A Drop of the Black Stuff

You may have noticed that Trainspotting 2 is released next year.  Now, we are 90s kids, from the same generation as Ewan McGregor and Trainspotting was a seminal film for us.  Putting aside the plot's dark heroin underbelly, Iggy Pop’s Lust for Life and Underworld’s Born Slippy are guaranteed to get us up on the dance floor, blowing our whistles and waving our hands in the air and the “choose life” slogan has been etched into our psyche. 

Robert Carlyle on the set of Trainspotting 2...

...is it a Voodoo Street bucket hat?

Before I go any further, what you are about to read is not a Ewan McGregor fan page, but a series of life events/coincidences which has led to a period of reflection and indirectly informed our work in recent weeks.

If you’re on Instagram, you may be aware that Ewan McGregor loves VWs and motorbikes and has in fact previously graced the pages of Hayburner Magazine, the cool independent magazine dedicated to all things Vdub (look out for our ad in the forthcoming issue). 

Hayburner Issue 20, out soon.

This week, he uploaded a photograph taken during a visit home, with his dad, on a break from a burn up outside the Green Welly Café near Rannoch Moor. As former motorbike owners, we loved the travelogue series he and his friend Charlie Boorman produced: “The Long Way Down” and “The Long Way Around” and our Highlands road trip this summer took us past the very same café, which is surrounded by roads just built for cruising on motorcycles.  

Johnnie Fox's Pub

So, we’ve been blowing the dust off some old photos and reminiscing.  Here’s a photo taken on a road trip around Ireland donkeys years ago outside the famous pub Johnnie Fox’s in County Wicklow (oh, the Guinness really does taste better over there)...

Babies

 …and here’s another of the two of us on that same trip when Voodoo Street was but a twinkle in the eye.

Incidentally, some years after this photo was taken, I took up a post at a TV/Video Production company, best known for pre-school children’s shows Wheels on the Bus and Underground Ernie, featuring a soundtrack from Miles Hunt of the Wonderstuff and a lead character voiced by Gary Linekar, which leads me to my last Ewan McGregor story.  He was the favourite to voice the character of Ernie and I remember sending a script to his agent.  She assured me he read it on a plane trip, but sadly he turned it down.

Although we are known on the VW circuit, we appreciate cool rides comprising any number of wheels; skateboards, BMX bikes, café racers, VWs, hotrods - you name it.  If it’s aesthetically pleasing in a classic kind of way, then we approve.  Our trip down memory lane has resulted in Gaz deciding to add to Voodoo Street’s collection of rat look motorcycle inspired stickers.  Given that my long departed grandfather was once asked to ride for a certain British motorcycle company originally based in Birmingham, a Voodoo Street “Norton” sticker it had to be.

Sadly I don’t remember my paternal grandfather, as he died before my first birthday.  I’ve also been frustrated in my attempts to get more details on this story, although I can confirm that one Ernest Taylor owned and rode a Norton for some years and turned down the offer to ride for Norton, as he was a humble and dedicated farmer (and probably had little concept of potential this opportunity offered).  Apparently he was known to bring back a sheep over the tank of his bike!  Not sure whether sheep get the same thrill from a motorbike ride as us humans, but these were different times.

We've also decided to share our love for Vdubs in a more obvious way by putting our Volks Whip logo on a T-shirt - bold white screen prints on black extended tees.

Volks Whip Tees on website now

This may look like a simple design or even the original VW logo at a glance, but switching the letters around was a bastard to successfully complete in the same proportions as the original.

New little back prints

We’re constantly on the look out for something new to play with.  Our reliable VW T4 is a workhorse, but our heart belongs to ratty vehicles that have lived a life and wouldn’t look out of place in a scrap yard.  Recently we’ve been looking at Ford Pops and Morris Travellers.  We test drove a Ford Pop around a farmyard last week.  It was surprisingly comfortable, given its age, but it was full of filler, the paintwork wasn’t original (matt black) and there were some strangely flared wheel arches.  In other words, too much work for the time we have at our disposal.  Still, we like them enough to have used one for our Black Friday ad, so don’t forget to check in tomorrow.  

See ya!

Soft launch...

Who else but Voodoo Street would choose to launch a new clothing brand selling predominantly T-shirts during what is now officially recognised as the wettest and stormiest winter on record!

Undeterred, we’ve been busy working up new designs, getting to know our uber-cool followers and doing a little promotion here and there.

We met with the guys from Unit3Sixty on 4^th February at their first public consultation.  Cool to see so many skaters turning up.  Look out for Voodoo Street merchandise in future Unit3Sixty promotional events.  We’re proud to support such good guys.

Inspired by that meeting, we’ve returned to our roots.  We’re off to the  SuperX in Manchester in April.  We’re also hoping to rock up to a few of the Vdub events running throughout the UK this Spring and Summer.

The youngest member of our team, who just turned 9, is stickering up his new stunt scooter, trying out new designs for us.  Our stickers are attracting their own following!  Anyone wishing to sticker bomb their wheels (BMX, skateboard, scooter, car or surf bus) keep checking in on the website, as we regularly add new ones.

We’re also due to make our first appearance in the local press.  The Stourbridge News has featured us in its pages.  We tried to persuade them to let us appear in the photos donning masks - think DaftPunk (or for the 90s brigade, KLF), but they were having none of it, so we can only apologise in advance for our mug shots!  Just focus on the clothes and the street art backdrop.  The sun came out for us too, which we hope is an omen!

As ever, don’t forget to sign up to our contacts list for the latest news/exclusive offers.  You can also find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/VSTREET, Twitter (@VoodooStreet) and bombard us with your questions on tees, life and the universe at enquiries@voodoostreet.com.

Speak soon!

JANUARY BLUES: VOODOO STREET FIGHTS BACK!!!

     

The bad news is, January is probably the most depressing month of the year.  We're all partied out like we've partied since 1999 and are experiencing a permanent fog, which has nothing to do with the weather!

The good news is, we've officially survived the most depressing day of the year and can now look forward...and that's where we come in.  To cheer everyone up, we have some news to share with you.

First up, we've kick started the year with a sale, which sees many items slashed to ridiculous prices and have
even thrown in free UK delivery!  This week, the sun has decided to show its face and as we all know here in the UK, as soon as the sun comes out, we are required by law to don a T-shirt!  

Secondly, we're nurturing our ever-growing Facebook family by giving them the heads up on any offers and competitions before we spread the word.  So a couple of days ago, we launched a competition.  If you haven't already done so, check it:  www.facebook.com/VSTREET as we have some awesome prizes to give away to 3 lucky winners.  We'll level with you, even we haven't decided exactly what's going to be included in the goody bags yet, but winners are guaranteed a free T-shirt and some surprises!  Oh and did we mention, that many of our designs are intended to be one offs, so once they've been sold, they won't be repeated?!

In other news, we're hoping to support a worthy local cause, Unit 3 Sixty, a proposed urban recreation centre in nearby Stourbridge (for those of you who remember 90s bands The Wonderstuff and Pop Will Eat Itself will know it) by donating some T-shirts to a fund raising event.  Any skaters might want to take a look: 
http://www.unit3sixty.com/  

And finally...we're working on a new range of designs, one of which I can't wait to get my hands on!  It has all the hallmarks of Voodoo Street and is being inked in as we speak.