Classic_Pop_Issue_30_July_2017

66

Top, UB40’s

Labour Of Love

(1983) and

Baggariddim

(1985), The

Lilac Time’s

Paradise Circus

(1989), China

Crisis’ Working

With Fire And

Steel (1983)

David Sylvian’s

Brilliant Trees

(1984) and

David Sylvian

and Ryuichi

Sakamoto’s

Forbidden

Colours (1983)

Christian. Then it was Tragedy &

Mystery followed by the single

Working With Fire And Steel.

I think the band wanted a picture

of a steelworks for the album and

Gavin Cochrane, the photographer,

heroically drove all the way up to

Manchester to get the right shot.

The illustrations were done by my

girlfriend at the time, Marilyn Leader,

who is now my wife.

I had the freedom to create the

typographic style and layout and

went on to design the singles Wishful

Thinking and Hanna Hanna.

You continued to work with

David Sylvian as a solo artist

including work on his debut

album, Brilliant Trees.

I enjoyed a purple patch working

with David Sylvian, using my

handwriting on Brilliant Trees and

his singles, plus the collaborations

with Ryuichi Sakamoto – Bamboo

Houses/ Music and Forbidden

Colours, that was an exercise in

simple typography.

UB40 were another of your

regular clients during the 80s

and you were working as

part of The Design Clinic.

Up until the release of Labour Of

Love, the band had input into their

sleeves but they were on tour and

Virgin wanted to get something

released as soon as possible. We

pitched the idea to Virgin of creating

an illustration for each song so that

as and when they were released as

singles we would have ready-made

images. Fortunately, on their return

the band liked the concept and we

went ahead.

Was it important that you

enjoyed the music of the

artists that you designed for?

We were lucky enough to work

with one of my favourite bands, The

Lilac Time. It started with a single,

American Eyes and then the album

Paradise Circus followed by a

couple more singles and an album.

What are you doing now and

how do you feel about design

and the music industry today?

I retired last May, having spent 33

years at Clinic. We had the best of

it designing for vinyl, I never really

enjoyed CD packaging. In 2012, I

stopped purchasing CDs and went

back to vinyl. Having been told in

the 80s that vinyl was a thing of

the past it’s so gratifying to see a

resurgence of the format.

In 2008, I started Maverick, an

Americana festival in Suffolk, with

Paul Spencer. Part of my role is to

create the graphics. Maverick keeps

me busy year round, interspersed

with the occasional corporate design

project and record sleeves for

friends. I hope it never ends.

CP30.pop_art.print.indd 66 08/06/2017 09:11