9 November 2012: David Sheppard
Today, we met David Sheppard, a musician, critic, biographer, and writer. Never heard of him.
He only talked for about forty or fifty minutes, but what he told us had a pretty profound impact on me, which sounds really lame, but I'm not sure how to describe it any other way. He started off by speaking about how he had set out to be a musician, and he talked about his time spent touring around the States, playing in obscure venues to tiny audiences with his band. At the time, he had been given the task of writing about his time on the road, and when the band had arrived back in New York and spoke to their promoter, he had realized that he could write. So, he started writing.
He transitioned from speaking about his early life to speaking about his professional career so seamlessly. He talked about writing for Q magazine, and how he had met up with a friend, Gemma de Cruz, an art writer who had wanted to create a magazine that catered to both art and music. Together, they came up with the Art & Music magazine, which they had independently published for two issues before it was taken up by Charles Saatchi of the Saatchi Gallery.
But really, David's entire point was that, sometimes people do set out to do something, and something else presents itself. Another path, opportunity, whatever. And just because we all have a (rough) idea of what we want to do, while we're working towards that, we could end up doing something different. And it was actually really reassuring to hear that. I'm not entirely sure what I want to do, but to know that there's a chance that I could end up not doing that, but still doing something creative; or, I could end up doing that, and end up doing something else, and then something else on top of that. There are so many possibilities, really. This isn't a straight course that I'm on, which is exciting and inspiring all on its own.
Anyway, David also talked about the Internet/modern technology and its impact on art, particularly that, due to being so easily accessible (in the form of online galleries, downloads, etc.) it sort of takes away from the "specialness" (direct quote) of it. That totally makes sense, in the way that I download mp3s, but feel that it's necessary to buy the hard copies of my favourite bands' albums, so I can hold them, physically flip through the booklets and touch the disks and whatnot.
It was with this idea that he co-founded a Second Language, an independent record label that produces exclusive albums featuring artists of a variety of genres. The album covers/sleeves are hand-made, usually including more than just a CD.
I have to admit, I swooned pretty hard over this part. I like music, I like hand-made stuff.
He brought a couple of examples with him.
Richard Moult is a painter, poet, and musician. This album includes four tracks, and it's presented in a sleeve that includes a painting (postcard size) by Moult, a poem by Moult, and some small, plastic leaves.
Inspired by field recordings that were taken when dollboy, Oliver Cherer, visited a series of abandoned underground stations in London and Berlin.
Inside the case, there are maps of both the London Underground and the Berlin U-bahn, as well as a sort of timetable (I assume, anyway), and a customized ticket.
(To be honest, had I known about this record label at the time that this was released, I would've been all over this album. Not at all surprised but still entirely bummed out to find that it's sold out on the website. )
Music & Migration (Various artists)
This is a compilation about birds, people, and migration. The case was created using recycled materials, and the package contains a sort of transparent migration map.
David gave us a sampler of some upcoming music from the label (which I've been listening to as I've been writing this; it's a collection of ambient tracks and it's amazing.)
I think that it's fair to say that my knowledge of artists/writers/film-makers is pretty dire. I do need to step up the game of researching and learning and finding inspiration (if finding is the right term), but I can say that I'm stoked for the remaining guest lectures this month. The rest of them fall on days that we're in class anyway, so I can't see why I wouldn't be sitting all of them. Massively excited, and it looks like David Sheppard has another follower, of sorts.
Additionally (because it shouldn't get any better, but it does), I may be working with him next year, should I stay on to study my degree in Blackburn. That's pretty cool.