In 1990 I joined the digital revolution and got an Apple Mac. Desktop publishing on a computer was now the way, manually setting text by hand, with dry letter transfers, was defunct.

I was just about to chuck out my entire stash of Letraset when in stepped my father, borderline hoarder, insisting it would come in really handy at some point. Seemed highly unlikely to me, but I was still achieving my goal of getting rid, so I handed it over and didn’t give it another thought.

Some 30 years later, i’m clearing out his stuff and buried at the back of a cupboard is a carrier bag I vaguely recognise, stuffed full of, you guessed it... Letraset. What the actual fuck, untouched and totally preserved after all this time. I considered chucking it again, but with encouragement from my bro in law (designer/type freak), and a touch of nostalgia, I decide it’s a keeper. Perhaps I might do something with it somewhen (or perhaps not just like my old man) but it certainly wasn’t going to be any time soon with a house to clear and a load of shite to sort out, on top of my usual busy home and work life. Shoving it in yet another cupboard seemed a lot more likely.

But then, whaddaya know, less than 3 months later Covid strikes and into lockdown we all go. Bag of Letreset still to hand, best do something with it.

My passion for live music very much in mind, with all gigs getting canned I decide to create something that documented my top 100 gigs from ‘77 to date. Looking back, perhaps I thought we were all gonna die from Corona and this was to be some kind of record/legacy (like anyone would actually give a crap).

I started laying down, one by one, bands and artists and a lyric from a song from each, and also added what ended up being 33 different venues that I could remember visiting… 233 lines of Letraset in total. It took several weeks, and I ended up filling an entire A1 board with this weird looking jumble of text. It now hangs on the back of my toilet door to read when you’re on the bog (appropriate perhaps).

I was also naively hoping for some kind of closure from using this Letraset find, but this huge first piece of work had made a very small dent in the bigger than I remembered pile of dry tranfer lettering. So, I pressed on...

A Clash discography, the history of punk, the top 20 debut albums of ‘77, Ian Dury’s bus drivers prayer, an A-Z of punk and then dabbling in portraits; Sid Vicious, Iggy Pop and then Elvis. I was totally hooked, bordering on obsessed with my new found pursuit.

Three years later, i’ve made 30 pieces of music themed art in my spare time using this Letraset (and dabbling a bit with print blocks as well). I’ve dragged myself out of the 70’s as well with up to date (ish) works including the Sleaford Mods, Mike Skinner and Beyoncé. I’ll keep going until I get through this damn pile if it kills me.

Punk should be well and truly dead by now, along with Letraset, but its still hanging on in there, in my little world anyway... long live the lyrics, lettering and the punk rock!