I feel very lucky to have lived in the exact time I did. I was 13 when Nirvana released Bleach, Happy Mondays dropped Wrote For Luck and The Stone Roses released their eponymous debut. I was 16 when Suede burst onto the scene, all sleazy sex and grime, and 17 when Oasis blew music wide open as I sat mouth agape watching Liam snarl out Supersonic on The Word. The soundtrack to my student days, 1994 - 1998, was the most exciting time in music for a generation and arguably the last time pop music will have such a cultural impact. I absorbed and embraced it all. Growing up in Edinburgh, there was no way I wasn’t going to move to London as soon as I could, and when I did I landed in Shoreditch at the very time it was becoming the cultural and creative epicentre of the entire world. And I loved it. A beautiful, hedonistic time where music, art, self-expression and passion merged into a delicious, delirious world of experimentation and possibilities….
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It’s easy to look at todays current creative climate and see many fundamental differences that can lead to the conclusion that creativity is on the decline. True creativity requires a sense of freedom. It requires an environment in which to experiment and evolve. It requires a certain fearlessness to enable free expression.
Social media has marked an absolute sea change in the way creativity is expressed and success is measured. Back in the Noughties, when we were stumbling from Dragon Bar to Griffin to Bricklayers, from Trash to Boombox to Joiners, the closest you’d get to appearing on social media would be a bleary eyed photo by Billa on MySpace. Now nights-out are curated works of theatre for almost the sole purpose of self-promotion and popularity. However passed it I am, I can’t help but feel these carefree adventures stumbling from bar, to club, to house-party six days a week (rarely Wednesday if I remember) are more likely to result in a ‘spark’. And are ideas given the opportunity to gestate before being spat out to either drift into obscurity or be commodified by the mega-brands? Their spark neutralised and converted to balance sheets before they are able to shine bright and create a subculture.
In terms of the technology the world is barely recognisable to the one I knew in my 20’s but progress is always a good thing, isn’t it?
I mean the UK is an absolute shambles of course. Capitalism has proved itself to be the ridiculously flawed concept it is. Who would have thought that infinite growth is not sustainable in a finite world. And to add insult our politicians have stopped even hiding their self-serving interests and duplicity.
But hey, you need to be pretty vacant (sorry) to not see this as almost the identical societal environment for the birth of Punk in the 70’s. And did the Teddy Boys not slash and kick their way into existence following the post war depression? It’s only at times of economic and societal struggle that the young generation with nothing to lose take control and create their own future. And as I look back at 1976 with rose tinted glasses, I need to remind myself that the majority of what I retrospectively view as fighting against the system was just the media’s absorption and repackaging. Was our generation really any different?
We are undoubtedly living in some weird Neo-Conservative society nowadays, where offence is often taken rather than given. A brittle time where a clumsy post on social media can create a tub-thumping, baying mob that can destroy an entire career overnight. In this environment I struggle to see where a significant positive artistic change can occur. In a world where ‘likes’ equals popularity and popularity is by it’s very definition mainstream, how does taking the ‘unpopular’ route, the divergent path, ever gain popularity. Social media has created a paradox that by it’s very definition does not allow the grow of the subversive view.
However, although while in 2023 the music has changed, the clothes have changed and the technology has changed I refuse to be drawn into that middle aged trap of claiming that the essence and the spirit of creative power has in any way diminished.
I hope.
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As I sit here now I lament the absolute ‘don’t give a fuck’ energy I used to have. The moments of bliss playing in bands I shared with my best mates, in sweaty rooms, as a new track suddenly clicked. Those times where the world outside didn’t exist. As an artist, on my knees surrounded by paint and scraps of paper, or under the cloak of darkness painting on a wall. Or, as a designer meeting the buyer of the most influential store in the world to show our new collection, the one we put blood, sweat and tears into, and that split second you realise they ‘get it’. Or maybe even better the look in their eyes when they don’t…
Throwing myself headfirst into life has enabled me to create art, design clothes, play in bands, travel the world and generally just live life to the full. To experiment, innovate and create original unique work, unhindered by ‘how you should do it’. These highs of creative expression and incomparable experience has also instilled a burning desire to carry on creating, reinventing and remaining inspired.
It’s so vital to observe and absorb the new creative landscape created by new technology and not fall into the trap of believing that the youth nowadays don’t have the same creative energy. Course they do. It’s just different now and you’re not meant to fully understand their motivations and practices. You know when you were a teenager and viewed your parents with thinly veiled pity and disdain? That.
I’m excited to see how creation evolves and promise to try my very best not to mutter under my breath that it used to be better in my day…
So this is the beginning of FLUX WORDS.
It’s a journal of of the music, art and culture that inspired me. Stories of the many ridiculous situations I got myself into. Observations of the current creative landscape. An archive of the things I gathered along the way.
A testament to jumping into the white-water rapids of life and frantically waving your arms around as you bash your head on every rock on the way down river. It often hurts but it’s a hell a lot of fun!
Stay inspired.
