JUNK: Spacemen 3 Archive, 1987 – 1990

Junk is a visual history of Spacemen 3 – the psychedelic rock band who are widely acknowledged as the Velvet Underground of the 1980s – as well as a definitive document of the alternative musical culture of the period.

With their mantra of “taking drugs to make music to take drugs to”, Spacemen 3 established themselves as the ultimate cult band of the period by welding gospel and blues to minimalism and garage rock to create their own truly unique sound.

This book charts their story via co-founder J Spaceman’s personal archive of band ephemera from their very first gig posters through to their 1991 posthumous album Recurring via battery receipts, reviews, contracts, personal letters and photographs. In short, all the junk associated with the band.

The book itself – designed in conjunction with Jonny Lu Studios – is designed to feel more like a museological archive instead of a traditional band book – each item being photographed forensically in exactly the same way, all meticulously catalogued by J Spaceman himself.