'The Bear' Shirt

Check out the shirt I designed for my friends in Stephen Kellogg and The Sixers. Their new album The Bear is due out in early September.

Photo by Elmo Thamm.

Here's the design triumphantly emblazoned on the bass drum of Brian 'Boots' Factor. Many thanks, gentlemen!

Chet Baker - 'Time After Time'

Wordpress named its new version (Wordpress 2.8, 'Baker,' released today) after jazz legend Chet Baker, so here's a little dose of my man Chet. This performance captures the great vocalist and trumpeter early in his descent into a drug habit that ravaged his looks, his musical skills, and his career. Here, he's missing a tooth from a contentious incident that was allegedly an altercation with an angry dealer. He hits a few sour notes, but otherwise, you can still hear the bittersweet melodies and laid back phrasing that made Baker a pioneer of the 'cool jazz' sound that arose in 50's California. The man was just bursting with beautiful melodies. Baker is the subject of the riveting documentary Let's Get Lost - probably the one film that I would have released on DVD if I could.

Matchless 6/18

I'm looking forward to seeing several old friends perform at Matchless next week - come out if you are in Brooklyn on Thursday, June 18th! Performers include Ivana XL, The Static Age, and a debut performance by Systems, a new band featuring my great friend and former bandmate, Sean Hutcheon. I'll be there with eager ears!

Say It Ain't So

One of my favorite bands is responsible for the biggest apparel design mistake of the year. Oh, those timely 'bling' jokes! I thought it was a hoax until I saw it for sale on their website. Check out Faith No More's 'Gold Chain' shirt and read the comments below. With so many talented graphic artists out there, this is such a sad waste of fabric.

Remember To Take Risks Sometimes

I was intrigued and impressed when I saw the cover of the Fiery Furnaces' recent live record, Remember (Thrill Jockey). At first glance, my eyes boggled and my mind knotted at the strange, perplexing shapes. And then it dawned on me that I was reading - or slowly deciphering - the word Remember. Someone has gone out on a limb with this one, and the result is a design that really surprises the viewer with its slow revelation.

Graphic design is about communication, and it's quite unusual for an album cover to abandon legibility and obscure communication the way that this one does. Of course, the title Remember is written legibly in the upper left hand corner of the square, but it's the larger, abstracted version of the word that dominates the composition. I love the way the E's and the M's interconnect with each other and I think the way the R has been simplified is quite brave. If I could change two things, I'd change the color of the first M (it appears to be negative space right now) and I'd include the last R in the composition (why has it been squeezed out of the frame?).

All in all though, this design is a risky one and it's nice to see a good, daring risk once in a while. I can't believe it got approved. One of my favorite quotes is from my former professor Sergio Baradat, who once said, "It's great to pull a rabbit out of your hat, but sometimes, a rabbit out of your hat is not what's called for." The cover design of Remember is an example of that first part - sometimes, it's great to pull a rabbit out of your hat.

Interview: Musician Brian 'Boots' Factor

Interviews at Magnet Cat feature discussions between myself and other creative professionals. My good friend Brian 'Boots' Factor and I were flatmates in Scotland while studying at the University of Stirling. Enjoy! -Dan Redding

Photo by Elmo Thamm

Dan Redding: What bands do you perform in?
Brian Factor: My main band that I’m in full-time is called Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers. I am a Sixer. I also have a side project called Trevor Jackson with my friend Kyle Riabko.
What instruments do you play?
My main instrument is drums, but I also play mandolin, banjo, and guitar.
For those who are unfamiliar with Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers (SK6ERS), how would you describe the band?
My first intuition is always to say rock band. It’s a rock band with a singer-songwriter quality, and that comes from Stephen. Our main influence is the alt-country genre, like The Band, early Wilco…
What’s the most exhilarating moment you’ve ever had onstage?
There’s been a couple times where we played in front of our own audiences and sold out the joints, like the 9:30 Club in D.C., a couple places in Boston where we have a good fan base, and actually, the Bowery Ballroom, a couple years ago, where we kept on ending our encore and they just kept on demanding more and we’d go out-
How many encores?
I think the Bowery show we were out like three times and we ended the show in the audience, in the center of the audience, playing acoustically. That was probably the coolest. There was a night at the 9:30 club when people just kept cheering and we just had to wait for them to die down. It was great. Yeah, there’s been some moments.

Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers.
Photo by Elmo Thamm.

How come drummers are always late and they all smell?
(defensively) Um, I’m actually a punctual person. I’ve got about three or four clocks in my apartment.
Overkill, no?
Well, my point is that I’m punctual. So that’s your first wrong about drummers.
Is it true what they say: ‘a broken clock is always right?’
At least twice a day it’s right. So if the broken clock says 6:20, then twice a day, AM and PM, you’re gonna-
But why not just use a clock that-
(angrily) My clocks work! (laughter) And as far as smelling, um, I hear you on that… I guess naturally drummers probably do smell more than, say, keyboard players. Pheromones in drummers are significantly stronger. But I don’t agree with you about them being late.
SK6ERS recently performed for soldiers abroad. Were you ever in any danger?
Not that we knew of. We did fly commercially everywhere from the Mediterranean to the Middle East. When we were on the base in Kuwait, at no point did I ever feel nervous, because you’re probably in the safest place in Kuwait. The looks that I got in the airport being a white guy in Bahrain or the Kuwaiti airport, compounded with the fact that in my head, I think they know that I’m Jewish… I got a little freaked out by the looks, but I never felt danger.
Are you sure they weren’t just turned on by your beard?
Well actually, to them, it is a religious sign, so maybe they were like, ‘Oh, he’s with us,’ or something. But no, I never felt threatened. Although one time we were driving through the desert in Kuwait at night, and once in a while these cars would shoot out of nowhere in the darkness in the desert and you’d see headlights. Maybe that bugged me out a little bit.
And you were with military escorts at the time?
Yeah, they hired contractors, they weren’t part of the military, but they were security guards.
Would they comment on those other vehicles, or let you guys know the status of your location?
They never explained why there were cars going on and off the highway in the desert in the middle of the night. But looking at them, if they didn’t look nervous or seem to notice or care, then I didn’t care.

G.I. Joke.

I’ve seen photos of you holding a large gun during the tour. What kind of gun was that and what were the circumstances around the photo?
It was an M dash something, and that was in Kuwait, it was after a show… I guess I was on a high of the show, I was very demanding, and I basically demanded to hold a soldier on duty’s machine gun. After much back and forth, finally he gave in and I got a chance to hold a real machine gun.
Was it loaded?
It was not loaded and the safety was on, but it was heavy. I picked it up, and I guess the nozzle of the gun went up a little too far, and three people jumped at the gun to push it down. Loaded or not, you have to be careful how you hold it.
Why did you want to hold it so badly?
There’s a child in me. There’s an eight year-old kid that lives in my bosom, and that kid likes to play with G.I. Joes and play war. I’m nearing thirty years young, and when you see all this army shit it just comes out. I’m not pro guns, and I’m not pro war, but I’d love to shoot a machine gun.


Kyle Riabko and Boots Factor are Trevor Jackson.

Who would win in a drum-off: Keith Moon versus John Bonham?
John Bonham.
Neil Peart versus Dave Grohl?
Dave Grohl.
Tommy Lee or that guy from Poison?
Is Tommy Lee in the cage?
Yes.
Tommy Lee. (laughter)
Here’s a drummer joke for you. What has nine arms and sucks?
I dunno.
Def Leppard.
Ooooh…. But Def Leppard’s pretty good.
I know, but they also suck.
They suck, but when you break down their formula, they’ve got great melody, and it’s anthemic, and you still hear their music…
Plus, any band that wears sleeveless British flag shirts is a band that wins.
True. People say ‘fashion faux pas,’ but I say ‘hurrah.’
What’s the lamest instrument?
If you walk into a show and you see a bass player playing a five-stringed bass, what would you think?
If it’s Les Claypool or Victor Wooten, I’m into it.
I think it’s lame. You have these sub-divisions. A drumset with the toms that are on that metal rack that was popular in the nineties - some guys tour with the rack and it’s totally lame.
Rack equals hack.
Yes. Saxophone in a rock band in a rock band is also pretty tough to swallow.
Yeah, but saxophone is jazz. What about castanets or the triangle?
Cool. In context.
They’re percussion so you’re defending them.
Well, the triangle is-
It’s like an avocado – it just doesn’t belong in any group. It’s its own group.
The triangle is the avocado of musical instruments.
If God put a gun to your head and demanded that you banish one musical genre from existence, which genre would you banish?
If I had to? For the good of mankind? What is it, like, rap metal or whatever it is? Linkin Park? That should probably just go. If God put a gun to my head, and I said that, it probably wouldn’t hurt too many people.
What if God turns out to be a member of Linkin Park? You’re fucked.
If I know he’s in Linkin Park, I’m not gonna choose that genre. I’d choose commercial country or something.
SK6ERS are a very popular touring band. What’s the secret to building a strong fan base?
The secret is to get in front of other bands’ audiences first and foremost. Get the opportunity to win people over. And really commit to touring. Play the right places, and make sure your live show is enjoyable so that people come back. Give it your all every show – don’t blow off one fuckin’ show. Our band, we play just as hard and try just as hard if there’s fifty people or five hundred people. You have to have that attitude to even have a chance at winning.
I think that’s really good advice, and everything you mentioned was about performing live. Do you think that now more than ever, the live show is the most important element of being in a band due to the changes in the music industry?
It’s huge. It’s the one thing that a band can control. It’s almost like the band’s own entity. Most bands don’t sell enough records to see money accrue to them from album sales. There are companies that have what are called 360 deals – they want a piece of everything: merchandise, touring, record sales. Record sales aren’t enough these days. But if you’re smart enough, you probably won’t get involved in that.
Ozzy Osbourne once had sex with a bat onstage before diving into a mound of cocaine. What’s your craziest tour story?
On the last night of this one tour, we were completely bombed out of our minds, and we were all onstage. I played the drums in just my boxers, a sailor hat, and aviator sunglasses, and that was in front of over ten thousand people.
You can play drunk?
Mm hmm! I don’t know if I can keep time well…
What was that you said about giving every show your best performance?
The alcohol just fuels it!

Many thanks to Brian Factor.
More interviews by Dan Redding:
Google Designer Ryan Germick
Science Teacher Mark Stratil
High School Kid Julie Redding
Rapper MF DOOM
Rap Group Jurassic 5

The Gentle Art of Making Enemies

Last week I nearly went spastic when my favorite band Faith No More announced their reunion. Bassist Billy Gould says the band is "still young and strong enough to deliver a kick-ass set" and hinted that they might consider writing new material. My obsession with Faith No More once led me to deliver a speech about their song 'Land of Sunshine' (in eleventh grade English class), and later to write an essay called 'The Holy War for Faith No More.'

A few weeks ago, I was browsing through some design-related books when I stumbled across something that surprised me. It turns out that the Faith No More song 'The Gentle Art of Making Enemies' (from their greatest album, King for a Day, Fool for a Lifetime) was not the first work to bear that name. It is also the title of a book by the painter James McNeill Whistler, published in 1890. Below is a photocopy of what I assume was the title page of the book.


The page reads, "THE GENTLE ART OF MAKING ENEMIES as pleasingly exemplified in many instances, wherein the serious ones of this earth, carefully exasperated, have been prettily spurred on to unseemliness and indiscretion, while overcome by an undue sense of right"

According to Wikipedia, "the book contains Whistler's letters to newspapers chronicling his many petty grievances against various acquaintances and friends." As for the Faith No More song, it is a wild pastiche of absurdity, including the infamous line "Happy Birthday, Fucker!" and also "If you don't make a friend now, one might make you / so learn the gentle art of making enemies."

Last Lights

Last Lights is a hardcore punk band that is unfortunately now defunct due to the untimely passing of 24 year old lead singer Dominic Mallary in December (apparently from complications resulting from his last performance, The Boston Globe reports). I am just familiarizing myself with the band, but they seem to epitomize the ideals of hardcore punk: full of dizzying guitars and caustic lyrics railing against complacency and mediocrity. The best hardcore is clever hardcore, and Dom's writing is proof: song titles like 'U.S. Out of New England' and 'Everybody's Working for the Weak End' reveal wit, anger, and intelligence (the latter especially can be rare in a genre with its fair share of testosterone and rage). I also love his approach to lyrics - he's not afraid to raise more questions than he answers and some of the lyrical content reads on its own as poetry: "the lack of meaning is also a meaning / the lack of feeling is also a feeling / but don't press my face to the floor and call it a ceiling" (from 'Love + Rent'). Last Lights will play a final performance (with friends on vocals) at a memorial benefit for Dom's family on February 21st in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Guilty/Pleasures

In the Skeleton Boy video by Friendly Fires, infectious dance pop meets the skeleton-costume-clad Cobra Kai from 'Karate Kid' (some of their work owes a heavy debt to 'Off The Wall'-era MJ, which rules). I finally overcame a recent addiction to My Delirium by Ladyhawke. There is new music to hear from Yeah Yeah Yeahs (still have my hopes up for a comeback, but if the new single is any evidence, it's not gonna be in 09) and Lady Sovereign (ditto). Also, I can't tell the difference between my pleasures and my guilty pleasures anymore. They have finally merged into a sublime union. Glorious!

Thank You For The Dove

Check out these gorgeous album covers I spotted on this list. I did some research on these artists and was startled by what I found:


Yodeling legend Joyce Schwartz was inspired to write this record (titled Full Throttle Yodel) by her producer and lover Mike Adkins (see below), who she claimed once visited her in a dream and demanded that she "get up and yodel." Standout songs: 'Picnic People' and 'Fondue Party'





Seminal reggae artist Mike Adkins ("The Godfather of Funky") was inspired to write Thank You For The Dove after his muse Joyce Schwartz (aka 'Joyce') gifted him with the titular bird. Channeling the sounds of Jamaica by way of Wisconsin, Adkins invented the hit dance 'Ganja Strut.' Standout songs: 'Jah's Adopted Stepson,' 'Ganja I Jah Dub'

Blue Sky Law on Uncensored Interview

My great friend Sean's band Blue Sky Law has been interviewed on Uncensored Interview. The band won this opportunity during a Battle of the Bands event that was one of the most exciting rock shows I've witnessed in years! The contest was declared a tie, Blue Sky Law was offered the chance to perform one last song, and their thrilling performance led the judges to declare them the winners. Congrats, dudes! Visit Blue Sky Law on Myspace.

Dig 'em.

Here are three of my favorite YouTube videos of 2008. (1) The Grizzly Bear performance is dazzling; I probably watched it twenty times. (2) Gillis pulls a remix out of his ass, likens his process to your band's last Beatles ripoff, subtly toots his own horn, and smirks. (3) The Bon Iver song builds to a percussive and emotive frenzy. For me, this band strikes the same nerve that Elliot Smith's music does. Dig 'em.


Grizzly Bear 'Two Weeks' on Letterman June 08


Greg Gillis (Girl Talk) mashes up Elvis Costello


Bon Iver 'Skinny Love' on Letterman 12/11/08

Ween Designs!

So I came into contact with the mighty Ween recently and they were kind enough to consider four t-shirt designs that I pitched to them. Unfortunately, they did not decide to print any. Here are two of the four designs (click images to enlarge). For those of you who are not initiated Ween fans like the rest of us, here are three very brown facts about the band: that toothy face you see below is The Boognish (Ween's logo/mascot), the band's debut album is titled GodWeenSatan: The Oneness, and Ween's favorite adjective is 'brown' (carrying connotations of 'cool,' 'chocolate,' and 'shitty'). Thanks to Ween. Stay brown.

Design #1 'God Ween Satan'





Design #2 'The Ween Trinity'

Interviews

Here are three excellent Onion A.V. Club interviews with some of my favorite dudes: musician, label owner and voice-over artist Mike Patton, rapper Kool Keith (you need only to read his answer to the first question to find out why he's the most entertaining interview in the genre), and comedian Michael Ian Black.

Great Design in Music Now

So I've browsed an abundance of bands' websites recently. I'm learning new web design techniques and I've also noticed a great deal about how some friends and design clients choose to represent their music, both online and off. I see your shows, your merch, your MySpace pages, your fans and goals. Viewing as both a designer and a musician, I tend to react strongly when I see something that brings a smile to my eyeballs. I thought I'd share some of the best music-related designs I've come across during the last few weeks. It's by no means comprehensive; I've just listed the best out of what I've come across while browsing the work of forty or fifty bands. I could spew forth a torrent of vitriol about all of the heinous design mistakes I've come across, but in most cases, these incoherent logos and timid t-shirt designs ensure that a lot of awful bands go where they belong (nowhere fast) and we should all remain thankful. However, I do not intend this post to be about the most popular band or the hippest genre; it's about successful work. Each entry includes a link to the band's MySpace page or website. If you have a favorite shirt/logo/whatever design, post it or email me and I will put it up!


BEST ALBUM COVER
Some say the album's a dying format but the jury's still out on that one. For now there are still bands who care about a striking album cover that gives a visual voice to the music within. One thing we can agree on is that album covers have shrunk from the size of an LP sleeve to the size of an Ipod screen, so go forth and be bold.


Paint It Black New Lexicon
If eyes had mouths, this would make my eyes' mouths drool. The stunning photograph conveys ethereal stillness and the danger of darkness in a setting that seems to epitomize the suburb. The typography is tasteful and austere. My favorite thing about this cover is that it transcends the genre; I don't think I would guess that this record was hardcore punk.

Also notable:

The Death Set Worldwide
Everything about it screams. They say the devil is in the details and the killer details here are the mouth and the weird tale/phone cord.


BEST BAND LOGO/GRAPHIC IDENTITY
Bands have a unique opportunity because in the music industry it's not uncommon to use a new logo for every album or tour. Some bands do it right the first time and stick with it (Nine Inch Nails' symmetrical 'NIN' logo comes to mind), but others take advantage of the opportunity and re-brand themselves every few years.



The Raconteurs 'R' Logo
The Raconteurs used several different versions of this script 'R' logo during their tour for Consolers of the Lonely. The image on the left is a copper lapel pin. The image on the right is the floor of the performance space in this live performance of 'Level.' Pure class.

Also notable: The Faint's logo

BEST MYSPACE LAYOUT
Say what you will, but MySpace has offered instant access to bands and their music whether you're on a major label (do those still exist?) or still in the garage. That said, the site has been the laughingstock of the web design community since its inception due to poor design; and yet it's highly customizable, offering bands the opportunity to put their personal stamp on their site provided they have access to someone with the necessary skills. Sometimes it works best when a band embraces the ridiculousness of the social-networking site and chooses a layout that's tongue-in-cheek or over-designed (see Mastodon and Natalie Portman's Shaved Head, respectively). When in doubt, choose simplicity. Just because you can make an animated gif doesn't mean you should. Visit Magnetic State on MySpace.



Every Time I Die
Every Time I Die has clearly hired a talented photographer, the color scheme is catchy, and the imagery is bold and bizarre (the combination rarely fails). The layout provides for user-friendliness and clarity of function.

BEST NON-MYSPACE WEBSITE
Some bands have an online presence that's big enough to require more than one site; others want more creative options than what MySpace offers. The band below does both.

ween.com

Fuck 'music-related,' this is one of my favorite anything-related websites ever. You have to visit in order to experience the ingenious interactive Flash-animated cow's head at the center of the site. Design by Honest.

BEST YOUTUBE VIDEO
Ensuring that there are high-quality videos of your band available online means that fans and (more importantly) potential fans will have access to a visual representation of you and your live performance.



Dub Trio 'Bay vs. Leonard' (Fearless TV)
Dub Trio has this video imbedded on their MySpace page. It's got great sound, quality recording, and a mean performance from a talented band with a unique sound. Plus, I just think they're nasty.

BEST T-SHIRT DESIGN
So I saved the best category for last. I've always been a sucker for rock and roll t-shirts (a primary obsession during adolescence) and they're one of my favorite design challenges. Frankly, there's not much competition out there, and this area is where bands make the worst mistakes. Most bands' shirts are adorned with boring, dull and criminally small designs. You have to squint to read the band name, and you don't know why you're looking at a bleeding skull with wings or a geometric drawing of a guy in a suit. Everything's fucking 'distressed.' I think most bands have their drummer's brother do it because they hear he can draw and he'll do it for free, and they wind up with a stack of hideous rags stacked on the merch table. Now you've saved money on the free design, but it's backfired; no one wants to buy the shirts you paid a couple hundred bucks having printed up. My goal in designing a shirt for a band is to attract potential fans; I want to make a shirt that customers will want to buy even if they don't know the band (yet). A cool shirt is a cool shirt. I also want to make designs that might get noticed from across the street. When designing, I follow the mantra 'make it bigger,' as Paula Scher likes to say. Anyway, here's my selection for the best t-shirt design I've seen recently.


Grizzly Bear T-Shirt by J. Penry

I had conflicted feelings about this shirt at first, because I was unsure that it reflected Grizzly Bear's music. I'd expect a shirt like this from maybe Melvins or a punk band. But Penry's shirt is weird and demented (both qualities that exist within the band's sound), the drawing rules, and he's taken advantage of the entire canvas of the garment. It's a one-color design but he does it so well, it transcends the limitation. And conflict is good; my feelings of conflict have caused me to continue thinking about the design.

Halloween Photos Part Two: Blue Sky Law

Halloween Photos Part Three: Judge Roy Bean

My great friends in Judge Roy Bean performed as Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars at Uncle Mike's in New York City on Halloween 2008.

Monuments at Union Pool 11/13

Here's a flyer I made for my good friends in Monuments. Click the image to enlarge.

"This One Is A Gasser"

I recently resumed the Music Class I teach for teenagers at the Lighthouse International. One of the items we will discuss and listen to this week is Billboard's Top Ten Songs of the last fifty years (August 1958 through July 2008). This extraordinary chart (the online version is complete with embedded videos) is the result of compiled sales and radio play data and serves as a condensed survey of American taste over half a century. From The Beatles to LeAnn Rimes, this list does not represent what is good but rather what is popular. Staggeringly popular. But beware: the most-represented decade in the top ten is the nineties with four entries, and they're probably all songs you'd prefer to forget. But like it or not, these songs have delighted (or assailed) more ears than you can likely fathom. The number one most popular song of the last fifty years is Chubby Checker's 'The Twist;' below is a video of that vampire Dick Clark introducing Chubby during the dawn of the sixties. The novelty dance that accompanies a hit pop song is still in vogue; only these days instead of doing The Twist, we lean back or brush our shoulders off.

'RoadKillOvercoat' Cover Art

This cover design for hip-hop artist Busdriver is beautiful - or "beauteous," as my former illustration professor Alan Reingold used to say. Epitaph credits the album artwork to Seripop. Also check out Seripop's blog.


Click image to enlarge.