9/11/2012 David Sheppard

Today we had a lecture from David Sheppard (if you can call it a lecture, more like a personal group chat). He told us about his history in Art and how is man careers have come about. One of his main careers as a music journalist was unintentional, he found a hidden talent whist on tour with his band where he was asked to produce a diary of every place visited, sending them in letter form back to base. Little did he know that these letters would later be published in American College Music Journal. he told us about his many experiences as a journalist, such as editing and writing for Mojo Magazine and being an editor of the Art and Music magazine from the Saatchi Gallery. As him an his friends started the magazine they didn't expect to sell that many copies, they produced only two before being approached by the Saatchi Gallery who wanted to use it as their magazine.

David started a record label, which is very unique. The records themselves were a work of art, including packages based around the music that was on the CD's. Starting the label, David used a few artists that he knew, and now seeks new artists or allows them to find him. Each record that was produced was thought carefully about and hand crafted items to include with the CD. One record that was extremely interesting for me included a book telling a tale about the song, the book used found papers and recycled them into something new. I liked the idea that the book had been created by hand and had been thought about very carefully. This shows me that art is not strict and you can find many different ways to apply art to everyday life, including art for music. 

The talk with David was a true inspiration, he told us that it takes a while to build up a career, but if you are willing to try new things and get to know new people, that it will really help. He advised that we had more than one thing going at once and not just the 'put all of your eggs in one basket'. One little thing can make all the difference and take you down a pathway you would have never thought of for yourselves, he said we should just go with the flow. 

Below I have included some of the records produced by Davids record label...