Torche's new 7" is a good time.

 After all of the snippets of detail have been posted, I still don't think most people were ready for this one. So, here is the art for the new TORCHE 7" coming out on Volcom.

 It's always a blast to work with the Torche guys and this time the ideas took a weird turn. Steve and I took turns throwing out the ideas, which essentially started out with the S&M hummingbird fucking an ear with his condom covered beak. It was quickly changed because like Steve said, "this hummingbird goes in raw!"  The mini gimp mask and chest gear were the first things sketched up and then I thought that a codpiece would bring the look together. I got the idea for the codpiece from W.A.S.P.'s "Animal (Fuck Like A Beast)" single. The saw blade was replaced with the more fitting flower and the tiger stripes replaced with those of a bee. I wanted to add "I suck like a beast" to it, but the lettering would have been lost due to the size. All in all I got to pay homage to codpiece wearing Blackie Lawless.

The nod to Blackie's fashion sense.

 The back cover is where things really took a turn for the awesome. As if it wasn't enough that the cover dons a BDSM bird, he had to be going beyond the peaceful image on front. Then, came the urinal idea. Hey, what kinky hummingbird wouldn't hang out in bathrooms waiting for a golden shower. hahah! Yeah, over the top a bit, but he's so damned cute that you almost forget.

Back cover with the dirty birdie and his bee friend.

Keep an eye out for the official release of the new 7" in July via the Volcom's Vinyl Club. For now here is a link to the first song off of the record.......KEEP UP!

The kink to come...

 I just wanted to post a little teaser for the new Torche 7" coming out soon on Volcom. I decided to add my signature as a bee with a ball gag and paddle for this one. It will all make sense once the cover is revealed. It's a simple design but one that everyone will remember.

Mutoid Man's first EP!!!

 I was pretty honored to be asked to create the cover for Stephen Brodsky and Ben Koller's new two man project, Mutoid Man. Their first EP, Helium Head will be coming out soon and will have some of the songs that were performed during their performance in New York at Saint Vitus.

listen : Friday 13/8

 When I was on the Converge/Torche/Kvelertak tour I was able to hang out with Ben a lot and he liked the cover for Harmonicraft. He told me about this new project with Stephen and asked if I could draw up a weird and psychedelic idea for a cover in the same cartoony vein. Ben sent me the lyrics and I was able to make a scene combining both images from the lyrics and my own strange ideas.

I first drew up the space slug with the television helmet and sent it to Ben and Stephen. They liked it right away and then I knew that I could get out of hand with the rest of it. The slug ended up working as later found out the title of the record will be Helium Head (a nod to Sir Lord Baltimore). The image of a space slug with a television helmet fit that title well, even though he's completely ridiculous.

The band of vultures in the background are a hybrid of ideas based off of the first two songs, "Gnarcissist" & "Scavengers". "Gnarcissist" warns of attention whore rock stars and their constant ego stroking. The vultures in the band are all collared with shackle-like apparatus' that have several mirrors hanging from them fitting the need for the constant self love. Also, a part of this image would be the large hole in the place where their hearts would be.

"Scavengers" is a song about people who tend to thieve their sound from other bands and musicians. It speaks of the vultures and their ways and even mentions playing the bones of their creative victims. I know that I made this part of the design quite literal, but I think it's an idea that had to be mentioned and pointed out. That would be the whole idea behind the boney instruments that the band are using.

Littered among the mushrooms are little degenerate frogs and turtles. I just thought it'd be fun to have a knife wielding frog and a cool smoking frog watching the heartless band wail. There's even a beer sipping turtle in the corner waving a pennant that made a great place for my signature.

The back cover continued with the duel turtle idea personifying the rockin' party contained on the album. So the party turtles were made. One with a custom bong shell and the other with a keg contained in his shell. They brought across the great personalities of both Stephen and Ben and made these characters a blast to create.

There should be an announcement when the album is coming out and even possibly a pre-order package on the horizon.

Next up is a new 7" cover for Torche.

Howl's Demons.

(photo from Shirts & Destroy site)

The “Demons” design that I did for HOWL is now on sale at Shirts & Destroy. Or you can pick one up when they roll through your town on their current tour.

HOWL "Demons" shirt at Shirts & Destroy

The Merch Table.

Witchita Hecknaw (aka Jami Forshee) has just started a blog called The Merch Table. It will be a blog of interviews with the people that make merch designs and those that sell them. I'm pretty amped to have been her first interview. You can go and start following here here: The Merch Table

Tone Deaf Touring SXSW posters now up for pre-order.

Erik at Tone Deaf Touring just put the SXSW 2013 showcase posters up for pre-order. They are limited to 150 copies so pick yours up when you can.

You can find them here:
TONE DEAF TOURING SXSW 2013

Beet Down beer from Epic Ales

The next artisan beer to come out from Epic Ales will be their Beet Down beer. As the name states, the beer will be made with beets. You will be able to find it in Washington and Oregon stores next month.