I just found out the link to Issue 3 of our zine wasn't working in our last post. Here it is again, for those who want it. Click on the image below for a PDF.

Apologies to all those of you who wanted a copy but couldn't get one. I've fixed it now, but email me direct This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it if anything isn't working. As you all know we publish our zine for free, including the print version. If you want a copy come to one of our gigs, we hand them out to everyone who comes through the door.

We're a purely submission based zine, without your work we wouldn't have a zine to publish. We get some high quality submissions from some very talented people who let us publish and share their work for free. It's important to us at Pixadelica that creative people get the recognition they deserve how they want it. We're always happy to publish work alongside an email address or a website address.

We started Pixadelica to create opportunities for bands, musicians, and atists to express themselves. We're always looking into new ways we can continue to support creative arts local to Reading. Thanks to all who contribute to Pixadelica and who have supported us throughout the year.

There are great things happening in Reading over the next few weeks, a lengthy update follows.

Whitley Art Festival!

Somehow Pixadelica has got involved in the Whitley Arts Festival, a two week festival celebrating experimental arts and creativity throughout Reading. More specifically, we were asked to book bands for a four day experimental art and music Festival at The Butler Pub on Chatham Street (just up the road from our normal venue, The Facebar). All details can be found here, otherwise have a flyer...

This event is curated by Moondogs Cafe, the only independent Art Cafe in Reading. If you aren't familiar with Moondogs already along with supplying great coffee and cake, a diverse range of live music and a great place to chill with friends it also offers exhibition space for local artists to show off their work.

We've also been very lucky to collaborate on this event with some amazingly talented artists, including Pete Montford and C. J. Chandler. We're proud to be a part of The Whitley Arts Festival, a conglomerate of some highly diverse events running throughout Reading.

Come along to The Butler and support local people producing wonderful things purely for the sheer love of it. There are some seriously talented people involved in not only What The Butler Saw but also the festival as a whole (and that's before we consider the bands). We're in the midst of a recession and creating art is no easy undertaking during these challenging times, many of us (including Pixadelica) are entirely self-funded, and this is a free event!

All details of events can be found on the Whitley Arts Festival website. This is a real chance to experience something cool and unusual that you're not going to get often in Reading (although we're working on it).

What The Butler Heard!

Full line up is on the flyer and can be found here. All band URLs are available on Josaka for your listening pleasure (leave a comment and tell us what you think). There's music from Amy's Ghost, DJ Phaze (who has had recent international acclaim for his Tunnel Sounds project), Pixadelica veterans The Quatermass Xperiment and Ebbs and Flows, and The Resonance Association courtesy of MrsVee recordings, among others. The Resonance Association have a free EP available for download on their website, and there's a some fantastic musical experimentalism from a range of artists available to download from the MrsVee site.

Art Exchange!

There's an opportunity for any of the artists reading this to get involved in What The Butler Saw, Kim Burley will be running an Art Exchange during the event. The idea is you bring along some art, show it to anyone who wanders in to the pub to have a look, then swap it with another artist and walk home with something new, unique, and brilliant.  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  if you want to get involved This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it This is a great opportunity to meet other artists and potential collaborators in the area. I've already been fortunate enough to meet a range of lovely interesting and highly talented people through helping organise this. Great things area already starting to happen.

Experimental Film 

Just this minute I've received a flyer for the Reading Experimental Film Festival through my front door. The artwork is fantastic, look out for it.

There's work by the award winning Matt Hulse, a Reading University Fine Art graduate, screeings of films by REFF bursary winners, a special REFF commission by Mark Aerial Waller and open submission screenings by a variety of artists. Full details on the website.

Zines!

More under the link, including free ideas and rants that are you may start to see more of on here.

Thanks

Thanks to all those who came to Pixadelica last Thursday at the Facebar. It was a great night, Secret Rivals played a great high energy lo-fi punk set, and managed to sound great despite breaking two guitar strings and technical problems with their keyboard. Sly and The Family Drone literally invaded the entire room and played one of the best live shows I've seen in years. They set their kit up off-stage in the middle of the room, and proceeded to smash and break and spray their way through a pulsing ultra loud drone punk set, passing drums to audience members to keep the rhythm as they kept busy with the sonic chaos. You had to be there. Wonderful World of Cactapuss then lightened everything up with some amazing tunes. They sound like a happy funked up Boards of Canada performed by Super Mario after a night out riding the magic mushroom out of Koopa Land. Truly awesome.

We'll have photo's from the night on here soon (plus we still need to show you those photo's of Hunting the Shy who I know you all love). I'm still recovering from falling ill and spending the best part of the week on my death bed, so bear with me.

Thanks to everyone who continues to contribute to Pixadelica and make it what it is, including all the bands and all the artists, illustrators, and writers who have contributed to the zine. Without your efforts Pixadelica wouldn't happen. At the opposite end of this year I pitched Pixadelica to one particular local venue as a colloborative non-profit multi-media art collective and was told it wouldn't work. Since then you've all made it work, beyond what we thought possible. Thank you.

Zine - Download Pixadelica Issue 3

Pixadelica issue 3 is now available as a free download

Issue 3 has been printed and released, those of you we saw at the last gig would have seen it (and might even still have a copy?). If you didn't make it to the Facebar on the night but would still like a copy (there are still a few print copies floating around, look out for those), look no further. Issue 3 is available for download right here. It's the same size as an MP3, so it won't kill your internet connection.  As before it's licensed under a creative commons, so you can share it however you like and if you turn it into something else if you wish.

We had some great submissions for this zine, and again we can't thank you all enough for continuing to share your work with us all. I'm always impressed with everything we get sent. We started the zine because we all sincerely believed there are great talented people out there quietly making beautiful things to show off to the world. Thanks for proving us right.

(There were two mistakes on the print copy off issue 3, which I've corrected for the download. those of you who have a print copy see if you can spot the mistakes.) 

(news)Paper

For me the great thing about a zine is having a wad of underground art culture that someone has constructed from their bedroom or basement or something. Something extra-ordinary created by someone ordinary. I especially like zines at gigs, because it means I get to walk away from the night with something permanent to remind me of the night. Everyone's got a myspace or a facebook or a twitter. Setting up a professional website or blog has become easier thanks to Content Management Software like Drupal, Wordpress, or Joomla. There are whole communities of kids teaching themselves advanced CSS and making websites. Yet people still make things in print, like flyers or zines. I'm thinking out loud now...

Gigs!

Our fourth gig is tomorrow night in the Facebar, all details are here on this website including bands line-up. Have a listen and we'll see you there at 8pm. We're hoping this will be an audience participatory art event. Bring a pencil, pen, or something that will make a mark (no paints, sorry) and show us what you can do.

Zines!

Gigs means zines. Issue 3 of Pixadelica is off to the printers as I type! If you've seen Issue 1 and Issue 2 you know what to expect, but here's a preview anyway.

Come along, see some great bands, hear some great music, meet great people and take a piece of truly independent local culture home with you.

Poetry!

See you all tomorrow night,
Brendan