Estrus uber alles!

 

Wanted to put the preorder link for this sure-to-be-amazing forthcoming book, the glory and the story of Estrus Records told for the first time in a deluxe, full color art book from well-known publisher Korero Books in the UK. The bands, the art, the festivals, it's all here! Lots of work by legendary artists like Art Chantry and Coop, plus I'm in there too, sneaky little weasel that I am. If you like lowbrow trash in all its many and wondrous forms, you should nab a copy of this book! Still up for preorder as I pen these deathless words, you can reserve your copy here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/estrus/estrus-shovelin-the-shit-since-87?fbclid=IwAR1JBdxFRdi9uh2hhCHod4illOjP3NgjOwVwOh2N1EZf-3CX1HLCwabW1oU Stay tuned more MORE HIGH-FALUTIN' LITERARY TYPE ACTION!

 New poster design for legendary garage/psych combo The Morlocks, soon to be playing at a club near you (if you live in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Spain or Holland). The first Morlocks LP, "Emerge" is a longtime fave rave of mine so I was pretty stoked to get to do this one. Thanks, Leighton!

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!

Double Shot

 Long time between posts but here's some pretty hip news: TWO new Merinuk 7" sleeves available now! First up is a 4-song split EP by a coupla stripped-down 2 piece combos: Magnetix from France and Digger & the Pussycats from Australia in a future-primitive battle of the bands! Next in line is the debut release by new French punk combo the Jet Reactions, featuring ex-members of Flying Over. These records are so nutty that it took 6 labels to put them out; I'm not gonna type out all the names so just buy 'em if you wanna know that little detail. For all the info check out this link. Stay tuned for MORE FRANCOPHILE ACTION!

Love Me Like a Reptilian From Andromeda

Here a record sleeve I did last month for Reptilians From Andromeda, a garage/psych combo from Turkey. This LP is already pressed and on sale, an amazingly fast turnaround for vinyl these days, so

check out the label, Prof Sny Records outta the Czech Republic and grab yourself a copy. I was reading a lot of old underground comix while I was working on this and I reckon that influence shows through along with my old standby influence EC Comics and some other stuff too. Below is a sticker design that was adapted from part of the cover art. From what I understand a copy of this sticker comes with each LP so it's a pretty slick deal for hardcore Merinuk fans (if there are any). Stay tuned for MORE PAINT-HUFFIN' ACTION!

Like, Wau! Wipeout!

Finally cleared to break the news on this one so here's the art for the upcoming Wau y Los Arrrghs 7" reissue drawrn by yers truly. First teamup between Merinuk and the slobs o'Slovenly Records, hopefully not the last. Now send the cows out to pasture cuz the barn is gonna BURN! Listen to both songs and preorder here, Stay tuned for MORE ARRGH! ACTION!

Gone Ape

New art for hip Alberta combo Thee Primitive Sound, soon to be emblazoned on T-shirts, stickers and what have ya. Got a few more new things finished recently, just waiting for official approval to post 'em so... Stay tuned for MORE ANTHROPOID ACTION!

Routes 666

Apocalyptic new poster for the upcoming Spain/Portugal tour of Japanese garage combo The Routes. This is an adaptation of Pieter Bruegel the Elder's famous painting "The Triumph of Death", stripped down and hopped up for teenage action. I'm a big fan of Bruegel's so this was fun to do. Remember, it's not a ripoff, it's a TRIBUTE! I'll post an updated version with the tour dates once they're finalized. Stay tuned for MORE 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!

Monster Mash Party

Just scanned from the original art for the first time, here's a poster I did in 1993 for a 2 day garage rock fest put on by German label Screaming Apple Records. There used to be a Screaming Apple logo pasted to this art but I guess it fell off sometime in the 24 years since I drew this thing. I was trying to make a name for myself as a monster/rock'n'roll artist at the time so I was packing as much detail as I could into each piece. Looking back on work I was doing back then, a lot of it seems overly cluttered but this one holds up fairly well I think. Nice lineup of bands, wish I'd been able to make it over and see these shows. New stuff coming soon, so... Stay tuned for MORE GRAVEYARD SMASHIN' 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!

Miscellaneous, etc.

A few random recent things: Top: Logo design for Toronto garage/psych combo The Try Umphs. Middle: Cover for an unreleased 7" by Winnipeg garage/trash/punks The Incinerators, penciled in 1998 and inked in 2016. Bottom: Punky illustrations for my pal Willy B's punkpatchesonline.com website. Bonus! Rat Fink fan drawing just for fun. I recently finished a few new record sleeves and will be posting those soon so... Stay tuned for MORE ACTION!

Early Daze

Here's a bunch of early work dating from 1989-1994 or thereabouts. Mostly published in zines and minicomix I was putting out back then. Big Break was a sex-ed comic put out by the government of Manitoba which I inked over pencils by well-known comics pro George Freeman. George returned the favor by inking my Fanboy piece, making it probably the best-inked drawing on this blog. Stay tuned for MORE PREHISTORIC ACTION!.

Wide World of Crap

Well, my book project got cancelled at the last minute so you'll have to stick with back issues of Gent, Home of the D-Cups for your reading pleasure. Here are some recent-ish drawings, awkwardly lumped together in an attempt to bring this blog up to date. Stay tuned 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!

Surf Party Tonight!

Or sometime in November anyway... Poster for an upcoming surf/garage fest in our nation's capital. If you're one of those soulless government bureaucrats bent on destroying everything good about our society or just a regular human, you should go to this if you're in the Ottawa area. I don't fit into either of those categories so ya won't see me there but my old pal Pat put this show together and he's a cat who knows his rock'n'roll so it's sure to be a blast! Stay tuned for MORE SURFIN' IS THE ONLY LIFE, THE ONLY WAY FOR ME 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!

Buzzard Barf

Here's a new illustration for my Aussie surf/garage/punk pals the Molting Vultures. I designed this vulture character for 'em a few years back and had to relearn how to draw him to do this piece, but I reckon it turned out okay. Stay tuned for MORE ACTION!

Slothmania!

Here's my sleeve art for the upcoming debut album by the Sloths. These guys are legendary for their insane '60s garage classic "Makin' Love" as heard on the Back From The Grave comp series. They've been back together for the past couple years with a mostly-new lineup and are celebrating the 50th anniversary of their original 45 by releasing an all-new album. I was honored to get to do the cover for this and am proud and kind of stupefied to be playing a small role in the decades-long Sloths story. This is coming out in a mid-March on Burger Records and will be released on LP, CD and cassette so check it out and look for them on tour soon in California, Texas and places like that. Oh yeah, they're printing up a poster of this art too so grab one when you see 'em. Stay tuned for MORE PRIMITIVE ACTION!