Show Notes
In this episode I speak with Peter Coyle, formerly of The Lotus Eaters about the design work behind his music. When The Lotus Eaters made the top 20 in 1983 with their debut single, The first picture of you, they did so with sleeves that often used art to represent the band. In the podcast we talk about all of the band's singles, their classic album, No sense of sin and we lift the curtain on the thinking behind the art to find out who created the designs - something that was omitted on the sleeves themselves.
Peter now lives in rural France but we have remained friends from when we first began working together 20 years ago, so the chat is informal, candid and at times humorous as we travel back in time to discuss Liverpool and its burgeoning post-punk music scene of the early eighties.
Peter is still an active musician, recording under many names, most notably, Peter Coyle Fractal. He also has new recordings with Tony Lowe under the name of 22 Layers and we talk a little about their Travelling Alone single towards the end of the episode. This single and others are available on Band Camp.
We finish the episode with an exclusive track called You & I, which we recorded together, Peter wrote the lyrics and sings over a track that I composed a few years ago. The song will be widely available before the end of 2020 but for now, enjoy this exclusive preview.
More from Art on your sleeve
On 19 March 1990, Depeche Mode released what is still considered their finest album - 'Violator'. Anton Corbijn created its sleeve with assistance from graphic designer Richard Smith of Area. The two would go on to collaborate on dozens of sleeves for a wide range of artists, but to celebrate this seminal album's 35th birthday, I spoke to Richard about his creative involvement.
Graphic designer, painter and sleeve artist, Andie Airfix was born in Scotland but grew up in Warrington in the north west of England. After studying art and English literature at Chester teacher training college, he spent almost a year teaching art and English in Southampton. In 1970 he started travelling around the USA, Canada and Mexico, a trip funded by selling psychedelic paintings to poster companies in New York and San Francisco. On his return to the UK, he spent some time in Devon where he concentrated on painting and writing before heading off again to India for a few years.
This episode of the podcast is a bit different... Instead of our usual, reverent look back at examples of the best in record sleeve creativity, we dig into its darkest and often unexplored corners of obscurity to expose some of the worst, or at best, most bizarre record sleeves ever created.
Hello and best wishes for the festive season. My gift to you is a brand new episode of the ‘Art on your sleeve’ podcast. In this episode I speak with Paula Benson and Paul West from Form. There’s a lot that I could say about this dynamic duo and their extraordinarily diverse pop portfolio, but it’s probably easier to let them speak for themselves. So, here’s a bit of an introduction lifted directly from their website.
In this episode, I speak with Andy McCluskey, lead vocalist of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, or OMD, as they are more commonly known. Andy formed OMD with co-writer and occasional co-vocalist, Paul Humphreys, at the tail-end of the 1970s. Their self-titled debut album (and its follow-up) was released in 1980 at the dawn of electronic pop, just as synthesised sounds were easing their way into the mainstream - and this is where our story begins.