Is a haircut something you get or something you are?
The question might sound trivial but whats wrong with that?It has taken us milions of years to get to the point where we have the necessary freedoms to ask trivial questions. Consider the Cosmic Engineers who kickstarted life on Earth by sacrificing one of their own in a primordial soup experiment. Not a hair on their heads. Just a bunch of stunningly hairless albino giants whom we have outevolved. Probably.
Devils Haircut is a short story that attempts to answer that very question. As opposed to some other question which would off course have a very different answer. I wrote and drew it a while ago but it was recently lettered by a gentleman called Jon Ashby( who is a grand artist in his own right and a friend of Sir Roger Moore whom he bumped into in Monaco. I think they were both looking for Ernst Blofell. Which is a bit like Waiting For Godot only it has bikinis,guns and girls).
Devils's haircut also features a guest appearance by The Sabrejets. A Belfast born Rockabilly band who have been around the block and back. They sound like the kind of band who would have been blasted out of that blood red roadster Christines speakers as she wracked supernatural havoc in some alternate reality American small town. Its the sound a bad girl makes as she picks warm wet bubblegum from her angora sweater whilst setting fire to her high school on prom night.
One night I watched them play a blistering set on the stage of the Rotterdam pub that would have scorched a coffin lid. Its a venue that so suited them with its old school underground lair ambience lost in space and time. Trying to capture the energy of a band playing live in a comic strip barely seems possible. The magical chemistry that makes a live act worth catching operates on completely different principles to the medium I choose to work in. The static nature of art versus the moveable feast of sounds played live. One of the strengths of comic book storytelling is that it is possible to a degree to create a sense of movement between panels and I have tried to capture some of that atmosphere. Rather than just storyboarding the lyrics of the song I wrote for the story. So theres no point in looking at the Sabrejets back catalogue for it. They never recorded it( However That Bastard Chapman and his band Thee Higher Beings can be seen performing it on stage in the Pavillion bar. Dander on over to Youtube and feel your grip on reality slip. Scratch breathed life into my booby babble lyrics releasing the primal rockabilly for all to hear. Thank you old chum.) I do hope the Sabrejets feel I did them no diservice. The angry God of RocknRoll might rise from his Memphis tomb and smite me.
There is also a pop video version of the song directed by Brian Mullholland over his StayBueatifulFilms sight. Its a quite literal visual translation of the song filmed with its slobbering tongue in cheek. Have a peek.
Devils Haircut is a short story I am hoping to put out in the near future if all goes well. In another issue of Good Craic comics. It will be accmpanied by another story Blood Sucking Spide. A story about joyriding and vampires. Joyriding vampires to be more accurate. Keep an eye open for it. Actually keep two eyes open for it. That doubles the chances of you seeing it.
