Blacksmoke (also known as The Blacksmoke Organisation) is an occasional art collective and musical group. Founding members include

Jimmy Cauty James Francis Cauty (born 19 December 1956), also known as Rockman Rock, is an English artist and musician, best known as one-half of the duo The KLF, co-founder of The Orb and as the man who burnt £1 million. He is married to artist and mu ...

of The KLF, heavy metal musician

James Fogarty James Fogarty is an English multi-media artist. Concentrating mainly on music crossing over between metal and sampled based music, his projects past and present are In the Woods..., The Blacksmoke Organisation, The Bombs Of Enduring Freedom, ...

, and Keir (ex-manager of The Black Dog and

808 State 808 State are an English electronic music group formed in 1987 in Manchester, taking their name from the Roland TR-808 drum machine. They were formed by Graham Massey, Martin Price and Gerald Simpson. They released their debut album, '' New ...

). Cauty left the project in 2005. Blacksmoke output includes original music, remix and production, compositions for films and TV, as well as photography and video.

Background

The precise creative membership of Blacksmoke is a closely guarded secret. Cauty stated in a music press interview that Blacksmoke is first and foremost an outlet for his anger concerning the September 11 attacks. Among the work so far produced by the Blacksmoke Organisation are limited edition prints of stamps known as ''The Stamps of Mass Destruction'' the ''Post Terrorist Modernist'' EP, and the ''Post-Terrorism Xmas Shop''. The anger over 9/11 is immediately apparent in the samples and vocals of many of the original tracks as well as the graphics.

Stamps of Mass Destruction

Limited edition prints of first-, second- and third-class stamps featuring the Queen's head with a gas mask on. These were exhibited at the artrepublic gallery in

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

, until they earned the attention of the

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. All unsold copies of the stamps of mass destruction prints were sent to the Royal Mail for destruction. A second series of the stamps was later released: fourth-, fifth- and sixth-class, which had the Queen's head completely engulfed in a chemical warfare protection suit and thus were presumably not subject to the legal action taken by the Royal Mail.

Musical outputs

2003

The first Blacksmoke releases were MP3s hosted on the Blacksmoke website, the tracks including " Gimpo Gimpo" and a remix of same entitled "Fuck the Fucking Fuckers".

K Foundation The K Foundation was an art foundation set up by Jimmy Cauty and Bill Drummond, formerly of The KLF, in 1993, following their 'retirement' from the music industry. The Foundation served as an artistic outlet for the duo's post-retirement KLF inc ...

collaborator

Gimpo Gimpo () is a city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. It borders Incheon, with which it shares the South Korean side of the Han River estuary, as well as Seoul and the lesser cities of Paju and Goyang. North Korea is across the Han River. The cu ...

who is organiser of the annual "M25 SPIN" was the inspiration for the track but, contrary to reports, has not provided vocals. On 23 September 2003, BBC Radio 1's Breezeblock with

Mary Anne Hobbs Mary Anne Hobbs (born 16 May 1964) is an English DJ and music journalist from Lancashire, England. She currently hosts the BBC Radio 6 Music weekday mid-morning show, Monday to Friday, 10:30am1pm, and her ''6 Music Recommends'' show, Wednesday ...

show broadcast a 15-minute mix session. The session comprised the MP3s cut together with samples of mobile phones and

Big Ben Big Ben is the nickname for the Great Bell of the Great Clock of Westminster, at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London, England, and the name is frequently extended to refer also to the clock and the clock tower. The officia ...

plus other sound effects. The BBC cut the final 3 minutes 30 seconds from the session due to the post Iraq war political climate. The cut material was "Silent Night", one of the previously available download-only tracks. A few months later, the collective added an MP3 of the Breezeblock version of "Silent Night" to their website for download. On 5 November 2003 Blacksmoke made available an MP3 EP on their website which they described as "post-terrorist modernism for the Boom Bang Generation". A Blacksmoke press release drew connections with Bonfire Night and called Guy Fawkes Britain's "most notorious terrorist". The downloadable cover art featured

exploding like the World Trade Center and asked if the artwork "depicted the destruction of government buildings in Baghdad or Kabul, would we pay any attention?" There were media reports of "outrage".