EXCLUSIVE: Helen McCookerybook Club Artyfartle interview (Part Two)

I am particularly impressed with the concept of Helen McCookerybook's Club Artyfartle, so as soon as I had the opportunity, I gave her a ring to see how the most recent one had gone...

Just in case you missed it, you can read Part One here

JON: So are you going to be doing it again?

HELEN: I think I am.  The marketing person contacted me to ask me how it went and I said I wanted to do it again, but I might take it somewhere else. I might do it in south London next time. The same principle, like four people playing new songs and a visiting artist – I’ve probably mentioned this chewing gum painter to you before, have I  mentioned him to you?  You know the blobs of chewing gum you get that people put on the pavement…he does tiny paintings on those.  And I’ve been trying to find him, but he’s – like a lot of people who do really odd things – he’s not, you know, he’s difficult to get hold of.  He did loads and loads of paintings in Barnet where I live, and the council ripped up the paving stones, took him to court for whatever it is people take people to court for when they’re doing stuff like that so he had to give up on Barnet, and he’s based in Muswell Hill mostly now. But I wanted to get him to do a talk, but I didn’t manage to find him in time, so I would quite like to invite him to do one as well.  

JON: That’s fantastic.

HELEN: Probably in January/February something when everybody is really miserable and they need to do something nice.

JON: I think that sounds absolutely wonderful, and if there is anything that I can do to publicise it because I think it’s absolutely wonderful and it’s the sort of thing, if I lived anywhere near London I would come up and join in.  As it is, I am sort of there in spirit so if there’s anything I can do just down the ‘phone or on the other end of the internet, please tell me.

HELEN: Oh I will definitely. I mean, like I say, it was a complete gamble.  I had not idea whether anybody would come. And I think probably the people who organised it were wondering and about mid-way through one of them came up to me and said “Good turnout, isn’t it?”  I was very pleased with it.  I think one of the things was – you know how ambitious everybody is and everyone wants to make a really loud bang and sell millions of things and be razzamatazz and everything, and this was a totally anti-razzamatazz afternoon.  It wasn’t exactly bumbly, because we were organised, you know, and it fitted in.  We had a two-hour slot before the evening’s bands came into the … because it was in a place with quite a big stage, but we were down by the side of the big stage and we stuck a paper tablecloth up on the wall to project Joan’s images onto, and it was very kind of home-made and it wouldn’t stick, because you know that kind of flock wallpaper, you just can’t get Blue-tac to stick to that and we spent ages trying to sort of, you know, and I just said to her, “If it falls down anymore Joan, we’ll just hold it up for you.”  But we had to get out because the evening bands needed to get in and do their sound check and everything, and it was just very completely low-key, non-razzamatazz, you know, and actually I don’t even think we’ve got any photographs of it.  I think maybe a couple of people did take photographs but it wasn’t sort of recorded for posterity – it was like you had to be there or be square basically.

JON: Although, as a journalist, I am disappointed that there aren’t any nice easy photographs that I can cut and paste, I’m glad there aren’t’ because it preserves the integrity of the event.

HELEN: Well I think so and I think everybody kind of got that in a way and, you know, when I did it the first time around they got it the first time around as well.  The first time around I had Viv Albertine, Martin Stephenson and me and Acton Bell and Gina Birch from The Raincoats came and did a talk about bags that she was making. And that was the same, it was like people did it because it wasn’t a bit publicised thing, and they could do it quietly and just enjoy it for a few people that just knew about it, kind of thing. The funny thing was, that a couple of people came who I hadn’t seen for five years, six years and this was the event they chose to come to because it was quiet. I think big, noisy, publicised gigs are just not everybody’s cup of tea, and if you do a sort of quiet thing sometimes people just want to come along and engage with something that’s quiet and intense and not designed to further anyone’s career particularly, you know.

JON: I think it sounds absolutely wonderful.

HELEN: Thank you.

JON: And if there’s anything I can do…I am going to plug this to death,  I’m going to write far more than I should do about this, because I think it’s wonderful. 

HELEN: Well do you know what I think would be nice is to just tell people that they should take the idea and – it’s not my copyright as an idea – people should just do these things – four songwriters, new songs and an artist talking about their art.  It is quite easy to set up and because it’s not a sort of gig with a capital ‘G’ it means that the people coming to see the songwriters know that they are listening to people, maybe being a bit nervous about what they’re singing and trying out new material and stuff, so it’s coming in the spirit or supporting kind of thing.  

JON:  I will do exactly that thing

HELEN: Well thank you, because it would make me really happy if people got into that habit of pulling everything out of the ‘oh yes you’ve got to be famous and putting it into the thing of ‘well here’s something new to listen to, what do you think of this?’ and ‘here’s something new to look at, what do you think of this?’

JON: I think it’s a lovely idea, and yes of course I’ll do it

If you didn't get to London to Club Artyfartle why not check out her Gonzo artist page