Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Torche's beard!

Torche are hitting the road with Corrosion Of Conformity, Valient Thorr, and A Storm Of light over the next month, so what better way to celebrate then to have a new shirt at the merch table. While you're chatting up Rob, you should pick up one of these new "Beard" Torche logo shirts.

The idea was based off an R.Crumb's lettering that used women's long hair to make the shape of letters. Of course Steve's twist was to make them out of beards and mustaches. The finished logo actually came out well and somehow the "E" looks like Steve Von Till. That wasn't my intention.

The tour starts March 1st at the Gramercy Theatre in NY. Here are the posters for both legs of the
tour:Even more designs to be unveiled soon. Until then, back to the art room.

Friday, February 24, 2012

From beyond.


"Stoner caravan from deep space arrives..."

It's hard to keep a secret as big as working with SLEEP to yourself. That's what I had to do after I started talking to Jason and Al about designing their new 2012 European tour shirts. It's been a rough two weeks of secrecy and lack of rest, but the design is done and was quickly unveiled.

I had a small idea of what I wanted as a design right away, but also wanted input from Al and Jason. For instance, Al wanted me to make sure that the Marijuanaut had a patch with the chemical makeup for THC. A patch with a pot leaf was added to the right arm and the center sticker of a space shuttle is actually a bong upon closer inspection. I figured Al would be fine with those additions.

"Like if the astronaut's in 2001 were listening to riffs" was Jason's idea and that was where I mentally went. I thought about how many times I had been stoned out of my gourd listening to SLEEP and the subtle meditative state that I would find myself in. During the sketching process, I went and listened to one of my favorite songs ("From Beyond") and left it on repeat for a session. The next night I worked to the live SLEEP recording that Pike gave me. Those sessions quickly produced a design that tried to convey those times of stoned meditation. I added the joint and spliff to the arms of the 2 side Marijuanaut's, hid them a tad into the smoke from the hoses so that they weren't so blatant. I didn't exactly want blatant. I wanted some to really look at it. The process was fast and It then took me 5 days of inking and detailing with the last three days being almost around the clock. It got done and I took my time insuring that they'd be completely satisfied with it.

Now that it's finished I couldn't be happier. I knew that I had to follow designs by Arik Roper and David D'Andrea, so I tried to go all out and pay some homage not only to SLEEP but to the two guys who have visually produced for SLEEP for years. It's nice to be among such great company.

The shirts will available on SLEEP's 2012 EUROPEAN TOUR starting May 3rd. Here are the dates:
May 3, 2012 - Wroclaw Pl - Asymmetry Festival
May 4, 2012 - Copenhagen DK - Amager Bio
May 5, 2012 - Oslo NO - Betong
May 6, 2012 - Stockholm SE - Strand
May 8, 2012 - Helsinki FI - Tavastia
May 9, 2012 - Berlin DE - Berghain
May 10, 2012 - Leipzig DE - Conne Island
May 11, 2012 - Prague - CZ - Lucerna Music Bar
May 12, 2012 - Budapest HU - Club 202
May 13, 2012 - Zagreb HR - Tvornica Kulture
May 14, 2012 - Vienna AT - Arena
May 16, 2012 - Rome IT - Circolo Degli Artisti
May 17, 2012 - Cortemaggiore IT - Fillmore Club
May 18, 2012 - Bern CH - Dachstock
May 19, 2012 - Dortmund DE - FZW
May 20, 2012 - Athens GR - Gagarin 205
May 22, 2012 - Glasgow UK - The Arches
May 23, 2012 - Dublin IE - Button Factory
May 24, 2012 - Leeds UK - Stylus
May 25, 2012 - London UK - I'll Be Your Mirror Festival
May 26, 2012 - Paris FR - Villette Sonique
May 27, 2012 - Antwerp BE - Trix
May 28, 2012 - Munich DE - Feierwerk
May 31, 2012 - Barcelona ES - Primavera Sound Festival
More to come.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

New track off of Torche's "Harmonicraft" and unveiled cover art.

I woke up today to an email from Reid at Volcom. In it was the link to the new song "Kicking" off of Torche's forthcoming album, "Harmonicraft", and a picture of the newly unveiled cover art that I'd designed. That's the best way to wake up on a dreary morning.
I'm just going to post up the front cover and a link to the page at Pitchfork in this post. I'll wait to explain the cover when it comes out and when I can post the design as a whole. So, for now you can go and listen to a sick new track from the most fun band in the US.

Find it here:
http://www.pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/13153-kicking/

Friday, February 10, 2012

In print this month.


From Viral Graphics:

Bacteria issue #1 is a 90 page black and white, 22x32cm, pro-printed, hand-numbered, ink infested illustration fanzine limited to 150 and made by Viral Graphics, featuring interviews and tons
of artwork by some of our favorite artists: Angryblue, Alexander L. Brown, Michael Canich, David V. D'Andrea, Simon Fowler, Alison Lilly, Putrid, Rainbath Visual, Santos Illustration, Glyn Smith aka Scrawled, Jerald Tidwell and an interview with Ryan Lipynsky of Unearthly Trance and Nick Sciacca.
On sale Monday, February 13th and limited to 150 copies. Each copy is individualized with a hand drawn design on them. You can purchase a copy at viralgraphics.bigcartel.com.

UPDATE: 1st EDITION IS SOLD OUT.

Also out this month, you can order a copy of FIREMASS: Shadowplay.


From Firemass zine:

FIRE MASS - SHADOWPLAY. The first all black and white special from VIOLENT SPIRIT MEDIA.

Featuring: The Mad Artist Eric Duke, Glyn Smith (Scrawled), McKinley Illustration, Krawczyk Stanislav, Santos, Penélope Herrera Arango, VIRAL GRAPHICS, Lydia Burris, Spiritcage, Bianca Olson, Chris Parry, Coven Illustracion, Paul McCarroll, Gromyko Semper, and Adramelechk de Erebus.
Most of the issue was curated by Mad Artist Eric and can be downloaded in pdf form or purchased in a physical magazine, too.
You can find Firemass: Shadowplay here:
http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/335346

Go out and support these independent publishers today!