Warped and Pieced - Return to Huncoat (Part 3)

Back in July 2009 I wrote a piece about the graff co-existing with the rubble of the old Huncoat Power Station in Lancashire. Join me for the final return visit and a visual ride into them thar hills...


All photos by shellshock


Quick link to the July 2009 blog……

Quick link to Part 1 of this blog....

Quick link to Part 2 of this blog....


The disused power station at Huncoat (between Accrington and Burnley) is easily the best hidden graff den I’ve ever been to. Rubble and crud are everywhere, right next to stunning pieces from the Trans Pennine Nomads (TPN) crew (and a few others). A visual overload; you don’t know where to look (actually I do know where to look….. look up for graffiti… and look down for that pit full of glass and old shoes that you are about to fall into you spanner….).


In February I finally summoned up some enthusiasm to get out of Manchester and bob back up to Huncoat (see part 2 of this blog). Due to the snow and my own internal GPS system going strangely loco [Pryme later described it as a “schoolboy error” - lol], I didn’t manage to get down to the other spot, so I went back a week later after arranging to hook up with the fabulous Mr Pryme himself.

Pryme had been painting with TeaOne from Preston (check out TeaOne on flickr) the day before, and he wanted to finish off his own piece, so we yakked whilst he tried to perfect his side of the wall.

TeaOne's piece.....





Pryme in action.....







I probably put Pryme off, because he ended up not liking it and going over it a few days later with a chrome and black number (watch out for a 'Chrome & Black' blog coming soon-ish...)

We then went off to the other spot where back in brassic January Pryme had been doing a lot of work with Burnley writer, Slack - a name I previously didn‘t know. Yes, these pieces (and they genuinely can be called masterpeices!) were all being done outside in the coldest winter for years, when many writers are still hibernating! :-)

Check out Slack on flickr

Check out Pryme on flickr



The whole wall looks great, including this first piece, the most ‘traditional’ of the three, and one that looks extra sweet when cropped down to just the wall itself.



Everyone loves a good chrome and black don’t they (it’s like a friend who makes you smile, or a musician that makes you gasp; it‘s the comfort blanket of graff…) and this is one of the best I’ve seen, with a really effective idea of having two cut-outs of how a colour piece would look.





And last but definitely not least, this peel-back style had writers everywhere wondering why they hadn’t thought of that before.... Genius!!

Warped and Pieced - Return to Huncoat (Part 2)

Back in July 2009 I wrote a piece about the graff co-existing with the rubble of the old Huncoat Power Station in Lancashire. Join me for a couple of return visits and a visual ride into them thar hills....

All photos by shellshock


Quick Link to the July 2009 blog - if you are interested.....


Quick Link to Part 1 of this blog....


The disused power station at Huncoat (between Accrington and Burnley) is easily the best hidden graff den I’ve ever been to. Rubble and shit are everywhere, right next to stunning pieces from the Trans Pennine Nomads (TPN) crew (and a few others). A visual overload; you don’t know where to look (actually I do know where to look….. look up for graffiti… and look down for that pit full of glass and old shoes that you are about to fall in you spanner….).


A week ago I finally summoned up some enthusiasm to get out of Manchester and bob back up to Huncoat. I knew there was some new stuff there; although I hadn’t really done my research on what exactly was there, and if anything new was down at the other spot.

We only had a dusting of white stuff in Manc so I hadn’t expected to be greeted at Huncoat with thick fog and snow. I’d never seen this empty shell like a magical realist playground before.



I knew that Pryme and Riot 68 had done a piece upstairs so I headed there, not to be disappointed by a typical Pryme piece (is it just my eyes getting adjusted but are his letters getting slightly easier to read?), and Riot’s futuristic slabs of metal (I’m not into sci-fi at all, but I could imagine this forming part of a space ship, or a missile shield…), plus umbilical cord style swirls connecting into and out of both pieces.





What I didn’t realise was that Pryme had been doing a lot of work with Burnley writer, Slack - a name I previously didn‘t know. They have reclaimed the main wall, with a more bird / aeroplane like Pryme piece, and Slack’s classy wild style.

Slack on flickr

Pryme on flickr





It’s always a hard wall to photograph (especially for someone as cack as me), coz of the gaping entrance next to it always streaming in with light, so on this shot I thought I'd embrace the light rather than try to deny it.....





And on a less used side wall, they’d done another collab. Slack uses big bold day-glo colours, whereas Pryme goes for drips and perfect shadows. All on a slightly psychedelic background which makes we wonder what they might have been smoking….







And I’m saving the best ‘til last. Part 3 will be coming soon and will include one of the best chrome and black’s you’ve ever seen, and a peel-back style that had writers everywhere wondering why they hadn’t thought of that before…...