'VICLEKA PROJECT PART 2 - THE EXHIBITION AT OZONE BELGRADE, Photographs, Interviews, Articles, TV/Radio, Videos & Boxes & Prints For Sale

'VicLeka' 2015 - A.M.LEKA & VIC GODARD

  
 An Artistic Collaboration between A.M.Leka & Vic Godard

"Le philosophe, d'apres James Dutton", 162 x 120 cm by A M Leka

The story begins in 2006 when Serbian artist Aleksandar Mladenovic Leka had an exhibition in ULUS gallery in Belgrade, large scale hybrid paintings that were done in mixed techniques of collage, stencil, oil and acrylic on canvas “They were dedicated to artists (musicians) that I like to listen to and I listen to music all the time, in the studio, when I prepare   breakfast, in car, etc.” says Leka, adding "The "portraits" were of Vic Godard, Vi Subversa from Poison Girls, Rob Lloyd from The Nightingales, John McGeoch from Magazine, Vini Reilly and Bruce Mitchell from Durutti Column"

Vic Leka is the latest artistic collaboration between Leka and British singer and songwriter Vic Godard. The full story of how this led to the 'VicLeka' Exhibition at Ozone Belgrade is here:
http://vicgodardandsubwaysect.blogspot.co.uk/p/vicleka.htm 

An introduction to 'VicLeka' at Ozone Gallery Belgrade July 2015, the backing track is Zero Tolerance, one of Vic's songs featured in the exhibition and included on Live & Rare Vol 3 (see below).

 http://www.o3one.rs/5563/izlozba-projekat-vikleka/

Back In The Community - A M Leka & Vic Godard Copyright Control.

VICLEKA AT OZONE BELGRADE BY ALEKSANDRA KEKOVIC MLADENOVIC

Articles and Interviews about Vicleka  
(English translations below articles courtesy of the efforts of Andy Holland, George & Leka)  

Jelena Jovanović interview with Leka for City Magazine 3rd July 2015
http://citymagazine.rs/clanak/aleksandar-leka-mladenovic-pank-je-umro-ali-duh-panka-nije 

Photograph by Branko Rakovic

Rezultat umetničke saradnje beogradskog umetnika Aleksandra Leke Mladenovića i britanskog muzičara Vika Godara, jednog od pionira pank pokreta, vođe grupe Subway Sect, moći će da se vidi na izložbi VicLeka, koja se otvara 10. jula u galeriji o3one, u Uzun Mirkovoj 10.

Na izložbi biće predstavljene Mladenovićeve  grafike inspirisane Godarovim pesmama, a sam Godar, koji je aktivan  na muzičkoj sceni već 4 decenije, biće prisutan na otvaranju izložbe. U planu je i da, nakon Beograda, projekat VicLekabude predstavljen u Londonu. 

VicLeka - izložba se otvara u Ozone galeriji 10. jula

Leka Mladenović, profesor grafike na beogradskom FLU, u razgovoru za City Magazine objašnjava da njegova veza sa pankom datira odavno, kao i poznanstvo i saradnja sa Godarom.

„Ja sam 2006. napravio izložbu u ULUS-u na temu post-panka, i uglavnom sam obrađivao autore koji su meni bili interesantni. Radio sam triptih posvećen Viku Godaru, i zatim sam mu poslao katalog te izložbe. Njemu se to dopalo, i kasnije sam uradio omote za njegova dva izdanja. Sa Godarom sam se lično upoznao na koncertu u Beču, 2011. godine.“

Otkud fascinacija muzikom grupe Subway Sect?

Ja sam bio panker, nama ovde su bila dostupna izdanja Sex Pistols, Clash… Grupa Subway Sect nije bila toliko vidljiva, njih sam otkrio tek kasnije. Otkrio sam da njihova muzika ima jednu umetničku crtu. Godar se smatra jednim od najznačajnijih autora panka, uz Džoni Rotena, Džo Stramera, Bazkoks… On je vrlo brzo, već 1980, napustio pank i otišao u potpuno drugu priču – u sving sa melodioznim pop momentima,  i potom u neke eklektične momente.  Njegove pesme su zaista poezija,  a njegova lirika je oštra i opora.

Kako ste odabrali pesme za koje ćete raditi grafike?

Ja sam u svom doktoratu 2012. godine, na temu Rani pank i hibridna grafika, koristio jednu pesmu Subway Sect. Mislio sam da bi bilo zanimljivo da uradim još nešto posvećeno Godaru, i došao sam na ideju da napravim izbor pesama koje bi mi dale inspiraciju da vizuelno odgovorim na njih. Godar je takođe predložio neke pesme, napravili smo izbor  i ušli u kreativni dijalog. Poslao mi je pisane tekstove i odlučio sam da uradim diptih – da štampam njegove rukopise umetničkom grafikom, i da uradim i grafike  koje će ilustrovati tekst. Osmislio sam i kutiju u kojoj će se naći radovi. Pošto je 12 pesama odabrano, postoji 12 kutija, sa po dve grafike. Koristio sam razne tehnike: linorez, litografiju, serigrafiju, negde su fotografije dorađene rukom. Projekat su podržali engleskinja Kejt Grandžuan, istoričarka umetnosti, i Peca Popović, rok kritičar iz Beograda , koji su napisali eseje koji se nalaze u katalogu izložbe.

Šta vam je bilo posebno inspirativno u Godarovim pesmama?

Ne mogu sve pesme da pokrenu vizuelnog umetnika da nešto uradi. Ja nisam izabrao najveće hitove Godara, već pesme koje meni nešto znače. Neke imaju društveni kontekst, pesma Take over se bavi globalnom ekonomskom situacijom i reakcijom običnog čoveka na nju, neke pesme su me muzički inspirisale. Možda je jedna od meni najdražih pesama Eastern  Europeans,  koja je nastala 1980, i u kojoj, u kontekstu hladnog rata, autor razmatra sukob velikih sila i shvata da za njega nisu odgovorni stanovnici Istočne Evrope.

I Godarova i moja umetnost su i ironija i samoironija, i obe su spoj nekog očaja, beznađa, i nade da se nešto može promeniti, pomoću lepote i pozitivnih stvari.

Born To Be A Rebel - A M Leka & Vic Godard Copyright Control.

Da li je pank mrtav?

Pank jeste umro, sigurno, ali duh panka nije. Izložba VicLeka je samizdat projekat, i ja mislim da čovek svojom energijom može da pokaže da je moguće preneti neku poruku.

Na izložbi u galeriji o3one biće promovisan i CD VicLeka Live & Rare Vol. 3 u izdanju  Vika Godarda i Gnu Inc. Reč je o  kompilaciji  pesama koje su Mladenović i Godar odabrali za ovaj projekat. CD sadrži studijske, ali i mnoge raritetne žive snimke pesama koje su bile inspiracija za grafike. CD će se naći u svakom boksu (kutije sa grafikama su rađene u ograničenom tiražu i prodavaće se nakon izložbe) ,  a moči če da se nabavi na otvaranju beogradske izložbe i na koncertima.  Zanimljiva koincidencija  je da će 10. jula, istog dana kada se otvara beogradska izložba, u londonskom East Endu biti održana premijera dokumentarnog filma o Viku Godaru, o njegovom životu i karijeri.

aleksandar leka mladenović · grafika · pank · vik godar

  

Aleksandar Mladenovic Leka: Punk is dead, but the spirit of punk is not

The result of artistic collaboration between Belgrade artist Aleksandar Mladenovic Leka and British musicians Vic Godard, one of the pioneers of the punk movement, group Subway Sect, will be able to see the exhibition VicLeka, which opens on July 10 at the gallery Ozone in Uzun Mirko's 10
The exhibition will be a presentation of Mladenovic artworks inspired by Godard songs, Godard, who has been active on the music scene for four decades, will be present at the opening of the exhibition. The plan is that, after the Belgrade project VicLeka will be presented in London.
 

Leka Mladenovic, professor of graphics at the Belgrade Faculty of Fine Arts, in an interview with City Magazine explains that his relationship with punk dates back a long time, as well as about his friendship and collaboration with Godard.

"In 2006 I had an exhibition in Ulus on the subject of post-punk, and I mostly dealt with artists who were interesting to me. I worked a triptych dedicated to Vic Godard, and then I sent him the catalogue of the exhibition. He liked it, and later I did the covers for two of his releases. I met Vic Godard in person in Vienna in 2011. "

How did the fascination with Subway Sect start?

I was a punk, here Sex Pistols and Clash releases were available but Subway Sect was not so visible, I discovered them later. I found that their music has an art line. Godard is considered one of the most important songwriters of punk, with Johnny Rotten, Joe Strummer, Buzzcocks ... He's very fast, but in 1979, left punk and went in a completely different direction - swing with melodic pop moments and some eclectic moments. His songs are really poetry, and his lyricism was sharp and harsh.

How did you select the songs for Vicleka?

I received my doctorate in 2012, on the topic of early punk represented in hybrid graphics, I thought it would be interesting to do something else dedicated to Godard, and to begin with I came up with the idea of using the song that first gave me the inspiration to visually respond to the songs. Godard also suggested some songs and together we made a selection and entered into a creative dialogue. Vic sent me written texts and I decided to do a diptych - to publish his manuscripts as artistic image and to create images that illustrate the text. I designed a box in which to contain the works. As there are 12 songs in the collection there are 12 boxes with the two images. I used a variety of techniques: linocut, lithography, silk-screen printing, some pictures are worked up by hand. The project is supported by art historian Kate Grandjouan and Peca Popovic, rock critic from Belgrade, who wrote the essays contained in the exhibition catalogue.

What have you found particularly inspiring in Godard songs?

Not all songs inspire an artist to visualise an image. I did not choose the greatest hits of Godard, but songs that mean something to me. Some have a social context, the song Take Over, it deals with the global economic situation and the impact on the ordinary person and some songs musically inspired me. Perhaps one of my favorite songs is Eastern Europeans which was written in 1976, and in which, in the context of the Cold War, the songwriter discusses the great power conflicts and the point that the inhabitants of Eastern Europe were not the only ones responsible.

And Godard and my art are irony and self-irony and both a compound of despair, hopelessness and hope that beauty and positive things can change something.

Is punk dead?  Punk is dead, certainly, but not the spirit of punk.

Exhibition VicLeka, the samizdat project, I think that a man with your energy can demonstrate that it is possible to transmit a message.  

The exhibition in the Gallery O3one is promoted by the CD ‘VicLeka’ Live & Rare Vol. 3 released by Vic Godard and Gnu Inc. It is a compilation of the songs that Mladenovic and Godard chose for this project and which inspired the images, with both studio and live recordings. http://www.vicgodard.co.uk/vicleka-LandR3.html

 
The CD will be in every 'Vicleka' box, the boxes with prints are limited edition and are available to buy after the Belgrade exhibitions by contacting Mladenovic or Godard.

 An interesting coincidence is that on July 10, the same day as the opening of  the Belgrade exhibition, the premiere of a documentary about Vic Godard is on in London's East End.







'VicLeka' feature with Leka on Culture Journal RTS 1  by Biljana Bralusic Jovanovic 20 July (no translation!) -

Music Of A Werewolf - A M Leka & Vic Godard Copyright Control. 

 

Preview of VicLeka by N. Džodan with Peca Popovic  Blic 9 July 2015 

http://www.blic.rs/Kultura/Vesti/573949/Prvoborac-panka-stize-u-Beograd

Prvoborac panka stiže u Beograd

Vik Godar, čovek kog je legendarni basista „Seks pistolsa“ Sid Višiz naučio prva tri akorda, danas radi kao poštar. On će sutra (20) u Galeriji „Ozon” otvoriti izložbu grafika Aleksandra Mladenovića Leke inspirisanu njegovim pesmama.

Izložba “VikLeka” predstavlja rezultat saradnje Vika Godara, londonskog kompozitora, pevača, pesnika, poštara i Aleksandra Mladenovića Leke, međunarodno priznatog vizuelnog umetnika i profesora FLU u Beogradu.

-          Vik Godar je vođa, pevač, gitarista, autor brojnih reinkarnacija grupe “Subway Sect” i, zvanično, poštar. Prevalio je dug muzički put preko džeza, svinga, severnjačkog soula, latino zvuka, hip-hopa, britpopa sve do ritma i bluza. Godar je, valja reći, pesmotvorac, od engleske klase prvog reda, sa toplinom u duši koja se odražava u pamtljivim melodijama i osobenoj poetici - kaže kolumnista “Blica” Peca Popović povodom ove izložbe. On je za Godara naveo da je “autor za poštovanje, treperive gitare, istančane socijalne svesti i intelektualne radoznalosti čiji stihovi i muzika vremenom dobijaju na težini i bogatstvu”.

kompliment “učitelja” Sida Višiza na “Radio One”: Tri najbolja svetska benda su “Abba”, “Ramones” i “Subway Sect”. Danas raznosi poštu po Londonu, sarađuje sa velikim piscem Irvinom Velšom i putuje svetom pokazujući na koje sve načine pank može stići u zrele godine - istakao je Popović. 

Izložba u „Ozonu“ (Uzun Mirkova 10) trajaće do 18. jula.

Saradnja sa Lekom
Godar i Mladenović su već do sada sarađivali na CD izdanjima grupe „Vic Godard & Subway Sect Live and Rare Vol. 1 i Vol. 2“ (Gnu Records, London, 2011, 2012), za koje je Leka uradio rešenja omota, i na Mladenovićevom doktorskom projektu „Rani pank i hibridna grafika“ iz 2012.

Photograph courtesy of World of Hoopla

Punk Pioneer arrives in Belgrade

Vic Godard is the man who was taught his first three chords by legendary Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious, and who works as a postman. Tomorrow Godard will be at Ozone for the opening of ‘Vicleka’, an exhibition of hybrid prints by Aleksandar Mladenovic Leka , inspired by Godard songs and the result of collaboration between Vic Godard, the London composer, singer, poet, postman and Aleksandar Mladenovic Leka, internationally recognized visual artist and professor at the Belgrade Faculty of Fine Arts.

Vic Godard is singer, guitarist and songwriter of many incarnations of Subway Sect and, officially, the postman. He's come a long way via punk, jazz, swing, Northern Soul, Latin rhythms, Indie, hip-hop influences and back.

“Godard it should be said is an English poet of the first order, with a warmth of spirit which is reflected in his memorable melodies and personal poetics” - says columnist for "Blic" Peca Popovic on the occasion of the exhibition. Also saying with regards to Godard that he has "respect for the author’s jangly guitar sound, subtle social awareness and intellectual curiosity whose lyrics and music gain in weight and value over time.
All he did, he did on his own. He has remarked that one of the best things that happened to him early in his career was getting a compliment from his "teacher" Sid Vicious on Radio One: “the three best bands in the world are "Abba," "Ramones" and "Subway Sect". Today, delivering mail around London, he has also collaborated with writer Irvine Welsh and travels the world demonstrating in what ways the punk can be reached in mature years” - said Popovic.

The exhibition at Ozone (Uzun Mirko 10) runs to 22 July.

(Oh All Right) Go On Then - A M Leka & Vic Godard Copyright Control.

Sonja Šulović  interview with Vic in Blic 12^th July 2015

Vik Godar: Poštar ikona panka

Sonja Šulović | 12th 07. 2015 - 17: 00h
http://www.blic.rs/Kultura/Vesti/574671/Vik-Godar-Postar-ikona--panka

Kao mali sanjao sam da postanem fudbaler, a onda sam čuo „Pistolse“ i poželeo da imam bend - kaže prvoborac panka.

Već 29 godina raznosim poštu i dok šetam ulicama dobijam mnoge ideje

Vik Godar je londonski kompozitor, pevač i pesnik, ali i čovek kog je legendarni Sid Višiz naučio prva tri akorda.

- Nisam ni sanjao da ću se baviti muzikom, pisati pesme, pa ni to da ću u bendu postati vokal. Sve što sam želeo kao mali je da postanem fudbaler i kao tinejdžer sam odlazio svake nedelje na utakmice Čelsija. A onda, februara 1976, sam sa drugom Robom otišao na svirku „Pistolsa“. Bili su drugačiji, a prepoznao sam sličnost njih i mojih drugova i mene. Nisam znao da sviram, samo sam znao da želim da okupim bend. U to vreme na njihovim koncertima bilo je svega po tridesetak ljudi, međusobno smo se poznavali, a „Pistolsi“ su bili pristupačni, mogli ste bilo kome od njih jednostavno da priđete - kaže Vik Godar.

I formirao je grupu - Subway Sect“.

- Išli smo na svirke, u hodu vežbali, a od ideje da se formira bend do prvog nastupa prošlo je svega nekoliko meseci. Menadžer „Pistolsa“ Malkolm Meklaren je znao koliki smo fanovi i pozvao nas je na audiciju da proveri da li smo dobri da nastupimo na festivalu koji je organizovao. Nije bio oduševljen, ali nam je dao još nedelju dana da navežbamo - dodaje Godar.
 

Na scenu „Kluba 100“ tog septembra 1976. izašli su prvi. Posle „Subway Sect“ svirali su i „Pistolsi“ i „The Clash“. Pisala se istorija, a Godar je kasnije prevalio dug put od džeza i svinga preko hip-hopa i brit-popa sve do ritma i bluza. U biografiji prvoborca panka ispisana je još jedna zanimljivost.

-         Da, radim kao poštar. Već 29 godina raznosim poštu i upravo dok šetam ulicama dobijam mnoge ideje i naviru mi razne melodije. Radim nedelju dana pa sam onda sedam dana slobodan, što mi ostavlja dovoljno vremena za putovanja i svirke - dodaje Godar.

 Izložba u „Ozonu”
Godar je bio gost Beograda gde je u galeriji „Ozon“ otvorena izložba grafika Aleksandra Mladenovića Leke, međunarodno priznatog vizuelnog umetnika i profesora FLU, inspirisana njegovim pesmama.
- Sa Lekom sam i ranije sarađivao, poznat mi je njegov rad i izuzetno ga cenim pa sam i poziv za tu izložbu odmah prihvatio. Prvi put sam u Beogradu, ali se nadam da ću sledeće godine doći ponovo, i to sa bendom - ističe sagovornik.
Izložba-projekat „VikLeka“ otvorena je do 18. jula u galeriji „Ozon“. 

Nastupa i danas sa nekoliko bendova, a ističe i saradnju sa piscem Irvinom Velšom.

-      Pozvao me je pre nekoliko godina da radim muziku na njegove stihove. Ideja je bila da se oproba u mjuziklu, jer je pre toga radio knjige po kojima su snimani filmovi. Za mene je to, takođe, bilo izuzetno iskustvo jer sam pre toga radio sam. Mjuzikl, zapravo, nikad nije postavljen na scenu, ali su se meni dopale pesme i snimio sam ih - dodaje sagovornik.

Watching The Devil - Vic Godard & A M Leka Copyright Control

 Vic Godard: Postman punk icon

Vic Godard at 'Vicleka' Ozone Belgrade

-            As a kid I dreamed of being a football player, and then I heard the Sex Pistols and wanted to have a group - says pioneer of punk Vic Godard.

 

Vic Godard is a London-based composer, singer and poet and guitarist who was taught his first three chords by the legendary Sid Vicious.

-           I never dreamed that I would be making music, write songs, or become a singer in a band. All I wanted as a kid was to become a footballer and as a teenager I went to every Chelsea home match. Then, in February 1976, I went with friends to a Sex Pistols gig. They were different, and I recognized the similarity of them to my friends and me. I did not know how to play any thing, I just knew I wanted to have a group. At the time of the early Pistols’ concerts there were only about thirty people so we all knew each other, and the Sex Pistols were accessible, you could approach any of them- says Vic Godard.
 

-           My friends and I formed the group Subway Sect

-           It was only a few months between that first Sex Pistols’ gig, forming a group and playing our first date, writing and practising new songs on the fly. The Pistols’ manager Malcolm McLaren knew that we were fans and invited us to audition for the 100 Club punk festival. He was not enthusiastic, but gave us another week to prepare 
- adds Godard.

At the 100 Club Festival (September 1976) Subway Sect were on first, then Siouxsie and the Banshees, the Clash and the Sex Pistols, the event went down in history and Godard has come a long way from punk, Northern Soul through jazz and swing, Latin, hip-hop, Indie and back again. It’s in print, Vic Godard and Subway Sect - pioneers of punk.

And one more interesting thing -

-                     I still work as a postman. Already 29 years of delivering mail and as I walk the streets I get many ideas and sometimes bring back a variety of melodies. I work a week and then I'm free for seven days, which leaves me plenty of time for travel and performances - adds Godard.

Vic also performs with several groups and has collaborated with many, including writer Irvine Welsh.

-                     He called me a few years ago to work on a musical with him and write the music to his words. The idea was to test himself with a musical and for me it was a phenomenal experience. The musical Blackpool only had six performances however I liked the songs and later recorded some of them. 

The exhibition at Ozone

Godard has been a guest of Belgrade, where the gallery Ozone is exhibiting the collaborative work of Vic and Aleksandra Mladenovic Leka, an internationally recognized visual artist and professor of Fine Arts, who has been inspired by Vic’s songs. 

-          I admire Leka’s work and I immediately accepted the invitation to come to Serbia for the exhibition. It is my first time in Belgrade but I hope to come back next year with the group - says the interlocutor

'VikLeka' is open until 22 July.

Somewhere In The World - A M Leka Copyright Control.

Interview with Marija Banković with Vic for Vreme 
(Translation below)
http://www.vreme.com/cms/view.php?id=1318015 

Subway Sect – Vic Godard

Discreet rebel

Vic Godard is considered to be an author of the most poetic songs of punk, those that resemble the French symbolism. There's an assumption in the music world that it's a great shame that none of Subway Sect's official recordings from 1977-78 exist other than one single. It's said that, without a doubt, that album would have been as groundbreaking as "The Scream” or “Unknown Pleasures" was.  According to the legend, Subway Sect was created by Malcolm McLaren for the purposes of the first punk festival, while the group along with its leader constantly eluded every definition of the genre. Punk was all about image and conspicuousness though while  the punk generation were provoking the official culture, the Subway Sect were dying their clothes grey and wandering through London, attending late screenings of the French New Wave films. In 1978  Subway Sect were officially disbanded by the manager Bernie Rhodes (The Clash), while recording their first album, but soon the group reincarnated in the underground  to survive  far away from record labels and major music festivals. However, Vic`s shadow was powerful enough to attract Larry Stoneface Stabbiņs for creative interaction, or Irvine Welsh for the purpose of a musical comedy.. Ozon Gallery in Belgrade recently presented twelve diptych - an artistic collection made by Aleksandar Mladenovic - Leka, professor at the Graphic Arts Faculty in Belgrade. The hybrid graphic presents Godard`s songs in a visual mode, and each one is framed with Vic's handwritten lyrics. After the project "Early Punk and Hybrid Graphics" from 2012. this new one, "Somewhere In The World" is a continuation of visual quest for the punk sound.

Vic Godard was in the mood to answer questions about his life.

One of the interviews you gave was in 1981. when you were interviewed at your workplace while you were griddling hamburgers. Could you imagine then that punk would enter galleries, become part of the official culture? To become popular?

No, not at all. But I don`t know much about popularity. (Laughs)

You weren’t the classic punk rebel, who acts outrageously, and doesn`t want to work, fighting the system in some way?

Oh, no. I have always worked. Now I work as a postman. That`s a nice profession, you're always out there, you meet different people. Often when I walk I get inspiration for a new song.

Do people recognize you when you handover the mail, is there some fans of yours?

Oh yes. It happens, they tell me, wow, I know you, I`ve listened to you. And I say, yes, thank you, and that's it.

What was it that inspired you to get onstage in the first time?

Sex Pistols, easy answer. They were so theatrical. At that time,in February 1976 music in London was everywhere the same. There were numerous groups in the style of Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Jimmy Reed ... The best were The Count Bishops. Although they didn`t look particularly inspiring, I loved them. When I first saw Sex Pistols, it wasn`t really music, I thought it was one of these art events. I went down the road and I saw someone having an argument. It was Malcolm McLaren who was arguing with the boss of the Marquee Club to let the Sex Pistols carry on playing. Rob Simmons, (who would later become our guitarist) and I walked in and there was Jordan from the Sex shop,  dancing around, and the other people looked strange. Those onstage didn`t seem like a real group, they didn`t dress like anyone else in the groups and the music they performed were quite dramatically different from everything else. It was a very London sound, not American. From then on I thought, this is the music that I really like. And I found out where the next gig was.

Was Malcolm McLaren really a man with a plan? Was everything just "the great rock`n`roll swindlle"?

Yes, I think Malcolm had a long-term plan. He was in New York, wasn`t he? He tried to do something with the New York Dolls, but they weren`t interested. He tried to bring Richard Hell to London, to persuade him to be Johnny Rotten, but that failed, so he had to find the real Johnny Rotten. Of course, the Sex Pistols were heavily influenced by the New York Dolls. They weren’t trying to look like them, and hadn`t learned well enough how to play which  added more excitement to their sound. Malcolm said right away, I think the Sex Pistols are going to be big, but they can`t make it on their own. We need more groups, not just in London. He was actively looking for new people, and then we came, and Siouxsie and The Banshees too. They all came from the South – East part of London, and we came from the South – West, andwe were polar opposites. But we had one thing in common, we didn`t know how to play, we were starting from scratch. I think they were more original because we were stealing ideas from Jonathan Richman, Tom Verlaine, Richard Hell, and the Talking Heads while they tried something no one did before. No one sounded like the Banshees, did they? No one had ever played bass like their bassist, nobody has done things like Siouxsie. But we just didn`t like that whole fashion thing. We called them hairdressers. In fact, 99 percent of the punk groups of 1976 were Bowie fans, who had lost interest after Aladdin Sane. Another big thing before punk was the soul disco. The Banshees had been into soul music,and had frequented the same  discos in London as the Sect, like Crackers,Hunters and the Lacey Lady for example. The soul fans dressed quite outrageously compared to the rest of the population, they used to wear plastic sandals, jeans with plastic pockets(called ‘Smiths’) that only existed in London.

As far as Subway Sect were concerned, I don’t think  McLaren  had a specific plan. We went into his office, the conversation lasted about three or four hours. He wanted to know what music we listened to, what  our interests were and then said, yes, I think you'll be good. We had similar taste in music-the only point of disagreement being the Doors. He was a big fan of Jim Morrison, and we couldn`t stand Morrison.

Did McLaren influenced Subway Sect in any way, did he tell you how to look, what kind of songs to make?

Ah, it's a very funny story. At the beginning, there was just Rob Simmons and I. Rob had an acoustic guitar and knew to play A, E and D. We used to do cassette tapes, we would record what we played and then play on cassette player to see how it sounds. Mostly we did Velvet Underground cause they were ideal for someone who only knows three chords. Rob made that T-shirt on which was written the name we came up with - Subway Sect, so we went to the first Ramones concert in London and Malcolm saw us and sad, oh, you are a group! And we said, yes, we are. We lied. (Laughs) We didn`t know how to play and didn`t know anybody who knew how to. We tried to persuade our friend Paul Myers to start playing bass although he didn`t know how, and we invited his friend Paul Packham to sing because he was an extrovert and could impersonate singers like Johnny Cash and Elvis albeit in comedy style. We wanted to practice at our local youth club (The Annexe in Mortlake), but we didn`t have drums. At that time we were on welfare, and went to a music shop in Lewisham , found the cheapest drum kit, and took out a Hire Purchase. We were paying for them the whole year, a pound each every week. We put the drums in my fathers greenhouse, he went nuts, and we didn`t even know how to put them together. We thought the bass drum was  there solely to show the name of the group. Then Paul Peckham, an extrovert, said, okay, I was in the Boy Scouts, I know how to play a drum, so I`ll try to learn the rest. And so I became a singer. When McLaren came to hear us, we sounded awful. Immediately the next day he booked a rehearsal room for us for seven days from 9 am to 5 pm to practice the four songs I had written, to see if we would be good enough to play at the punk festival. I wrote the lyrics listening to Jonathan Richman`s Modern Lovers, rearranging chords a little bit. At the punk festival McLaren introduced us to Bernie Rhodes, who was manager of The Clash and we agreed to play as a support band on their White Riot tour. So Rhodes became our manager.

 There's an assumption in the music world that it's a major tragedy that none of Subway Sect's recordings from 1977-78 exist other than their single "Nobody's Scared". It's said that, without a doubt, that album would have been as groundbreaking as "The Scream or Unknown Pleasures" was. What are your thoughts on that?

Yes, it is possible. We did record the album but it never got out. We definitely would have been  more popular,if the album had been issued. But Bernie Rhodes said that it was not good enough. Interestingly, we never sat down and talked to him about it, he just told us that we were not good enough. The Clash followed what he was saying, he was the one who  decided how they should dress, and the kind of songs they should do. Before Rhodes began to design their clothes, The Clash used to go and get their clothes in charity shops, just like we did. They would hang their clothes and then flick paint at them,using bright colours, in Jackson Pollock style.. All of it, jackets, shirts, ties, even the guitars and amplifiers. We thought it was fantastic, although we dyed our clothes in grey,as we wanted to have our own look. We didn’t listen to Rhodes that way, he would never try to tell us how to look or what songs to play. Now it seems to me  he thought that we were pretty awkward and hard to work with.

Nevertheless, many say that you are a poet of punk. Where does it come from? Did you write poetry as a schoolboy?

Never. I used to sing little tunes to muself, though. I amused myself by   inventing those little melodies and sing it to myself. When I first saw    the Buzzcocks lyrics it affected me, I thought, I wanted to do something like this. Of course, the same was with Richard Hell and Blank Generation. The Sex Pistols were equally influenced by that song. Everyone does that at the beginning, trying to create using what has come before. In school we didn`t learn poetry, but there was a lot of literature. I had a French professor who taught us Maupassant, that led me to Flaubert, I was sixteen years old then. More than anyone, we learned George Orwell and Albert Camus, along with a lot of kids at school in the 1970’s. That school curriculum in the UK is an interesting thing, at the same time I wrote Parallel Lines, which are based on Camus “The Plague”, The Cure had Killing An Arab, which is a direct reference to the Camus “Foreigner”.And then came The Fall.(Laughs) I liked Molieres comedies a lot. When the Subway Sect began, the first thing we recorded was our performance of Moliere's “A Doctor in spite of himself”. We did it on a cassette tape at home just to see how we sounded. And we had so much fun doing it. When we went onstage that was equally fun. In the beginning we were so useless that it looked funny, people in the audience thought it was all staged (laughs).

Irvine Welsh, the enfant terrible of the new generation, invited you in  2002. to make an musical comedy together. Expectations were high, but the "Blackpool" failed. Was it the creative disagreement?

True, it was trash. I mean, for me it was a significant collaboration, doing with Irvine all those songs that we did, but the final product was a fiasco. Of the eleven songs that we made for the play, there are only two in the play left. The best things I've done are cut. The opera was played in Edinburgh for a week and was immediately withdrawn from the repertoire. The whole idea was a musical about Blackpool from a Scottish point of view. Blackpool is their favorite resort, there is a "Scottish Week” when the whole Glasgow comes to Blackpool. The story follows a former Scottish footballer  player who’s past comes back to haunt him. Irvine would sent me the verses and I had to do music. Then Harry,who adapted the whole thing started to make significant changes to the script on a weekly basis until most of the songs had disappeared. He would tell me to do the scene, and then he would kick it out of the play. I felt like I`m wasting time.  Then I started to use the songs in my live performances. And I am very happy about that collaboration with Irvine because I've never worked with a lyricist before, and especially as the  songs contained Scottish dialect which is quite incomprehensible to me.

Is it possible today to make something like punk was? Is there rebellion in any aspect of life? Or is it all became a matter of bare necessities - hard work to satisfy the requirements of the employer.

Oh, there is rebellion, of course. But it`s deep, you have to dig for it. (Laughs) Deep in the underground. I don`t know about hard work. In Western Europe, people avoid work, except those who come from Eastern Europe, they work twice as much. All that marketing garbage goes in one ear gets out on the other. You have Sleaford Mods, they don`t watch what they say.They don’t seem like they are striving to become part of the musical establishment. They`ve become very popular, earned the money, although it didn`t seem possible. When we played on BBC radio, I asked them, why they don`t play Sleaford Mods. I was told that they`re not permitted to broadcast their songs. In music, there are two parallel worlds, those in the music industry and all others who are not and try to avoid it, creating outside of any music label, people who do not appear in major music festivals, that aren`t on the radio. The only difference to the Sex Pistols time is that today there is the Internet where you can make your work visible, you don`t need a McLaren to go and shout about, trying to push you in the newspaper. And in England now the situation is the same as in the Margaret Thatcher era. Exactly the same.

                                                     

                                                                                                                                    Marija Banković

Antrfile

Artist Aleksandar Mladenović Leka met Vic Godard long time ago, first as a fan, then as an associate:

"Basically, after working with Vic Godard on solutions for sleeves of his album “Live & Rare” Vol. 1 and 2, and my PhD project "Early Punk and Hybrid Graphics" I wanted to do homage to this humble, and at the same time ingenious man. The initial idea was to form a retinue (suite), a series of graphics with the narrative that binds them. I was inspired by retinues of William Hogarth and David Hockney inspired by Hogarth. The problem was to transfor Godard musical and lyrical alchemy in the visual arts. Together we chose fifteen songs and narrowed the choice to twelve. Some of these songs move me with its social message, like Take Over and Back to the Community, especially the chorus "back into the community, the lessons of humility," other with its humor and unusual lyricism hidden behind pop songs (Born To Be a Rebel) . Eastern Europeans is a miracle on its own – in this song seventeen year old Godard refuses to fit in the socially imposed prejudices. With some of them I identify, recognizing those views in his youth (Empty Shell, Watching the Devil). My graphics are not "polished" , neither are Vic`s songs. My understanding of graphics art is broader, the technique is only a tool to reach a goal, to convey a message. The same as Godard`s  knowledge precedes craft and high professionalism, my artistic expression is based on a thorough knowledge of the art graphics and dedicated work. Also, I don`t recognize any labels and classification, something is good and it radiates, or not. This box is a warm message in a time of general alienation – people should work together and share, return to the true values.

Leka chats about Vicleka with  Snezana Stamenkovic on Culture Circles for Radio Belgrade 2-

                                        

Article for the exhibition catalogue by Kate Grandjouan

  Institute for Art  History Faculty of Philosophy University of Belgrade

A M Leka & Kate Grandjouan at Ozone by Aleksandra Kekovic Mladenovic

VicLeka

This show is not Leka’s first engagement with British punk music: 2012 saw the production and exhibition of two sets of six large prints inspired by Vic Godard’s Subway Sect-Nobody’s Scared and The Prefects-VD. This latest project expands upon this existing creative dialogue. Once again Leka uses print-making to develop an interaction between word and image, song and vision, but this time in an exhibition that is also a testament to a friendship that has been forged through music and which is referenced in the merged names of the title, VicLeka. At the heart of the project is a sturdy, black box and how it serves as the repository for a limited edition of hand-made prints. Each box contains a unique VicLeka set that is composed of two parts: on the one hand, there are the printed facsimiles of Vic Godard’s original songs and on the other, the printed images that a particular song inspired Leka to produce. The songs were selected by Vic and Leka for their potential to generate a visual response; the resulting selection spans nearly forty years of a music-making career. Included are Godard’s early classics like Chain Smoking, Eastern Europeans and Empty Shell and more recent hits from 2010 like Back in the Community, Music of a Werewolf and Somewhere in the World. If the box is a repository of prints, a sort of VicLeka archive, it also stages a journey through time. This sense of time past is captured in Godard’s hand-written song-sheets and their changing textual forms which range from the defiant cri de coeur of punk youth, where lyrics are declaimed on the page in capitalised script as confident streams of word and rhyme (Nobody’s Scared; Back in the Community; Watching the Devil) to pages of tentative and often illegible scrawl (Zero Tolerance, (Oh All Right), Go on Then). There are printed sheets with a makeshift look; they present their errors and scratchings out, their combinations of arrows, brackets, omissions, just like the sheet when the song was originally written down. The printed song-sheets therefore testify to the song-writer’s change of mind and return us to a moment of creation, to a time in the past when Vic Godard’s lyrics were born and evolved. Side by side with these printed lyrics as time-past, are the printed images as time-present: Leka’s prints. Diverse, eclectic, exploding with colour and subversive text when released from the deep, black box. Time-present is thus the time of Leka’s print: each design is brand new; each offers a contemporary visual response to the humour and irony of Godard’s written words.

 Often, the visual matches the textual. The VicLeka box of friendship, for instance, is entitled with the same scratching, hesitant prose, mimicking the unpolished intimate feel of a private diary. Inside, the prints form a set but not a sequence. They are eclectic, hybrid works, imitating iconographically the familiar techniques of punk art: its dependency on collage, newsprint and photo-montage. These images, however, have been produced by a master of print-making, one who is seeking out a pictorial equivalent to Godard’s musical alchemy. He does this by exploiting the unique capacity of print to steal, forge, link and connect. The prints result from experimental processes yet mask them in their status as highly-finished pieces. Silkscreen, offset lithography, etching, aquatint, photo-polymer etching and linocut have been used separately, in sequence or together. Some prints mobilize Vic Godard relics - song-lines, handwriting, articles or photographs (Oh All Right); Back in the Community) thus working in tandem with their attendant song-sheets. Other images network a wide range of visual and textual sources: the print for Born to be a Rebel, presents the child as superhero, as both batman and superman but complicated by a reference to Petrus Borel, picked up from the lyrics, the young, obscure yet notoriously rebellious petit romantique of the nineteenth century. Frequently, an apparently familiar image is trafficked and overlaid with additional semiotics (Chain Smoking). The relationship between a print and a song can be direct and obvious, or implied and obscure (Nobody’s Scared), at times parallel and freely creative (Eastern Europeans). Not all of Leka’s works exploit the interaction between word and image either; five are purely visual, some even print painterly (Empty Shell).

There are two important references here to British art hovering in the sub-structure of the prints: the first, at the point of germination, is to William Hogarth (1698-1763) the British artist and print-maker whose most famous works appeared as serial prints in groups of four, six or eight, their stories engaging directly with London’s low-life and its gritty urban realities of prostitution, destitution, drunkenness, imprisonment and disease. The second reference is to David Hockney (b. 1937), a painter, draughtsman, printmaker, stage designer and photographer - the William Hogarth of the 21st century. What Hockney’s eclectic oeuvre brings into a serial model derived from Hogarth, is an interest in music, most notably seen in his frequent stage designs for the ballet and opera and which explored the concept of ‘synesthesia’, where colours are chosen in response to a particular sound, or because they stimulate visually an equivalent sensation to a musical sound. It is this interest in synesthesia or the creative experiment between what we hear and what we see that lies at he heart of the VicLeka project. When these interests are harnessed to inventive capacities of print the result is a playful, ironic and witty art: relationships between text and image unravel, connections become myriad.They can be forged through line or form or colour as much as quote: thus blue tone of Music of a Werewolf hauntingly signifies the ‘blues’ of the song’s aural tones.

Kate Grandjouan

 L-R - Authors of the essays for the exhibition catalogue Peca Popovic, legendary rock critic and Kate Grandjouan, professor of art history, Leka Mladenovic, Vic Godard & Nebojsa Babic, photographer and Ozone director Ozone 10-07-2015

 

Zero Tolerance - A M Leka Copyright Control.

VICLEKA BOXES & PRINTS FOR SALE
All the prints are printed by hand on Fabriano Rosaspina artist white etching paper 285 g/m2, size of each is 22x 32 cm.

 “BLACK BOXES”

Vic & Leka in Leka's studio by Aleksandra Kekovic Mladenovic

 Black Box video, track Eastern Europeans from Vic Godard Live & Rare Vol 3.  

Silkscreen on black painted MDF board box, numbered 1/12-6/12, each box contains:

01. BACK IN THE COMMUNITY dyptich (01L + 01 P)

02. BORN TO BE A REBEL dyptich (02L + 02 P)

03. CHAIN SMOKING dyptich (03L + 03 P, version 1)

04. NOBODY’S SCARED dyptich (04L + 04 P, version 1)

05. EASTERN EUROPEANS dyptich (05L + 05 P, version 1)

06. MUSIC OF A WEREWOLF dyptich (06L + 06 P)

07. EMPTY SHELL dyptich (07L + 07 P, version 1)

08. OH ALRIGHT (GO ON THEN) dyptich (08L + 08 P)

09. SOMEWHERE IN THE WORLD dyptich (09L + 09 P)

10. TAKE OVER dyptich (10L + 10 P)

11. WATCHING THE DEVIL dyptich (11 L + 11 P) 
12. ZERO TOLERANCE  dyptich (12L + 12 P)

20 page catalogue 

Music CD - Vic Godard Live & Rare Vol 3 'Vicleka', signed by Vic Godard & A M Leka

The boxes are signed on the cover by Vic Godard and A.M.Leka, all lyric prints are numbered and signed by Vic Godard and all the image prints are numbered and signed by Vic Godard and A.M.Leka.

“YELLOW BOXES”

'Yellow Box' video with another track from Live & Rare Vol 3, Somewhere In The World.

Silkscreen on yellow and black painted MDF board box, numbered 7/12-12/12, each box contains:

01. BACK IN THE COMMUNITY dyptich (01L + 01 P)

02. BORN TO BE A REBEL dyptich (02L + 02 P)

03. CHAIN SMOKING dyptich (03L + 03 P, version 2)

04. NOBODY’S SCARED dyptich (04L + 04 P, version 2)

05. EASTERN EUROPEANS dyptich (05L + 05 P, version 2)

06. MUSIC OF A WEREWOLF dyptich (06L + 06 P)

07. EMPTY SHELL dyptich (07L + 07 P, version 2)

08. OH ALRIGHT (GO ON THEN) dyptich (08L + 08 P)

09. SOMEWHERE IN THE WORLD dyptich (09L + 09 P)

10. TAKE OVER dyptich (10L + 10 P)

11. WATCHING THE DEVIL dyptich (11 L + 11 P)

12. ZERO TOLERANCE  dyptich (12L + 12 P)

The boxes are signed on the cover by Vic Godard and A.M.Leka, all lyric prints are numbered and signed by Vic Godard and all the image prints are numbered and signed by  Vic Godard and A.M.Leka. 

20 Page Catalogue

Music CD -  Vic Godar Live and Rare Vol 3 'VICLEKA', signed by Vic Godard and A.M.Leka

  
Purchasing VicLeka Boxes & Prints

 

"YELLOW BOXES" & "BLACK BOXES -  €1200 + SHIPPING

 

FOR SALE SEPARATELY, OUT OF BOXES

A. Very few examplaires of some of the prints listed above are available for sale separately, out of boxes:

01 P – Back in the Community, image

03 P – Chain Smoking, version 1, image

03 P v2 – Chain Smoking, version 2, image

05 P – Eastern Europeans, version 1

05 P v2 – Eastern Europeans , version 2

06 P – Music of a Werewolf

10 P – Take Over,

12 P – Zero Tolerance

€60 PER PRINT + SHIPPING

B. “Out-takes”  available for sale separately, not included in the box

05 P – Eastern Europeans, version 3, image litography

06 P – Music of a Werewolf, version 2, image, photo-etching, serigraphy

€60 PER PRINT + SHIPPING

SHIPPING:


1-2 separate prints - Airmail €15 or EMS (Faster/Courier)  €30

Box + Export Certificate - Airmail €50 or EMS €55

Payment by Paypal, Bank Transfer, Western Union, etc. 
Please email Leka at: leka.mladenovic@gmail.com
or contact Vic Godard through his website. 

If you are interested in buying a copy of Vic Godard Live & Rare Vol 3 'Vicleka they are available exclusively from Vic's website:
http://www.vicgodard.co.uk/vic_godard_buy.html



'VICLEKA' 2015 - THE MOVIE 
STARRING
A.M. LEKA, VIC GODARD & A CAST OF MANY

THE VICLEKA EXHIBITION 
OZONE BELGRADE

                                       
SOUNDTRACK - VIC GODARD 'EMPTY SHELL' 
Live & Rare Vol 3 'Vicleka originally released on What's The Matter Boy LP 1980

Links

Videos at Vicleka from Lee Mcfadden and Tracey Holloway: 
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0EF189D63147DAF0

and Caryne Pearce: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZsrAQxYFpk 


https://www.facebook.com/leka.mladenovic?fref=ts 

www.vicgodard.co.uk 

http://www.o3one.rs/ 

http://ceon.academia.edu/KateGrandjouan 

http://wn.com/peca_popovic

http://www.izlazak.com/vizuelna-umetnost/14451-umetniki-projekat-vicleka-vic-godard-london-a-am-leka-beograd-opsirnije 

http://www.rtv.rs/sr_lat/mladi/gde-otici/bg-premijera-umetnickog-projekta-vikleka-_618757.html