I Wanna Be A Real Kid!

It was a major thrill for me to get to do the cover art for this tribute CD to the amazin' Real Kids way back in 1996. Comin' outta the early Boston new wave scene, the Kids combined high energy Stonesy rock with the best in pop hooks to make some of the flat out greatest rock'n'roll ever. The CD features 18 garage and powerpop combos from around the world paying well-deserved homage to the recorded works of The Real Kids, including the mighty Basement Brats, The Psychotic Youth and Aussie R&B coolsters The Breadmakers. Antipodean powerpop label Spinning Top Records put this thing together (see "Do The Pop" post below for more on them). I was pleasantly surprised to see this cover art show up onscreen in the 2003 Real Kids documentary film, All Kindsa Girls. Fresh thrills are coming soon to this Rubber Room so... Stay tuned for MORE NO PLACE FAST ACTION!

Kiss Like A Nun

I designed this logo a couple of years back for Mary and Jeremy, the rockin' fiends who have been putting on a series of garage and psychobilly concerts over in Paris under the Deadly Sin moniker. See "Teenage Cavemen" post down below there somewhere for more info on their action scene. Stay tuned for MORE ACTION!

Walkin' The Dog

I drew this one a couple years back for The Independents website. Another take on the werewolf theme, this is probably my best work on that subject so far. I'm going to top it someday, though. Stay tuned for MORE EVEN A MAN WHO'S PURE IN HEART AND SAYS HIS PRAYERS BY NIGHT, MAY BECOME A WOLF WHEN THE WOLFBANE BLOOMS AND THE MOON IS FULL AND BRIGHT ACTION!

Gettin' Plenty Lovin'

Probably the wildest obscure '50s rocker of 'em all, piano poundin' loony Esquerita is the guy who taught Little Richard how to get the savage sound outta those 88 keys. Somehow or other this outta space maniac got signed to Capitol Records and unleashed a monster LP and a batch of 45s in the late '50s, a crash course in the kinda incomprehensible mad ravin' that embodies the true spirit of rock'n'roll at its wildest. Lots of his wild sides are available on Norton Records who have been keepin' the flame burning for this guy since the '80s, and you can look around on the net for the story of his personal life which is even more way out there than the musical offerings he left behind on his rocket ride outta this world. I made this drawing for Roctober #19, part of the "Rock'n'Roll AIDS Quilt" cover feature in that issue. Stay tuned for MORE ACTION!

Punk Rock Slugfest

Amp Records put out this split CD back in 2000. The Manges from Italy blast off with a batch of heavily Ramonicized pop punkers and Canada's own McRackins follow through with their chicken-or-the-egg brand of powerpop. I was a big fan of The Manges at the time and was happy to work with 'em again after having done the cover for their debut CD a couple years earlier. Both bands are still goin' strong even unto this very day. I once gave a copy of this to my (then-) friend Vom and he immediately proceeded to break it and throw the pieces at me! Stay tuned for MORE ACTION!

Head Games

Another homage to Mr. Johnny Craig, this time inspired by the series of shocking, graphically violent covers he created back in the early '50s for Vault Of Horror and Crime Suspenstories. It's wild to imagine that kinda stuff showing up in the suburban supermarkets and drug stores of Eisenhower's America. Truly subversive stuff. This was one of a batch of samples I put together for a project that never came to fruition. It's unpublished. Stay tuned for MORE DECAPITATIN' ACTION!

Beat On The Brats

Blastin' outta frozen Norway in the mid-'90s, The Basement Brats were a bunch of fired up troublemakin' teens mixin' up a big action-packed mess of blazin' punk and powerpop. I loved their catchy high energy tunes and teenage punk rock attitude. This here poster for a German tour is one of several things I was privileged to draw for 'em over the years. The other stuff will show up here in due course. Stay tuned for MORE ACTION!

Do The Pop

As a longtime fan of the label I was thrilled to get to work with legendary Bomp! Records honcho Greg Shaw on a couple of CD covers for his much esteemed recording imprint. This was during the late '90s powerpop revival and I made the cover art for a kool compilation of the best Bomp! material in that genre and also this design for a survey of the then-current Australian pop scene. This was compiled by the owner of Spinning Top Records, a label devoted to Antipodean powerpop which I had previously done a bit of sleeve design work for. As I mentioned before when blabbing about this powerpop thing, I often reference '60s pop art imagery when working in the genre and this one has an Andy Warhol concept to it. Anyhow, here's a salute to Greg Shaw, an all around ravin' rock'n'roll fan and a nice guy to boot. Stay tuned for MORE ACTION!

Twin Devils

Evil evil evil evil. Stay tuned for MORE ACTION!

Code Of The Freaks

Another Mack attack (see Kill! Kill! Kill! sleeve art way down below for more on this Texas rockabilly maniac) courtesy of French hepcat label Hog Maw Records. This 7"er came out in between Mack's first Hog Maw LP White Trash Requiem and the Kill! Kill! Kill! album and is kind of a teaser for the full-on snuff mania of the latter record. The parable of sideshow vengeance on the A-side offered me a chance to delve into some intriguing areas of carny grotesquery, and on the flip is a charming portrayal of that noted bucolic eccentric of the 1950's, Mr. Edward Gein, engaged in the pursuit of one of his many funny little hobbies. I just heard that recording sessions for a new Mack Stevens LP on Hog Maw are commencing soon, so more wild rockin' madness will be unleashed upon us all in the hopefully not-too-distant future. More info on that when I find out more about it. Stay tuned for MORE ACTION!

Zombie Altercation

This is a drawing of my friend Lindsay battling some zombies. This actually happened, but I guess I can't talk about it until after the statute of limitations runs out. Check this space sometime in 2057. Stay tuned for MORE ACTION!

Savage Sounds From Hell!

Big Bobby And The Nightcaps from down Virginny way played a mighty hep mix of garage, R'n'B and punk rock. They had a bunch of 7"ers and at least one LP out around this time. If I am remembering rightly Screamin' Apple chief Ritchie had the idea to feature clean cut croonin' on the front of this sleeve and unhinged monster mayhem on the back. Anyhow I have always been pretty happy with the way this one turned out. Maybe you will like it too. Stay tuned for MORE ACTION!

Somewhere Outside

These B-Sides (not to be confused with various other bands using the same moniker) are from Greece and play a moody kinda '60s garage rock that reminded me a bit of the great Shutdown 66 compilation. I tried to reflect their mood of cryptic introspection in this drawing, which is the cover of their debut LP. This fine vinyl-only release came out last year on Fuzz Overdose Records. Stay tuned for MORE ACTION!

Rockin' In The Graveyard

Although in those early days Roctober magazine was not yet the mighty institution it has since become, I was still pretty thrilled when ace editor Jake Austen asked me to do the cover for the 14th issue. The issue was a tribute to Jake's cool comic strip character Punk'n'Head (a sort of Archie Andrews of the all-ages scene), so I extrapolated from pumpkins to a Halloween graveyard scenario and in keeping with Roctober's motto of "Comics and Music" I decided to throw in a tribute to some of the pioneering greats of horror rock as a background bonus for attentive perusers. In retrospect I am struck by the fact that I neglected to include the great Roky Erickson in my pantheon of rocking horror. What the hell was I thinking? Anyhow Roctober has since gone on to legendary status in zinedom and I am inordinately proud of my ongoing association with this fine publication. More stuff coming soon. Stay tuned for MORE ACTION!

Hey, Is Dee Dee Home?

Here's the cover art for the Dee Dee Ramone tribute CD that came out on Amp Records after Dee Dee died. Winnipeg's mighty Squareheads have a cool track on this thing. Stay tuned for MORE SECOND VERSE, SAME AS THE FIRST ACTION!

Bellrays 2

Here's my second poster for a Bellrays show. With their late-'60s high energy sound and co-headliner Nebula's psych guitar style I thought it appropriate to try a takeoff on the Fillmore school of rock poster art for this one. Stay tuned for MORE ACTION!

Megalithic Monstrosity

Here's another arcane attempt at illuminating some of Lovecraft's ideas and imagery. This one is previously unpublished. Stay tuned for MORE ACTION!

Glad To See You Go

This one was a T-shirt design for Ottawa garage coolsters The Glads. This is the original version of the art; the band found the gun-at-head idea too creepy and I had to take that part out of the final version. Luckily nothing is too dark for us here in the Rubber Room, so dig this jive like it should be dug and... Stay tuned for MORE ACTION!

I Love Loosely

If you don't understand what this one is all about, ask your mommy to explain it to you. Thanx all-ways to Iggy and his pre-senility Stooges. Stay tuned for MORE ACTION!

Worms

Let's start the year off right with this wormy punk shocker. I drew this for fun way back when and it was eventually printed in an issue of Winnipeg's hip alt comix anthology Sunburn. Stay tuned for MORE ACTION!