7 months after the release of their bright blast of radiant, prismatic experimental post hardcore masterpiece “Burrows & Other Hideouts”, Brighton’s CHALK HANDS are finally hitting the road! The band has announced a string of Spring dates in March, April, and May, kicking off with a single show this Saturday and then proceeding with the rest of the trek on March 30th.
As soon as I saw the tour poster and it’s striking mystery, it sparked something in me and I knew I have to ask the author for some insights on its creation. Here’s the little piece I’ve got from Tommy, the band’s guitarist/vocalist and the author of the artwork, and bassist Mateo, who added some bits about booking the tour. Read below.
We hadn’t done a whole lot of ‘brainstorming’ for the tour poster idea before I went ahead and put pen to paper. We aren’t a band that goes out to feed people deliberate messages full of profound wisdom or political opinion, but we are one full of broad questions and somewhat abstract imagery that conjures a certain picture or idea in our minds, and that we hope will do the same for the people that listen to our music. I love the idea that what people see and hear differs from person to person and I guess artistically I’m not someone who likes to be obvious. The poster art shows a mass of faceless people that are scrambling to reach a hand that dangles from…well who knows? We are all reaching for something and unfortunately it can sometimes be one heck of a struggle to get to what you want to achieve, and then when you get there it’s not always what you thought it would be. I’m not saying that this is what the image has to mean metaphorically, its completely subjective. Life wouldn’t be much fun if there wasnt a little mystery to have the chance to dabble in.
A lot of work went into booking this tour and we couldnt be more excited. It is difficult to imagine how smaller bands were doing this before the age of social media. Luckily central Europe is great for this. In France and Belgium a lot of associations organise gigs, but in Germany the fact they have so many youth centres really helps. It is amazing how in every town, even in smaller cities, you get several DIY collectives willing to help out, providing so much needed homemade food and a nice place to sleep. For smaller bands like us, who have to cover all the touring costs in advance and can’t expect big turn ups at shows, it would be impossible to do this using regular bookers. Hopefully we will see some friendly faces on our travels.
Massive thanks to Intrepide studio for the layout of the poster and to everyone that has helped us make this possible.
