Cinema goes Platinum in USA

Thanks for making CINEMA a Platinum record in the USA!

Yahoo Music News

GG3D

GG3D…not really..sorry.

Cinema – Christina Grimmie Cover

Looks like a lot of effort went into this !

Cinema Stop Motion

Jennifer Louise Martin – Visual Artist

I love the visual stylings of artist Jennifer Louise Martin. I interpret a lot of her work to be about the discovery and destruction of beauty. I have a few of her paintings in my studio. It’s hard not to let them inspire me!

Q&A with NWOTF Cover Photographer – Calvin Müller

GGTV was delighted to catch up with photographer and Gary Go collaborator Calvin Müller (via Fax) to chat about the cover photo shoot for NOW WAS ONCE THE FUTURE. We are told Calvin was nursing a bottle of red wine at an undisclosed location near his residence in Ulm (between Stuttgart and Munich in the south of Germany) as he answered our questions.

GGTV
We at GGTV were really surprised when we first saw the cover image for NWOTF. It’s so mystical and beautiful. How did the image come about?

I had been on a roadtrip by motorhome through Europe. I stayed in Brighton for a couple of days and planned to go to London to visit Gary. We had planned to shoot some Lomography pics with my Holga camera, but it had been a difficult time back then – riots were all over the place, and nobody could tell me if it was safe to travel to London – I ended up going anyway. We ended up staying at this studio, doing no holga shots. This is the usual way it goes with Gary and I – we never stick to our original plan, since we find them then boring. We ended up being much more creative – and you have seen the result, haven’t you?

GGTV
We understand from Gary that Miss Elephante is a real life mythical creature…Are you able to tell us more about what she represents to you?

From my very personal point of view she represents the simple word HOPE with its down sides. It is unknown if Miss Elephanté is real and so much is hope, but still it let’s us carry on and keep things happening in the way they’re supposed to – in other words: To let go.

GGTV
Had you heard the album before you took the cover shot? Would you say the music informs the imagery?

I had the chance to hear some bits before the cover shot when I had visited Gary a few months earlier. One word that got stuck in my mind was “moody” and this word had huge impact for me when I did the shoot. The whole album artwork doesnt make sense in the first place like most album artworks out there but this one happens to make much more sense when every one of the songs have been listened to. The image gets even clearer the more you know about Gary Go.

GGTV
Do you believe that when you take a photograph, you are also capturing a spirit and energy that can not be seen but that can be felt when you look back at the image?

As much as I wanted to give a simple yes to this question, I can’t – justified in todays technology. My very own camera is able to take up to 4 pictures in a second and by the quick overlooking of hundreds of pictures finding the one, the so called spirit is hard to catch when the single picture is not valued anymore. I am glad that you asked this, because that made me realise a bit more that it was a good decision to extend my horizon by going back to the roots and taking pictures with analogue cameras. My medium format camera (an old Hasselblad) takes 12 pictures on a single film. Every single shot is much more valued because there is so much work behind that – you think twice before you hit the trigger. After composing the photograph, setting aperture and shutterspeed manually, putting everything into focus, and then triggering it – it takes another week before you get the shots back from the photo labour and yet there is work to be done. The developed film (only touched by silk gloves) needs to be scanned. I am not drifting off, but now I can say: Yes, in that case I believe in capturing a spirit and energy that cannot be seen before.

GGTV
Was the cover image your favourite one from the shoot with Miss Elephanté? Do you find that you and Gary like the same images?

There had been several good shoots, but only this one worked out well as a quadratic album cover – so it was the right one to choose. Gary and I are very honest about what we like or not, which is a good thing, but what is much better is that we like the same pictures.

GGTV
You have done a few photo shoots with Gary. What do you enjoy about the collaboration?

I really like the way we had been progressing over the years and still are progessing. We had become friends over the years and it happens that we meet having a glass of wine and do creative brainstorming of what could come next, and this works so well. It is a very honest collaboration – and I must say that if there wasn’t Gary, I would not know where I would stand with my photography today!

GGTV
Would you say you have a favourite Gary Go moment?

I must say that I got many favourite Gary Go moments. We are always having such a good and fun time, BUT I think my favourite Gary Go moment was back in March 2009 – I hadn’t seen him for six months as he had been on tour with The Script and I had been visiting the show in Munich as a photographer. I was excited, standing in the pressbox in front of the stage and waiting for Gary to start the show. It was my first time seeing Gary performing live on this scale, and just before the first song, he noticed me and paused to say hello in front of the whole audience, before I could react he got on with the tune and I started taking pictures. Was also great being at a Skrillex show in Germany recently, hearing thousands of people singing along to Gary’s vocals on Cinema! There’s many great moments.

GGTV
Many thanks for taking the time to chat with us Calvin!

Thank you! Now I can go back to listening to Now Was Once The Future !

NEW GARY GO SOUNDTRACK “NOW WAS ONCE THE FUTURE” IS AVAILABLE TO BUY NOW EXCLUSIVELY FROM GARYGO.TV STORE – CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS

NWOTF Artwork – Kaonashi Q&A

GaryGo.TV caught up with globe trotting conceptual artist KAONASHI to find out more about his stunning artwork for NOW WAS ONCE THE FUTURE

NWOTF CD Booklet - Photo by Calvin Müller

GGTV: HELLO KAONASHI. WE LOVE THE ARTWORK YOU’VE CREATED FOR NWOTF AND THE SPECIAL EDITION CD PACKAGE IS STUNNING. WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?

The elephant was all Gary’s idea, I can’t take credit for that. Elephante! There were some elephant photos [photography by Calvin Müller] and basically free reign for whatever I wanted to do with those, which was great! I think the most important element I added was the pink line going throughout the artwork. It goes from the elephant’s eye all the way through the packaging, splurting words and details on the way through to reaching the final EQ readout of the album that eventually makes the back cover. She blows bubbles and stars through her trunk and that finally becomes the CD. So she’s making it all, really. We had nothing to do with it.

GGTV: HOW LONG DID YOU LIVE WITH THE MUSIC BEFORE YOU PUT HAND TO MOUSE?

I had the album only for a couple of weeks before I could get working on it, so I had a chance to listen to it all digest the feelings and emotions in the songs. Actually everything hit at once… I remember one minute I was in contact with Gary (after a long time being out of touch), and he’s asking me to make this new album cover, whilst I didn’t even know he’d basically finished it all already, then the next minute I’m seeing him on MTV with Benny Bennassi… It was that great moment when you shout “Hey that’s my friend on TV!” I mean, it was even better than the normal moment because my laptop was open and I was working on the album cover at the time. The wife of my friend was sitting with me and I don’t think for one second she believed what I was saying

GGTV: WE UNDERSTAND YOU WERE TRAVELLING ON A BIKE WHILE YOU WERE WORKING ON THE ARTWORK…WHERE WERE YOU AND HOW DID THAT INFORM THE PIECE?

Actually I was travelling on a bike after I’d finished the album. Literally I was just waiting to get the work finished then I embarked on a mad trip in India with a bike, which was… indescribable I guess! I worked on the album in Serbia, Romania, Turkey, Georgia, but mostly in Armenia. The spirographs that the elephant girl is spouting from her trunk were found on the streets of Turkey. These guys were selling the kits, but they all seemed to have dozens of beautiful multi-coloured examples hanging from their stalls. So I went around to all of them, offering money for little offcuts and ready-made examples. I guess because they’d had so much practice they were so good at making them, they were all really beautiful! The guys were looking at me funny because I was buying these sheets of paper with their examples on, not the actual kits they were trying to sell! So I got all I needed (around 200 patterns), and took them back to where I was staying and scanned them all in a night session… I guess being where I was definitely affected the piece. There are photographs in the montage that all come from where I had been during that specific trip.

GGTV: THE ARTWORK FEELS VERY EMOTIONAL, WITH HIDDEN MEANINGS AND DATA VISUALISATION. CAN YOU REVEAL WHAT ANY OF IT ACTUALLY MEANS?

It all comes from the elephant girl, Elephante… The pink line, from her eye, and the bubbles, lights and patterns that come from her trunk. It’s like she’s made the whole thing there, all by herself… She’s very coy about it. The words that form part of the pink line tell a subtle story that underlines the general feeling of the album… As you open the packaging you get “Our love is on”, which going through the packaging, slowly unfolds (literally) as “Our love is leaving”, and finally “Our love is off”. It’s a play on the words “Our love is on the line”, a lyric from one of the songs. So there is that interaction where you get to make your own version of it all… is it on, off, or coming/going? So difficult to know sometimes! Also the back of the album cover has a coloured ring. These are actual EQ readouts of the song, the volumes and lengths all completely accurate. Then the colouring of the ring changes with each key of the songs.

GGTV: DO YOU BELIEVE THERE IS A SPIRIT CAPTURED WHEN CREATING A PIECE OF ART THAT IT THEN TRANSMITS?

That’s an interesting question. Yes, on first instinct, I would say yes, there is definitely something of a “spirit” caught when you make something… I wouldn’t say spirit, I think more of a feeling or more specifically, an intention. I personally feel that art is the search for a truth. I think in a good piece of artwork (painting, song, whatever), if it is good enough, you will see a truth, an intention of something. If this carries over to the viewer, if the viewer sees that truth, then the artist has succeeded in conveying their truth at that moment in time… that truth has been communicated and shared!

GGTV: WHAT DOES THE ARTWORK MEAN TO YOU?

It’s wonderful, fantastical. Same as Gary’s music. It is kind of otherwordly. Also this was a special time in my life, I had a lot going on, but also I had never felt so free and honest… So, a lot of that realisation, the realisation of wonderfulness and specialness in my life, went in to the work. I’m quite minimalist and structured in my approach to work, and although some of that remained, I was way more carefree in my attitude towards this artwork. It wasn’t about getting my agenda across or anything like that, I just wanted to communicate the beauty of Gary’s work. I literally wanted to paint the colours and patterns of the songs, which I think kind of worked. When you leave a trace of the designer or artist, the illusion is shattered. When you make honest, direct work with no hidden agendas then you really reach great heights. I’m paraphrasing a Japanese designer here. And badly. (Naoto Fukasawa is the guy if you want to find the original quote!)

GGTV: HOW LONG HAVE YOU KNOWN GARY…HAVE YOU COLLABORATED BEFORE? I’M TOLD THERE’S A STORY ABOUT A POWER PLUG AND A CARELESS GARY ON THE GO?!

Thankfully I was introduced to Gary a number of years back and we have always hit it off since then. We’re quite similar I’d say. Very driven when we get an idea to do something. Doubly so if we’re working together. We enjoy each other’s company massively, and it is always a joy to work together as we seem to have this great ability to bounce ideas off each other and before we know it we’re on to something great without knowing how we got there. We used to hang out at his studio whilst I was working with him on the first album cover. One night at the studio in the middle of it all I was really flowing and had got down all the ideas and look of the thing, but I wasn’t saving the work because it was nearly a 2 gigabyte file, so doing anything (but particularly saving) was seriously taking an age. I had brought my PC with me so it was all messy in the reception area, and we finally decided to call it a day (or night) by the sunrise… Gary’s helping me clear up and the file was actually nearly finished saving, then he goes and just pulls the plug out of the socket… Computer goes off, and he just looks at me incredulously for what seemed like forever but was only an moment, and then tries to put the plug back in, muttering something like “no, no, it will be alright, right?”, not quite comprehending fully what he’d done (we’d been up all night so we weren’t in the best shape, mentally). He couldn’t believe he’d done that! It obviously wasn’t alright, but I went home and reconstructed it from the muddled memories of the night. It never came out the same as the first inspired time, obviously, but it looked good still. We didn’t use any of it in the end anyway! Unfortunately my artwork didn’t materialise as he got signed to a major label and I was also leaving the country at the time. It’s a real shame as the work we had put in really resulted in some stellar ideas and outcomes. Actually to be honest the work was kind of finished, and I was very proud of it.

GGTV: MANY THANKS KAONASHI !!!
You’re so welcome, it was nice to re-visit everything in my head. Thanks for having me

NEW GARY GO SOUNDTRACK “NOW WAS ONCE THE FUTURE” IS AVAILABLE TO BUY NOW EXCLUSIVELY FROM GARYGO.TV STORE – CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS

Of Youth / Of Beauty – The Making Of…

Making my first album ‘Of Youth / Of Beauty’ was an unforgettable experience. Got to work and collaborate with a dream team of musicians and technicians…people I had admired for years before. It all kicked off at a magical studio in the snow-capped Catskills.

Magical studio in the Catskills

Dawn by the fire listening to the latest recordings

Studio with a view

Inspiration

Martin Valihora bringing the beats

JOHN SHANNON <voice of truth and spirit strum>

AEL & GG Making some sounds

Listening

Book Of Awesome

This poem should be on the wall of every child’s bedroom…to prepare them -GG

There are places in the world
Where people do not dream
Of rocket-powered unicorns
And candy cane machines
Of magic watermelon boats
And musical baboons
Or teeny tiny trumpet players
Training pet raccoons
Yes there are places in the world
Where people dream up dreams
So simply un-fantastical
And practical they seem
To lose all possibility
Of thinking super things
Of dancing wild animals
With diamond-coated wings
Instead they dream of furniture
Of buying a new hat
Of owning matching silverware
Could you imagine that?
Instead they lay awake at night
Wishing for a car
Not one that runs on jellybeans
But one that’s reg-u-lar
They dream of breakfast sandwiches
They dream of telephones
Sometimes they even dream of dreams
That aren’t even their own
Yes there are places in the world
Where dreams are almost dead
So please my child do keep in mind
Before you go to bed
To dream a dream as big
As big could ever dream to be
Then dream a dream ten times as big
As that one dream you see
Then once you’ve got that dream in mind
Please dream a million more
And not a million quiet dreams
A million dreams that roar
A million dreams so loud they scream
So loud they sing and shout
So super huge they say
“Hey world! Guess what I’m dreamin’ bout”
I’m dreaming about everything
that no one thought to wonder
Dreams so big that they’ve got dreams
And they’ve got dreams up under!
Please dream for those who’ve given up
For those who’ve never tried
Please use your dreams
To make new dreams
For all the dreams that died
Cause you’re the one whose dreams can be
Whatever dreams you want
Whose dreams can change the way things are
And the way that things are not
And if they say that all your dreams
Are too big to come true
You tell them that I told you…
“That’s what dreams are meant to do!”
They’re meant to make you seem as if
You don’t know up from down
Because dreams are dreams and that’s why
Dreams are worth having around!
So when you think your dreaming’s done
Just remember what I said
“close your eyes my child and dream
that perfect dream
inside your head”

Awesome Book Store –

Of Youth / Of Beauty – Symbols

Love this poster we made for the first album. It comes with every CD. Each song has a symbol. All the songs are connected. It’s a map.

Mark Jenkins Installation Art

Mark Jenkins is a trip. His sculptures catch you off guard, sometimes where and when you least expect it.

Mr Pink.

I remember we hit the Thomas Pink store on Jermyn St on a very windy afternoon. They even made a special edition Gary Go shirt. Thanks Mr Pink!

I Need 2 See

Nothing more fun than an afternoon in Switzerland sitting with the guys from Zuerihorn, taking measurements for some made-to-measure Golasses!

NYC High Line

some things that caught my eye from the new york high line. great views from up there, you never know what you’ll see. loved discovering stephen vitiello’s ‘a bell for every minute’ sound installation up there on my last visit.

Open Arms MTV TRL Rome

This was a fun afternoon in Rome. The show was hosted by Elisabetta Canalis. The evening ended in my favourite restaurant in the world.

Memories of Manchester

Never forget this day opening up for Take That at Old Trafford in Manchester, UK. One of Five nights. It was a strange week. News of MJ passing had hit the day before. Literally I’m announced and about to walk on stage when the production manager stops me and says, “there’s been a change of plan, you need to go on in an hour and play an extra couple of songs.” Okay, back to the dressing room we go and I teach the band “Superfuture” in it’s infancy and throw a couple of other ideas out there. I had other songs ready to go, but they weren’t the best for these shows…they were mainly slow, melancholic ‘woe is me’ numbers and in 6/8 and unknown, which isn’t always the best way to perk up a crowd that have been standing in the rain with nothing to watch for a few hours. So stage time comes and we hit the stage and the heavens open. The crowd were amazing and brought the sun to the rain. We found our way through ‘Superfuture’ without too many hiccups. Bless Old Trafford.

Goraffiti

When we put Of Youth / Of Beauty album out…someone decided to spray the cover image – my face – around the streets of central london. No property or animals were harmed in the process. Sorry.

Favourite Place to Write

This is one of my favourite places to write.

Wedding Video

This couple are in Love!
[heartfelt cover of Cinema]
[if you don't at least consider a tear, you are made of stone]

Bobby McFerrin

Bobby McFerrin – always so beautiful and soulful. He is an instrument. Will always love and remember ‘thinking about your chocolate…’

Keith Jarret

Will never forget the first time I was told I needed to hear Keith Jarret!

C/H/A/I/R/S

For those of you who have visited my TUMBLR and/or followed me on FACEBOOK, you may be aware of my fascination with chairs. I’m often asked about it. I get a lot of “What’s with all the chairs?” from friends that had no idea of my love of artistic furniture. I’m no furniture fanatic. Or expert. But I love sitting down. And I love art. And I love expression and I love truth. I take sitting down for granted. I guess most people do. The chair is such a functional every day structure. Such a boring instrument. I find romance in the mind of the artist who has the spark to re-tackle, re-interpret and re-imagine such a basic object. It’s done again and again and in so many creative ways. For me I don’t see the floating plastic bag blowing in the wind…I just see a sea of different, weird looking chairs, washed up on the shore.

Elephants

Wikipedia says – Elephants are a symbol of wisdom in Asian cultures and are famed for their memory and intelligence, where their intelligence level is thought to be equal to that of dolphin and primates.Aristotle once said the elephant was “the beast which passeth all others in wit and mind.”The word “elephant” has its origins in the Greek ἐλέφας, meaning “ivory” or “elephant”.

Am slightly obsessed with Elephants at the moment. Since Miss Elephanté making the front cover of NWOTF, I seem to be seeing elephant everywhere

NOW WAS ONCE THE FUTURE

The year of the elephant.

My new soundtrack NOW WAS ONCE THE FUTURE is available this month.

Austin Kleon

Austin Kleon

As well as having an incredible sounding name, Austin Kleon has created some completely engaging poems in his book Newspaper Blackout – he composes poems by taking newspaper articles and blacking out words with a marker pen, kind of like a sculptor chipping away at a block of stone. The results are beautiful.

Equally as intriguing are the attempts by fans of the method, which are on Austin’s Newspaper Blackout blog Love this one below and there was one I saw once about a piano which I loved…maybe you can find it.

skrillexed

loved the skrillex show live in london last month. truly engaging and innovative. absolutely love this artist. brilliant talent and puts on an incredible show.
his remix of Cinema has been described by The Independent as ‘the world’s first dubstep power ballad.’

Reflections Short at Vegas Gallery London

Reflections Of A Skyline is a short film by Mike Tamman & Richard Jakes that I scored the music for on a summers day in 2007. They’re showing this alongside some other beautiful works at Vegas Gallery London as part of the “I Wish You Well” Group Exhibition [Dec 01,'11- Jan 07, '12]. Looks like an interesting exhibit.

Forever Young #Art

I love the artist Ben Young. I have two of his works in my studio and they mean a great deal to me. One is “I LOVE YOU” and the other is “I HATE YOU” and they hang side by side in my writing room. I first saw them hanging in a gallery window close to one of my favourite west london restaurants and I walked past them a few nights in a row and every time they would stop me in my tracks, calling out for my attention. I could really feel the heartache in the paintings…the true love. The lost love. The unrequited love. “I LOVE YOU” and “I HATE YOU” hanging side by side. Colourful and sad. Unfortunately the gallery was always closed cause it was so late at night so I could never enquire further about the artist. One lucky night the gallery was open and the paintings were still there in the window. This was my chance. I left with “I LOVE YOU.” It sat on my piano in my studio, but it sat in my stomach that something was missing. “I HATE YOU”. Deep down I knew they were supposed to be together. I had never spoken to the artist, but I could only imagine these were inspired from and part of the same moment and emotion and should be living together. Then my quest became tracking down the other painting.

Above: At Ben Young’s studio admiring a scary piece called Jah-Pan. “I HATE YOU” in the corner, getting ready for a new home.

Ben Young Interview on Eye See Hue
Ben Young currently showing at SCOPE Miami

NWOTF ❤ COMING SOON

NWOTF – We were supposed to be together.

The new soundtrack album by Gary Go coming soon. Enjoy the full version of CINEMA [Feat. Carina Round] now on the pop-up player and unlock the low-fi tetris inspired teaser trip-clip.

…and don’t forget to spread the word.

Thank you.

#NWOTF

NWOTF

So so excited to finally have physical CDs in my hand for my new soundtrack NWOTF. This has been a romance of mine for a while, very close to my heart and I am so proud of it.

I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I have enjoyed creating it.

RSOTB

If you tend to get spotirific on Spotify, you may enjoy my RSOTB Spotify playlists which I occasionally publish on Spotify [in the hope that you might enjoy some of the music I've been listening to, as much as I have]. You can find me on Spotify by clicking the Spotify icon located with the community icons on the home page. Spotify is mentioned six times in the posting.

COTB

This will be the COTB Home Blog – For all things Centre Of The Brain. No chairs.
This is separate to my LSOTB Tumblr blog, where I often share visual treats that catch my eye – often chair-like structures. I love chairs. This will be a good place for me to download COTB like matter – thoughts, feelings, tales, woes and wonders.