Three new digital single covers from Kearny NJ's Secret Country's great new (and long-delayed) album, WORD TO THE WISE. If you scroll down on this page, you'll see a cover I did for the record a few years back that the band ended up not using. Hey, it happens.
For my third year doing the artwork for Jersey City's Low-Fidelity bar's LO-FI TAKES THE STREETS festival, I did a vintage sci-fi pulp pastiche (along with a TWILIGHT ZONE tribute and a character from an obscure Harvey Comics superhero comic book, JIGSAW). Plus, I apparently cannot help myself from tossing in a little slice of cheesecake. Sorry not sorry.
Below are the print poster, tee-shirt, Instagram post, the individual characters, and the primary inspiration, the Feb., 1955 issue of GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION.
Man, was this one a fun throwback!! In the 1980s - mid-90s, I did the schedule artwork (with a brief hiatus) for the Chameleon Club in Lancaster, PA, and two stalwart bands of those days were Tommy Conwell (initially with the Young Rumblers, later in other iterations) and Dynagroove, two Philadelphia bands that caused tons of excitement. I also did regular work for Dynagroove, writing and drawing a comic strip called DYNADUDE and laying out their monthly DynaNews mailer (ah, the pre-Internet age!).
This year, my old boss at Chameleon (where I also was a cocktail waiter), Rich Ruoff took over the shuttered Village Nightclub also in downtown Lancaster. Last month, Rich contacted me to ask if I'd like to do a flyer (digital) for a show he'd booked... Tommy Conwell and Dynagroove!!! It was a no-brainer for me, and I hope that it strikes a big nostalgic note with olde-timers who treated the dance floor like a trampoline!!! (It also gave me the chance to retroactively give Dynagroove the proper representative footwear).
I'm also posting some of the work from the '80s I did for both of these bands. Hand-lettering and rubber cement!
Final logo and sketches for the band, Fat Bangs (links to come). This was an interesting situation in that the band decided they wanted to use one of the rough sketches as the final work. So I did some Procreate cleanup and bam, there ya go.
Two new tee-shirt / sticker designs for Kearny NJ's Secret Country! As of right now, these are merch table exclusives, but you can get other swell stuff from their online store here (and go see 'em! They're awesome!).
Also pictured are some of the initial sketches. The band liked two of them enough to have both done! Thanks, kids!
If there's anything I love more than doing art for Secret Country, it's doing another Secret Country Christmas single! This year, Kearny's finest has given us a cover of Loretta Lynn's ass-kickin' 1966 anti-carol, "To Heck with Ole Santa Claus!" Go give it a spin (if you can call streaming something online "spinning."
Flyer done for my friends Chris Landry and Sean Kiely's noise-rock project, college radio.
As mentioned before, I've done a ton of work for Kearny, NJ's own Killing Horse Records, including numerous album covers for the great TV Sound. Here's their latest release, another hooky slab of Mod-influenced rockers, an EP called POP PERSECUTION.
Here's the final art (who can name the record label on which the one below is based?) and some prospective T-Shirt logo designs. You can listen to the record here, or order the good ol' hard copy on compact disc here.
Oooh, was it a thrill to be asked to design the cover art for AJ Lambert's LONELY SONGS ep, covering four songs from her grandfather's classic album, FRANK SINATRA SINGS FOR ONLY THE LONELY. After originally releasing the songs digitally in 2018, AJ decided to put out a limited edition vinyl version to coincide with a series of live shows that got canceled by the pandemic. Hopefully the shows will be rescheduled at some point, but in the meantime, you can order the record here!
Naturally, I wanted the artwork to likewise be an homage to the cover of the 1958 Capitol Records release (designed by Howard Kim, front cover painting by Nicholas Volpe). The diamond motif was the obvious thing to adapt, but I did for a brief moment toy with the idea of drawing AJ as a clown (a very brief moment). I soon came up with the idea of using ovals instead of diamonds, a softer image I thought befitting of the work.
As an enormous fan of Frank Sinatra (as well as his lovely granddaughter... oh, and her mother, Nancy, too), being able to add a little bit to the family's recorded legacy was a big deal to me.
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| The original inspiration |
I've done more artwork for Kearny NJ's Secret Country than any other band, but this latest work might be my favorite I've done for them. "Under the Mistletoe" is their new holiday single for 2020, including a VERY limited edition vinyl pressing. You can listen / buy on Bandcamp or snag the single at the Killing Horse Records' website!
Also pictured here is an alternate version of the title lettering.
I was excited to be asked to do the artwork for Jersey City's legendary Halloween concert, The Ghost of Uncle Joe's, an annual event in which local bands dress up as and play songs by famous rock bands. I had already finished the advance postcard art when Covid hit and the entire event had to be reworked (even though it's an outside concert). JC's Dancing Tony made the whole thing work as only Dancing Tony could, even though I was unable to make it, darnit.
Pictured here are the banners and logos, including the mascot, Jett. Also shown are two rejected (by me) possible logos during the early part of the design process.
