Art-Punk Avatar: Jowe Head
by Peter Aaron
England’s Jowe Head, who plays at Claude’s in Phoenicia on April 18, is one of those too-long-ignored, between-the-cracks figures that truly embody the DIY spirit of underground rock. As the bassist in two of the most influential cult bands of the last 30 years, seminal art punks Swell Maps (an outfit founded by late singer/guitarist Nikki Sudden and drummer Epic Soundtracks) and shambolic mod revisionists the Television Personalities, he made music that fired and fried the younger minds of those who went on to be in such bands as Pavement and Sonic Youth. But in addition to being an innovative musician, Head is also a highly accomplished visual artist whose twisted and bemusing style evokes Polynesian tiki figures as well as the Surrealists. His Phoenicia performance is being held in conjunction with an opening at the town’s Arts Upstairs gallery the following day.
Were you an artist or a musician first? How did you get started in each medium, and how are the two connected?
I started to paint and draw in my early teens. I was into ancient art and primitive cave paintings. I fell out with my art teacher at school, so I was forced to drop it, but I got interested in modern art later, when I went to technical college to study my art foundation after school. In my mid teens, I met Nikki, who became my best friend and he encouraged me to try making music. At first, it was a pure interest in various colors of sound and the qualities of materials; the same kind of values that drove my interest in visual art. I went up to study fine art in Manchester in 1976, but I traveled down nearly every weekend to be with Nikki and the other people who would go on to play in Swell Maps with me. Ever since I can remember, music and visual art have fueled each other. I usually listen to music when I paint and draw, and even when I’m not I’ll be meditating on ideas for my own music. CONTINUE...
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