Art of Mo’ Wax: Will Bankhead
Part of the appeal of a Mo’ Wax release, other than the music, is their amazing artwork, and the label became famous for their visually appealing packaging. This series will take a a brief look at some of the artists who worked with Mo’ Wax between 1992–2003.
Will Bankhead was working as a photographer for Phat magazine when he first met James Lavelle. The magazine interviewed Lavelle for a piece titled A Career Guide To Losers where Lavelle explained how he set up Mo’ Wax Records, and he gave tips for those wishing to follow in his footsteps, such as “The shit’s got to be original, something that people want but haven’t got.” The interview appeared in the third (and final) issue of Phat alongside a photograph of Lavelle taken by Will Bankhead, published October 1993.
The photo session is notable as it also led to James Lavelle meeting future collaborator Ben Drury. Bankhead and Drury had met in 1991 while studying at Central Saint Martins college together, and by the time they met James Lavelle they had already formed a creative partnership, collaborating on artwork for Irdial Discs, such as a Neuropolitique 12" in 1993. Following the Phat photoshoot, both Drury and Bankhead began hanging out with Lavelle and were soon made part of the arts department at Mo’ Wax.
Prior to the arrival of Bankhead and Drury, every Mo’ Wax release featured a simple plain cover with a strip down the side featuring some tracklistings and linear notes. In 1994 this changed, initially with three singles with a full colour photo by Will Bankhead, and then followed by artwork by Futura, 3D, Req1, Si John, Toshio Nakanishi, and The 8th Wonder, just in that one year.
Speaking of his time at Mo’ Wax, Will Bankhead said in 2011:
James [Lavelle] is obviously a total madman. He wanted everything to come with a toy. The first full cover I think we did was by Sam Sever. It was called What’s That Sound? It’s got a photo of a portable turntable that’s a bit out of focus. That was my thing. Well, it still is really. These sleeves were done without computers, a lot of the work we did we used to do in the darkroom. We just loved making graphics with enlargers, and we’d make sort of type acetates and stick them into the enlarger and mess around with the paper. Mo Wax kept me really busy.
Outside of his photography, Will Bankhead also found time to make music during the early days at Mo’ Wax, teaming with Tim Goldsworthy to form Mustang, and then collaborating with Rich File as Forme. These appear to be his only musical contributions for Mo’ Wax, outside of DJing, and he otherwise stuck with the visual side of things, contributing to around 50 releases.
But after almost ten years, in 2002 Mo’ Wax began to shut down and Will Bankhead moved to Honest Jon’s Records, a label set up in 2001 at the record store which James Lavelle had been working for when he first set up Mo’ Wax. Bankhead has worked with them since, alongside other labels such as his own The Trilogy Tapes.
Originally a blog, The Trilogy Tapes (TTT) was started in 2008 by Will Bankhead before it became a record label and began releasing vinyl in 2010, later even opening a store in New York City in 2019 to sell their clothing and merchandise. Following TTT, in 2012 Bankhead started the label Hinge Finger with Joy Orbison, and in 2015 TTT teamed with Palace Skateboards on another label, named after the skate brand. Over the years Bankhead has also run the clothing labels Park Walk, and Answer, the dub label PK, and has continued to update the TTT blog regularly.
In 2021 The Trilogy Tapes continues to release new music, and has become renowned for its “painfully cool” and eclectic releases, described as “an exceptionally curated outlet for noise, techno, house, drone and much more.”
External Links
Will Bankhead runs The Trilogy Tapes blog, Twitter, and Instagram.
