NOOTHGRUSH

These are photos of the first page I've drawn in a series which will resemble unbound, oversize manuscript pages. There were a number of different types of hand written books in Medieval Europe, and though they served different purposes, we have come to kind of combine them in our heads over time. Some were secular, and some were sacred, some contained no illustrations, some were much more image heavy than others. I'm drawing upon two types of manuscripts, those which were for daily use by Medieval people, and those containing psalters, decretals and glosses of various saints and theologians. I'm going to make drawings which resemble manuscripts in their visual style (word heavy, use of blackletter, margins and illustrated borders and letters) but use band interviews and lyrics for their textual content. Essentially it is a kind of metal / hardcore zine, but made to resemble a very old religious text.

There is wisdom to be gleaned from old band interviews and their lyrics. Inasmuch as the bible and other religious texts and declarations (such as the famous reformation of Martin Luther) were read or memorized as part of daily Medieval life, contemporary lyrics and their accompanying philosophies serve a somewhat similar role to (a smaller group of) people today. Books like the Ars Moriendi, or Art of Dying, expounded upon a 15th century audience ideals of "how to die". People aimed to live in christ's image, to imitate him, to live well and to die well. My "book", really a series of page-like drawings, will instead expound upon a few themes found in the music of bands like Noothgrush, Man is the Bastard, Neanderthal, Insect Warfare and Dystopia: the idea that the human race is destructive, self destructive, superstitious and baser than the "animal" life on this planet. This applies to our creation of religion and systems of government and the reliance of these structures upon fear for control. In a way, this will be a kind of "punk" guide to life, intended to mimic early Medieval texts and offer a more humanist philosophy without demanding pious, impossible to follow behaviour, while acknowledging the flaws of our species to live harmoniously with one another or with the nature.