Music of Brixton - Junior Tomlin

Junior Tomlin – Someone once said to Junior “Cor that’s great you’re better than an artist” 🎨

We decided to catch up with Junior Tomlin prior to the launch of ‘Drop the Needle’ listening and art party at the Taproom on Monday 27^th March. Since the launch of the event, we’ve received excitement from all angles, as people can’t wait to hear this legend’s story…

Junior is a graphic designer, concept artist and design consultant. Junior told us “I began drawing when my brain came online” and he has been doing it ever since. Junior said that many refer to him as the Salvador Dali of rave artwork. Junior’s eclectic music taste spans genres and borders. At the event on Monday we will listen to the music that has strongly influenced and inspired his art. We’re in for a treat.

Junior grew up listening to reggae, with a strong admiration for the range of instruments involved in the production, then it was Punk and then the early days of Hip Hop and Rap music. Influential artists included the likes of Malcolm McLaren, Rum DMC and LL Cool J. As the years went on, the music evolved and so did his tastes, spearheaded by working with the people who made and produced it when hanging out at Kickin Records in Ladbroke Grove. This is where many of the iconic rave posters and covers were created.

When Junior first went professional, he was working as a packaging artist on computer games and was even given an Amega 500, as an incredible work perk! You can see the correlation between computer games, the digital world and what we see in Junior’s pieces today. His artwork is often recognised for the art flyers for raves back in the 80s and 90s, particularly in the Jungle and D&B scene.

Here is a snippet of one of Junior’s recent thought processes but you’ll have to come on Monday to hear more…

Ed Rush - The Raven

“I fell in love with this track the first time I heard it. This is a newer track on the jungle timeline. I wanted to share this track out of pure love, it’s a track that is often playing in the background when I’m creating art. It has a special connection for me, I would sometimes play this twice in a row, it reminds me of a sonic battle with soundwaves in water - like a new type of submarine warfare. It’s so space age and the energy came in handy when I was creating my new pieces.”

If you want an insight into more of Junior’s music and art, buy a ticket for Monday HERE and in the meantime, listen to a few of his favourite tracks on our Music of Brixton playlist on Spotify which can be found HERE.

This is a collaborative event hosted by Casild Art at Brixton Brewery Taproom.