Parts & Labor, The Church

So, there's a new DIY show space in Cleveland called The Church. We've had shows every night this week so far, it's been pretty off the hook. This is my first flyer for the space. I'm glad it's for Parts & Labor.

This flyer is my subversive attempt to start getting more cute girls to go to shows. I mean, I'm fairly certain anything with kitties and puppies involved, girls just can't NOT be interested.

Disfear, Knife Crazy, Blondsai!

I'm really excited for this DISFEAR show. You can download some wicked MP3s at Relapse Records' site, relapse.com. Misery Index also has some MP3s up there, which, they're almost too brutal for my tastes. They have a great name though. Then, Nine Shocks is Nine Shocks, which I guess is back in full force and playing a shit load of shows again. I went out to The Jigaw on Friday to catch Ringworm at like, 1 am. The place was packed. Metal dudes and females wearing all black as far as the eye could see. I hadn't seen that many skulls and swords, and illegible logos in one place since High on Fire played the Grog. The Jigsaw is well suited for that type of crowd. Which is why I can't wait to see Disfear tear it down. If you're on Myspace, add The Jigaw!



Saturday I caught Tall Pines, Meredith Bragg and The Terminals from DC, and Machine Go Boom at Moe's. I only go to see Tall Pines' last song because I got there so late, but goddamn, they're so good. I liked Meredith Bragg too. If you're into folky accoustic low key typa shit, check 'em out. Their keyboardist was wearing a pretty awesome Dungeons & Dragons shirt. Machine Go Boom was awesome, really a great show. Like, the crowd just wouldn't let them stop, which, any other band I'd be annoyed as fuck. I'm a big fan of "Less is More". Machine Go Boom? I didn't mind. There was however, the thing that drives me up a fucking wall going on during their set. Dumb Motherfucker with a tiny digital camera taking picture after fucking picture like it's goddamn fucking private show throughout the entire set. Goddamn, I can't stand it. This kid was INCHES away from the band, in front of the crowd, THE ENTIRE SET. I mean, on the one hand there was only ONE Dumb Motherfucker, I've been at shows with like, SIX of them Dumb Motherfuckers. Still, FUCK THEM. If you're name's not Lou Muenz or Keith Marlowe, PUT THE FUCKING CAMERA AWAY. It was a great show though, and I had a great time. If you're on Myspace, add Moe's Bar!



Blondsai, is from Baltimore. I know Sal, the beautiful and talented bassist from back in the day. I kinda fucked up the name of the band Chelsea Graveyard and The Screams at Midnight, which, I thought it was two seperate bands. So when I dropped the word "the" from "The Screams at Midnight", it worked out to look like "Chelsea Graveyard Screams at Midnight". I didn't recognize the mistake until after I had sent it to Sal from Blondsai. Which, y'know what? Blondsai paid for the flyer, so as long as they're happy with it... I don't care what anybody else thinks. I drew this flyer based on French Romantic Painter Eugene Delacroix's "Liberty Leading The People" painting from 1830, which commemorates the July Revolution. I took a few, um... well, liberties.

Neptune, Murder, Motorhead, Free Times

I didn't get to SEE Neptune play at The Black Eye here in Cleveland what must be a few years ago now, but I think I HEARD it. I'm sure I was there, in the kitchen, hanging out till 5 in the morning. The band played at 4. That entire time and place is almost one long blur now, with very few stand out moments solidified in my memeory. I never actually went down in the basement where the bands played because it would have been impossible to get down there, and even if achieved, scary as fuck to get back out. The kitchen was where all the action was anyway.

Self Destruct Button is fucking amazing. I say this after them having not played a show since last September. They played one of my favorite shows of all last year in the alley between buildings at The Compound. There's a video of it that Cleveland Photographer Lou Muenz took on their myspace page.

Jerk is cool.



While I was working on these two flyers for the Jigsaw, I came to the conclusion that I actually KNOW how to draw. I think the illustrations for these came out awesome, though honestly, I'm getting lkind of tired by the "hot girl holding a gun" drawings, which, maybe that's why I made this one a ROBOT. Anyway, Motorhead USA is I think that band Boulder playing Motöhead songs. I could be wrong, I didn't actually ask Dave when he asked me to do this flyer. Speaking of Motörhead though, I watched Motörhead: Ace of Spades, a documentary about Motörhead and their record, Ace of Spades. It's fucking awesome. It's like, it's kinda like Spinal Tap, only real. It's seriously funny for a lot of reasons, not all of them intentional. There's this segment of like, Slash and the band's roadies talking about how madly deep Lemmy's lyrics are. Motörhead is so fun and likable that it's hard not to love their music after watching this. I've never been a Motöhead fan before, never really got it. Now I'm like: "Oooohhh, shit".



The Murder Junkies is GG Allen's band, with Jeff Clayton of Antiseen. This show should be awesome. I'm really happy with how this flyer came out. I'm not so sure on the textwork, but I think I nailed that Stormtrooper walking on piles of skulls. I've been out to the Jigsaw a bunch recently. the thing that always makes me happy is that the shows start kind of late, so you can show up at 12 or 1am and STILL get to see the bands you wanted to, because they haven't even played yet. Saw this great band called Foreign Islands that my dude Keith Marlow brought through town. Then Roué tore it down on April 1.

Also, if you're in Northeast Ohio, I have 5 pages of a Skullface Story I wrote and drew with Andy MacDonald in an comic book art show at the Cafe/Gallery Bela Duddy in Lakewood. It's not a horrible show, as Derf also has some cool comics art up. Their address is 13321 Madison. The show will be up all month.



For anybody paying attention, I've been doing a lot of art for the Free Times. I drew the cover two weeks ago, and drew a bunch of spot illustrations for the cover story. The column is called The Joint and is written by a man serving time in an Ohio prison for a violent crime. Here's the story, I'll look for a link to the earlier one, I just did a spot illustration for, and try and see if I can post the images. It's going to be a regular column, which I'll get to do art for consistently. Here's a much bigger version of the cover art.