Andy Vella at The British Library

The art of the 'Gothic' album sleeve
Conference Centre The British Library
96 Euston Road London NW1 2DB
Sun 9 Nov 2014, 11:45
Part of Cultures of the Dark Side: A Day of Gothic Music and Fashion

Prolific graphic artists Dave McKean, Vaughan Oliver and Andy Vella share a platform for the first time

A rare chance to hear from three of the world's most talented and prolific graphic artists, sharing a platform for the first time to discuss their work on album covers. Dave McKean has created over 150 stunning sleeves in his career - for bands such as Fear Factory, Front Line Assembly and Skinny Puppy – while Vaughan Oliver rose to fame through his otherworldly masterpieces for 4AD bands The Cocteau Twins, This Mortal Coil, Pixies and countless others. They are now joined by Andy Vella, whose well-known work with The Cure is featured in the new book Obscure.

The British Library has an enormous collection of sound recordings, including 240,000 vinyl LPs. Despite the advent of digital recording these vinyl discs and their equally fascinating covers retain the power to inspire those in the creative industries, from artists to film-makers, musicians and graphic designers. (Thanks Steven)

The art of the 'Gothic' album sleeve Where: Conference Centre
The British Library
96 Euston Road
London
NW1 2DB
Show map      How to get to the Library When: Sun 9 Nov 2014, 11:45 Price:Free Enquiries: +44 (0)1937 546546
boxoffice@bl.uk - See more at: http://www.bl.uk/events/the-art-of-the-gothic-album-sleeve#sthash.hG32lE3f.dpuf

The art of the 'Gothic' album sleeve Where: Conference Centre
The British Library
96 Euston Road
London
NW1 2DB
Show map      How to get to the Library When: Sun 9 Nov 2014, 11:45 Price:Free Enquiries: +44 (0)1937 546546
boxoffice@bl.uk - See more at: http://www.bl.uk/events/the-art-of-the-gothic-album-sleeve#sthash.hG32lE3f.dpuf

The art of the 'Gothic' album sleeve Where: Conference Centre
The British Library
96 Euston Road
London
NW1 2DB
Show map      How to get to the Library When: Sun 9 Nov 2014, 11:45 Price:Free Enquiries: +44 (0)1937 546546
boxoffice@bl.uk - See more at: http://www.bl.uk/events/the-art-of-the-gothic-album-sleeve#sthash.hG32lE3f.dpuf

Pearl painted guitar in Warchild auction

Update (11/05/14): Reminder that the auction is on Sunday, Nov. 9th at 7 pm eastern.

Update (10/13/14): Some new photos.

Today's @bonhams1793 guitar comes from Pearl Thompson. Visit http://t.co/wAk7LcGoQu for more information. pic.twitter.com/d3auuWK9Ct
— War Child Canada (@WarChildCan) October 13, 2014

From Phaidon (Thanks @caIigari): There’s a fine art to the charity auction. Pairing a good cause with worthy goods and suitably talented contributors is no easy feat. Yet War Child USA appears to have pulled it off.

The philanthropic organisation, dedicated to helping children caught in regions of conflict, has taken 16 Canadian Carparelli guitars and had them customised by a series of famous names from the music, film and art worlds.

Sterling Ruby, Iggy Pop, Michael Stipe, Gus van Sant, Shepard Fairey, ex-Cure guitarist Pearl (formerly Porl) Thompson, Muse frontman Mat Bellamy, the artist Ginger Gilmour (ex-wife of Pink Floyd's Roger), Canadian painter Michael Adamson, and British artist and filmmaker Sam Taylor-Johnson have all reworked an instrument.

Rumor: More festival shows next year?

From a journalist at Les Inrockuptibles:

Tiens tiens, The Cure jouera à quelques festivals l'été prochain... #thecure
— JD Beauvallet (@JDBeauvallet) November 7, 2014

"Well, well, The Cure will play some festivals next summer..."

Update (11/08/14): Now JD says that some festival offers have been made to the band, but they haven't answered yet. I'm sure I'm not the only one (horrible song) who hopes for an end to the festival circuit, and more real Cure shows next year (in cities other than London). (Thanks @guillaume_g_z)

Splintered in Her Head play Wellington, NZ

"Tomorrow night (Saturday 8 November) in Wellington, New Zealand, our band Splintered In Her Head perform the albums 'Seventeen Seconds', 'Faith' and 'Pornography' live at Bodega, with guests E/N/T and DJ Simon Sweetman, plus Cure costume prizes from our sponsors Slow Boat Records, Hunters and Collectors and Aro Video." (Thanks Michel)

Facebook event page

Rumor: '4:14' in November? Nope

Yeah, I know, here we go again. But this Spanish website has a release date of Nov. 30th, 2014 (a Sunday?) for '4:14 Scream'. I wouldn't put too much faith in this just yet. Now that the Riots are over, maybe we can get an update from Robert?
(Thanks @hispacure)

Update (11/06/14): And to no one's surprise, this was false. They've now changed the date to 2015. Yeah, still not believing it. If it said 2018, maybe. :)

The Cure play London on Dec. 21st, 22nd & 23rd!

Update (Nov. 7th, 2014): 3rd show added on Dec. 23rd!

From The Cure on Facebook (and now on the website, too):

The Cure return to Hammersmith Eventim Apollo for a clutch of Christmas concerts on Sunday 21 and Monday 22 December 2014.

The band will be performing a 150 minute show playing songs drawn from their entire 37 year old catalogue including deep cuts, pop songs, fan favourites and surprises galore...

Reprising the role they performed at the same venue 30 years ago each concert will also feature And Also The Trees as support.

These are 'Christmas Specials' not to be missed!!!

TICKETS ON SALE FROM 8AM FRIDAY 7TH NOVEMBER

Tickets (max 4 per household) available from:

Eventim Apollo: (no counter sales, phone and Internet bookings only)
www.eventim.co.uk and 0844 249 4300

Bookings Direct: www.bookingsdirect.com, 0844 581 4940

Articles about this: Slicing Up Eyeballs, Life4Ever, XFM, Clash, Gigwise, Digital Spy, NME