Newspaper clipping.
And it's not trash
Do you remember trashbat.co.ck? No? Maybe that's best, because - as they say - if you remember it, you weren't actually there.
Giles Stafford
Sunday September 2, 2007
The Observer
Trashbat Museum
Textile Street, London
Founder and creator, Nathan Barley, has just opened the doors to his Trashbat Museum. The tiny, former Trashbat headquarters on Textile Street have been transformed into a cluttered shrine to all things Trashbat. It is charmingly disorganised (just like the world it represents) and yet deeply fascinating (ditto).
We spoke to Nathan Barley (29) to find out more about his museum, his website and what 'Trashbat' really means.
In early 2004, Barley and his computer-programmer colleague, Pingu, set up the trashbat.co.ck website. It became an instant hit with its inside information on the latest Hoxditch fads and fashions and links to all things cool. And most popular of all were Barley's 'Jerked' videos - Jackass-style pranks, pulled for the most part on Pingu and filmed by Barley on his camera-phone. "Happy slapping meets Freddy Krueger," as Barley gleefully describes the stunts.
trashbat.co.ck creator Nathan Barley.
During its early days, trashbat.co.ck enjoyed an underground cult status, but the rest of the world soon caught sniff of it when hip, style-bible SugarApe brought website to wider attention. SugarApe journalist, Dan Ashcroft, vilified the new "culture of stupidity" in his now-infamous article 'The Rise of the Idiots'. And the Hoxditch SugarApe-reading masses instantly adopted Ashcroft as their 'Preacher Man', he who "tells it as it is". Perhaps Ashcroft was right in naming this cult 'Idiots', or perhaps he wasn't. Like Cassandra or the fool in King Lear, he may have told the truth but no-one truly listened. This wasn't a time for thinking: it was a time for doing and trashbat.co.ck was at the forefront of this new wave of activity.
The first anniversary of trashbat.co.ck's existence was celebrated with a huge party that boasted the appearance of Dan Ashcroft dressed as his 'Preacher Man' alter-ego. Museum visitors can re-visit this historical moment and will note that those present were not disappointed as their new messiah hi-jacked the stage and abused the crowd. Of the night, Barley says: "Wicked! Un-f*cking-belivable! The crowd went mental, yeah? It's all on film, projected at the museum. Want details: come and see. Get startled."
From this point on, trashbat.co.ck seemed invincible. It introduced the world to 'Cock-Muff-Bumhole', a highly-sexualised version of 'Rock-Paper-Scissor'; it made popular Online Tramp-Racing from Russia; it gave 15Peter20, Doug Rocket and Dajve Bikinus (among others) free promotion, exposing them to a global audience; it created the 'Geek Pie' hairstyle, which became popular amongst Japan’s young and trendy; and last, but not least, it sky-rocketed Dan Ashcroft into Hoxditch fame.
"Preach," Barley says, smiling fondly, "Amazing man. Still close, him and me, chat often. His doing, actually, the Trashbat Museum idea. We're all indebted to him, and Trashbat especially."
But, what happened to trashbat.co.ck? Why wasn't there a second anniversary celebration? Barley muses: "Times change, yeah? Fickle, this world here. New fads to be chased, new idols to dance round."
By mid '05, with Trashbat being more popular than ever, Barley was destined for his own column in SugarApe and was even offered his own pilot TV show for Channel 7. However, neither project came to fruition. The next year or so Trashbat continued on as it always had but interest dwindled. "I was pottering about, doing stuff," Barley says, "Thought my place in memory was secure, yeah? It wasn't. Like I said: fickle world." By spring 2006 trashbat.co.ck was as good as forgotten.
"Not been updated in ages, the website, the only visitor was Pingu," Barley says, "Something had to change."
So, if interest in trashbat.co.uk is minimal, why choose this moment to revive it? "Retro is cool, yeah?" Barley answers. "Times have moved on from trashbat.co.ck so why not revitalise it? Comeback, yeah?"
But not everything in the trashbat.co.ck world is backward-looking; Barley also has news to reveal. "Preach - Dan Ashcroft - is writing a book on Hoxditch history, yeah? His publishers wanted a chapter on recent changes, so me and Trashbat had to feature in a major way. Preach interviewed me and the idea of Trashbat Museum fell into my noggin, fully formed. Why invent when you can reinvent?"
The Trashbat logo.
And reinvented it most certainly is. A simple step into the museum instantly propels you back to the heady and media-saturated days of '04/'05. There are brightly-coloured posters proclaiming all kinds of entertainment covering every surface. A dizzying multitude of screens show various films, including those that were streamed on trashbat.co.ck. There is footage of Dan 'Preacher Man' Ashcroft berating his audience of idiots as well as other lesser-known gems such as Barley's close friend and sister of Dan, Claire Ashcroft's film 'London Undone and Done In'. Barley's stencils are displayed alongside photos of the Bansky-esque tags, in-situ, most of which now no longer exist. Flyers have been collected and - as far as possible - dated, giving an almost complete history of gigs and events in and around Hoxditch at that time. Barley and Pingu's computers remain in their original state, on their respective desks, which are left much the same as they were the last time the office was in use. From these terminals, visitors can access both the website and the now-forgotten computer games that Pingu - so we are told - was so fond of playing. And as a dramatic centrepiece, enlarged to three or four times its usual size, hangs Dan Ashcroft's original article, 'The Rise of the Idiots'.
It is a triumphant multi-sensory experience. Although now largely overlooked by the general public, we must not forget how today's popular culture owes much to Barley and trashbat.co.ck. Anyone with an acute eye for creative detail and an ounce of historical interest will leave this exhibition feeling enriched.
Lastly, the question that has been on everyone's minds, what does 'Trashbat' mean? Barley smiles secretively: "The actual answer is too dull and the official answer too obvious. Visit the museum and you'll find your own answers, yeah?"
And why not follow this piece of advice? Visit Trashbat Museum and find your own answers to questions you didn't even know you were asking. Peace and f*cking. Believe.
Trashbat Museum, Textile Street, Hoxditch, London. Monday-Wednesday 10am-3pm, Thursday-Sunday 10am-6pm. Entrance: free.