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Jonny Trunk
BornJonathan Benton-Hughes
United Kingdom
OccupationMusic executive, author, broadcaster, producer,Trunk Records(owner)
EducationRGS Guildford
SpouseLilla Hurst
Children2 sons
Website
www.trunkrecords

Jonny Trunk,bornJonathan Benton-Hughes,is an English writer, broadcaster and DJ as well as the owner and founder ofTrunk Records.[1]

Career

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Trunk Records

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Main article:Trunk Records

Jonny Trunk founded Trunk Records in 1995,[2]a cult British label that specialises in film music, library music, early electronics and exotic, nostalgic recordings. It was the first label to release music from cult horror films such asThe Wicker Man.

On his label he has also releasedDirty Fan Male,an album based on his own experiences organising various glamour models' fan clubs including that of his sister, Emma Benton-Hughes, who modelled under the nameEve Vorley.[3]The album contained amusing recitals of the fan mail they received, and was later turned into an award-winning live show and a book,[4]with the album getting 4/5 stars fromThe Guardian.[5]

Trunk has also released his own material through the label, including his albumThe Inside Outside.Since 2003, Trunk has been responsible for the rediscovery ofBasil Kirchin,by releasing his unknown 1960s experimental jazz and soundtrack work.

"The Ladies' Bras",a single by Jonny Trunk andWisbey,made number 70 on the UK Singles Chart in August 2007, and re-entered at number 27 in September 2007 after a campaign byBBC Radio 1'sScott MillsandDanny Baker.At 36 seconds long, it is the shortest track ever to chart in the top 30.[6]

Directing, teaching

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Various Jonny Trunk side projects have included directing the now-banned pop video "Plug Me In" forAdd N to (X).This video was shot inWales,and was edited as the standard pop version and a longer, more controversial Add N To XXX 45 minute version.

Trunk has also held modern music and movement classes using vintage electronic recordings, issued officialTony HartVision Ontee shirts and screenprints, ran action painting sessions toKen Nordine's colours, and regularly finds music for advertising, film and TV.

In recent years Trunk has been lecturing at art colleges throughout the UK. His talks focus on the art of creativity based on nostalgia, enthusiasm and cunning.

Broadcasting

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Trunk is also a regular broadcaster on London's art radio stationResonance FM.His long-running radio showOSThas concentrated on film music, TV music, library music and related recordings since 2004 and is the only show of its kind on British radio. It has championed the work ofFrançois de Roubaix,Roger Roger (composer),Krzysztof Komedaand many other obscure international soundtrack and library artists.[citation needed]Other recent broadcasting has included theBBC Radio 4documentaryInto The Music Library[7]and presenting on BBC Two'sThe Culture Show.Trunk was the first dedicated film music DJ in the UK.

Writing, publishing

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HarperCollinspublished the Jonny Trunk bookDirty Fan Malein 2004.[8]It subsequently became aChannel 4documentary.[4]

He also writes forVice,Record Collector,andMojo.

Working with art publishers FUEL Design, Jonny Trunk published the world's first and only book dedicated to the graphic art of productionlibrary musicon Trunk Records.[9]This book, known asThe Music Library,was the first book to bring to the public the hidden art and design of vintage library recordings. The book was expanded in 2016.[10]

The original "Music Library" book was followed up in 2010 withDressing for Pleasure in Rubber, Vinyl and Leather: The Best of Atomage 1972-1980,aboutAtomAge.[1]

2011 saw the publication ofOwn Label, Sainsbury's Design Studio 1962 - 1977.This book brought together a vast array of own label packaging developed and designed by the supermarket's in house studio. Conceived by Jonny Trunk and based on his memory of the 1975 Own Label Cornflake packet, the book brings some 400+ rare, period and often curious designs from the Sainsbury's Archive into the modern graphic world.

Trunk licensed the document and letter archive ofMary Whitehousebased at theUniversity of Essex,and made a deal with publishersFaber and Faber.The book based on this material,Ban This Filth! Letters From the Mary Whitehouse Archive(2012), was edited by Ben Thompson.

2014 saw the publication of "The Art Of Smallfilms", a book exploring the archives ofSmallfilmsand the world ofOliver PostgateandPeter Firmin.The book is the first to examine their work in minute detail. It was conceived and edited by Jonny Trunk and has a foreword byStewart Lee.

Trunk also features frequently in the 2011 bookRetromaniabySimon Reynolds:"Cheezy sleaze and sepia–toned melancholy seem unlikely bedfellows at first glance. But in his 1935 travel bookJourney Without Maps,Graham Greeneput his finger on or near the place where musty and lustful meet. He wrote about how ‘seediness has a very deep appeal…it seems to satisfy, temporarily, the sense of nostalgia for something lost; it seems to represent a stage further back.’ With their aura of wistful reverie and faded decay, the sounds exhumed by Trunk offer a portal into Britain's cultural unconscious. "[11]

Discography

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Main article:Trunk Records § Discography

See also

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Bibliography

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  • Dirty Fan Male,HarperCollins.ISBN978-0-00-720772-5[8]
  • The Music Library,FUEL,ISBN0-9550061-1-2[10]
  • Dressing For Pleasure,FUEL,ISBN978-0-9563562-3-9[12][13]
  • Own Label,FUEL,ISBN978-0-9563562-8-4[14]
  • The Art Of Smallfilms,Four Corners Books,ISBN978-1-9098290-2-2

References

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  1. ^abParish, John (April 30, 2013)."Johnny Trunk".The OST Show Podcasts on Resonance FM.Retrieved2013-09-20.
  2. ^Petredis, Alexis (March 7, 2002)."Interview with Jonny Trunk".The Guardian.London.Retrieved2013-09-20.
  3. ^"Unknown".Times Online.Retrieved2013-09-20.[dead link]
  4. ^abCosta, Maddy (August 12, 2004)."With love from Spunky Arthur".The Guardian.London.Retrieved2013-09-20.
  5. ^Logan, Brian (2004-08-17)."Dirty Fan Male".The Guardian.London.Retrieved2013-09-20.
  6. ^"'Ladies' Bras' Hold U.K. Chart Record ".Billboard.biz. Archived fromthe originalon October 15, 2007.Retrieved2013-09-20.
  7. ^"Into The Music Library Documentary".BBC.2011.Retrieved2013-09-20.
  8. ^abTrunk, Jonny (15 Aug 2005). "Dirty Fan Male". Harper Collins Entertainment.ASIN0007207727.
  9. ^"MEMORABILIA. COLLECTING SOUNDS WITH... Jonny Trunk. Part I: podcast on Jonny Trunk's library music collection".August 10, 2012.Retrieved2013-09-20.MP3
  10. ^ab"The Music Library".Retrieved2013-09-20.
  11. ^Reynolds, Simon (2011).Retromania: pop culture's addiction to its own past.London: Faber & Faber. p. 327.ISBN978-0-571-23208-6.OCLC732968856.
  12. ^"Dressing For Pleasure".Retrieved2013-09-20.
  13. ^Hodgkinson, Will (September 10, 2010)."King of kinky: John Sutcliffe brought extreme fetish wear into the living room".The Guardian.London.Retrieved2013-09-20.
  14. ^"Own Label".Retrieved2013-09-20.
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