Artistic champion of the alternative music scene in the UK, and a growing portfolio of work which includes The Guardian, Digital Arts Magazine, and a Ford fiesta ad campaign, Dan Mumford is one to keep an eye on. Connected at the hip it seems to breakout bands left right and centre such as Gallows, Young Guns, Sikth, he’s now branching out into the clothing arena as one of the creative minds behind Submit&Remix. S&R is an art focussed clothing company with a nice twist which is set for a much heralded launch this January 2010. His unique and emotionally detailed story telling art is deep, dark and ready to be shouted about from every corner of the UK.

What’s your name, where do you come from, and what do you do?

My name is Dan Mumford. i come from Watfford, born and raised, but i currently reside in East London where i Illustrate/screenprint and design full time freelance.

Did you go to university or college to hone your skills?

Yes i did, i went to Brighton University for three years, and i really enjoyed it. It was a completely open experience, where prettty much anything went. It was essentially like an extended foundation course, where you could try your hand at any medium. I spent a good part of the second year creating films and stop motion animation. We werent pushed in any direction at all, so it felt like i reached the point im at now in a very natural way. I know that some people found this a pretty hard way to work, but it worked for me.

Where are you based out of, do you have a studio anywhere?

Well I live in Bethnal Green, with 3 other artistically minded fellows, and i work from a shared studio up in Dalston with about 20 other people, this is where i do all my drawing and so forth, but a little further down the road i also screenprint in another studio, so essentially you can always find me working somewhere in Dalston. My studio space is quite a large area, where i have a couple of desks and a bunch of shelves up with all my books and pointless vinyl toys, some small plan chests for my prints, printer, scanner, computer, nothing out of the ordinary, i do have some of the best windows in the studio though, so i get some rather awe inspiring sunsets over the city. I still have some space to fill though, so im thinking of getting a nice big sofa, so i can procrastinate even more than usual.

For the screen printing geeks out there (ranui samuels et al), what is your go to piece of kit, and what is it that you love about the medium of screening?

Ahhh, well im fairly old school, nothing fancy at all to my screenprinting! I do LOVE speedball inks though, mainly for the fact that the ink nearly always dries superfast, obviously thats dependant on how many colours you are printing and your stock etc, but it hasnt let me down yet. I do also have one Screenprint bed in the studio that i always have to use, mainly because its one of the only ones that fits my screens (and also because its called ‘the beast’), but also because its a proper chunky piece of kit with a super noisy vacuum, it just sits my printing style i guess, and when it comes to printing i am very much a man of tradition and order, i have it all planned out and its done very systematically. Its a true art, and i hope to one day do a hell of a lot more printing than i do currently.

I first came across your work for band posters, CD artwork etc. Where did your close association with the music scene start?

It started as i was growing up, i played in various bands from the ages 13 up in my local scene, so i grew up with the guys in Captain Everything, Sikth, Gallows, Haunts etc..so i always knew the people from the Watford music scene, and i just worked with a few of them when i was at university, one of these jobs was for Gallows on their original CD, so when they blew up and i did more work for them, it obviously helped. But i have always worked within the alternative music scene, its just where i grew up really, so even though i dont get to play music as much as i did when i was younger i still get to contribute to it with my artwork.

What have you been up to in 2009, give us a brief rundown of your biggest events / work through the year, and then what was the highlight?

Well, i have to say, 2009 felt like the transition year, a lot of changes were made this year, but nothing really came to fruition as much as i had hoped. I moved studios, that was a big one, and left my agency, and i also launched my new website, they were big changes..the studio one and leaving the agency especially, i had been in my old studio for two years where they were also based, so that felt like i cut a big chunk of my life out in one big go, and i felt kind of released for some reason, they were great people and i started my career off there, but i feel a lot more free now, and the new studio has boosted my productivity quite a bit, i can surround myself with a lot more of my own stuff, books etc, which is always nice. Work wise i kind of coasted i feel, i produced some stuff i am really proud of, but i dont feel i pushed myself at all, i have plans for big projects, prints and narrative based projects, and none of them got off the starting blocks this year…so in theory, 2010 is for these things, one thing however that i have been working on for the last 6 months with a great bunch of people is Submit & Remix.

Tell me a bit more about Submit and Remix?

Submit & Remix is a new artist focused clothing brand, and was conceived in around April 09, between myself and two others who used to work at Atticus/Lowlife, they come from the marketting/production and PR side of things, so i came on board essentially as the creative. The idea behind S&R is that each series we ask two artists to create a tee design for us based on a theme of our choosing, once we have these two designs we swap them over and ask the artists to reinterpret the others design in their own style. Essentially for me its a great way to throw two artists together and see what happens. The great thing is that we arent limiting ourselves to one style or a few artists, each series we hope to take it in new directions and get these really interesting designs from artists by forcing them to reinterpret someones work they might never have looked at before, its an exciting prospect and we have some really nice ideas and artists lined up for the future. Series 1 features Florida based Horsebites from the design supergroup the black axe, and Keaton Henson who resides in the UK, both have very distinct styles and have created some really great designs for our first series.

What brands do you see Submit and Remix ideally sitting next to?

I would love for us to be able to sit in any store next to any range, i think each series will have unique feels and looks that will be different from the last, meaning each series might be more targeted to various people than the last, we hope not to limit ourselves in any way! Obviously success wise it would be amazing to get to the point of a brand like Johnny Cupcakes , Mishka or Rockett clothing where you can release these huge ranges, with very distinct styles and looks. But this is just the start and like i said, we do have plans for some really exciting stuff.

From your connects to the music / art world, who’s going to absolutely smash it in 2010 in your opinion?

Ahhh, well i know that the good chaps at Itsnicethat.com will rule with whatever they choose to do, their new show ‘if you could collaborate’ is looking really exciting, i look forward to seeing what the black axe have up their sleeves in the new year, drew millward will rule with an iron fist in the poster scene as will Godmachine in the gory tee stakes, music wise i would like to see Spycatcher get out there and destroy everyone, great guys in that band who really deserve to get huge.

If you can imagine this point next year, what would you have wanted to have achieved in 2010?

I would love to see S&R on series 5 or so and going strong, and also have my own line of tees out, as well as a bunch of prints that i have been wanting to create for ages, essentially i want to have lots of projects all rolling along nicely, sitting in front of a computer all the time can get a bit dull, so its always nice to work on new projects!

Thanks for talking to us, its been an absolute pleasure!

Cheers!