Jacknife Posters (UK)

Jacknife Posters (UK)

Well, sometimes it is not easy to be working at Crewkoos especially when comes the time to choose posters to illustrate an interview. I already experienced that kind of troubles, but with Jacknife it has been worse than never. Huge collection of pretty sexy girls for QOTSA or Eagles of Death Metal, nice poetry pictures for Graham Coxon just to name few of their talents, more than a selection, posters below are just a random on their site...

Hello, of course as every Crewk interview, first question: what are we listening to when we come to visit you?

Listening to the Shangri Las at this precise moment but I love a real mix of music - everything from Lady Gaga to Black Sabbath.

Can you tell us more about yourself, who are you, where are you from, what do you do?

I'm from Bristol, UK. I formed Jacknife Posters with my brother Bear Hackenbush back in 2006 and we now have other designers on our rosta including Sainty and Tape Ears.

Today are you living from your art, or do you do something else for a living ?

As to my day job I make films, sometimes direct music videos and ads and I've just finished co-directing a film which is released in June called "A Fantastic Fear of Everything".  I've had a life long love of animation and film of all styles, so in the late 90s I decided to enroll as a mature student at Newport University and I studied animation there for three years.  This was after completion of an art foundation course which I loved.

For which band have you already worked for?

Over the last four years I've directed pop videos with my company Collision Films and I've worked with international labels including Sony, Island, Warners and with many bands including the Killers, Scissor Sisters, Radiohead, Franz Ferdinand, the Zutons, Young Knives, Graham Coxon... I'm really proud that I got an MTV award for best art direction on Radiohead’s "There, there",  a video that also picked up video of the year at the NME awards.

I travelled extensively with punk/hardcore bands in Europe and the USA during the 1980s and was a graphic artist with magazines such as The Face, ID, Select, Loaded and the NME during the early 90s, also I did some script writing for Mark Lamar and helped run a pirate radio station.  Back then I also did Skate Muties from the Fifth Dimension and Bugs & Drugs with my brother Bear (crazy irreverent cut out and paste skate/booze fuelled fanzines).

I think this all led to my design work at Jacknife Posters.

Do you do everything by hand or on computer? How long does it take you to do a poster?


I love all different kinds of creativity.  Screenprinting is a great way of seeing more instant results of all your hard work.  It can be time consuming and I use a combination of hand drawn and photoshop.  Usually it takes me a week or so to come up with a design - this can be the result of chats or the band or their manager/label having an idea but I like to create work on my own.

Do you think you are part of a "Graphic Scene", if so who else ?

 I'm not really part of a scene.

A bit of self-promotion, take advantage of it, it's free, where can we see your work , on the web or in real life?

Jacknife Posters are available at our website www.jacknifeposters.com - but we also exhibit our stuff regularly - go to festivals etc - and we've got some of our designs on sale at Rise which is a fantastic independent record shop in Bristol.

Thanks for answering my questions and see you soon on the website !!