Joel Veitch (born 28 March 1974) is a British web animator, singer-songwriter, and member of the humour website

B3ta B3ta (stylised as b3ta) is a popular British website, described as a "puerile digital arts community" by ''The Guardian''. It was founded in 2001 by Rob Manuel, Denise Wilton and Cal Henderson. B3ta's main feature is a newsletter featuring th ...

. Veitch is owner of the web site RatherGood where he showcases many of his animations. Joel has also created the Mr. Stabby animations in collaboration with

Jonti Picking Jonathan "Jonti" Picking (born 17 May 1975), also known as Weebl and Mr Weebl, is a British Internet personality and Flash animator and is the creator of ''Weebl's Stuff''. His animations are known for repetitive melodies and surreal dialogue ...

, and his early work includes several installments of Tales of the Blode. Joel's working pseudonyms include "Crab Bloke" (which is the name of his user account on

), "The Crab of Ineffable Wisdom" (used on his website), and "Stallion Explosion" (as lead singer of the band 7 Seconds of Love which he promotes heavily on his site by making music videos for them). Veitch was once threatened with legal action by

Gullane Entertainment Gullane Entertainment PLC was a British independent production company which produced children's programming, including ''Thomas & Friends'' (1984–2021), '' Shining Time Station'' (1989–1993), and '' The Magic Adventures of Mumfie'' (1994–1 ...

Inc. for uploading a Flash cartoon which parodied

Thomas the Tank Engine Thomas the Tank Engine is an anthropomorphised fictional tank locomotive in the British ''Railway Series'' books by Wilbert Awdry and his son, Christopher, published from 1945. He became the most popular and famous character in the series, ...

. As a result, Veitch removed the animation from the site. Although the link is still present, it now points to an explanation of why the animation was removed. In December 2006, Veitch and his band 7 Seconds of Love produced their own version of the "12 Days of Christmas" song, in support of the charity Tommy's. In January 2007, Veitch reached a settlement with

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlant ...

after they used music and video very similar to 7 Seconds of Love's song 'Ninja' on one of their adverts in Argentina without permission.

Albums

Veitch has released 3 albums of music as rathergood.com and an album with his band 7 Seconds Of Love. The rathergood.com albums are only available as digital downloads, while the 7 Seconds of Love is also available physically. Veitch sings and writes on all of these albums. * rathergood.com – Rathergood Songs (2007) * 7 Seconds Of Love – Danger Is Dangerous (2008) * rathergood.com – Spongs in the Key Of Life (2009) * rathergood.com – The Ham Machine (2011)

Movies

Several of Veitch's movies, including one featuring a remake of Destiny's Child's Independent Woman by

Elbow The elbow is the region between the arm and the forearm that surrounds the elbow joint. The elbow includes prominent landmarks such as the olecranon, the cubital fossa (also called the chelidon, or the elbow pit), and the lateral and the me ...

, are played and sung by kittens, similar to the Crusha adverts which Veitch also created. Some of Veitch's other movies feature actual songs by artists such as Madonna, with either slightly edited lyrics, and/or with modified subtitles, and always with fitting, and sometimes funny animations.

Commercial work

Veitch is responsible for many adverts and other spots on both British and US TV. * Half hour animated Christmas special Uncle Wormsley's Christmas, starring Steve Coogan, Julian Barratt, Julia Davis, John Thomson and Ben Baker aired on Sky Atlantic *

Switch In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type of ...

Maestro Maestro (; from the Italian '' maestro'' , meaning "master" or "teacher") is an honorific title of respect (plural: maestros or maestri). The term is most commonly used in the context of Western classical music and opera, in line with the ubiqu ...

adverts featuring singing penguins. * Crusha adverts featuring singing kittens. *

Quizno's Quiz Holdings, LLC, doing business as Quiznos, is an American franchised fast-food restaurant based in Denver, Colorado, that specializes in offering toasted submarine sandwiches. It was founded in 1981 by Jimmy Lambatos and sold to Rick and R ...

Subs advertised by the Spongmonkeys (through the song "We love the subs", based upon "We like the Moon"). *

Virgin Trains Virgin Trains (legal name West Coast Trains Limited) was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by Virgin Rail Group, a joint venture between Virgin Group and Stagecoach, which operated the InterCity West Coast franchise from ...

viral online ads at www.littlerbritain.co.uk, featuring only-barely

double entendre A double entendre (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, of which one is typically obvious, whereas the other often conveys a message that would be too socially ...

s about large things wreaking havoc on a "Smaller Britain" * VH1 promo spots featuring singing kittens with songs such as "

Welcome to the Jungle "Welcome to the Jungle" is a song by American rock band Guns N' Roses, featured on their debut album, ''Appetite for Destruction'' (1987). It was released as the album's second single initially in the UK in September 1987 then again in Octobe ...

" by Guns N' Roses and " I Love Rock 'N Roll" by

Joan Jett Joan Jett (born Joan Marie Larkin, September 22, 1958) is an American singer, guitarist, record producer, and actress. Jett is best known for her work as the frontwoman of her band Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, and for earlier founding and per ...

. * The television programme Rathergood Videos featuring his own and others music videos, which aired early in the morning on Channel 4. * Various animations of his were featured on the Channel 4 music programme Born Sloppy. * Written and composed songs for the

CiTV CITV (short for Children's ITV, also known as the CITV Channel) is a British free-to-air children's television channel owned by ITV plc. It broadcasts content from the CITV archive and acquisitions, every day from 6 am to 9 pm which ...

series '' Jim Jam & Sunny''. * Joel appeared as the "Internet go-to guy" for

Nuts TV Nuts TV was a British television channel related to '' Nuts'' magazine. Nuts TV began broadcasting on Freeview channel 42 on 12 September 2007, and launched on Sky Digital on 21 January 2008. A 1-hour timeshift channel, Nuts TV +1 launched on ...

, and appears on Sky News and BBC News as an Internet-savvy guest.

Awards

Veitch has received 3

Webby Awards The Webby Awards are awards for excellence on the Internet presented annually by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a judging body composed of over two thousand industry experts and technology innovators. Categories includ ...

, a Webbys People's Choice Award and a further Webby nomination for rathergood.com. His film, Uncle Wormsley's Christmas, was awarded Best Original Score at the Sapporo International Short Film Festival. Uncle Wormsley's Christmas was also nominated for Best Animated Film in the International Film Awards Berlin.

References

External links

Uncle Wormsley's Christmas

B3ta interview and making animations with Joel
– prior to his worldwide kitten success.
RatherGood.com

"12 Days of Christmas" fundraising song and animation for Tommy's the Baby Charity
{{DEFAULTSORT:Veitch, Joel British animators British animated film directors Flash artists 1974 births Living people Webby Award winners