Blue Room Released Early Years

Our first release for Blue Room Released was a compilation compiled in consultation with DJ Mike Maquire from Juno Reactor called "Outside the Reactor"” The artwork gave me the opportunity to experiment with the medium of Kirlein photography, something that I had always wanted to do since my childhood, having been inspired by the memory from the covers of a weekly collectible magazine titled "The Unexplained"” I worked with renowned Electrographer Nigel Garion-Hutchings, founder of the Association of Registered Kirlian Electrographers, to produce the images. It was a fun day. The cover picture is actually taken using the solid silver Housepod badge and built up using just a few layers of the said photography. Matt Consume executed the sleeve design from Brighton.

The diversity of musician identities enabled some great collaborations and commissions with visual artists such as psychedelic painter "Brahma", who created the image used for the cover of "Saafi Brothers" and "The Infinity Project's Mystical Experiences". Renowned sleeve designers such as Andrew Sutton (responsible for the cover "Lazer Guided Melodies by Spiritualized"), worked on the original house bag design, while Richie Burridge (long time visual collaborator with Plaid) worked on the original Trip Through Sound, Etnica, Sun Kings, Saafi Brothers and Alien. In fact, the first collaborations were late nights spent with Richie working together on albums like Total Eclipse's Violent Relaxation, with Richie patiently working hard to incorporate my ideas and images with his own. In fact, I'm grateful for the patience of all the people I worked with in the early days. I was quite particular and protective of the Blue Room and always spent time adjusting people’s senses to its wavelength.

This was an important time for me as an artist and designer, as it is when I cut my teeth creating record covers, adverts, posters, merchandise and other visual imagery. In fact, you can see my progress just by looking at the swathe of material here. I started making the main images for each project and, as time progressed, learned design software to create the graphic design. I was very particular with the standard of music, its quality, and its visual look. I wanted it to inspire people and do justice to the artists it represented. I was hugely respectful of them and their passion, so I took great care in compiling track lists for compilations. Being at A&R gave me the opportunity to build some wonderful friendships, as our artists literally came from all over the World. Countries included England, France, Germany, Holland, Israel, Finland, Sweden and America.

As we progressed, I was able to learn and take on the complete artwork myself, starting with "Made On Earth." I wanted the cover to contrast with the digital music as a live installation, featuring the iconic Roland 101 musical keyboard in the preserve, isolated and submerged in water. Its trademark sound featured in many of the first waves of electronic dance records running visual themes with the compilations.

These were incredibly creative times, with many people becoming part of Blue Room and exponentially expanding its ability to deliver unique experiences through music, photography, artwork and events. The diversity of musical identities enabled some great psychedelic collaborations with designers, photographers and visual artists.