TORCHE's "Harmonicraft" cover art.

I'm so happy that April 24th has come and gone and TORCHE's Harmonicraft album is out. I know that the LP's were released for Record Store Day and that several people received their pre-order LP's in the mail, but I wanted to wait until it's official release to talk about the cover art.

First off, the album is a lesson in how fun metal can truly be. The songs are heavy and catchy and full of energy. It's one of those records that I've been listening to end-to-end while roaming around the city for the past few months and it always manages to put a smile on my face.

First rough sketch of the cover.

THE ART
Late one night after Torche had played Seattle, Rick, Andrew, and I were talking about art and Rick mentioned that it would be cool if I worked with them on some project in the future. I was totally into it, but really didn't think that I would actually get the job of working on the cover for their follow up to  Meanderthal . Hell, it was 4am and we'd been smoking out for hours at that point, so I thought it would get lost in the haze. Then, I got the email a couple of weeks later from the guys to start working on some sketches. They gave me a ton of feedback and ideas throughout the process and I was able to quickly come up with a few sketches. Steve's starting idea was that he wanted a cover that was inspired by the awesome landscapes that Roger Dean had created for such bands as YES and ASIA. A colorful fantasy world filled with floating islands and such. They gave me a lot of freedom to go my own way after that, but wanted me to think outside of my usual subject matter. 

I had toured for 7 weeks with Kylesa in 2010 alongside Torche, so I was able to get to know the guys well during that time. It helped out when it came to turning their ideas into a solid concept for the cover. They are a fun group who radiate that from the stage and it becomes infectious to those around. On tour, they would go to movies and stop in at water parks or bowling alleys and still make it to the show in time. They had a fucking blast! That gave me the idea of turning the "floating island" idea into creatures that housed fun landscapes. There's a water park, an amusement park, and a magic castle on three of the Harmonsters. Three of them have natural landscapes on them because I know the guys also like nature and camping. And, the other two blue guys are related to where the guys are from.

Miami Detail (actual size of city drawn is 1 3/4"x 3/4").

This guy in the upper right of the cover housed a port and beach of Miami, where Jonathan lives.

Atlanta detail (size of city drawn is 2 1/4"x 1 1/4").

The Harmonster in the lower right houses downtown Atlanta, representing Steve and Andrew's city of residence.

Rick brand ice cream.

I couldn't find a good picture of Gainesville for Rick, so I made up a cartoon mascot of Rick as an ice cream cone. Drumsticks and all.


The Harmonsters being floating islands of fun, needed something that would convey their whimsical nature. Then, I remembered the guys' love for sweets. Easy. I just added tons of the stuff that I had grown up snacking on. There is a little something for everyone with various varieties of candy, confections, and sweets in the design.

Steve also wanted the creatures to breathe rainbows. Why not? Harmonsters probably shit sweet rolls, so rainbows were an awesome addition to the mix. The rainbows are also what the narwhal disco ship is floating on. You can't have good without evil, so it was suggested a few of them could be fighting with a some darker members of their species. Not only can these "dark ones" breathe storm clouds to block out the rainbows, but they do battle with vegetables. Tomatoes, asparagus, carrots, broccoli, and an eggplant serve as weapons against their do-gooder sugary nemesis'.

The narwhal disco ship is just silly. A stoner induced idea of Torche's tour ship breaking down in the Harmonster world only to have the creatures fasten candy necklaces to the hull and pull them gently through the air while they let go of the controls and continue the party in back. The ship itself was based off of one of the ships from the 80's classic, Flash Gordon. A happy narwhal became a futuristic figurehead on the ship adding that touch of whimsy that it needed.

There it is. One of the most fun covers and projects that I have ever been a part of. They have made this project so fun for me by pulling out my humorous side and making me put it to paper.

If you want to hear an awesome record from a great bunch of guys, go and pick up Harmonicraft today! And, catch them on tour with COC, Black Cobra, and Gaza in June!

TORCHE Harmonicraft

YOB used my design ROADBURN 2012.

I love waking up to happy surprises. Today, it was opening up the ole' FB and seeing the picture featured above on my feed.

The picture was taken by Roger NbH during YOB's performance at Roadburn 2012 and it blew my mind to see. Holy shit! I had no idea that they were going to use that design that I had made a few years back for their vinyl re-issue of the "Catharsis" album. You can find Roger's set of photos from their performance here:

-YOB at Roadburn in photos-

Thanks to Roger for posting these.

Here is the cover for the re-issue LP.

Help out Justin Bartlett's sister in her fight with cancer!

If you don't already know Justin from his sick art (The Secret, Sunn O))), Trap Them, Kvelertak) you might know him from the San Diego metal scene. Well, his sister has been going through a ton of stress and financial problems in her battle with cancer and their family needs some help.

Justin has put together a t-shirt design via Shirts and Destroy with all proceeds going towards his sister's medical bills. Buy one or many, it all helps!

You can find the shirt for sale here:

Shirts for Ashley Bartlett

KYLESA "Through Time" shirt design is on sale at Indiemerch.com.

The new KYLESA "Through Time" design is now available at IndieMerch. You can purchase it here:
KYLESA "Through Time"

You'll also be able to pick it up when they are direct support for GWAR on the "Return of the World Maggot Tour". Also joining them on the tour will be GHOUL and LEGACY of DISORDER. The tour starts next week in New Orleans. You can find the dates and venues for the tour here:
RETURN OF THE WORLD MAGGOT

TORCHE's "Harmonicraft" pre-order packages!!!

Two days ago I was contacted by Reid from Volcom about doing skate decks with the new TORCHE "Harmonicraft" cover art on them. Then today as I'm checking around the internet, I saw that Volcom had already put together some sweet packages. Not to mention the skate decks have already been made and are a part of a limited edition pre-order deal. They went all out and it's looking incredible! I can't wait to get my hands on these.

You can order LP/CD/Download packages here:
TORCHE "Harmonicraft"

Ads are out for the new TORCHE lp

Volcom is getting the ads out there for the new TORCHE "Harmonicraft" album. This one is in the new issue of Decibel magazine.

Pick up a copy on April 24th and catch them on tour with Corrosion Of Conformity, Black Cobra, and Gaza in June.

New KYLESA design for the Gwar tour.

Spring time and Kylesa are hitting the road again. This time, they'll be direct support for the metal circus that it Gwar and joined by Ghoul. Sounds like one hell of a tour.

The new design "Through Time" is based off of lyrics and ideas from Kylesa's "Time Will Fuse It's Worth" album. Yeah, I know that that was a while ago, but inspiration comes from the strangest places at times. The whole design is about growth, life, and rebirth over time. The roses losing their petals to the fall in an annual cycle, the branches reaching for the sky while growing, to the human being that is intertwined within the growth of their surrounding environments, they are all connected in this perpetual cycle. That connection is shown through the Ouroboros coming from the tears of the woman at the center of the design. Life and rebirth, year after year. Kylesa's lyrics have always struck a chord with me and they seem to provide an endless array of ideas to work with. Believe me, there will be more coming soon.

The designs will be available starting April 12th in New Orleans and you can find the rest of their itinerary here:
www.tonedeaftouring.com/kyl.html