MUSIC fans can bag a cracking piece of art at the Vinyl Adventures Record Fair.

As the creative force behind Smashed Hits, Kirk Whitehouse makes incredible art work by smashing up old vinyl.

He’s immortalised everyone from The Artic Monkeys to Frank Zappa in his work and counts Liam Gallagher, Shaun Ryder and Johnny Marr amongst his famous fans and customers.

For two days during The Charlatans Northwich takeover, Kirk will be showcasing his remarkable skills live at The Plaza and selling pieces of his work, including a picture of the band’s Telling Stories album cover.

A friend and fan of the band, Kirk’s connections to The Charlatans go back about five years when he posted a rather unique picture to Tim Burgess on Twitter.

He said: “It all started one sunny morning when my wife had left me a list of things to do around the house and I thought, ‘No, I’m not doing that – I’m going to make a picture of Tim Burgess out of coffee beans instead’.”

Tim had seen Kirk’s work while writing Tim Book Two – a book all about records – and invited Kirk to join him for his book tour. This led to Kirk being installed at the Tim Peaks Diner at Kendal Calling and raft of commissions for fans far and wide.

He said: “Tim has a Telling Stories piece, Ian Rankin has a Joy Division picture, Shaun Ryder’s got at Black Grape album cover, Johnny Marr’s got a Marc Bolan piece. It’s all just sort of evolved in the past five years, and as an artist and music fan I love being able to do this.”

An avid vinyl collector himself the 43-year-old, whose favourite songs by The Charlatans are Try Again Today and So Oh, doesn’t smash vinyl in a haphazard way – there’s a very careful selection process.

He said: “When you’re a collector, you do find that people tend to give you vinyl collections – you know, the sort of stuff that comes from Aunty Mabel’s attic.

“I’ve collected music since I was a kid, so I am really careful about what I smash. I have a pile that I want to keep, a pile that I think friend might like and then a pile for smashing. It tends to be stuff that just isn’t playable anymore. I like to think it’s giving it a new lease of life.

“I don’t think I’ve ever smashed anything that I shouldn’t. As a vinyl collector I can’t afford to think that way!”

There is however one track that he’d happily smash all day long – Scatman John’s 1994 ‘hit’ Scatman.

He said: “It’s a terrible song – maybe people could bring along copies and I could smash those while I’m at the vinyl fair.”

Kirk will be creating live art pieces at the Vinyl Adventure Fair, at The Plaza on Friday, May 18 and Saturday, May 19.