greetings from austria. currently on another european jaunt with isis and all is well. we started the tour in moscow, which for us was an absolute highlight, but everything that's followed subsequently has also be quite enjoyable. fellow tour mates kill the thrill, jakob, and the austerity program have all performed splendidly and have been great traveling companions, so thanks to them for making our experience more complete. i've been taking quite a few photos along the way, so i hope i'll find the time to post some of those before tours end. in addition, justin from the austerity program has been writing a tour diary which will eventually be published in decible magazine, and later on the austerity program website. justin is a very capable and humorous writer, so you can expect a lot of scathing comments hurled at isis, and possibly some of our deeper eccentricities revealed.
above are some finished pieces from the clouds "we are above you" album layout - i was able to complete most of this before departing, but required aid from couple of hydra helpers in order to get it into production on time. the watercolored backgrounds and all the lettering was hand drawn/painted by myself and faith coloccia, so thanks to her and james o'mara for their invaluable assistance. i'm not sure when this record is actually due for release, but i would suggest checking the hydra head website for further info/updates. i listened to the album more than a dozen times during the creation of the artwork and i must say it currently stands as one of my favorites of the year, hydra head or otherwise. thanks clouds.
now that that's out of the way i've started work on some drawings for the upcoming MGR vs Destructo Swarmbots album (featuring isis guitarist extraordinaire mike gallagher). i believe the artwork will also feature photos by mike gallagher topped off by a layout courtesy of hydra head's james o'mara. the album will be released on neurot, and again i have no idea when the official release date is or if one exists at this point. shortly after completion of these MGR drawings i'll be onto the artwork for the upcoming heatseeker debut, a new band consisting of aaron harris (isis) and caleb scofield (zozobra, cave in, old man gloom). there are a bunch of upcoming musical endeavors as well, but i'll save those for another post.
fuel for the road: alice sebold "the almost moon", darwyn cooke "batman ego, and other tales", elysian blaze, clouds, "allan moore and kevin o'neil "the league of extraordinary gentlemen: black dossier", mamiffer, funeral mist, sonic youth, helms alee, justin foley, der blutharsch, dälek, etc....