::: XRAY STUDIOS :::

He is the law.

2012-01-25T12:22:00.000+11:00

My entry in last weeks Ozcomics drawing challenge. I went with a Hollywood adaptation dissing theme for my Judge Dredd entry.

Holidays out of the sun.

2012-01-22T02:16:00.001+11:00

I have just returned from a very relaxing holiday that included pursuits such as swimming, tennis and general healthy outdoor living. Of course as a dedicated indoorsman I still found time to include a Community DVD marathon and a bit of face time with my newly acquired iPad. Specifically seeing if it could operate as a decent drawing tablet with the help of an AluPen I picked up cheaply off the ebays and an app called Sketch Club. My choice to use Sketch Club was pretty arbitrary as there are a lot of decent looking drawing apps out there but it was cheap [$3 on the US iTunes store], has a nice range of brushes and most impressively includes layers with blend modes, photoshop style. It also has a cool feature that allows you to create a time lapse video of your illustration being created [I love watching other artists do these] and quite a thriving online community that you can upload and display your art with fellow digital scribblers.

It all worked pretty well. The obvious downside is that iPads are not pressure sensitive like proper drawing tablets which is a major bummer for truly natural looking illustration purposes. To compensate some of the Sketch Club brushes have some nice organic variations in line width which can offer neat results. I also had a recurring problem with my resting palm making the iPad think I was making a double finger pinch which rotated the canvas [Another cool feature of the app when summoned intentionally]. I ended up working around this by zooming into the area I was working on close enough that I didn't need my palm resting on the sensor glass to reach it.

Overall it was pretty cool. It's not nearly as godlike as my Waccom tablet but you can't beat the portability and I kind of like being forced to work within limitations and seeing what I can come up with.

Speaking of which, here's what I came up with including a couple of progress videos to "illuminate my process" as one would say if one were an annoying art wanker.

Once you go Bat you'll never go back.

2012-01-11T00:48:00.001+11:00

This week's Ozcomics challenge theme is Comic book romance. I've gone a little outside the box here [not as outside as my original homoerotic Batman and Robin concept] and honed in on Adam West's mighty 60s tv batman as opposed to the comic book version. Specifically the game changing moment when Bat was charmed by a groovy chick onto the dance floor where he lit rip with some almighty dance moves. Let us revisit this...

I hope Christopher Nolan somehow works this scene into The Dark Night Rises. I'm sure Christian Bale would be up for it - he seems to enjoy a laugh.

Anyway, here is my pictorial tribute to this great moment in Batman lore.

Metal Elf.

2012-01-11T00:35:00.003+11:00

Here's an illustration created for no better reason than to imagine an Elf listening to Elf's self titled album whilst making use of the hallucinogenic qualities of Elfland's bountiful supply of magic mushrooms.

Crazy like a bat.

2012-01-02T00:16:00.000+11:00

Each week Ozcomics has a cool super hero themed draw off - If there is a better use of my time I'd like to hear about it. My first entry is for this week's theme of Batgirl...

What kept my barge bouyant in 2011...

2011-12-31T21:25:00.000+11:00

So 2011 has seen a bunch of stuff happen and a certain percentage of it has been rather good. Here's what I deemed raddest subject to my own particular evaluation matrixes, neatly ordered in the popular "list" format, haute tension style.

MY FAVOURITE FILMS OF 2011

10. RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES

There was a bit of a gulf between the best and worst of the newest Apes instalment. The first half got bogged down way too much in the human's stories and their so called feelings which I was supposed to care about more than apes smashing their way out of ape jail and going all Kong on humankind's arse. Once it focused more on Caesar and his simian colleagues I was on board in a big way. The ape effects were awesome and the final showdown on the bridge evoked the radness of Conquest of the Planet of The Apes.

9. HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN

I happened to rewatch the first two Robo Cop films around the time of seeing this which served as a great comparison piece to evaluate how well Hobo nailed the whole 80s exploitation B movie genre. I'm here to congratulate it on achieving full marks. The look, the score and the editing were all bang on. There was no self conscious winking at the camera/audience, just unrepentant violence and bone headed vigilantism just like it was written in the video nasty scrolls. Crazy and entertaining.

8. KUNG FU PANDA 2

Being a parent of 2 young kids and an animation fan means I'm some kind of authority by default on contemporary animated films. I see pretty much every one multiple times, can assess them on a technical level, how much they bother engaging me and other adults and what notes they strike with kids. The thing that stands out at the moment is we're living in a golden age for these sorts of films. It wasn't that long ago there were heaps of shoddy low budget, minimum effort projects lurching along the assembly line [Hows it going Barnyard?]. These days it's genuinely difficult to discern the best with the sheer volume of high quality stuff being produced and KF2 is another fine example. Gorgeous animation and design, engaging story, attention to detail and rollicking action. A worthy follow up to the original and something I will happily re-watch.

7. RANGO
Whilst it's awesome to be living in the aforementioned golden age of animated kids films, it's even better that offbeat stuff like this is getting made and finding an audience. The character and set design in this film was so in my wheel house the wheels needed to be moved outside to make room. I loved the bizarre and often dark plot and the brief appearances of the beautifully realised cartoon Hunter S Thompson and Clint Eastwood.

6. SOURCE CODE
Whilst not as esoteric and mesmerising as his first film Moon, Duncan Jones's follow up was still a very solid chunk of mainstream sci fi goodness. The 12 Monkeys parallels were a little hard to ignore, but ignore them I did and found it all pretty damn entertaining, right down to Jeffrey Wright's quirky rendering of the pronunciation of the title phrase.

5. DRIVE
This instantly falls into the category many of my fave films sit in - Pulpy, familiar sounding stories elevated by a director imprinting them with their own distinctive kick arse style. Drive was filled with cool little touches that I was still thinking of days after seeing it. It's the polar opposite of the feeling that something was created by a committee trying to copy a previously successful film/genre. Albert Brooks is great as the Jewish mob boss and provides an extra layer of fabness by making possible the shutting of ones eyes and imagining the film's villain is Hank Scorpio.

4. SUPER 8
This wowed me way more than I expected as I'd constantly been non plussed by JJ Abrams gear previously despite trying and expecting to like it. Super 8 on the other hand hit all the right notes on my cinema bugle. Sure I'm probably in the perfect demographic to get sucked in by the 80s Spielbergian nostalgia [and I was] but the central story was engaging and fast moving and the characters [especially the kids] funny and likeable. Almost the polar opposite of how Cloverfield's twenty something protagonists were meh and boring. I also love a good film within a film and The Case was a total hoot.

3. ATTACK THE BLOCK
A tight, fast paced action flick with some greatly appreciated effort put into creating interesting, multi dimensional and believable protagonists [the lack of which is the most common and annoying fault with action films imo]. I also really liked the creature designs which is important in this kind of film and Nick Frost's involvement didn't hurt either.

2. BRIDESMAIDS
I have been quietly championing Kristen Wiig for a while now, and though still not a household name in Australia I'm happy this film has ensured she probably will be in the next few years. The cesspit of laziness that is the romantic comedy genre should hang it's head in shame [if a cesspit has a head, or shame] upon seeing how a film like this can mine so much comedy from situations and characters that usually make sane movie goers kick their eyes in the balls. The jewellery shop scene between Kristen and the school girl was killer and yet another example of how genuinely funny the word "cunt" can be if used properly in a comedic setting [see also Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz - Edgar Wright is rude].

1. BELLFLOWER
What a whacked out, artfully blurred, dirty lensed ball of crazy this was! These kind of mumble-core, plot-lite indie films can often find cause me to quickly lose interest and/or get angry but this had me riveted till the final shot. It was basically a twisted twenty something relationship / coming of age drama that somehow sandwiched in some serious Mad Max festishism which as a serious Mad Max fetishist, had my undivided attention. Seeing it was the most unique, giddy and cuckoo movie experience I've had in a while.

Films I haven't had a chance to see yet that I suspect may have challenged the top 10:

Hugo, The Adventures of Tin Tin, Martha Macey May Marlene, Shame.

Films I saw that were the opposite of my favourites: Your Highness, Cars 2, The Adjustment Bureau.

MY FAVOURITE ALBUMS OF 2011
The criteria for the list below is simply albums that I discovered and got into during 2011. Some came out this year, some are over ten years old. That's how this category rolls.

10. JJ SPEEDBALL: SOUTHSIDE WORLDWIDE
In a fairer world JJ Speedball would this year have swooped onto the ARIAs stage via a Bon Jovi Bungee rope to accept his lifetime Rock and Roll achievement award. Sadly, the world is unfair and, yet perhaps it is this very unfairness that is necessary to help generate the cherry fuelled gold that JJ does. Maybe a critically loved, multi award winning Speedball would now be releasing jazz and spoken word records instead of continuing to keep it real, overheating select Brisbane hotels and generally saving rock and roll.

Primo Track: Very Cherry Street [nepotism alert - I made this video]

9. BORIS: HEAVY ROCKS

Hey another of my fave albums of the year actually released in 2011 - I totally have my finger on the pulse! Ha ha - but seriously whilst Boris did release an album called Heavy Rocks in 2011, they also released an album of that name in 2002 which is the one I'm talking about [Though both are great]. Yes sir we're in experimental art rock lets have two albums of the same name territory! A little outside my comfort zone but a zone I enjoyed a lot regardless. Boris toy with genres as casually and easily as I do similes and have dabbled in everything from noise, doom and J pop, though this album is pretty much balls to the wall stoner rock. The production is an unrelenting series of punches in the face and has me primed for their tour Australian tour in 2012. Bring it on!

Primo Track: Rattlesnake

8. ELECTRIC EEL: SHOCK BEAT ME
Sticking with the theme of Japan based rock supremacy, I only stumbled upon Electric Eel Shock this year and the fact it took me this long to discover them led to a forehead slap that could be heard in Tokyo.. which is where the band are from!! [No idea why the NME don't return my calls]. The band joyfully straddle the line between old school metal, punk and garage with the lack of self consciousness that only Japanese bands can effortlessly pull off. Did I mention the drummer plays with 4 sticks in the nude? Well he totally does.

Primo track: Bastard [Live version below possesses extra fabness]

7. SWEATMASTER: SHARP CUT
I got into these guys via Last FM's recommendation matrix. They are a tight three piece with a frisky, stabby style [Hello? NME?] similar to the The Hives. If that wasn't enough to win my favour they have a song called I am a Demon and I Love Rock and Roll. So there's that too.

Primo track: I Am a Demon and I Love Rock and Roll

6. BABY MACHINE: APPETITE FOR REPRODUCTION
Being a riot grrrl isn't the coolest thing anymore. Especially when you are also a forty year old dude driving kids to school in a white station wagon. Yet I still proudly sport my docs and flannos and flog L7 albums all the time so just try and tell me I'm not. Thus it was with great delight that I discovered this Wollongong 3 piece who delivered some awesomely hostile 3 piece fuzzed up chick rock directly to my wheel house. Lots of catchy, angry stuff and the incredible achievement of creating a lyric that makes the F6 to Wollongong sound cool [I've driven down it and it is not].

Primo track: Wollongong

5. THE JIM JONES REVUE: BURNING YOUR HOUSE DOWN
Getting hit with TJJR's manic overdriven craziness makes me imagine and envy how 50s kids felt like when Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis were blowing their minds back at rock and roll ground zero. Whilst not quite as out of the blue, The Revue's current day emergence still has an element of that danger and other worldliness and therefore provide the only substitute that will come close. I'm seeing them in a weeks time at The Annandale and expecting awesomeness.

Primo track: High Horse

4. DIAMONDSNAKE: ??
Not really an actual album but a collection of songs briefly posted for free on the band's Facebook page, this nonetheless rocked my socks right off. The band's official bio states Diamondsnake combine "such disparate influences as rock, hard rock, metal, and heavy metal" which pretty much says all you need to know. The singer performed on the truly godlike Tragedy: All Heavy Metal Tribute to The Bee Gees album and the guitarist is Moby! No kidding!!

Primo track: Woman [Yeah]

3. THE MONSTERS: POP UP YOURS
This bad boy dropped in September and came to my attention after being championed by the awesome blog/podcast Long gone Loser. The Monsters are a Swiss garage rock band who have been kicking around for over 25 years. Based on this release they have somehow studiously avoided the notions of slowing down and/or becoming lame and Pop Up Yours has the fire and intensity of a much younger band. I'm enthusiastically traversing their back catalogue at the moment.

Primo track: Blow Um Mau Mau

2. RED PLANET: LETS DEGENERATE
I stumbled across this album via an iTunes genius recommendation, a function that has fluctuated from being really helpful to not really working at all this year [I was recommended a Best of Black n Blue compilation unchanged for about 2 months straight]. It's a sweet hard rocking power pop platter with some choice keyboard work that would totally fog the spectacles of my old Nancy Vandal colleague Tess. If you were ever after a snottier, more amphetamine loaded version of the Cars, this is your disc.

Primo track: Get Back At You
Get Back At You

1. TRICKY WOO: SOMETIMES I CRY
My fave album of the year is also the oldest. I was right in the middle of a garage rock band love affair in 1999 but somehow never heard of these guys. Their discography spans a hugely diverse range of styles dipping into 60s, 70s and 80s influences, all done with an ease that might annoy a more jealousy inclined musician. Sometimes I Cry is in the garagey end of the pool and is an urgent, high energy tour de force of non stop rocking. Not only my favourite album of this year but pushing into my all time list.

Primo track: Fly The Orient

MY FAVOURITE TV SHOWS OF 2011

THE WALKING DEAD
Despite the significant scorn this series seems to generate, I'm still tentatively on board with it. Sure the characters make some dumb decisions [lowering Glenn down the well being the nadir of the group's so called survival strategies], and the zombies manage to often appear suddenly given their mindless shuffling nature but the production values are great, adventures compelling enough and actual zombie effects awesome.

GAME OF THRONES
The fantasy tv series for people that like their fantasy based in reality. What kind of craziness is that? Whatever it is, I dig it. Epic scale, swords and sandal adventure that focuses on characters whilst still meeting the high HBO standards of quality sex and violence. Great first season.

BOARDWALK EMPIRE
In a Mad Men-less environment this show met my period piece needs. Deadwood-esque in many ways, the show boasts fantastic complex characters, wavering moral compasses and awesome set / costume design. Whats more the vast web of lies, burnt bridges and bitter rivalries suggest the best is yet to come.

The 2011 Xray Studios dream journal.

2011-12-22T17:05:00.001+11:00

Here's a collection of things I drew, animated or shot in 2011. The soundtrack is a work in progress from my new band The Neptune Power Federation and will appear on the debut album in 2012. The video is in 1080p HD so you can totally full screen that bad boy.

Love making secrets of the ancients

2011-11-29T23:03:00.001+11:00

Behold the ancient scrolls originally recorded by the unholy order of the Shaman of Poontang. Their verses have since been transcribed and set to music by an exciting new rock act known to sexually active Wizards and Maidens as The Neptune Power Federation.

Fail Satan!!

2011-11-11T00:12:00.001+11:00

It seems to me in these uncertain economic times one of the few fail-safe methods of ensuring fiscal soundness is to start another band. Or at least that is what the financial advisor inside my head has suggested and who am I to argue with a head partner from Tipton & Downing Financial Planning Strategies and Wealth Mapping?

So form a new band I did. Grammy engravers, start getting accustomed to the spelling of a fearsome new outfit I like to call The Neptune Power Federation. The NPF [as the kids are already texting] like to perform fuzzed up NWOBHM tinged punk rock with a subtle stoner flavour and richly lathered in the occult. Riffs are typically judged successful if they roughly evoke the manner of a large inbred man-child chopping down a tree.

The band features an international lineup of players over-experienced in the ways of rock who collectively have performed in bands like Your Mother, All You Can Eat, Frenzal Rhomb, Mortal Sin, Demolition High Style, Nancy Vandal as well as winning an international air guitar championship. You'll just know them by their way wicked band names The Black Plagums [vox], Inverted CruciFox [gtr], Search and DesTroy [gtr], Jaytanic Ritual [bass] and Mr Styx [drums].

Whats more, this will be the first musical project I am taking the reigns of in my new role as world renowned super producer. Armed with an in the box Pro Tools system and an unshakable faith in my ability to learn stuff without being taught, I will be mixing the debut NPF album here at the Xray Studios sound lab. Sounds like a bit of a crazy idea huh? Well let me tell you a story about another guy from a very long time ago who people also thought had a lot of "crazy ideas". The story is from a little book you might have heard of called the Bible, and the guys name is Satan, and he has complete faith in me and super digs this band.

A debut song is a bees wang away from hitting the internets, and the complete album sometime early next year, hopefully on some kind of sweet vinyl. Until then, allow me to distract you after the jump with a bunch of artwork I have knocked up during NPF fuelled psychosis. You can also visit Facebook and become friends with the band and have future dealings with us. Welcome to the Federation.

Too soon or too late?

2011-10-31T00:39:00.000+11:00

The rather ace AMC The Walking Dead series is back on and I'm loving it. Here I tribute it via a double pronged assault of lame pun and Michael Jackson humour.

Merry Halloween everybody.

Engage filth protocols.

2011-09-01T19:21:00.000+10:00

Bow down and praise ye ancient gods of smut - It's time for the time honoured, multi award winning Xray Studios Swear Word of The Month™ announcement!! Which worthy entrant will have their carefully chosen cuss word immortalised* on the Xray Studios masthead and walk away with an awesome hand drawn piece from the classic Profane Robots of The 23rd Century series?!? The winner is....
Mjem Walshes with the seemingly bawdy but actually quite innocent "Giant Hairy Nevus". Try it yourself - It is an extremely hardy and versatile obscenity that would suit a variety of situations. I find for best results, use it where one would normally say "Christ on a Bike" or "By the beard of Zeus" if you are Ron Burgundy.

Mjem takes home the above piece of fine art - the 9th in the series. Only 3 remain!! To be in the running for next month's prize head on over to the Xray Studios Facebook page and post your potential prize winner. For September entries I would like to see names of people or places that also double as swear word. Like Rod for instance. Go get em Tigers.

*For 1 month

Strictly for the birds.

2011-08-03T17:52:00.000+10:00

Local citizens leisurely morning in a picturesque Canberra park is interrupted by what appears to be a small group of tramps desperately trying to escape the deranged voice within their heads. They run, arms flailing from one end of the grounds to another. One of their number vomits in the bushes while others appear to pass out on available park benches. Is it the decline of western civilisation? Or simply the glamourous set of the new Frenzal Rhomb music video Bird Attack?

It's both!!

Expletive saluted.

2011-08-02T11:21:00.000+10:00

Another month, another automaton let's it's feelings be known with some colourful language. That's right, announcement enthusiasts - it's time to unveil the Xray Studios Swear Word of The Month™!! Whose entry will take pride of place on the Xray Studios website header all August and take home a hand drawn rendering of their profanity? Celebrity guest judge Malcolm Tucker has decreed it be....

"Cock Alley" by foul mouthed correspondant Amelia!! As you will recall, August entries were required to have an olde world charm thus her prize is this steam punk influenced number. I'm particularly fond of this entry and believe it would fit perfectly in a context such as "Damn it all Shaftsbury! The entire expedition has gone up cock alley!"

Have you got what it takes to impress our Obscenity Judges? You too can take home a one off hand drawn piece of the Profane Robots of the 23rd Century series, lovingly mounted in the best frame my local $2 shop stocks. September entries are required to be strictly medical terms - No slang allowed! In short, something one could call a colleague at the pub to the amusement of all, but uttered in a doctors surgery, wouldn't raise an eyebrow [unless I was the Doctor in which case I'd probably piss myself]. Think "rectal prolapse" or "pubis" etc. Post your entries on the Xray Studios Facebook wall and let's get this party started as Pink once said.

Accidentally Cherry Street.

2011-07-17T21:13:00.000+10:00

I first encountered the rock and roll force of nature that is J.J Speedball on a mid 90s Nancy Vandal tour of the colourful northern city of Bris Vegas. J.J was playing with his old band Scrumfeeder and within seconds of seeing them performing I could tell we were in B.F.F. territory. Speedball's long hair was in school girl plaits, and the entire band was decked out in South Sydney jumpers and ludicrous face paint. There songs were just as short and stupid as ours and sure enough, post gig we all hit it off.

Our two bands have played a bunch of shows in the subsequent years together, and no matter how sparsely attended, J.J would be rocking at or above 150%, and deliver between song banter that made Paul Stanley seem like a timid wall flower. When not playing, Speedball would often act as our walk on M.C. delivering inspiring messages pertaining to "blowing the roof off this joint" and/or "setting the night on fire". He's also the kind of bloke that would think nothing of selflessly participating in a hard hitting interview on great hair metal albums of the late 80s in a Brissie pub toilet.

When he asked me to knock up an animated music video for a song from his recent hard rocking opus Southside Worldwide I was on the case within moments. Here are the results.....

I've never been so insulted.

2011-07-08T10:17:00.000+10:00

Great news major announcement enthusiasts - It's time to announce yet another Xray Studios Swear Word of The Month™! Last month I asked for entries that combined two words to create a foul mouthed compound masterpiece. What followed was simply outstanding and a literary equivalent of the human centipede. There can of course be only one winner, and as usual they will take away a framed piece of hand drawn original art in the form of #6 in the Profane Robots of The 23rd Century series. That winner is....

Dale McLean and his magnificently compiled "Cock Pirate". He wins this illustration of a dual headed protocol droid shortly before a factory recall.

For the August swear word of the month, I shall require a ye olde swear word. Something that may have been uttered in Victorian era England by an aristocrat whose gramophone just exploded. Now jump to it lest my cane meet your britches!!

Bangkok Shocks, Saigon Shakes, Soft Toy Rocks

2011-06-15T15:12:00.000+10:00

I recently became involved in a project called Teddy Rock, which is a new kids album full of traditional nursery rhymes performed in a variety of punk rock musical styles. Teddy Rock is the brainchild of Anton Hughes [who will surely forever be remembered as the Malcolm McLaren of soft toy entertainment] and has been picked up by the ABC who will be releasing the CD and DVD this August. I confidently recommend the album to parents like me who have discovered voices in their head instructing them to dismember the Wiggles or for anyone who wonders what The Farmer Takes A Wife would sound like if sung by Glenn Danzig.

The DVD contains 18 music videos I have been diligently creating over the past several months and the end result looks pretty neat. "I'll be the judge of that" I hear you interject, so to back up my bold assertion here's a few stills from the various songs. Click on an image to embiggen.

IIIIOOOOOIIIOOOOIIIIIO.

2011-06-01T20:10:00.001+10:00

Short of keyboard cat releasing a new album of Limp Bizkit covers, there is little that makes the internet totally wee it's britches with excitement more than the Xray Studios swear word of the month announcement. This month is no exception with celebrity judges Richard Pryor and Ian Chappell spending 34 sleepless nights pouring over a bevy of high quality entries.

They have decreed the award goes to Jase Woolmer whose football themed left field entry "Carlton" ignored most of the requirements of the competition however outside the box maverickism has never been discouraged at Xray Studios. It is also worth noting that Jase is a long time collaborator in numerous Xray Studios productions where financial renumeration has fallen significantly below industry standard [even for such classics as the IMDB listed You Are So Dead which took in over 180 million dolars at the box office]. Hopefully receiving this one off piece of framed sweary robo art [part of the prestigious Profane Robots of The 23rd Century Series] will mean we are now square.

For next months contest, I have taken a leaf out of my son's kindergarden teacher's approach to news day [I'm sure she will be delighted to be influencing the structure of an online swearing competion], and give some parameters for entries to maintain interest and focus in the whole operation. The Xray Studios July Swear Word Of The Month must be a compound swear word - i.e. combining two words to make a double headed cuss beast that would make a nanna blush and a Victorian police officer reach for the capsicum spray. What words will you choose to fuse together? Do you select two established profanities, disregard the laws of nature and forge a frankensteinesque super expletive? Or do you combine a regular obscenity with a totally unrelated word such as Nancy Vandal guitarist JJ La Moore did when formulating "dildo egg"? Do you choose two seemingly innocent words that together make Glengarry Glen Ross seem like an edited for christian television version of Highschool Musical? These are the choices you must make to run with the bulls in the Xray Studios SWOTM challenge. Now go my pretties... and fly!!

I'm moving into Del Boca Vista, lock, stock, and barrel.

2011-05-25T17:07:00.001+10:00

Sure there have been some great art exhibitions in the past, and yeah some of them probably had pretty nifty titles. But they have all been put to shame by the maverick genius's at ArtHive and the forthcoming Art Vanderlay Exhibition. The show will feature a bunch of Seinfeld themed pieces [including this Mandelbaum themed gem from my colleague Grant Hunter] when it kicks off this Friday. There will also be prizes for best Seinfeldian dress and an Elaine dance contest. Sweet fancy Moses!

I have contributed a couple of pieces including this one based on a pair of my numerous favourite peripheral characters...

So if you're in Newcastle this weekend and are a fan of awesomeness, you would have to be a complete hipster doofus not to attend.

Wash your mouth out with soap.

2011-05-02T14:04:00.001+10:00

It's the 2nd day of a new month and we all know what that means - It's 48 hours after the announcement of the May Xray Studios Swear Word Of The Month™ should have taken place! Cynics will suggest the tardiness was due to incompetence and/or sloth on my behalf but they couldn't be more wrong. This months entries were the filthiest yet and our panel of judges [including Deadwood brothel owner Al Swearingen, 80s comedian Andrew Dice Clay and some crazy homeless guy] were locked away in the judgement chamber for LITERALLY DAYS trying to reach consensus. At the end of their deliberations the winning entry was....

"Moist" by wharfie mouthed Nancy Vandal enthusiast Amelia. She wins piece 4 in the prestigious Profane Robots of The 23rd Century original artwork series, depicting a fearsome C-5 Assault Droid stepping in a dog shit. This framed masterpiece will be winging it's way to Amelia's pool room to be admired by international art collectors and drunken bozos alike for decades to come. For your chance to win your own piece of foul mouthed robo-art read how to enter this thrilling monthly contest.

April Swear Word Of The Month!

2011-03-31T00:31:00.000+11:00

April is upon us, making it time to unveil the brand new Xray Studios Swear Word of The Month™!! Which means it's also time to unveil part 3 in the ridiculously exclusive Profane Robots of The 23rd Century illustration series and the lucky punter who receives this original piece of obscene droid art.

This months winner is Nathan from picturesque Wollongong NSW for his vaguely uncouth suggestion of "Cleft". His framed one of a kind heirloom is on it's way right now.

If you think you have what it takes to win the May contest, head on over to the Xray Studios Facebook page and submit your so called best.

The decade in Frenzal T-Shirts.

2011-03-24T11:59:00.002+11:00

Australian punk rock heritage listed items Frenzal Rhomb have been banging away at their so called craft for nigh on 20 years. And for a decade's worth of that time I have been knocking out t-shirt designs for their bawdy and heavily inebriated clientele. The various low brow concepts the band has thrown up in this period appear to be part of a challenge to find the point at which their fans would find a design too stupid, crass or tasteless to buy and wear. The point has yet to be reached, and their fans threaten to never crack.

I'm not sure if this is every design I've ever done, but it's pretty close. Behold, the gallery of Rhombwear [Click on a design to embiggen]...

BIRD ATTACK

WHITE TRASH, WHITE TRASH, WHITE TRASH & WHITE TRASH

POWDERFINGERED

FOR THOSE ABOUT TO SUCK

BOHEMIAN LEPROSY

THE BOYS ARE BACK IN BROWN

BLAME IT ON THE BOOGIE

AUSTRIAN TOUR: ONE VENUE, EVERY NIGHT, 25 YEARS

MAGGOT HEAD'S BACK: LET'S ROCK!

NO WAY TO RELIEVE A TROUBLED MIND

FUCK YOU AND YOUR STUPID BAND [1]

FUCK YOU AND YOUR STUPID BAND [2]

GOON WOLF

FOREVER MALCOLM YOUNG [1]

FOREVER MALCOLM YOUNG [2]

GABBA GABBA YOU SUCK

WORLD'S FUCKEDEST CUNT

I'M A BACKWARDS USELESS PIECE OF DOGSHIT [AND I VOTE]

DON'T TOUCH THE RABBIT

AT LEAST WE KNOW THAT RUSSELL CROWE'S BAND'S A FUCKING PILE OF SHIT

NOW WE'RE COOKING WITH BALLS

FRENZAL RHOMB TOLD ME THEIR BOYS COULDN'T SWIM

DICKHEAD

SING US A SONG YOU'RE THE PIANO CUNT

CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DICKHEAD

CHECK THIS OUT!

ARSEFACE: THE MUSICAL

IF YOU'RE NOT WITH US YOU'RE WITH THEM

EVERY STROKE IS THE GRAVY STROKE

PARTY TIME IS DANGER TIME

VILLAGE IDIOTS

JUST BECAUSE IT'S SOAP DOESN'T MEAN IT'S CLEAN

There's No "I" in "Has Been"

2011-03-18T20:55:00.001+11:00

Tomorrow sees everyone's favourite rock and roll marital aids Nancy Vandal back in action at the 2011 Monster Session at Sydney Uni. NV shows are few and far between these days and one can forget just how volatile and dangerous the band can be. However by taking the correct precautions, punters can minimise their chances of common NV gig pitfalls such as demonic possession, bad shout management, and death.

Here are some tips to ensure you enjoy a safe and enjoyable evening.

1. Birth Control.

NV boast 10000 times the level of sexual potency of your garden variety rock star and require no physical contact to render suitable mates pregnant. Unprepared Punters may find themselves with child as the result of a sultry gaze, blistering lead break or fumbled schooner glass. Male and females are equally at risk so remember your chastity belts people.

2. Absence of light.

God fearing punters should be warned Beezlebub attends every NV concert. He can be seen pressed against the stage nodding approvingly at the bands unholy sonic sermon and pleading for autographs post gig. Keep your soul tucked away safely in a fanny pack doused in holy water and avoid signing pacts or contracts of any kind. Best leave all quills, pens or markers of any kind at home.

3. Industry Buzz.

NV shows invariably attract a swarm of high flying record executives desperate to get the bands signatures on a lucrative record contract. Unfortunately for them NV's heroic punk rock ideals make such overtures a complete waste of time. However punters caught amidst the fruitless A&R feeding frenzy need to be careful lest they inadvertently get signed to a 6 album deal with Casablanca Records. See the advice given in [2] re writing devices.

In summary. Nancy Vandal gigs are a highly charged sexual environment, with elements of the occult and unsupervised supernatural forces seeking to bring about the end of days via sonic mind control and trained bats. Just use your common sense and have fun!

Lemmington Steele

2011-03-08T23:08:00.000+11:00

In celebration of Motorhead's forthcoming visit to our shores, a dabble at the infinitely drawable Lemmy Kilmister...

The envelope please......

2011-02-28T21:15:00.001+11:00

It's the highlight of the award show calendar. A glittering showcase that has industry bigwigs and star struck punters breathlessly hanging on the result. That's right - the Xray Studios Swear Word of The Month announcement is here! This interent phenomenon sees you the punter vie with like minded filth mongers for a chance to have your profanity appear in this website's masthead for an ENTIRE MONTH, delighting literally several visitors with it's wit and brilliance.

And the winner is....

After careful deliberation the academy have decided the March SWOTM will be awarded to Rob Walsh for his simple and elegant "Passage". Walshy walks away with an original piece of Fox art in the form of #2 in the Profane Robots of The 23rd Century series, painstakingly rendered in artline pens and mounted in the finest polished Scandanavian oak frame GoLo has to offer.

Admire the craftsmanship

Avid followers of this competition will no doubt be aware Walshy also provided the cussing for the month of January before the Xray Studios SWOTM was the prestigious prize generating showcase it has since become. They may then assume this month's accolade is some sort of clumsy retrospective acknowledgement for previously unrewarded genius ala Scorsese's The Departed Oscar. Xray Studios management bristles at this imagined accusation and wishes to denounce all who question the integrity of it's monthly expletive game show.

Think you can do better? Believe you have been robbed by a King's Speech-esque crowd pleaser while your more challenging and risky blue word or phrase went unrewarded? Then focus your bitterness and revenge fantasies on the SWOTM for April! Submit your entry on the Xray Studios Facebook page and a hand drawn piece of robo-cursing artwork may be yours!!

Bird is the word.

2011-02-22T23:12:00.000+11:00

I've been continuing my long association with Aussie punk rock institution Frenzal Rhomb lately in providing them with some artwork for a forthcoming tour. You can behold it's Bird Attack themed goodness after the bump.

Speaking of Rhomb, Jay has been become quite a dab hand on the old Pro Tools/Macbook setup and the Frenzal demos he's recorded for the new album sound pretty killer. It has inspired me to get in touch with my own Brian Eno and mix a forthcoming project featuring Jay, myself, fellow Nancy Vandal alumni Tommy Lee Turnip and ex Your Mother force of nature Craigums. More to follow on that star studded sonic extravaganza.

Zombies: An allegory for anything!!

2011-02-10T14:30:00.001+11:00

When the NSW State Greens needed a hard hitting political satirist, they went to some other guy. When they wanted animated zombies - they came to me!!

Bloody hell!

2011-02-03T22:52:00.001+11:00

As everyone already knows, Xray Studios is all about popular competitions and funtastic giveaways. So it should come as no surprise to anyone that I am unveiling an all new ongoing prize opportunity for lucky Xray Studios punters EACH AND EVERY MONTH!!

To get involved all you have to do is forward a suggestion for the Xray Studios Swear Word Of The Month™. If your entry is judged the most meritorious by our panel of linguistic experts and street punks, it will not only feature on the Xray Studios website for that month, but also be immortalised in an original sketch valued at $450,000*. The sketches will be part of a series entitled Profane Robots of the 23rd Century and are one-off originals depicting a droid uttering the winning piece of filth - mailed directly to the lucky winners abode.

Ready to have your smut transformed into an original piece of robo-art? Simply post your suggestion on the Xray Studios facebook page before the end of the month. Remember the judges are most impressed by outside-the-box-thinking [actually "box" isn't a bad suggestion]. Try using an arcane profanity that is rarely used anymore. Or a filthy sounding word or phrase that isn't really obscene at all. Or simply make up a new piece of impropriety by combining a garden variety term with "tits" or "balls".

After the jump is the February swear word "Rod" incorporated into #1 of the Profane Robots of the 23rd Century series. Will #2 be yours?

Get vulgar friendos.

* Value may be inflated.

You just fucked with the wrong Mexican.....

2011-01-21T17:53:00.001+11:00

What blew my skirt up in 2010

2010-12-29T16:28:00.002+11:00

The internet called and said it was a bit light on with top 10 lists of 2010, and would I be able to make up the shortfall. I replied "geez internet I'm a bit busy but I'll see what I can do". After reflecting on what a close personal friend of mine the internet is, I decided to go out of my way to help it out. Here is the result - A bunch of things I watched and listened to over the past annus.

FAVE MOVIE FILMS

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Wow!! is my one word review of this flick. Not sure where this sits amongst Edgar Wright's other work but even if it's his third 3rd best it was still easily my fave of this year.

Best bit: The stunt casting of Anne Veale as Roxy Richter.

Machete

As with Scott Pilgrim, expectations were high, and were met. Insane B grade cast for an insane B Grade movie. Wright and Rodriguez at 1 and 2 - What a shock!!

Best bit: Intestinal rope.

Inception

Cements Christopher Nolan position as the new Speilberg. Effortlessly cool and smart [but not too smart] blockbuster.

Best bit: Tom Hardy. Non sexual man crush alert.

MacGruber

Sorry US Box Office - you are an idiot! A bit of a lean year for comedy but this will enter my pantheon of rewatchables. As Edgar Wright suggested, now Andy Samberg needs to direct a comedy to complete the Lonely Island trilogy - Hot Rod / MacGruber / ??????.

Fave Bit: The 2 greatest sex scenes in film history. Within 45 seconds of each other.

Kick Ass
I thought the violent sweary girl gimmick would lose it's impact after the trailer revealed the shock moment. But it didn't - it was still awesome. Loved the whole movie way more than I thought I would and Matthew Vaughan is now high on my list of fave current directors.

Fave Bit: When the little girl swore.

Triangle
Twisty, mind bendy low budget horror flick seen by hardly anyone which is a shame as it was freaking great!! It starts off with a slow burn and plenty of atmosphere before pulling a surprise turn into original and thought provoking territory. If you watch it, avoid any plot description or previews beforehand and you will be grateful afterwards.

Fave Bit: Difficult to say spoiler free. The reveal of where that chick dies?

Splice
Another cool horror flick that heads down a familiar path before veering off onto WTF?!?! Avenue towards Shady Pines Home For The Totally Mental Street. Cool visual effects and bonus points for the shamelessly B Movie "explanations" of the flick's science.

Best bit: The public demonstration of the freaky genetic research. What could possibly go wrong?

Shutter Island

Low rent Scorsese but still pretty good fun.

Best bit: The interview with the crazy lady. But is she really crazy?!!!?!?!

Toy Story 3
Pixar remains the 3D animation benchmark although the others are closing. This was a good solid flick book ended by some great set pieces. As usual, Pixar's canny voice casting [another thing others are picking up on] elevated it up a level.

Best bit: The opening set piece, and all of Ken.

The Social Network

Gripping, superbly written drama that only lost some of it's gloss after I contemplated how much money each of the real life characters ended up making - including the ones that got "ripped off". What I'd give to get screwed over like that.

Best bit: Sean Parker being a charismatic fuckhead.

Stuff I didn't see but could well make the list once I do....... Four Lions / 127 Hours / True Grit / Winters Bone.

FAVE TELEVISUAL CONTENT

The Walking Dead

To be honest, I would watch a zombie tv show starring Freddy Prinze Jr and directed by Uwe Boll, and probably enjoy it. However - TWD is a genuinely high quality tv drama that just happens to include quite a high component of flesh eating. And despite the flesh eating being graphic and in your face, it's the writing and performances that propel the show which probably couldn't be said of the fictional Boll/Prinze Jr joint I just hypothesized. I was hooked from the get go and cannot wait for season 2.

Best bit: Single human on horseback vs zombie horde.

Mad Men

Continues to be insanely compelling drama, even though I thought the quality dipped slightly from Season 3. There's still vast amounts of room for development in the raft of great characters though, and it wouldn't surprise me if the best is yet to come. Don Draper remains the most complex and interesting dude on tv.

Best bit: Peggy and Stan's strip brain storming session.

True Blood

Season 3 proved as addictive and satisfying as a vat of V. As is usual by this stage in a tv show, the peripheral characters are more interesting to me than the main ones [More Eric! Less Bill!! More Jessica!! Less Sooky!!] but I plan on consuming further helpings of it's trashy dollops of sex, violence and goopy vampire remains.

Best bit: Northman.

30 Rock

Despite the odd fluctuation this show continues to kick out the comedy jams, and Tina Fey continues to rock my world.

Best bit: James Franco's pillow fetish.

Eastbound & Down

There is a one note-ness to this show that some might find grating but I am completely sucked in to the black, borderline bleak comedy. Kenny Powers is simultaneously funny and repulsive whilst his sidekick Stevie continues on a character arc that passed "eeew" some time ago and doesn't appear to be slowing down. It's also worth mentioning the music in the show elevates it imo - just as it did in Jody Hill's Observe and Report.

Best bit: Deep Roy as Aaron.

iTUNES PLAYCOUNT TOP 10 HITLIST

On Jan 1 of 2010 I hit the reset button on the iTunes playcount column. Here's the results of what most regularly rattled the Xray Studios juke box in the subsequent year. Not to be confused with a list of songs released in 2010, as musically I live in the past.

Over and Over by Young Heart Attack from Mouthful Of Love

My good colleague Bombshell Bakota put me onto this crazy AC/DC-esque high voltage rock bomb and I am still in his debt. Not one but two of the most insane rock vocalists in the one band combine to turn this MC5 cover into a total beast. It also has to be said Jennifer Stephens is approximately 1000 kinds of hot in this video.

Starlight by Young Heart Attack from Mouthful Of Love

Did I mention how much I dig Young Heart Attack? Well iTunes confirms what I already suspected. Another rock classic dripping with 70s nostalgia and super coolness.

Mean Nite, Tonite by Bad Wizard from #1 Tonite

I'm a little surprised this one came in 3rd as despite how much YHA love I had in 2010, I flogged this track. Pretty basic four on the floor rock action but if it is not the perfect anthem for road tripping or preparing for a night out, you do it heaps different to me. The little 70s lead lick they repeat throughout the song floats my freaking boat.

Kissin' Time by KISS from KISS

I'd never owned their first album previously, but corrected that oversight this year. Plenty of great songs but I totally fell in love with this throw away cover that was only included originally as a desperate attempt to bump up sales. Love the Gene/Paul/Peter multi lead vocal assault.

Hot Kiss by Juliette and the Licks from Four On The Floor

This may qualify as a guilty pleasure but whatever. I've always loved Juliette's big screen work and this song contains all the same great elements of craziness, non-subtlety and let it all hang out-icity that make her such a watchable actor. The nutty outfit she rocks in the video for this song perfectly sums up all that is awesome about her.

Good Love by Young Heart Attack from Rock and Awe

From the 2nd YHA album which isn't as great as the first imo but still has plenty of moments. This is an epic rock ballad that sounds like it has sucked on the teats of Queen and Guns N Roses.

Stop Pretending by The Witnesses from Tunnel Vision

Driving Stones flavoured rocker that demands your dancing shoes complete attention.

Love To Smoke Your Weed by Honky from Balls Out Inn

Some glorious stoner hard rock slide guitar madness from the trailer park of ex-Butthole Surfer J.D. Pinkus.

New York Groove by Ace Frehley from Ace Frehley

Another year goes by, another flogging of this awesome disco/rock coalition. Will I ever stop listening to Ace Frehley? No.

Bootyshakin' by The Cherry Valence from ???

Have been seeking out a ton of this band's music which is great but nothing rocks like this number which I could only find on the youtubes. It goes right off.

Get Teddy to rock.

2010-12-23T10:21:00.002+11:00

Xray Studios has had a long and distinguished record of working with stuffed toys, dating back to the powerful award winning documentary Fuzzy's Day Out. My latest Teddy based endeavour is producing animated music videos for an exciting new outfit that promises to trash your kids toybox and skank their way into your heart. Check out the new teaser video for Teddy Rock....

Merry Christmas

2010-12-21T01:02:00.000+11:00

Xray Studios man of the year, Randy Quaid wishes everyone compliments of the season.

You can't always Jett what you want.

2010-12-17T23:13:00.003+11:00

Joan Jett is coming to Australia shortly.

I have experienced a wide range of emotions since hearing the news, beginning with initial devastation after discovering she was playing only at interstate festivals with bands I've never heard of and non-tight arse pricing structures. This was followed by pant wetting excitement when an intimate pub gig at the Annandale Hotel in Sydney was announced, followed by molten rage when tickets sold out to said gig within minutes, to further pant wetting joy when I secured a ticket via a high flying showbiz contact. These trousers stink.

I actually had the opportunity to see Joan in 1996 when she last toured Sydney, however in a moment of ill considered madness, decided not to go. She was supporting The Divinyls [Supporting!!] and the gig was at Selinas at the Coogee Bay Hotel. I was not a Divinyls fan and having spent many years living in Sydney's eastern suburbs, was well familiar with the venue and not a fan of it either. In fact a few years back when the controversy erupted involving a couple being served excreta flavoured ice cream at the Coogee Bay Hotel bistro, I though "well what did you expect?".

During the subsequent years, I have regretted my non attendance at that show. Back then I had been worn down by seeing older, limper versions of childhood heroes such as Suzi Quatro and The Sweet and couldn't bear to see Joan in anything other than the sexy, high voltage, queen of rock and roll version I had been happily mind married to for several decades. Little did I know that unlike other mortals, Joan Jett did not age. She merely accumulated rock and roll experience, liquified it into shake form and slammed it down each morning before heading off to work at the kick arse rock legend factory.

That regiment continues to this very day.

Being the omnipotent rock deity she is, Joan needs very little assistance from mortals such as myself. However after cranking a lot of Black Heart sonic action recently, I have gone to the trouble of preparing the setlist for the night in question.

BAD REPUTATION
PUSH & STOMP
BITS & PIECES
HAD ENOUGH
SPINSTER
SCHOOL DAYS
DOING ALRIGHT WITH THE BOYS
TALKING ABOUT MY BABY
DON'T ABUSE ME
RUBBER & GLUE
[I'M GONNA] RUNAWAY
HANKY PANKY
STAR STAR
I LOVE PLAYING WITH FIRE
AC/DC
I LOVE ROCK & ROLL
CHERRY BOMB

Encore:
CRIMSON & CLOVER
DO YOU WANT TO TOUCH ME

Take it away Joan.

Like a Japanese Beaver.

2010-12-03T22:47:00.002+11:00

I have been so 24/7 crazy busy of late that I think I'm deserving of some kind of plaque or award. I don't want to blow my own trumpet but if there is a more worthy recipient of Australian of the Year I'd like to meet them. Then tell them how I totally got ripped off, so enjoy your hollow victory charlatan.

Anyways, after the bump there's a brief pictorial preview of some of the animationary goodness spewing out of Xray Studios this last fortnight. Naturally the complete videos will be revealed once their relevant owners are ready to lift the veil.

Click on a pic to embiggen.

Happy Halloween occult enthusiasts

2010-10-31T02:00:00.000+11:00

Portait of the artist as a young skull

2010-10-30T22:33:00.001+11:00

Another piece for the forthcoming I Louvre Rock & Roll exhibition takes shape. It's a work on progress of a self portrait at least partly inspired by Coopers Pale Ale as evidenced by the empty in the top right corner.

Once it's completed, I plan to poke little holes in the eyes and watch attendees as they mingle from a wall cavity concealed by the canvas. Any disparaging remarks regarding my work such as "fuck me - has he drawn enough skulls yet?" will be noted in my journal of foes.

I Louvre Rock and Roll

2010-10-27T22:10:00.000+11:00

I was made for painting you baby.

2010-10-13T23:07:00.000+11:00

Art fans are polishing their monocles and adjusting their berets in feverish anticipation of a forthcoming exhibition of my various work. It all goes down from November at 3 to 13 at ARThive Gallery Newcastle and is being made possible by my good friend, sometimes Xray Studios thespian and Nancy Vandal enthusiast Grant Hunter, who is also a rather ace artist in his own right.

The exhibition will also serve as the official launch of my book I Louvre Rock & Roll and many of the items from it's very pages will adorn the gallery. What's more i have recently cracked out the old paints and am currently creating some brand new canvases of pure molten art gold. Here is a sneak preview of a emotive and densely nuanced series based on the heads of rock band Kiss.

Kilmister Bass Man

2010-10-08T15:44:00.001+11:00

I have been ignoring the old blog for a while and the poor thing needs attention and nourishment. So here is a tasty illustration for the little fella to chew on. It's a Lemmy inspired piece for a forthcoming Musk rock and roll engagement.

Struth!!

2010-08-11T10:22:00.000+10:00

Many years ago I created a hard hitting piece in the Vandal's Voice fanzine which foreshadowed a violent zombie apocalypse in idylic Summer Bay, the fictional universe of long running Aussie soap opera Home and Away. In response to the undead uprising, no nonsense grocery store mogul Alf Stewart saved the day by losing his shit and going all Harry Callahan on the unholy beast's arses. Unfortunately, even once the threat had passed, Alf found it difficult to clear the red mist that had descended around him and sought to continue his bloody rampage with whomever he came across.

This chilling vision was scorned by Summer Bay experts at the time. "It could never hapen" they said. "By embarking on a shotgun rampage Alf would sully the memory of Ailsa" said others. They ignored the warning signs, and Alf Stewart continued his dull, soul destroying existence at his stupid shop whilst the malevolent whispers inside his head became louder and louder.

Then what do you know - The other day in Coles my eye was drawn to the high qulality broadsheet TV Week with this headline splashed across the cover...

It is happening people, just as I foretold. Now I'm not 100% sure who Penn is but I do know he or she will not be the last victim of this tightly wound psychotic powder keg. And when they inevitable dig up beneath the Stewart home and make their grisly discovery, I will be there to say "I told you so".

See the original terrifying glimpse into the future courtesy of the Vandal's Voice after the jump...

Nerds of prey.

2010-06-22T23:02:00.001+10:00

My first Supanova was a ripping good time. I met some very cool artists and comic creators and was treated to what I considered a very high caliber of shut-in. Thanks to everyone who bought something or stopped for a chat. Whilst I can't quit my day job, I did offload a considerable stash of my wares and hopefully attracted a few new readers to the blog.

Highlights included running into old NV fan-come force of evil Fraggle [picture above], stumbling across the ultra groovy Burger Force team and having a super cool Finlander dude buy a copy of The Grave Shakers only to reveal he was doing publicity for Nazis In Space film Iron Sky, which I now know is being partly produced here in Australia. I'd previously stumbled across the fab trailer [check it below] which at that stage was just a demo/calling card seeking funding. When I heard it was all systems go I ended up geeking out quite severely in front of my new Northern European pal. And if one can't geek out in front of a publicist for a space nazi film at Supanova - where the hell can you?

My booky wook.

2010-06-16T23:56:00.000+10:00

I shall be peddling my wares at the Sydney Supanova pop culture expo this weekend and in an effort to increase the range of said wares I'm proud to announce the arrival of "I Louvre Rock & Roll: The Collected Masterworks of Mike Foxall". It's an 80 page compendium of my finest gear, featuring illustrations, rock posters, cd covers and comic art dating back to the mid 90s. There's quite a few pieces that haven't seen the light of day for years, and others that have never been seen at all. Plus there's lots of pithy anecdotes from yours truly that will provide you with literally minutes of thigh slapping hilarity.

If your storm trooper outfit is at the dry cleaners and you can't make Supanova, you can alternatively buy the book at the Xray Shoppe.

Close but no cigar.

2010-06-16T22:59:00.000+10:00

As reported earlier, on the weekend I undertook the Comikaze challenge in which one attempts to create a 24 page comic in 24 hours. It was an intense experience and I have never felt the sensation of time racing so fast ever before. I began calmly, even leisurely however the last 5 hours were like the Kill Bill House of Blue Leaves fight scene with wall to wall carnage and black ink everywhere. In the end I fell agonisingly short, stranded on 21 pages. I actually scrawled the last 3 pages with 10 minutes to go and scanned them, before realising they looked like the work of a blind folded 2 year old, and admitted defeat. I still intend to finish the compelling saga of Jumping Jack Fantasia when I get a moment to scratch myself.

24 Hour Party Person.

2010-06-11T19:36:00.012+10:00

This weekend I'll be participating in the Comikaze challenge in which legions of sleep deprived nerds will attempt to create a 24 page comic in 24 hours. Sounds mental right? Yeah, MENTAL LIKE A FOX!! Anyways - you can follow my progress on the blog as I'll be posting the pages here as I hurtle towards glory / the completion of the comic.

MON 12:01

OK - we're off and racing. The way this works is every hour there are 3 key words posted by the event organisers which you need to include in your comic if you start in that hour. You then have 24 hours to finish. My words are greater, liqueur and jumping and I kicked off at 10 pm.

Not exactly sure where the story is heading however I've decided if I belt out an action / thriller using a well worn Holywood 3 act structure it will probably write itself.

And I'll end up with a comic that would form the good basis for a Steven Seagal movie.

Here we go...

MON 02:30AM
2 more pages done but now I need to go to sleep. This may drastically affect my 1 page per hour average unless I can get some serious sleep drawing done in the next few hours. It's never achieved this before but I shall sleep with an artline pen in one hand and see what happens.

MON 12:46PM
10 hours to go and I have 6 pages done. Shite. Come on Bauer!!!!!!

MON 02:58PM
9 down. Tick tock Clarise.

MON 05:47PM
12 pages! Half way there with 5 hours to spare. What a breeze.

MON 06:54PM
A teensy bit of cheating here. Desperate times...

MON 08:46PM
AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHHHH

MON 09:45PM
Can't post. Drawing.

MON 10:55PM
21 Drawings. 24 hours. It'll have to do.

Eight!! Eight beautiful victims!!!!

2010-05-27T20:34:00.001+10:00

It frustrates me that those sexy blood sucking freaks can "glamour" the Children's Television Workshop executives into giving one of their own a sweet mathematics gig whilst well credentialed zombies remain completely unemployable.

THE LOVE SONGS: I'M TIRED & CRANKY

2010-05-26T23:29:00.000+10:00

A music video for U.S. stadium rock combo The Love Songs, featuring members of Your Mother whom my old band Nancy Vandal once embarked on an explosive Australian tour from Alexandria to Mildura [and nowhere in between].

THE GRAVE SHAKERS TRAILER

2010-05-26T23:16:00.002+10:00

A short trailer for issue 1 of my comic book series The Grave Shakers. It tells the tale of a mad scientist turned rogue record label kingpin who uses cutting edge cloning technology to reanimate dead rock stars. A rollicking rock and roll thriller ensues in the cinematic tradition of "Kiss Meet The Phantom of the Park" and "The Boys From Brazil".

1975-1982. When rock ruled planet earth.

2010-05-23T21:37:00.003+10:00

As reported in the alternate Musk universe, we finished another day recording the debut ep on the weekend. I love Recording studios - it's easily the best part of the whole being in a band thing. Unlike playing live, I can overcome my musical deficiencies somewhat [via the glory of multiple takes, cut/paste and software plugins] to produce something greater than the sum of it's parts. Sure it would be cool to be an awesome Jon Spencer / Nicholaus Arson type live performer but you need skill, looks and charisma - the software for which has yet to be invented.

So far the recording seems to be coming together pretty well, though whether the wider music listening world is ready for a homage of the imho awesome 1975-1982 rock era is another thing entirely. "Probably not" is the common sense answer but it will not be through lack of effort on my part. To help things along I shall now use the power of this massively influential blog to celebrate a bunch of my favourite late 70s rock tracks floating around the youtubes. Check it after the bump.....

HUSH: Bony Maronie
Kicking things off with the classic and underrated Aussie glam rock outfit boasting one of the coolest lead axemen this country has ever produced in Les Gock [that flying V is six string sex]. Also worth checking out is the Kath Day-Knight-esque moves of the Countdown dancers at 1:40.

KENNY: The Bump
Another discovery made via the awesomeness of the K-Tel compilation LPs of the late 70s, this track is a huge influence on the creation of Musk. Raw guitars, Gary Glitter drum beat, vocals by turn raspy, chanting and pure Beach Boys fruit - what a combo! Interestingly the song was written and performed by a guy not in the band Kenny - as is evidenced by Kenny's subsequent output.

ACE FREHLEY: Rip It Out
I regard the four Kiss solo album's of 1978 as extremely useful empirical evidence to assist in evaluating who the coolest member of the band was. Ace wins hands down of course, with this song leading the way, well supported by the equally cool Speeding Back To My Baby and disco rock classic New York Groove. Massive sound, wicked drum solo, plus Ace's trademark bad yet awesome vocals and kick arse guitar playing highlight this track.

AC/DC: Rocker
AC/DC have probably influenced every second rock band that has ever existed and Musk are no exception. I have always had a soft spot for their mid 70s Bon Scott output and this song is a killer example. The rhythm section of this band had the power to destroy entire solar systems, and to that you add Angus and Bon. Mental!!

FOGHAT: I Just Want To Make Love To You
Man I love this video. If there is a more awesome overblown intro and buildup to a song I haven't seen it. I'm also a massive fan of the look the bass player is rocking here.

SLADE: The Bangin' Man
I have banged on about the glory of Slade before so obviously they would be on this list. This is quintessential mid-70s raw rock and roll perfection. The guitar sound makes the absence of God seem utterly implausible, and Noddy Holder shifting up a vocal octave at 2:37 blows my arse out everytime.

THE SWEET: Action
The Sweet were great as a poppy glam band in the early 70s but were just as great post Chapman/Chinn in their hard rock phase. Love the refrain bit and the chorus is ludicrously catchy.

THE RUNAWAYS: Schooldays
It was tough to find a single song to illustrate their greatness so I went for the one with the best video quality as to ensure Joan Jett's utter hotness is best showcased. Musk's first ep contains a cover of The Runaways classic Cherry Bomb so it's fair to say we think they are pretty good.

TED NUGENT: Wango Tango
Before he was a right wing nutcase the Nuge was.. well he was always a nutcase of some description. Exhibit A is this personal fave slab of late 70s hard rock. If you've never heard it - It's worth checking out his deranged face/maserati metaphor in the breakdown at 2:15, accentuated by the increasingly overused random race track cutaway in this video.

The art of noise.

2010-04-20T21:38:00.002+10:00

I'm pitching some ideas for a couple of forthcoming rock and roll concerts that I'd like to share with you, the internets.

Number one is a Big Day Out flavoured deal for a festival event. What I've done here is design a character whose very limbs and organs are made of the various pieces of musical equipment one would reasonably expect to be in use at the festival. It's as if the artist is saying that the festival attendees are so at one with the music these inanimate objects are a very real physical extension of their beings.

Or something.

More after the jump...

Next up is a double barreled punk tour featuring US bands The Bouncing Souls and Hot Water Music. Here I have visually linked the tongues of the snakes to the bookmark peeking out of the book in the preacher's hand. "What the hell is that book?" I hear you breathlessly ask. Well, symbolism fans - It's only a little tome you might have heard of called the Bible!! It's as if I'm making a comparison between the untrustworthy, dangerous reptiles and the good book itself! Quite a mind blower eh? Bet you didn't see that one coming.

So in summation - If you like you're graphic art to contain some controversial and hard hitting themes as well as a bevy of subtle visual metaphors, I'm your homeboy. I also draw a good cock and balls.

Kicking arse and shaking graves.

2010-04-13T23:47:00.001+10:00

Back in October when this here blog was barely out of nappies, the bold announcement was made that I was to write and illustrate a graphic novel called The Grave Shakers. I claimed it would be finished by July in time for the Supanova pop culture expo and I would by then be the most handsome man in all of storyville. Well I've proven to be slightly ambitious in my goal setting, but do indeed have my stall booked in Supanova's artist alley and will be peddling my wares as planned. The wares themselves however will be 2 serialized comics of the graphic novel each about 25 pages in length. They comprise about half of the graphic novel in it's entirety which I now hope will be completed by the end of the year.

The serialisation idea is obviously a compromise due to me only having the thing half done [I didn't get to be C.E.O. of Half Arsed Records by completing things ahead of schedule] but I've found the story actually splits up quite nicely - and even contains a nice little cliff hanger of sorts at the end of episode 2. In fact it works so well I hereby intend to claim it was the original plan all along, and I shall edit the original blog entry to reflect this as soon as my Ministry for Information gets a moment.

Along with the hard copy versions of the comics I'll be providing digital versions as well - testing the iWaters and seeing what if any demand there is for the electronic medium. I'd be happy for this format to be popular as the production costs come right down and the chances of getting the thing out there into nerd world become more achievable. Of course I'll have both the digi and paper versions available through the site here as well for those of you who find comic conventions a step backwards in your social development.

Did I mention there will be other brand new Xray goodies available as well? No? Well there are! Including some fab promo stickers that hint at the Grave Shakers storyline sharing a wee bit from a Nancy Vandal video comic I made way back in the olden days. Check em out after the bumpage....

Tired and Cranky.

2010-04-12T15:10:00.001+10:00

Hey internets. Here's a little preview of the Love Songs music video I'm currently working on amongst about a thousand other things at the moment. It's only 40 seconds long and is essentially to reassure Craigums that it is getting done as he is a cruel and violent individual when angered.

Make mine a Mind Drink.

2010-03-23T23:02:00.004+11:00

With the double pronged threat of the global financial crisis and global warming there is little doubt people are poorer and thirstier than ever before. What a relief then that there is a product in the beverage market place that comes in a range of exciting sizes and flavours that will cost you absolutely nothing!!

I speak of course of Mind Drink - the hip new imaginary refreshment that is on the cusp of taking the world by storm. You can enjoy a mind drink anywhere, anytime. There are none of those nasty calories, artificial colours, sweeteners, additives, sugar, saturated fats or super poisons in a Mind Drink - that's because there's nothing in it at all! And the best thing about pretend beverages is the savings in overheads, production and transport costs are all passed on to the consumer - so have as much of it as you please and never pay a cent!

Imbibing simulated liquid is only half the fun however. Things get maxed to the extreme when you share your Mind Drink experiences with the fresh and happening young online Mind Drink community. Find out how after the jump!!

Getting involved with online Mind Drinkers is easy.

Step 1. Pour yourself a refreshing Mind Drink.

Step 2. Photograph yourself enjoying your Mind Drink. This can be with other Mind Drinkers...

or even better, with friends not even aware of what a Mind Drink is.

Alternatively - use your rad Photoshop skillz to introduce the exciting world of Mind Drink to others...

Step 3. Become a fan of Mind Drink on popular social networking site "Facebook" and upload your pics....

Mind Drink on Facebook

So - Are you feeling thirsty?

Acoustic guitars can now be played by beardless guys with shoes.

2010-03-14T23:02:00.002+11:00

Below is my poster design for a new tour featuring Joey Cape and Tony Sly from 90s pop punk giants Lagwagon and No Use For A Name respectively- playing accoustic guitars of all things! It's not the first instance of this bizarre syndrome and heavens know what other oddities are headed our way now the dam walls are leaking. Punters have been demanding a Peter and The Test Tube Babies unplugged set for years while The Pan Flutes of G.B.H. is something I could seriously get behind. Of course the punks on acoustic guitars phenomenon was kick started by my old band Nancy Vandal and our raw and moving unplugged number 28 Bands For 28 Bucks at the end of the classic 1996 long player The Debriefing Room. Many critics weren't exactly sure what they were listening to at the time [just as we were a bit vague on what we were supposed to be playing] but suffice to say history now judges us as ahead-of-our-time innovators - as I always assumed we were.

Anyway - Designing a rock poster where the the use of skulls and bats and what not is inappropriate put significant strains on my design prowess. An arty silhouetted photoshop piece with but a hint of past pit-based glories is the end result. Check out the full poster after the jump

Oh don't worry - I can feel the noize.

2010-03-10T01:33:00.008+11:00

So as I've mentioned recently I have started playing in a new band recently. It just seemed the logical thing to do - what with getting old, venues closing and the music I like getting less fashionable by the year. Yet despite my own confidence in the timing of this career move - I do seem to get a fairly standard set of questions after announcing the news to friends and acquaintances. Namely....

Q1: Aren't You too old?
A: Yes.

Q2: Is it a joke band?
A: All bands are joke bands.

Q3: Right - deep. So why the fuck are you doing it?

A: There are a few reasons but one of the main ones is over the past year I have become re-smitten with my first musical love - that being mid to late 70s rock. It was the first music I heard that blew my mind and kicked off that delirious and naive obsessiveness all music fans go through in their formative years. And there was no band that made me more giddily mental than Wolverhampton's finest, Slade.

Slade was my game changer - the moment all other music became frivolous and 2nd best. My colleagues at school listening to Cold Chisel and Australian Crawl could no longer be relied upon to share musical opinions with. Life became a rudderless, random search to discover more Slade albums and with there being no internets and me being stuck living in regional bumblefuck, collecting their entire discography was a long and drawn out process. The beauty of it was of course that any time I was leafing through the S section in a 2nd hand record bin there was the outside chance I would stumble upon a Slade album I'd never even heard of. How many times I cursed that fucking idiot Sade as I prematurely celebrated a new catch only to realise my excited state of anticipation had made me slightly dyslexic again.

Eventually I did track down their entire canon and what a canon it is. Obviously I'm quite biased but I've always been amazed at how marginalised Slade are when it comes to the perceived great rock bands in history. They were Beatles-esque with their chart topping alchemy in the early 70s and when punk rock arrived in the late 70s they got even better [They were one of the rare "establishment" bands that many first wave of English punk bands professed to still liking]. They continued making great no frills rock albums well into the 80s.

I loved their guitar sound, I loved their haircuts. I loved their tartan pants and mirrored hats. I loved their self depreciating sense of humour and their no frills working class manner. I looooved Noddy Holder's voice and the fact that my wife hates it is the single unresolved conflict in our marriage.

"Ok so Slade are kind of a big deal -what should I listen to" I hear you ask.

I'd start off with their raw as hell 70s hit album Slayed which contains early classics Gudbuy T Jane and Mama Weer All Crazee Now, some mellower pop numbers and the flat out rockers [and my personal faves] The whole World's Goin Crazee and Let The good Times Roll.

Then try What Ever Happened To Slade from their self aware commercial wilderness era. It's an insanely ignored album featuring IMO some of their best stuff including the twin epics of Big Apple Blues and The Soul The Roll and The Motion.

You should seek out a live album or two. Their early ep Slade Alive is a bit of a mixed bag of 60s hangover and absolutely mental proto punk rock and roll. There's also an awesome bootleg of Slade Live In London 75 which is sweeeeeeeeet. Their later live albums Slade Alive 2 and Slade On Stage are noteworthy for playing all their old hits twice as fast and basically heralding their 2nd coming as a hard rock / new wave of British heavy metal band.

Alternatively - if you're an iTunes cherry picker like my good self grab anything off this list...

Skweeze Me Pleeze me
The Bangin' Man
Keep On Rockin' [From Slade Alive]
Get Down And Get With It [Ditto]
Them Kind Of Monkeys Can't Swing
Just A Little Bit
We're Really Gonna Raise The Roof
When I'm Dancin' I Aint Fightin' [From Slade on Stage]

And whatever you do - please take the time to feel the noize.

I was just resting my eyes!

2010-02-24T22:37:00.002+11:00

Man have I left the old blog unattended for a while. God knows what mischief it's been up to whilst my attention was elsewehere - Running wild in the streets selling crack and listening to pop music is my reasoned guess.

My excuse is I have been super busy with the unexciting world of paid work. Sure it aint much to blog about but solid gold medallions featuring my own initials don't pay for themselves ya hippies. Of course thanks to the vampiric hours I keep I have sporadically managed to squeeze out some more artistically credible work [I use the phrase relatively] fit to light up the pages of blogsville. One such project is a new animated music video for my Stateside punk rock penpals The Lovesongs. It's still very much a work in progress but the wheels are in motion - as evidenced by the above pic of Craigums "spanking his plank" as they used to say in the 70s before innuendoists soiled that expression for ever.

I'm also feverishly working on the much talked about graphic novel "The Grave Shakers" in the hope of having something ready for Supanova in June. At this stage I think I'll probably have a couple of limited edition 22 page comics available to enthrall the ensemble of nerds and mouth breathers. After the jump behold a recent page in a timelapse slideshow of it's various stages of development.

Musk For Life.

2010-02-05T01:20:00.001+11:00

Research has revealed that kids of today are screaming out for more bands consisting of 40 year old men homaging the uber fashionable sounds of Hush, Slade and The Ted Mulry Gang. And so the hard rocking, heavily scented musical stylings of Musk is born. Featuring a who's who of unsuccessful 90s punk rock has beens, Musk simply cannot fail. We're still in the embryonic stages but that hasn't stopped me busting out a website with a special orientation video to sizzle up the project. Keep your nose open for forthcoming Musk shows in your area.

The Cruelettes.

2010-02-05T01:06:00.000+11:00

Part of the cast of thousands in the old graphic novel I'm currently tooling about with is an all-girl garage band called the Cruelettes. For a bigger version of the poster click hereski. I will explain how they fit in with the genetic scientist and his deformed sons all in good time. Later still, the fictional Cruelettes band will be releasing a couple of very real songs on the Myspaces as an exciting cross promotional synergy boosting tie in with the graphic novel. My good lady wife Sniz will provide the vocals so fans of the studio version of Nancy Vandal's "Egg Sandwich" and "20th Century Romeo" will be stoked.

Recollections of the iNewsletter™ and the future of other things.

2010-01-28T17:53:00.003+11:00

Back in the olden days when Nancy Vandal had just begun it's long and ultimately fruitless rock and roll journey we went to some lengths to disguise our inherent lack of ability with an array of smoke and mirrors publicity guff. The prime mover in our arsenal was a mailout newsletter called The Vandal's Voice which in time mutated into a zine/comic and more recently a DVD. In it's earliest incarnation it was a hand written labour of love, photocopied into mass existence, slotted into a pile of DL envelopes which were then carefully addressed by hand whilst referencing a list of names neatly written by JJ LaMoore in a small exercise book. People could also order NV cassettes which we would duplicate ourselves and mail out as well. Check out this blast from the past as a reminder of a time gone by.

Oh - What we would have given for some kind of automated database and a streamlined system that would easily enable publishing articles, news, comics and tour dates instantly and cheaply to the entire world. And imagine if those same people could access your music from the comfort of their own home without getting off their arse. These were but crazy dreams back in 1994 when coal powered guitar amps and moshpits consisting entirely of dinosaurs were the norm.

Of course this magical utopia did arrive and it was called the internets. Unfortunately by the time myspace, mp3s, blogs and skat pornography became common place, poor old NV had shot their audio wad and were settling into semi retirement.

These days I've taken a pretty keen interest in the self publishing caper. I've got a graphic novel well underway, plans for a kids book collaboration with my sis and a bunch of comic ideas in various forms. I've been investigating a stack of self publishing options over the past year. Printing and distributing your own book is pretty pricey as you'd expect. The numerous "print on demand" services are pretty cool in terms of taking away upfront publishing costs but the end price for the consumer is too expensive even with zero margin for the creator. Living in the relative isolation of Australia doesn't help either - especially for comic book creation.

So it is with considerable interest I am monitoring the fate of the new Apple doohicky and more importantly the wider implications for digital publishing. If it's introduction can do for books, comics and magazines what the ipod did for music I'll be a very happy camper - and this time i can get in on the ground floor!

As usual with a new Apple product there's a lot of overheating nerds right now - and a higher than usual volume of initial scepticism regarding the product. I assume the backlash [prelash?] is boosted by Apple's higher profile these days [Try defending a one button mouse in 96 - Old school Mac Massive represent!] and their infuriatingly smug marketing chops. There's the usual moaning about the iPad's specs but I reckon the various "but it doesn't do this" or "such and such does the same thing cheaper" complaints are as relevant as similar grievances with the extraordinarily unpopular iPods and iPhones in terms of it's success.

Ultimately it all will come down to whether buying and reading stuff on a tablet becomes as desirable to punters as listening to mp3s on a portable player. And it's this outcome as opposed to the success or failure of a specific device that I'm hoping for.

Though I have a pretty big box of envelopes on standby just in case.

Props for our homies.

2010-01-20T00:15:00.004+11:00

Nancy Vandal historians may well recall the time we collaborated with our State-side brothers in arms and fellow hair metal devotees Your Mother. It was back in the summer of 97/98 and led to a short, shambolic [and truth be known - shit] Australian tour that hit such iconic Aussie rock and roll land marks as some Mildura football oval and the Iron Duke Hotel in Alexandria.

The YM guys were polite young fellas - and thought it rude to enter our fair country without lavishing us with gifts. Namely the gift of some fucked up 28 Days Later-strength flu which annihilated half the touring party - including my good self for several hallucination and vomit filled days.

But it wasn't all hallucinations and vomit. I still fondly recall them brazenly questioning the sexual orientation of Mildura's local football team, tearing through Judas Priest's Free Wheel Burning and generally being splendid company as we rather sheepishly hosted them on the sad and sorry "tour" we'd cooked up. We've kept in occasional touch with them since then however like Nancy Vandal, they succumbed to popular demand and stopped performing.

Which is not to say they haven't been busy little beavers. Frontman Craigums has focused on mundane shit like writing a book on his antarctic travels and winning an international air guitar competition. Also - he and non-aging YM drummer Brad formed another band called The Love Songs who continues to rock as hard as a sackful of KK Downings which brings us to the point of this nostalgia laden post.

The Love Songs have a new album out entitled "Another Guaranteed 40 Minute Music Set" and it's packed full of killer tunes, lyrical giggles and as the pic at the top clearly illustrates - one of the best album covers of all time. Check out their website to have a listen and look at stuff. In particular - check out the The song of the month section which contains a treasure trove of covers from such varied artistes as Air Supply, The Cure, Hoodoo Gurus, The Stooges, Screeching Weasel [accoustic!] and heaps more. The one that really takes my fancy is their rendition of King Contrary Man from The Cult's epic, awesome and none more rock album Electric [an album I've only recently discovered Craigums and I have a crazy arse passion for]. In the early Nancy Vandal days we considered covering the very same song but found it too difficult so we did this instead.

I regret nothing!!!

The more you buy the more you save!

2010-01-15T13:32:00.001+11:00

More all new Xray Studios branded apparel and accessories can now be purchased at the Xray Zazzle Store - Including the above pictured Xray Zombie tie! Perfect for the high flying business man wishing to bring some undead flair to the office.

Check out the full range here...

He was a Sk8r Boi...

2010-01-13T23:27:00.004+11:00

I'm currently setting up a Zazzle store for Xray Studios. It's similar to Cafe Press but they're not as stingy with what you can do on a free account and have a nicer interface. PLUS it has a few extra cool items you can sell - including skateboards!

So given that zombies happen to totally rule - I made a zombie one. Check out the embiggened version after the ol' jumperoo...

The Return of Sgt Kole!

2010-01-13T00:38:00.007+11:00

Panzer tank and tiny forehead fans rejoice - He's back!

Yes - I have uncovered another long lost comic featuring heroic Sgt Kole and his crazy WW2 adventures. As explained in a previous post, Sgt Kole was created by my good pre-teen self back in the early 80s. I've sat on the property for the subsequent 3 decades waiting for DC or Marvel to make the first move but I will wait no longer.

Using the lucrative stage of the world wide web Sgt Kole is finally finding it's audience and with Hollywood slowly turning every single comic known to man into a film - surely the Sarge's time will come soon. I'm encouraging ideas in the comments section re casting and plot as I believe it will create industry buzz.

Check out the comic after the jump....

Not a laughing matter.

2010-01-09T00:39:00.002+11:00

Did I tell you about the time I successfully pitched a concept for a Behemoth / Job For A Cowboy tour poster? Well I did - for realz!

Working within the death metal parameters is quite limiting for one so inclined towards the liberal use of toilet humour as myself. But work within them I did - and the end result speaks for itself. A scene of utter hopelessness and agony without a shred of wit or irony. Huzzah!

What is funny though is that what you see above is not the final version. I was asked to cover up the main dudes naked buttocks presumably as it makes metal heads uncomfortable to see such shocking imagery. Once covered up - on with the flesh ripping!!

Ahh disciples of satan - you so crazy!

Things certainly were different before all these changes.

2010-01-03T22:44:00.003+11:00

Right on Rik! So as you can see I've like totally redesigned the blogspace. What's more the old Xray Studios website has now been superceded by the blog 100% - all professional like!! For the moment this only works properly when you go to www.xraystudios.com as opposed to xraystudios.com but I'll be sorting that shit out pronto.

It was a bit of an effort making these changes and I approached the necessary html editing with the same level of confidence a hairdresser would with a bomb disposal job. Yet by carefully adapting some webmaster geniuses work to include my own graphics and info it has turned out ok.

Please enjoy the new look, Roxette style.

This is what I thought of you 2009...

2010-01-01T12:36:00.012+11:00

A collection of things that tickled my fancy this in the 2009. Some old, some new. Check 'em out after the jump...

BEST MOVIE FILMS I SAW
District 9
Inglorious Basterds
Drag Me To Hell
Up
Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs

MOVIE FILM WIDELY LIKED THAT I MEH'D
Star Trek

MOVIE FILM WIDELY MEH'D THAT I QUITE LIKED
Land Of The Lost

MOVIE FILMS I PLANNED TO SEE BUT MISSED DUE TO MY ON-THE-GO LIFESTYLE
Where The Wild Things Are, The Hurt Locker, Moon, Anvil: The Story of Anvil, A Serious Man, In The Loop.

MOVIE TRAILER I LAUGHED AT IN THE CINEMA AND NOW AM ASHAMED
Old Dogs

BEST FORGOTTEN SONG I NOW LOVE AGAIN THANKS TO ITS APPEARANCE IN A MOVIE FILM
Observe and Report: It's Late - Queen

FAVE MP3s iPURCHASED THIS YEAR [see what I did there?]
Less Than Three - We Are The Physics
Good Golly Miss Molly - Slade Live at the BBC
Infancy of a Disaster - Donita Sparks & The Stellar Moments
You're On My Mind - KO & The Knockouts
Stone Cold Crazy - Queen

SONG THAT GAVE ME IRRITABLE BOWEL SYNDROME
Know Your Enemy - Green Day

BOOKY WOOKS I SUCCESSFULLY READ
Let The Right One In - John Ajvide Lindqvist
A Nest of Occasionals - Tony Martin
World War Z - Max Brooks
My Booky Wook - Russell Brand

TV SHOWS I WATCHED MOST
Mad Men
True Blood
The Dollhouse
30 Rock
Fox Sports Before the Bounce

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN THE FIELD OF PODCASTERY
Ricky Gervais Guide to...

WEBSITES I FREQUENTED MOST
The Scriveners Fancy
Eric D Snider
Cinematical
Punt Road End

STUFF I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO IN 2010...
Machete
The Road
Kick Ass
Shutter Island
Mad Men Season 4
True Blood Season 3
Musk

GENERIC HIGHLIGHT OF THE YEAR
Has to be strapping on the faux Satanic stagewear and taking Nancy Vandal back on the road for the Frenzal Rhomb tour. Great fun rockin' like Dokken once again, catching up with old friends and engaging in many colourful conversations with the various members of the Nancy Vandal Fruity Youth Legion of Tomorrow. You rock you crazy nerds.

The Mighty Boosh and Avatar have a baby.

2009-12-22T17:34:00.001+11:00

Air grievances. Test Strength. Happy Festivus.

2009-12-22T00:20:00.002+11:00

The Top 10 Movie Films of the Decade according to me

2009-12-19T13:36:00.006+11:00

Now we move into an area I'm more qualified to grandstand in. Whereas my best songs of the decade list was taken from a ludicrously small sample I managed to watch plenty o' movies - Surely enough to win this blog back it's lost credibility. Whereas the nineties seemed to produce a stack of great films the noughties was a bit meh in comparison though there were some gems, especially in the comedy department.

Check out the list after the jump...

10. KUNG FU HUSTLE

Action packed, sweet, and completely bonkers - the incredibly talented Stephen Chow managed to cram all kinds of coolness into this stylised cartoon kung fu mash up. Rewatchability factor of 10.

MEMORABLE MOMENT: The Axe Gang dance sequence

9. MULHOLLAND DRIVE

More bonkers-ness but this time Lynch-stylee. His deliberately obtuse weirdness never almost made sense as much as it did here. An absolute treat in terms of setting and maintaining an un-nerving tone and as David Stratton proclaimed "the sexiest lesbians since Bound".

Or that may have been me.

MEMORABLE MOMENT: That thing in the alley.

8. HOT ROD

Comedy is a subjective beast so I will have to lay some cards on the table here. If you don't like this film you can't be my friend. The noughties was a good decade for comedies especially if oddball non-sequitor-laden laughs is your thing - and it is mine. Hot Rod beats some strong contenders in this field [Zoolander, Napoleon Dynamite, Step Brothers, The Foot Fist Way] on the strength of the decades most potent comedy casting cocktail - the Lonely Island guys + Danny McBride + Bill Hader + Will Arnett + Ian McShane. 39% on Rotten Tomatoes suggests I am out of step with the average movie watcher on this. The average movie watchers is an idiot!!!

MEMORABLE MOMENT: Rod punch-dancing his rage away Footloose style.

7. HOT FUZZ

A different kind of comedy and a different kind of film. An adventurous mix of laughs, action film pisstake and action film homage. Edgar Wright's distinctive stunt camera skills are amazing as is the jaw dropping [piercing?] yet hilarious violence and the comic alchemy of the Nick Frost and Simon Pegg partnership.

MEMORABLE MOMENT: Danny Butterman taking on the fence during a foot pursuit

6. CITY OF GOD

In the decade where Scorsese finally bagged an Oscar for a gangster flick - this was the Goodfellas of it's time. Natural ultra realistic performances from the non-pro cast and an epic storyline with plenty of gut punches in the drama department.

MEMORABLE MOMENT: The bus heist change of heart.

5. MEMENTO

A pretty simple story massaged into a blinding whodunnit mind bender via the magic of backwardsness. The fact that the narrative trickery is woven in such a clever legitimate manner into the story [via Leonard's limited memory recall] raises it above pure gimmick value.

MEMORABLE MOMENT: Leonard's moment of clarity at the end/start?

4. SIN CITY

The LOTR trilogy and Avatar set the bar for live action technical inovation but were let down by pedestrian story lines [literally so with the walk intensive Rings trilogy]. By contrast Sin City wast a visual pants party unencumbered with the weighty concerns of fairyland politics. Just girls, cars, guns and Hollywood's coolest director delivering a mono masterpiece.

MEMORABLE MOMENT: Hartigan taking care of the Yellow Bastard

3. ANCHORMAN: THE LEGEND OF RON BURGUNDY

Like the best comic actors Will Ferrel is good even in lousy comedy but sublime in great ones. The character of Ron Burgundy is an inspired comic creation and the support cast/cameos read like a whos who of funny. Like Hot Rod - Anchorman helped raise the bar in the non-sequitor olympics that was 00s film comedy.

MEMORABLE MOMENT: Brian Fantana "musks up" with disappointing results.

2. THE INCREDIBLES

The 00s will be remembered as the decade computer animation came of age. Pixar is widely regarded as the undisputed king of the genre [Though the competition is raising it's game - see Kung Fu Panda and Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs] and for mine The Incredibles remains their greatest masterpiece. It nailed everything - The technical mastery, inspired attention to detail of the futuristic / 60s set design, complex storyline and Bond-like traditional film score. And what didn't it have? I'll tell ya what - Wise cracking animal side kicks, lame pop culture references crow barred in for parents "enjoyment", or Randy Newman songs.

MEMORABLE MOMENT: The rocket powered family trip to the city.

1. SHAUN OF THE DEAD

The most kick arse zombie film of the decade was always going to rate high on my list. By adding the awesome Pegg/Frost/Wright triumvirate and you've got yourself a number 1 sir. A pitch perfect balance of legitimate horror, drama and comedy, a killer soundtrack and the best time I had at the movies this decade.

MEMORABLE MOMENT: The vinyl weapon selection conundrum.

Special mentions to: PAN'S LABRYNTHE, HIGH FIDELITY, ALMOST FAMOUS, ADAPTATION, KUNG FU PANDA, UP, INGLORIOUS BASTERDS, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.

First look at The Grave Shakers

2009-12-16T21:39:00.004+11:00

I've posted the first few pages of the graphic novel I'm working on after the jump. I'll continue these little updates periodically before suddenly cutting them off, forcing addicted fans to purchase the complete graphic novel. I learnt this "free taste" marketing philosophy from my heroin dealer the mischievous scamp.

The Top 10 Songs of the Decade according to me

2009-12-14T19:36:00.005+11:00

I don't listen to as much music as I used to. And most of what I do listen to was recorded pre-1982 or sounds like it should have been. Does this make me unqualified to speak with authority on the topic of best songs 2000-2009? Don't be ridiculous.

Soak up the knowledge after the jump....

10. THE GOVERNMENT TOTALLY SUCKS
- Tenacious D

Of the many awesome songs across both D albums this remains my favourite. A pitch perfect skewering of bands writing about politics that are ill equipped to do so - a genre that could be spoofed in a million ways but this says it all. The back and forth between Jack and KG is priceless.

9. BURN IT OFF
Blues Explosion

I thought Jon Spencer was a bit too blues not enough explosion throughout the 00s but this was an exception. Who else knew there was a figure skater that used this music in her routine. Rock on Akiko Suzuki!!!

8. SHE IS THE NEW THING
The Horrors

Ridiculously trendy goth indie rock with a keyboard sound to die for. Extra points for making such fun of themselves on The Mighty Boosh.

7. RUNNIN' WILD
Airbourne

There'll always be room for AC/DC knockoffs in any decade and as everyone knows - those fists won't pump themselves. Awesome song and bonus points to the casting director responsible for the truckdriver role in the video.

6. BUCKET BONG
Frenzal Rhomb

I pretty much stopped listening to punk pop in the noughties so it is fitting that the one entrant is the band that got me into the genre in the first place. This is the classic Frenzal template imo - Short, simple with a super catchy pop hook. It rocked the house during their tour this year as well. Lindsay provides one of the best reaction shots ever recorded in a music video.

5. PSYCHOSIS SAFARI
The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster

Highly addictive baritone goth craziness. Great video too.

4. C'MON C'MON
Nashville Pussy

Bad arse hillbilly hard rock that keeps it simple and does it right. Extra points for the awesomely romantic notion of the husband/wife guitar combo. I love Blaine's "take it baby" leading into the guitar solo.

3. HARMONIC GENERATOR
The Datsuns

Again - It's not rocket science - it just works!. I'm also a sucker for chanty cheer leader backing vox.

2. WON'T BE LONG
The Hives

I could have picked a number of songs from this great band. Love the fact that they aren't afraid to mix things up in the studio - Eg the fruity synth and bells in this song - yet rock like mofos possessed live. They occasionally remind of Hanoi Rocks which is no bad thing either.

1. DON'T SPEAK [I CAME TO MAKE A BANG]
Eagles Of Death Metal

How hard does this song rock? Heaps hard, that's how. Best gig I saw this decade too.

Britney Spears talks frankly about the all new Xray Studios Shoppe

2009-12-10T22:32:00.003+11:00

Greetings merchandise fans. As the world's premier unhinged mime artist I get up to a lot of whacky shit. But there's one thing I'm never whacky about and that's christmas value. Christmas value such as that provided by the all new XRAY STUDIOS SHOPPE.

The Xray Shoppe contains an outstanding range of fashion and accessories including tshirts, bags, badges, stickers, caps and more. If you're having trouble buying for that person that has everything - shut that smug, rich, over privelleged twat up by laying down some bitchin' Xray merch on their arse. And while you're at it - why not get something for yourself? I didn't want to say anything but what your wearing now makes you look like a hobo.

Spears out!!

A Lifetime of Comic Illustration

2009-12-01T23:50:00.015+11:00

I've been drawing comics on and off for a long time. My interest in them has ebbed and flowed as other nerdish pursuits battled for my attention but from age 10 to 13 comics were numero uno. This was of course pre internet and without a dedicated comic book store my idea of heaven was strolling into a newsagent in Leeton NSW with a few bucks and making a beeline for the comic section. The store was run by a tall, frightening man who I recall looked like a cross between Anton Ego from Ratatouille and Joseph Goebbels. The Nazi connection didn't end there as he policed his no browsing policy with the cold hearted ruthlessness of a concentration camp commandant.

Are you going to buy that?

The presence of the towering SS Officer / Newsagent proprietor didn't phase me too much. I was always cashed up by virtue of there being absolutely nothing else I'd spend my pocket money on what with the arrival of the inexpensive amphetamine "Ice" years away.

Despite the limited range I was actually quite choosy. I never got into super hero titles - my interests lay in your horror / tales of the unexpected gear and war stories. Without doubt my favourite of all was DC's Sgt Rock.

Sgt Rock My World

WIKI SAYS "Rock seems to have close to superhuman endurance and strength, surviving large number of gunshot wounds, fragments from hand grenades, exposure to freezing water and other hazards. In Bob Kanigher's stories, Rock's powers seem to be more realistic than in Joe Kubert's." It's worth noting I was also a massive fan of Joe Kubert.

So I did what any self respecting pre pubescent nerd would do and created my own comic book loosely based on my beloved Sgt. Rock. When I say "loosely based" I mean "shamelessly ripped off" although I did accidentally differentiate the two by bestowing my characters with weirdly shaped heads - a flaw in my drawing technique I have partially eradicated these days.

Collectors Item

The comics I drew were never shown to anyone let alone reproduced however as I am once again gung ho into comic drawing mode I thought what better opportunity to unleash their anatomical weirdness and cultural insensitivities onto the world at large via the internets. I've included a few present day observations. See all the explosive no forehead combat action after the jump.

Maybe the cat should die?

2009-11-17T13:59:00.009+11:00

As part of this whole graphic novel writing mission I recently read a book on screen writing structure [Yeah it's party time round here 24/7] called Save The Cat! The Last Book On Screenwriting You'll Ever Need. I'd written comics and short films before but always ignored learning basic writing disciplines in favour of shock endings, intentionally daft plot expositions or good old fashioned laziness.

I thought if I was going to write a graphic novel - even one which is a trashy sci-fi / horror affair - I should get a bit of an idea of how a story of this length should be setup structure and flow-wise. In my mind I'm writing a script and drawing a storyboard for a feature film. I don't want to let Mr Corman down.

Save The Cat... was the shortest and cheapest book I saw on the shelf [off to a good start] so it got the gig. The book was really useful and filled in many of the numerous blanks I needed filling. The authors tone was a bit bossy and pompous but hey - I suspected that would be the case going in. I thought if the writer was a successful screenwriter himself he knew what he was talking about and had earned the right to be picky and critical of those that ignored the rules.

The writers name is Blake Snyder and as I discovered part way through the book wrote the script for Stop Or My Mom Will Shoot. Yeah - that. And yes - I my first thought was "I'm taking pointers from the guy who wrote that pile of dogs eggs?" It put me in a bit of a pickle. Should I stop reading now, go down to the bookshop and get the thicker more expensive screenwriting book? Or will I just then discover Robert McKee wrote Norbit?

Eventually I decided the book was about the act of writing itself not the actual story so much and it really was teaching me what I wanted to know. So the guy is shamelessly boasting how commercially successful Stop Or My Mom Will Shoot was. Who cares if he sold a spec script that became the as yet unseen by me Tone Loc vehicle Blank Check. I now know when the 2nd act should start and end and what a catalyst is. And the next most expensive screen writing book was actually quite pricey.

Well that's come back to Cenobite me on the arse.

2009-10-31T00:44:00.006+11:00

A little Halloween themed number for no reason other than 'tis the season. Pinhead having a framed copy of the "oh shit" cat photo does amuse me a bit. I'm quite easily amused.

Meet Jerry Lee

2009-10-22T22:07:00.004+11:00

JERRY LEE
Originally uploaded by Xray Studios

It's Chuck's dear test tube generated brother Jerry Lee who possesses a keen intellect, pronounced nasty streak and crippling addiction to Chelsea buns.

Meet Doc Sponglehoff

2009-10-21T21:51:00.002+11:00

DOC SPONGLEHOFF
Originally uploaded by Xray Studios

Doctor Wolfgang Sponglehoff shares a moment with a test tube of E-5000 - his revolutionary cloning agent.

Meet Chuck

2009-10-20T19:02:00.002+11:00

CHUCK
Originally uploaded by Xray Studios

Chuck was born in a test tube at the hand of a mad scientist still ironing the kinks out of his cloning technology.

Wacom drawing tablets rock

2009-10-17T13:12:00.013+11:00

I bloody well love my new Wacom Intuos4 drawing tablet [or Wacom Siege Intuos4 drawing tablet as I say hilariously]. For years I was resolute in my view that such a device could never replace the glory of a HB pencil and Artline marker however I've finally jumped ship.

Perhaps it was because I was basing my view on the performance of an older Wacom tablet I owned with an active area slightly larger than a cigarette packet and a pen with the sensitivity levels of Andrew Bolt. It was kind of like saying I didn't need an ipod as I already had a portable music playing device in my cassette walkman.

The 8 gig model

Seems like the boffins at Wacom Texas labs have made several significant breakthroughs in the years since my first tablet was made and the current model really does kick arse.

Here's some stuff I have been tinkering with so far...

Graphic Novel ahoy!

2009-10-17T12:43:00.004+11:00

So I'm writing and illustrating a graphic novel and there isn't a damn thing you can do to stop me.

Why a graphic novel? Well I guess this marks the temporary shelving of my ambition to create a feature length animated film for the time being. I love animation but doing something on a grand scale requires a lot of collaboration and organisation - and if there's two things I hate it's communicating with others and making plans.

So I've downsized my crazy pipe dream to a humble graphic novel. It's just like an animated film only quieter and I can do it all in the privacy of my own rural compound. There's still a fair bit of work involved of course and I'm psyching myself to become a heavily focused, resolutely determined kung fu master of graphic novel creation. The aim is to have it completed by July 2010 which will require pumping out about 4 pages per week. That seems a lot.

The old blog shall contain progress art along the way - and hopefully shame me into keeping my arse into gear.

T Rex continued....

2009-09-01T20:14:00.006+10:00

The excitement continues with art watch - the action packed webventure that slowly reveals my cobtribution to the T Rex exhibitionmentioned previously. Cop an eye full of this....

T Rex Work in Progress

2009-08-07T23:06:00.004+10:00

Grant Hunter - the Imperial Wizard of the Nancy Vandal Fruity Youth Legion of Tomorrow: Wyong Shire Zone - recently invited me to submit something to a forthcoming exhibition at the recently opened Newcastle Arthive Gallery.

The exhibition is a group show called TYRANNOSAURUS REX which has prompted me to explore the subject of 70s glam superstar Marc Bolan punching a dinosaur. Grant is a pleasing opponent of art wank so I shall hopefully avoid having to provide too much in the way of message, intent or thematic purpose. However if pressed I'd say the finished work accurately conveys my feelings that Marc Bolan is way cool - as is the notion of punching a dinosaur.

Here's a little bit of progress....

Wall To Wall Opening

2009-08-01T10:53:00.003+10:00

Some of my stuff appeared in the "Wall to Wall" exhibition - a collection or rock poster and flyer artwork put together by ex-Lawnsmell legend Glenno Smith. The exhibition features a stack of great underground artists including Ben Brown, Giles, Link Meanie, Ray Ahn, Oxx, Glenno himself and heaps more. The artist bios were a great read and a massive affirmation of the power and popularity of the artline pen.

New and improveder

2009-07-31T11:34:00.006+10:00

Huzzah for the new look Xray Studios site!

The new design has focused on ease of updatability for me and super sharability for you. Become an Xray Studios Facebook fan directly from the link on the right! Post Xray Studios videos on Facebook, Myspace, Digg etc! Follow me on Twitter once I work out what it is! Do what you want to do - be what you want to be Yeah. It's an exciting new world where digital dreams come true and cats and dogs become best of friends.

That is of course if my half arsed web skillz hold together which is a pretty big if.

And yes - I realise this is about the 5th blog I have started and all the others are currently drifting about cyberspace like discarded christmas pets - however this time things will be different.

Honest.

The Grave Shakers Part 1

2009-01-03T13:44:00.015+11:00

XRAY STUDIOS ILLUSTRATION

2009-01-01T15:45:00.005+11:00

Sgt Kole - The Bells of St Mary!

2009-01-01T14:49:00.001+11:00

XRAY STUDIOS SHOPPE

2009-01-01T12:54:00.010+11:00

I LOUVRE ROCK & ROLL: The collected Masterworks of Mike Foxall
80 pages of cartoons, illustrations, comic art, rock posters and more spanning 15 years.
AU$25 postage paid.

THE GRAVE SHAKERS
Issue 1
The Grave Shakers is a 4 part comic book series telling the tale of a mad scientist turned rogue record label kingpin who uses cutting edge cloning technology to reanimate dead rock stars.
AU$10 postage paid.

XRAY STUDIOS MUSIC

2008-01-01T20:50:00.004+11:00

THE NEPTUNE POWER FEDERATION

The NPF is a demonic shit storm of old fashioned metal fuzzed up and delivered via Ouija board to it's unholy army of fans. FAIL SATAN!!

MUSK

Look closely and you may find trace elements of me in guitarist Mikey Musk from this densely moustached 70s rock juggernaut. Playing soon at an RSL near you!! MUSK FOR LIFE!

NANCY VANDAL

Once upon a time rockin' was my business, Nancy Vandal my job description and poorly attended pubs my cubicle. Despite going into receivership some time ago - there still are a few NV fans scattered about the place and we occasionally even reform just to remind everyone why we did no good the first time around. Check out the official NANCY VANDAL WEBSITE
or NANCY VANDAL MYSPACE ZONE.

FOX TROTSKY & THE EXPLOSIVES

Post Nancy Vandal I took time out form my busy schedule to form Fox Trotsky and The Explosives - a dynamic one man electro punk outfit that nobody has ever heard of. You can change all that by visiting the FTE MYSPACE PAGE.

MIKE FOXALL BIO

2008-01-01T20:05:00.043+11:00

Greetings biography enthusiasts. I'm an illustrator / animator / musician from Bathurst, Australia with a keen interest in zombie affairs, heavy metal and movies about disproportionately large insects that have it in for humanity. Many years ago I used to rock like a hurricane in Sydney based sonic nose pickers Nancy Vandal. Occasionally I still do depending on prevailing wind conditions and the futures market. More recently I have taken to starting a swag of different bands with similar levels of success.

This site is the online repository for my various digital droppings - scooped up into a neat pile for you to poke through with a stick. Enjoy!

XRAY STUDIOS COMICS

2008-01-01T17:41:00.008+11:00

THE GRAVE SHAKERS - Issue 1

The first issue of The Grave Shakers is out now!! The Grave Shakers is a 4 part comic book series telling the tale of a mad scientist turned rogue record label kingpin who uses cutting edge cloning technology to reanimate dead rock stars. A struggling all girl rock band and their bumbling manager are roped into the scheme and soon find themselves up to their eyeballs in undead menace. A rollicking rock and roll thriller ensues in the cinematic tradition of "Kiss Meet The Phantom of the Park" and "The Boys From Brazil"..

It's available to view online or as a free download at

THE GRAVE SHAKERS WEBSITE...

SGT KOLE

Almost 3 decades since it's inception - my first ever comic finally hits the internets. Sgt Kole is a hard arse no nonsense WW2 fighting machine with the vocabulary and motivations of a 10 year old comic nerd.

CHECK OUT "THE BELLS OF ST MARY HERE...

And if you think you're hard enough, back it up it with more Kraut blasting action in BLOOD PASS!

XRAY STUDIOS VIDEO

2008-01-01T17:00:00.049+11:00

XRAY STUDIOS 2011 REEL

A bunch of stuff I drew, animated or shot during 2011.

WIZARD LOVIN' MUSIC VIDEO

Satanic party guys The Neptune Power Federation put the romance back into necromancy.

BIRD ATTACK MUSIC VIDEO

Iconic Aussie punk jesters Frenzal Rhomb flee from a sky full of feathered foes, brilliantly rendered in Mega Shark standard CGI.

VERY CHERRY STREET MUSIC VIDEO

Very fruity number from Brisvegas based rock deity JJ Speedball.

THE GRAVE SHAKERS TRAILER

TIRED & CRANKY [SHUT THE FUCK UP] MUSIC VIDEO

BITCHBUS 74 FAUX GRINDHOUSE TRAILER

This is a Faux trailer for the SXSW film festival Grindhouse movie trailer competition. "Bitchbus 74" sees a group of highly dangerous female prisoners perform a daring escape then embark on a terrifying estrogen fuelled rampage. High octane action ensues in the cinematic tradition of Caged Heat and Cannonball Run 2.

PLANET FURY SHORT FILM

The Vardacs are the most warmongering species in the galaxy, yet each randomly instigated attack results in humiliating defeat. Planet Fury takes you for a rare journey to the Vardacs inner sanctum where they wrestle with the agonising choice of updating to sophisticated modern weaponry or sticking with their traditional, time honoured, yet utterly ineffective methods.

What follows is a riveting docu-drama in the tradition of Supersize Me and Battlefield Earth.

THE 153RD MOST DANGEROUS BAND IN THE WORLD MUSIC VIDEO

Dynamic teen sensations FOX TROTSKY AND THE EXPLOSIVES star in the animated music video for their chart topping debut single.

FUZZY'S DAY OUT SHORT FILM

Mild mannered Go Lo sales assistant Clark Tagnut embarks on a leisurely picnic in the park only to discover he is being stalked by a psychotic stuffed toy named Fuzzy. His desperate attempts to evade the fluffy sky blue menace lead to a terrifying and bloody showdown in the cinematic tradition of The Terminator and The Muppets Take Manhattan.

FUZZY'S DAY OUT

2008-01-01T16:48:00.002+11:00

THE 153RD MOST DANGEROUS BAND IN THE WORLD

2008-01-01T16:44:00.000+11:00

Dynamic teen sensations FOX TROTSKY AND THE EXPLOSIVES star in the animated music video for their chart topping debut single.

PLANET FURY

2008-01-01T16:42:00.000+11:00

BITCHBUS '74

2008-01-01T16:02:00.002+11:00