-stacks day and night).

After a hearty breakfast (possibly consisting of, judging by his towering frame, a brace of barbecued sightseers that have strayed too near his lair) Adam is fueled and ready to hand-print a couple of editions, each of around 200 posters (that’s quite a physical feat folks – no joke)…
If Adam does decide to stride across The Downs to attend the show, then hang out with him, have a beer and a laugh, but remember to run away in a zigzag fashion if he gets hungry.

Look for strong symmetrical compositions, with a metamorphic figure or visage framed with fluid psychedelic forms… Adam’s posters often employ skilfully mixed blends and are bridled with just enough restraint to not blow your mind entirely beyond repair…

Screen-printed gigposter : The Fabulous Penetrators – Adam Pobiak

Click here for Adam’s site

Click here to find more of this year’s Stick Up gig-poster artists