Flashing back to the very beginning of my professional (?) career (??), here are the 4 covers I drew for the esteemed Canadian rock'n'roll fanzine What Wave. Drawn in my grim teenage bedroom on a farm lost somewhere on the vast prairies, they represent a dim first attempt at grappling with commercial art, rock'n'roll art and all the stuff my life ended up being filled with. Thanks to Dave and Rena for publishing my stuff and making it possible for me to live this bizarre and unnatural lifestyle, and for introducing me to most of my favorite bands. What Wave forever! Stay tuned for MORE ARCHAIC ACTION!

Stuff

Sorry for the lack of updates. Here's some new stuff and a coupla newly scanned oldies. You figger it out. Stay tuned for  MORE INCREASINGLY INTERMITTENT ACTION!

Number of the Beat

Poster for an upcoming night of rockin' rootsy countrified hicksville twang and such happening right here in my benighted home town. Yeah, a show worth going to in this day and age. It's kinda crazy. This was an old pencil drawing that I had done years ago in hopes of having a cool show such as this to make it into the poster for, and lo, in the fullness of time it came to be, just as it was foreseen. Stay tuned for MORE HI-OCTANE HICK ACTION!

Shakin' Like a Sinner on Judgement Day

New album art for rockabilly combo Mental Shakedown outta Germany (via Finland). The front cover was originally drawn for their demo a couple of years ago, chopped'n'channeled for new life in vinyl and CD form this year. Also did the design for the back of the sleeve. I think this is the first sleeve I've done where I did all the art; layouts for the LP and CD packages, label art, even rendered the Bop'n'Destroy Records logo. The LP and CD should be out in the early part of next year so add 'em to your Must Buy list and... Stay tuned for MORE BOPPIN' ACTION!

Posterama

 Coupla recent poster gigs: Above, a hip rock'n'roll show coming up next month in scenic Kingston, Ontario; Below the tour poster for the upcoming European shows by super-cool fuzz-laden garage punk combo the Omens. Nice to see rock'n'roll happening someplace in the world cuz it mostly ain't happening here anymore. Anyway, stay tuned for MORE ACTION!

Retro Roundup

 Here'a a selection of prehistoric crud unearthed from my moldering archives, all newly scanned from the original art. Not gonna try to explain any of this stuff, you figure it out and let me know. Got a couple new things in the works and a few finished projects that I'm waiting for the go-ahead from my clients before posting so... Stay tuned for MORE (EVENTUAL) ACTION!

Pagan, Baby

Here's the front and back art for the new CD by Los Paganos Del Ritmo, a combo that Texas rockabilly maniac Mack Stevens put together with some cats from Buenos Aires to play a mix of the kinda off the cuff, rockin' blues/'billy/country-fried ditties he writes so well. The album's out now on Part Records outta Germany and ought to hit the spot if you got a taste for rootsy gunk with a sneakin' psychotic edge to it. I made the art for this at LP size even though it was gonna be shrunk way down, so here are full size versions, with the back art stripped of all the text and logos that were added to the print version. Stay tuned for MORE ROAD TO PERDITION ACTION!

More ACTION!

Due out any little second now is this 4 song 7" EP by California combo Action Andy and the Hi-Tones. Should be a nifty package with a hard stock cover, fancy silver print labels and art by yours truly all over the place. Check for it at your local wax emporium and stay dialed in on this frequency for MORE ACTION!

Rockin' Weird

Got a backlog of stuff to post but first the big news: Rockin' Weird, the first ever book collection of my work is on it's way! With 216 big pages and more than 440 drawings spanning the last 25 years, RW features the best record sleeves, rock'n'roll posters, zine illustrations, comic strips and miscellaneous ephemera of my career, plus a bunch of previously unpublished stuff as well. You can preorder a copy of this majestic tome, surely the most significant book since the Bible, here. Buy two copies in case you drop one in the mashed potatoes. Stay tuned for MORE GIVE A HOOT, READ A BOOK ACTION!

Route 66

 Here's the poster for the third Transistor 66 Records Rock'n'Roll Weekender, Winnipeg's best showcase for rockin' bands and fun. I'm proud to have done posters for all 3 of these shows; you can find the earlier ones if you dig around the archives of this blog a bit. This poster was kinda inspired by some '60s issues of CARtoons magazine that I have in my vast random collection of junk. Those old CARtoons have some real nice comics in 'em that haven't really been discovered by the fanboys yet. Anyway, there are a couple of versions of this poster; the one above was made for street postering and the one below is gonna be a limited silkscreen version, signed and numbered and all that. I designed it to make a matched set with the poster from the first T66 Weekender so ya gotta buy 'em both to be hip. Stay tuned for MORE NITRO-BURNING ACTION!

Go Mental!

Hot off the greasy griddle, here's a cover design for my pal Axel's new rockin' combo Mental Shakedown. Right now this is just gonna be the cover for their demo CD but I'm sure we'll be seeing and hearing this stuff on vinyl in the not too distant future. Stay tuned for MORE BOP'N'DESTROY ACTION!

Arcade Action!

Sorry for the dearth of posts lately, kids. I got a big backlog of stuff to put up here so look for more new updates soon. Here's a drawing I did for Winnipeg's rock'n'roll upstart Greg Arcade and his combo for his upcoming show at the new and improved (?) Royal Albert. These guys have a fun, upbeat rockabilly style along the lines of early Buddy Holly so I tried to get that feeling into the drawing. I just did the illustration on this; the poster was put together by Mr. Arcade himself as he's a talented designer in real life. More stuff coming soon so... Stay tuned for MORE ACTION!

Another Wild Weekend

Here's the poster for the upcoming Transistor 66 Records 10th anniversary spectacular featuring some top local talent and two cool outta town headliners. Should be a blast. Looks like we will be doing a limited run of signed and numbered silkscreen posters for this show. Stay tuned for MORE ACTION!

Bloodshot Eyes

Here's the front and back art for the soon-to-be-released Bloodshot Bill 7" on good old Transistor 66 Records. Bloodshot is one of the wildest rockers goin' today and a real nice fella to boot so it was a kick to get to work on this sleeve design for him. I first saw him play in a little club here in Winnipeg 6 or 7 years back and that was when I envisioned the drunken skeleton w/pompadour image which adorns the back of this sleeve. Gonna be drawing BB again soon as he is headlining this year's Transistor 66 10th anniversary weekender in April and I am designing the poster for that. Stay tuned for MORE ACTION!

Rawkahula, Baby!

Here's a bit of advertising art I just put together for my old pal Nick Rawkahula's suave line of hot rod/rock'n'roll action wear. The ad will be printed with Rawkahula shirt designs and info superimposed over the drawing but here you get the art in its raw form. I'm workin' on 5 new record sleeve designs right now so lotsa new stuff will be posted here soon. Stay tuned for MORE ACTION!

Stay Sick

This cryptic bit of Crampage was drawn for Roctober magazine's 2007 spinoff publication Chic-A Go-Go Comics. It's based on a frame from a video interview with The Cramps conducted by puppet mascot Ratso which was aired on the Chic-A Go-Go cable access TV show. This drawing also appeared in Roctober #47 as part of their tribute to Lux Interior following his tragic death. Stay tuned for MORE ACTION!

Still A Lotta Rhythm In These Rockin' Bones

Another weird one for you today. This is the cover art for a 4 song Cramps bootleg 7" that came out back in the early '90s and yep, it's just a cheap black and white xerox of the cover of Rockin' Bones #1. The songs are alternate mixes from the rare white label promo version of the first Cramps LP, Songs The Lord Taught Us. This surfaced again a few years back as part of a whole slew of Cramps bootleg reissues. You'd think the cheap bums who put this out might have sent me a promo copy but no, I hadda shell out hard earned cash to get one. Anyway, I love The Cramps and this is probably as close as I'll ever get to doing a sleeve for them so what the hell. Stay tuned for MORE ACTION!

This Is A Riot!

Here's the cover art for the cool Winnipeg Riot! compilation CD, released on Dionysus Records back in 2006. Documenting the Winnipeg rock'n'roll scene from approximately 1997-2004, the CD compiles a whole mess of wild garage, punk, rockabilly and surf combos, all wailin' heedlessly away in a city chock fulla squares. Top local combos The Farrell Bros, The Horribles, Hot Live Guys, Squareheads, American Flamewhip, The Hestons, The Insaniacs and The Mohosimrots are all represented on here (all of 'em have been blabbed about in previous entries on this blog) along with some equally fine but lesser known bands. You can (and should) still order this CD direct from the Dionysus Records website. My cover art was meant to illustrate the degree of indifference these combos faced playing in a city that has pretty much abandoned its rock'n'roll heritage. It is also part of my ongoing series of Grumpy Old Men drawings. For a bonus, here's the poster I put together for the Winnipeg Riot! CD release party at the Royal Albert. Stay tuned for MORE ACTION!

Let's Have A Party!

Here's my comic strip tribute to rockabilly/country legend Wanda Jackson, drawn on the occasion of her induction into Roctober magazine's Hall Of Dynamic Greatness back in 1999. The drawing appeared as part of an elaborate 32 page calendar insert in issue #26 of Roctober. Stay tuned for MORE HOT DOG, THAT MADE HIM MAD ACTION!

Exotic Erotic Reverb

Stayin' south of the border for today's post, here's the cover for Exotic Erotic Reverb Volume 2, a cool compilation of surf, garage and rockabilly combos just out on Esquilo Records outta sunny Mexico. I did this art back in 2007 and it has taken a couple of years for the CD to hit the streets but it was worth the wait. Winnipeg's own surf rockin' Rockdoras are representing Canada on this album alongside lotsa wild and weird groups from Mexico, South America, Spain and wherever else rock'n'roll is still alive on this increasingly square planet. Stay tuned for MORE ACTION!