As a follow-up to last month’s interviews with the winners for the 2005 GRAMMY Awards for design and packaging, I thought that it was important to show visitors to the RockPoP Gallery site that there was also very exciting work taking place on the creative side of the “indie arena”. Having been an avid reader of Music Resource Group’s “Musician’s Atlas” and having seen the substantial support thrown behind MRG’s development of these awards (now in their 6^th year), I felt that the winners of the IMA Awards would serve us well as the best representatives of that part of the business. I want to thank MRG’s Martin Folkman for his help in introducing me to today’s panelists (please be sure to visit the Musician’s Atlas site at http://www.musiciansatlas.com/) and so, without any further delay, on with the interview….

Mike G - Thank you all for working with me today on this interview. With me today are Jeff Wood, principal at Drowning Creek Studios (Athens, GA), who won the IMA award for Best Band/Venue Poster for their poster for The String Cheese Incident’s Fall Tour 2004; Shawn Brice, musician and, in this case, the creative director and photographer for Bloodwire’s IMA Award-winning photograph for his record titled “Transformation”, and Sara Cumings, graphic artist for LA’s SMOG Design and winner (along with Art Director John Heiden) of this year’s IMA award for Best Album Packaging for her innovative design for Peter Walker’s “Landed” album for Dangerbird Records.

I want to break up the interview today into two sections – the first focusing on questions specifically about each of the award winning works and the processes and inspirations that created them, and the second section focusing on your opinions about the music industry itself. So, let’s get started.

MG - In coordinating all of the photographers, artists, writers, lithographers and licensing folks that may have taken part in this production, how long did the process take each of you - from start (i.e. concept) to finished product?

Jeff W - I got direction fromSCI Gear that theimageryshouldrevolve arounda hooka and a Moroccan bar theme. It took about a week to draw, along with working on about three other projects at the same time. I tend to juggle a myriad of jobs at one time soit keeps each project fresh. It also allows me to take an objective look at each piece as it develops. This image was done over the period of about 7 days. The separations took about a day, the prepress (screens and inks) took about a half a day and the printing of the edition took one day. Then a day to sort, sign, pack and ship. People sometimes don't really know how many hours go into each project. This image was completely hand drawn in the computer.

Shawn B - It would be hard to say in hours how long it took from conception to final. I remember that we decided on the title ‘Transformation’ sometime in November 2004, and at that point the wheels started turning. However, the concept doesn’t always match the final product, and this was one of those times. I use some of Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies when applicable, such as embracing mistakes, and I had to go with that in this case. Most of the ideas I started with didn’t turn out that great, so I had to improvise.

Sara C – It took us about 2 1/2 months -on and off - from photography to the final product.

MG – Jeff, how is it that you were introduced to The String Cheese Incident’s music?

JW - I was commissioned to do a poster for an Atlanta show through Josh Moore of Jomo Entertainment, the local promoter in Athens, Ga. I had heard their music but had never really listened very intently. I went and bought several of their CDs and their Merch guy at SCI Gear, Brad Mastrine, sent me some morecomp music. I very quickly got into their bluegrass/trance vibe they had going on. It was great to see band with such a range of musical styles, and to be able to tie it altogether in a show was very cool. Doing the first poster for them turned into a great listening experience.

MG – Sara, what brought you and Peter together?

SC - I was first introduced to his music through Dangerbird Records, Peter’s record label. They’re a long time client of SMOG.

MG – I don’t need to ask Shawn about how he met himself, so we’ll move on to the next question… I’d like to find out from each of you a bit more about your approach to this production and whether you were influenced by anyone else’s poster or album cover work? If so, how were those works influential and how did they show up in your final product?

JW - I love Rick Griffin's and Alex Grey'swork. Most of the people who know me know that Rick is a God as far as I'm concerned. The guy took psychedelic inked illustration to such a refined state it was amazing. I really wanted this piece for SCI to be special, and so I emulated Griffin's style of heavy ink work - not that my mere scrawlings can match or even come close to Griffin's - but I felt this piece lent itself to a very detailed ink drawing in the style of vintage Tobacco/Hash bar art. There is also a little Alex Grey influence on the visionary/psychedelic level of the background art. I had a blast with it working in several hidden images in the process. It was very layered with two separate layers of ink work, a psychedelic jellyfish - SCI's unofficial mascot - mandala with the outer-worldly hooka on top. Vintage colors, with a bronzed goldmetallic used as a highlight color, and clear sparkle smoke formed SCI's logo.

SB - I knew that I wanted to do something photographic, possibly with miniatures or a still life, so I was looking at things like His Name Is Alive’s ‘Mouth By Mouth’ (Colin Gray/Chris Bigg/Vaughn Oliver.) Another was Evan Sornstein’s cover for C.O.P. International’s ‘Cyber Core Compilation.’ Brian Griffin is a really big influence. His work particularly on the early Depeche Mode albums is the best ever. I love his use of light. I would like to think that there’s a little teeny bit of ‘A Broken Frame’ somewhere in ‘Transformation’. Other photographers that I was looking at were Gregory Crewdson (especially his ‘Twilight’ series,) and a lot of things using miniatures, especially Lori Nix, Oliver Boberg, and David Levinthal.

SC - My influences for this project came mainly from listening to the music and meeting with the artist. My hopes were to create an interesting visual story that would reflect both the music and Peter. I actually look more towards fine art and illustration for inspiration. Tadanori Yokoo, Brian Cronin, and Geoff McFetridge are all artists I greatly admire.

MG - While I understand that these were projects for artists whose repertoires feature many songs, I am curious if there was there a particular track on the album that served as the inspiration of your works’ art/design?

JW - I was pretty much given direction of the Bar theme but the "Jellyfish" song was where the icon in the hooka comes from.

SB - I don’t think I had a specific song in mind while working on the artwork, but it was right in the middle of production so I was listening to all the songs constantly. They must have seeped into my subconscious. I really wanted to create something that spoke to all the aspects of Bloodwire. That’s why there are all these different wires weaving around a center that is this beautiful flower. Originally, I wanted to use different flowers, but the pics of the mum turned out so well that I decided to go with that.

SC - Yes. The title track “Landed” had a strong influence over the design of this package. While the title implies Peter’s entrance into the music world, it also inspired the high-contrast reminiscent of space rock art. Peter’s music also has a raw energy, which I tried to interpret into the art.

MG - Do you consider your efforts to be works of self-expression, or do you take your leads from your client or the artist?

JW - I do a little of both. The client gives me direction via a theme of “tour name” and I usually get to take it from there. Some bands let me pretty much have complete freedom; others take complete control of the design. SCI has been very generous in letting me – for the most part - be as creative as I want to be. I have done a lot of old school hand drawn,Fillmore-style workfor SCI. Their fans seem to really like that style of poster art and, to be really honest, these types of designs are my favorite to do, but they are very time-consuming to draw.

SC - I think it’s a very collaborative effort. The design is a bit of both. I definitely enjoyed some self-expression within this package, but it was driven by the interpretation of the music and what I thought Peter might like. We are very lucky to have Peter Walker and Dangerbird Records as clients because they are open to experimentation within design and illustration, so I can work to the limits of my imagination on their projects.

MG - Did anyone provide you with guidance or specific instructions - creative, technical or both when you created the key parts of this package? What guidance (or specific instructions) did you provide the illustrators or the photographers/designers that created the key parts of this package?

JW - Brad Mastrine from SCI Gear art-directed this piece. He gave me a pretty specific theme and I worked from there. Brad looked at the initial drawings at various stages and revisions were made as necessary until we had a finished design ready for the band's approval.

SB - At each of the stages, I got feedback from I-Li, the vocalist in Bloodwire, and she would give me guidance on how she felt about it and where she thought it should go. For most of it, though, she left me alone to do my tinkering. I just kept experimenting until I found something that I was happy with.

SC - When I first started working on this project, John Heiden, one of the principals here at Smog, brought in some cool vintage space books, which photographed the landscape of the moon and it’s human invaders. I liked the connection it had with the music, and began interpreting some ideas based this concept. I created all the illustrations and design. my design process or guidance is very instinctual. I go with my gut instinct and create things based of it, in relation to the music and artist. As for the photography, since we were interested in an urban style, Peter had asked Michael Lavine to take some pictures of him while he was in New York. Towards the end of the project, Michael Palmieri took some video stills of Peter which I ended up using for the back cover. This was something Peter liked and asked us to incorporate into the package design.

MG - What sort of equipment was used to create the final product - camera, materials, PC, software,??, and how did the use of these items effect the finished product?

JW - I do all my work on Macintosh equipment and Athlon PCRIPs. I'm fortunate enough to have gotten my hands on a 21" Wacom Cintiq drawing tablet/monitor,and it has really streamlined they way I work. I no longer have to draw on paper, scan and correct in Photoshop or Corel Painter. Now I draw directly into Painter on screen with a ton of different tools such as ink pens,airbrushes and custom bushes I have built over the years to attain certain effects and looks.

The film is output on 24" Accumark film imaged on an Epson 9600 Dye Large Format Inkjet, and we print on a M&R Saturn Platinum 23x35 semi-automatic screen print press using Norcote and Nazdar UV inks. I custom mix all the clears, pearls, metallics and sparkle inks to spec for each job. My in-house printer Michael Lind and I experiment a lot with inks to achieve certain looks like the transparent sparkles used in the smoke on the SCI poster.

SB - I used a crappy little digital camera. I only had the weekend to put the artwork together, so I had to make due with what I had. I bought about $50 worth of different flowers that I liked, and each one suggested a different variation. The mum had some light splotches on the petals that I removed in Photoshop. I also added some contrast to make it pop a bit more, otherwise I didn’t mess with the images too much.

SC - The package art was designed on a Mac, using Illustrator and Photoshop. In addition, there were some hand-drawn, Xeroxed, and painted elements that were then scanned and altered in Photoshop.

II. Some general questions:

MG - In your respective opinions, what makes the artists that you worked with – and their music - different from other artists in this "category" or of this moment in time in the music business?

JW - They have a very unique blend of musical styles. Being from Colorado and and a bunch of self-titled ski bums you would expect a heavy bluegrass influence, but it's their trance stuff that I reaaly get into into. They do top notch Americanna music with a twist, but Michael Kang's trance stuff really takes me there. Their Untying the Knot CD is my favorite. It is very psychedelic in nature and covers an enormous range of music styles from Celtic jigs to Dark Pop and back to Blugrass mixed with layered voices. I loved it. Alex Grey did they cover of that album.

SB - I guess the thing that I try to do is create work that has multiple layers. I try to write songs that are emotional enough to grab the listener on the first listen, but are dense enough that different things can be heard on multiple listens. The cover for ‘Transformation’ is kind of like that. Upon first look, it’s this beautiful ‘scene,’ but you can look closer and see that there’s a lot of stuff going on. Typically, albums have the one ‘statement’ that’s displayed on the cover and that’s about it.

The first album I ever bought was Queen’s ‘News Of The World.’ I spent endless hours examining Frank Kelly Freas’ artwork on that. It had this immediate impact, but upon closer inspection has an incredibly deep level of detail. It really captured my imagination and brought a different level to the music that rarely happens today.

SC - One of the advantages Peter has as a musician is that he also owns his own record label, Dangerbird Records, in conjunction with Jeff Castelaz. This allows him the freedom that many musicians dream of – that is, to create freely - and produce works of art that are true to his heart.

MG - With the electronic delivery of music products growing at a fast pace, are you noticing any more/less enthusiasm on the client's (or artist's) behalf to invest time/$$ in marketing/promotional materials that stand out?

JW - I basically deal in merchandising for the bands, so my main goal is to make the bands money and give the fans a print they will hang in their homes to document that moment in time for years to come. Documenting that moment in time is my greatest joy. I want some soul who bought one of my prints at a show when he was 19 to have it hanging in his office twenty years later and look at it and smile remembering the good times he had that night. I don't care if they know who I am or not - it's just about their memory of that show where they got the poster. I have posters like that from the shows I went to as a younger chap. I still smile when I see them. That is a great feeling.

I hope the band is willing to invest in a vehicle like a poster to visually document this moment in time. SCI has a great bunch of fans who collect posters and they cater to them. Hand-done posters are great merch items and there seems to be a very strong movement among bands to start selling more of them at shows.

SC - Absolutely. The artists want to stand out in any way that they can while also reflecting who they are. With the music industry in such a weird flux of internet downloads and electronic purchases, the artists and clients must be willing to change and grow with it - embracing the new mediums by which artists can sell their music. Ultimately, this will help them achieve a greater degree of success. Interesting packaging art – something that can be translated to the different electronic media - is an important step that comes with embracing these changes in the music industry.

SB - I'm working on producing videos for the next album. It's tons of fun, but takes a large amount of time and money. The good thing is that the productions are becoming more affordable and all it really takes is time.

MG - Do you think that the packaging influences whether someone buys the record or attends the event (or not)?

JW - Sometimes...maybe? In the Jam scene (editor’s note – for those not aware, The String Cheese Incident is a “jam” band ala The Grateful Dead and Phish) it's more about the music than the image. People tend to extremely accepting of other peoples’ musical tastes and there isa great tribal vibe among these people attending jam shows. I don't think that one of my ad mats is going to entice a SCI fan to a show. Most of these kids live to go to these shows, so they are going to be there whether they see my art or not. I would hope that, upon seeming the art, someone not familiar with the band would be interested enough to check them out, even if it means just downloading a MP3 to see what they are about.

Art on a CD is a must. I grew up in the day of big old slabs of Vinyl wrapped in this 12" cardboard piece of art. It was great I still have all my original albums. When the CD came along everything had to be formatted to a 5" square. You had to squint to see the details of the art. “Real” album art died then, as far as I was concerned. CD packages are great, but they aren't big old albums with impact. It wasbig illustrationsof the albums that I loved the most. They were pieces of art I could afford, and it had the bonus of music! I bought many albums based on the cover alone and got turned on to some really great music...and yes, there was some pretty bad crap in there too, buy hey, the art was cool. Then Posters art came back into vogue, I think in part because album art had been relegated to a tiny square and artists wanted do something that could be done larger.

SB - As the artist and someone who actually buys disks based on the artwork, I think it’s very important. We’ve probably sold a lot more units because of the cover. At shows, people will buy the album just because it looks cool. However, I can see how the cover artwork is becoming less and less important. Nowadays, it seems that you need to create an image that will look good really, really small - like on an iPod screen. That seems to lessen the impact of anything that isn’t a cartoon. Maybe that’s why the Gorillaz’s album looks so great!

SC - I think ultimately it is the music that sells the product, but I like to hope that the art also has some influence and supports the excitement of the album.

MG - What has winning the IMA award for your work done for your career? Has your new-found fame resulted in new work?

JW - The Studio has had posters recognized in several past IMA awards, but this was the first time I had won as an illustrator. It was very flattering to be recognized for my poster work because I really do love what I do. It consumes me at times. I am making more time to do some original paintings again. Several collectors have commissioned originals and I have picked up a traditional airbrush,linoleum blocksand spray paint for the first time in about 15 years to actual do a complete piece as opposed to just building effects that would be scanned later into the computer and used in a poster. It has really been fun to experiment with paint again - I'm realizing how much I really missed it. Of course, this is influencing how I do my work and I'm creating some looks and techniques I'll be using to execute some upcoming poster projects.

We have picked a few new clients from our IMA poster. Often times I'm so engrossed in getting out projects I forget to look up from time to time. The IMA Award made me realize that all the hours I tend to put into my work is at least getting noticed among the industry people I work with. That is the best feeling of all.

SB - The award was really great for morale, that’s for sure. It also impressed my parents, and I got the great opportunity to do this interview! I don’t know if I’m more famous because of it or not, but it has been fun.

SC - Nothing specifically. I continue to do a lot of work for Dangerbird here at Smog. Actually, I just finished Peter’s newest album, “Young Gravity” right around the same time as we won the award.

MG – You all should be proud! So, let us in on a secret - how many samples of the winning poster or CD did you send to your friends and family?

JW – We sold most of the edition to the band and the edition sold out on tour I think, so I only had a few to pass out among friends and clients - we archived a few and sold the rest. I often work a deal with the bands to keep a portion of the edition to sell through our website. We alsotake a 10’x20’gallery on the roadto large musical festivals like Bonnaroo, 10000 Lakes and Wakarusa that we vend directly to our collectors. We also went to a lot of live music events such as Jam Cruise and the Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam just to participate and do poster signings. Those are the best! It gives my wife/partner Judy and Ia chance to put a face to our customers who supportour artistic lifestyles and live music addictions.We could not do it without them. They allow me to do what I do, and for that I owe every person who has bought a piece of my art my deepest gratitude. My goal is to just keep cranking out a steady body of work while exploring new avenues as I come across them and hope that people continue to enjoy the imagery I create.

SB - We gave all our friends and family copies. We gave our parental units and friends in remote places several copies since they talk about it and can then pass them on to others.

SC - Lots! My family and friends are very supportive.

MG – I want to thank you all for your time today – best of luck to you all in your continued efforts, and I hope to be able to interview each of you again after you win again next year!

Readers, for a bit more about our subjects, please read the bios that follow and visit their websites.

Jeff Wood – Proprietor, Drowning Creek Studios – Athens, GA – trained at the Art Institute of Atlanta and starting his career in the early 1980’s, Jeff applied his talents early on to screen printing and airbrush designs working at various concerns in North Carolina. In the early 1990’s, he was introduced to computer graphics and “it completely changed the way I worked”. Laying down his airbrushes for a graphics tablet and pen, he moved to South Carolina and did freelance computer graphics design/consulting, he then met his partners with whom he ultimately formed his own company, Low Brow Ink, including Mike Martin, Judy Gex and Johnny Thief DiDonna. He began working on “gig-posters” in the mid-1990s, his first being for Marilyn Manson, who was quickly followed by jobs for Storyline, Bob Marley Music and the Jimi Hendrix estate. Low Brow Ink became Drowning Creek Studio (a Native name for the Lumber River area of North Carolina) after the initial partners separated in 1998 and Jeff moved to Athens, GA, where he had grown up. He built his in-house printing facility in his father’s old slaughterhouse and, since then, he and the Drowning Creek team have produced hundreds of limited-edition posters for a huge list of clients nationwide, including The Grateful Dead, The Allman Brothers, Dave Matthews, Judas Priest, Godsmack, Incubus and many others.

Visit Drowning Creek Studios online at http://www.drowningcreek.com/

Shawn Brice – Musician and Photographer – Oakland, CA – San Mateo, CA born and with a degree in Music Composition from Vermont’s Bennington College, Shawn started his career rather impressively as part of the celebrated industrial/goth recording act BATTERY, who released a number of masterfully-produced records throughout the 1990s, including 1996’s critically-acclaimed release “Distance” on the C.O.P International label (which contained a fantastic remaking of “Gangsta’s Paradise”!). Shawn has also been involved in a number of other full-and-part-time musical projects, bringing his programming expertise to diverse acts such as Deathline International, Ivoux, Thorn Apple and, in 2001, working with vocalist/lyricist I-Li Chang, “Bloodwire”. In 2005 the duo released “Transformation” which, according to Shawn, “ranges from dreamy to raucus – sometimes in the same song!”. Bringing the same technical prowess to the preparation of the image that was used for the award-winning photograph, the resulting package is equally as impressive as the music found inside!

Visit Bloodwire online at http://www.bloodwire.com/

Sara Cumings – Designer, Smog Design – Los Angeles, CA – trained at the reknowned CalArts School (where “the schooling was very intense, but the teachers were incredible”), she did her first CD packaging design project during her 3^rd year at school (for the CalArts Jazz CD) and during her 4^th year, she won the Independent Film Channel scholarship, where she produced a 10-second spot for their TV network. After graduating in 2002, she took on freelance for for advertising and motion-picture companies and soon settled into her job at Smog. Since that time, she’s designed a wide variety of CD packaging at for a wide range of artists such as Cher, Van Halen, Melissa Etheridge, Brandy, Michael Bublé, Donna Summer, Don Grusin, Sheryl Crow, a-ha, Catherine Feeny, Sebastian Rogers, Silversun Pickups and Peter Walker.

Visit Smog Design online at http://www.smogdesign.com/

http://www.rockpopgallery.com/