Don’t get cute Internet,

I was contacted out of the blue to make this poster for a top secret Elvis Costello performance at Washington Hall a few weeks ago. It needed to be turned around in like 4 days and I was already dealing with a full plate of work so I only had one day to start and finish the design, given that I think it turned out pretty alright.

On top of it being a top secret private show, Elvis brought his Fabulous Spinning Songbook!

I already had a handful of jobs in the queue D&L at the time so I needed another printer in town to take the job on wicked short notice and Broken Press came through!

It’s a three color print including metallic gold, signed and numbered edition of 300 BUT only 50 available. 250 went to the show. Now available at Nakatomi.

And a few days later these big ass two part Fitz & The Tantrums posters were due for sold out shows at the Showbox!

The design is a cityscape in two parts, each can stand on their own but together complete the whole night and day concept. I borrowed the color scheme from the album design and tried to build a cool vibe with subtle nods in the scenery to classic Los Angeles. Case in point, the Rosslyn Hotel. I had thought of a Bonnie and Clyde style design based more around Fitz and Noelle, which is where the car on the Friday poster came from.

Both prints together, completing the fantastical cityscape.

Both prints are available at Nakatomi now. Only 70 or so left from a signed and numbered edition of 130. 3 colors, printed at D&L.

NOTE: the recipient of this Email shall remain unnamed(at least for now) but for frame of reference, he is a Colts fan……but he’s not from Indy so…yknow. Hahaa!!! The burn has already begun!

OKay here’s the Email, cut and paste, warts and all:

Hoo boy! Pullin off the snap pants, poppin off the bench like Steve Scheffler. Okay…let’s roll…or let’s roll…or I can just roll it to you:

Start with the Jets. Hot sticky mess, Schotty’s out thank god although I cringe for Sam Bradford that he’s likely heading to STL(why? Based on his robust body of work in Jersey?). I’ll get to the Chargers in a bit, and they’re worthy of a shitload of scrutiny but I will say in hindsight I have to give AJ Smith credit in saying “fuck no” to nepotism years ago as he put his foot down with Marty when he wanted to move his kid up the food chain.

I guess if they get creative they could make something work with Peyton’s handicap, I mean his BRAIN is really his greatest assett!

Behold! Two brand new posters for two huge shows here in the Jet City, South Alaska, Seattletown! I was recently commissioned by the fine folks at AEG Live to reach my tiny hand into my hat and produce a couple rabbits(poster designs) for Deck The Hall Ball and Winter Warmth.

Deck The Hall Ball this year features Mumford and Sons, Death Cab For Cutie and Foster The People amongst others. I went to Deck The Hall Ball in High School one year, it was like 311, Staind(Haaaaa!!), Filter, Foo Fighters, Beck and BUSH!!! Holy 90′s Bat Man!!! 

Oh man, I remember Beck had either just released or was about to release Midnight Vultures so he was dropping the slow jams on everyone and Dave Grohl had Krist Novoselic come out for a couple songs during the Foo Fighters set. I think they did Big Me or something. I was really into Filter and 311 at the time…and Bush. So…yeah, I enjoyed it a lot, fuck you I’m not cool. Sorry.

And to further paint the picture of how lame I was in high school, that was the only show that I ever crowd surfed at. Now, crowd surfing is stupid but for kids I highly recommend it. What I mean to say is, I should have gone to a lot more shows as a kid….and as an adult.

Winter Warmth features Florence + Machine, The Head and the Heart and Mat Kearney. Tried to keep it mysterious, something fitting Florence with a winter element in there as well. I think I might make an art print of this down the road to kind of finish what I started.

I done talked enough, internet. Here’s the specifics on the prints: they’re both 18″x24″, 3 color including metallic copper. Signed and numbered, edition of 225 but I’ve got a limited quantity of 75 available. Thems is all that’s left, available now at Nakatomi. Make both of our Christmas/Kwanzaa/Festivus/Hanukkah’s happy and get one!!

NEW POSTER! MARC MARON! FIRST EVER BIG ASS SOLD OUT THEATER SHOW!! 2 COLOR, 18″x24″, S/N EDITION OF 100 at NAKATOMI NOW!!!

This was a great show, the Neptune is a great venue, Mike Drucker the opener was very good, hats off to STG, all that good shit but here’s the thing: when Marc comes out he’s holding this poster with his notes and stuff. My buddy Jordan starts getting excited for me like he’s my grandma or something(I assume, my grandparents died at an early age) but I get nervous because I don’t know where this is going. Could be good, could be a Sinead O’Connor situation right? So he holds the poster up and talks about it and explains for those who aren’t poster nerds that it’s the classic Lenny Bruce Fillmore poster(arguably the most iconic comedy poster ever made) tweaked for that evenings show. He said he liked it but his reaction to his face in place of Lenny Bruce was if I remember correctly, “How the fuck am I supposed to live up to that?!”  then he tossed it and it sat on stage for the whole show, luckily the head of the guy sitting in front of me was blocking it from my view otherwise it would have been weird for me.

I chose this art direction because Marc references Lenny Bruce a lot in his podcast when talking shop with stand ups and I know he’s a Grateful Dead fan and into a lot of the music and pop culture of the the 60′s that emanated from the Bay area. I figured he would like it and it would fuck with his head a little, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! I met him real quick after the show, told him I made the poster, he said it was cool, shook hands, good times.

This is why I make posters, for stuff/people/bands that I love. I love Marc Maron, I used to stay up in my room and and watch Late Night with Conan O’Brien in Junior High and High School(with headphones on and a towel under the door to block the light from the TV) and I caught Marc on there a million times and tried to keep up with him as a stand up over the years but like anything you lose touch here and there. Before Marc started his now humongously successful podcast WTF a couple years ago, all I knew was that he’d been on Air America for a couple years and I didn’t have enough frame of reference to ever check it out…and I’m a dummy and can’t get farther than ankle deep into politics.

Once WTF started, all was right with the world…well not really but at least now there’s a funny, honest couple hours of podcast every week with Marc and the funniest and most interesting people on the planet to help us all slog though the world. If you’re reading this you probably already listen to WTF but if you don’t, pull your head out and get over here or just go into the itunes store and search WTF and subscribe, IT’S FREE, GRANDPA! And get Marc’s new album This Has To Be Funny. It is!

Here we have the long overdue Drew Millward interview. A nice guy and a great talent, I figure most people reading this are poster and or design nerds so I’m gonna spare any big intro.

But I will say if you’re following me on twitter you should definitely be following Drew. We tend to trade snarky jabs from time to time. People always say “Shameless plug” when they plug themselves like this, why? It’s shameful, that was a shameful plug. I feel shame…anyway, Drew Millward. ENJOY:

Jon: So where are you from, Leeds?

Drew: Yup, well, I’m not exactly from Leeds. I’m from a lot of places (kind of like The Highlander). I was born in Coventry, when I was about 4, my mum and I moved to Bolton, which is just outside Manchester. I lived there until I was about 18… so I guess I’m from there. That said, I’ve lived in Leeds now for about eleven years, so it’s as good a place as any to call home. I moved here for University, met my now wife, and just stayed…. more through laziness and circumstance, than design.

Jon: In my time working at D&L I saw your work plenty and I’ve seen it evolve. You’re obviously a natural doodler, are you self taught or did you go to art school??

Drew: Bit of both, I guess. I studied art through high school, college and did my degree in Fine Art, but I didn’t really draw throughout that time. I always enjoyed it, but I wasn’t good enough to actually pursue that angle at degree level. It was only after finishing University and working an office job for a few years that I really started drawing. That must have been around 2004/5. I started making some posters for shows we were putting on in Leeds, and it sort of snowballed from there. I’m pretty sure that without that imputes I would have likely just carried on in an office job, but I didn’t really enjoy it, so when someone offered me some money to draw them a poster, it just set the ball rolling. It was around that time that I met Jay Ryan at a show opening in Manchester. Spending some time with Jay, and talking to him about work, really lead me to think about pursuing it seriously…. so it’s all his fault really.

Jon: Another thing, I assume you have no idea what GEICO is. It’s just this insurance company here in the states, but their mascot is this generic British(or perhaps a poofy Aussie) animated gecko. It’s the worst shit ever:

It’s always a hack move to attach a British accent to something for no reason just to come off as smarter or classier….not that it doesn’t work, but it’s a strange phenomenon.

Drew: What the fuck is that?! What is the trend with animating animals to look like they are talking? it’s bullshit. Why they would see fit to have a gecko with a voice similar to Danny Dyer, to advertise insurance is a fucking mystery. I’m not sure what the connotations of that voice over there are, but over here, that voice sounds more like one that would accompany a sales pitch for pirated DVD’s (and possibly a knife attack), rather than insurance.

That said, we have Iggy Pop advertising car insurance over here, so it’s probably a little less heartbreaking than that.

NOTE: This is the point in the interview where I realized I had a million little British thing I needed to ask about, so it’s going to be like The Chris Farley Show for a while.

Jon: Jason Statham. Over here he’s the poster boy for meathead, assembly line, mindless action movies. Is it the same over there? I liked him in Snatch, didn’t expect him to ‘roid out and be a watered down Jean-Claude Van Damme.

BTW, the guy who plays Tommy in Snatch is pretty good as Al Capone in Boardwalk Empire. He pulls it off, I swear.

Drew: Aw man, I’m saving Boardwalk Empire until I can sit down the the whole box set. Really looking forward to getting stuck into that.

As for Statham, he knows what he’s doing. If he took himself too seriously (something that Van Damme, Lundgren et al were guilty of), there is no way he would have made ‘Crank’. That film alone saves his habitual career missteping. It’s like watching a fucking headache, or being crammed into the mind of a teenage boy with ADD. I’d challenge you to find anything that looks like it, or is as downright preposterous. It’s almost quite experimental, but you get the feeling that it’s by accident instead of design.

To be honest with you, Jason Statham probably makes a lot more films than anyone sees. Since the start of this year, he has been in 4 films, with another 4 in production. Over the period of about 12 months, how many Jason Statham movies would you want to watch? I can’t imagine even his biggest fans will watch everything he appears in. In fairness, I’ve not even heard of most of the films he’s been in. Hi mum might watch them.

I dunno, he seems to be fully aware that he’s not creating high art. He’s carved out a little niche for himself, and he’s feathering is nest while he can. Probably a good idea when you look at the likes of Van Damme and Seagal. These things seldom come with a pension plan.

If you want low budget hardmen, you can look no further than Danny Dyer.

Jon: Guy Ritchie. Wanker? Is it all Madonna’s fault?

Drew: I’m unsure. I’ve not met him, but frankly, anyone that divorces Madonna is OK in my book. If I did meet him we have some common ground straight away, because I wouldn’t want to be fucking married to Madonna either. We could probably while an hour or so away in a boozer. In fact, I’d happily go for a pint with him, as long as he buys the nuts.

I think if you look at his body of work, he has a pretty unique style, a bit of visual flair (admittedly, he’s inconsistent, but, y’know, we all have our off days).

Jon: The Long Good Friday. I just watched this(on recommendation from Chris from The Flood Gallery). It’s good man, the theme is the shit.

So the ending, Hoskins gives his last gasp/fuck off and die speech to the Americans before facing the music. Here’s my take on it, the ugly American perspective:

Hoskins character is the embodiment of “the old days” and he wants to put England back on top but he knows in the back of his head that it’s a futile effort. He presses on regardless which is where the charm lies. He’d rather die on his feet than live on his knees, as James Brown might say. He truly does live his life like a candle in the wind(I couldn’t resist).

He talks about the Dunkirk spirit, says the Americans don’t have the balls(he’s looking tough to this point, even though the Americans are clearly leaving his sinking ship and would be crazy to stay in the deal) but then says he’s gonna get in bed with THE GERMANS…..hello. The fucking Jerries?!?! This man is obviously desperate. He knows he’s screwed but he’s gonna go out guns a blazing even if he reveals himself to be insane.

I found it perfect to cast a dude the size of Bob Hoskins to play this kind of character. He is so Napoleonic.

It’s a great movie, left me wanting more. I don’t really know what my question is, you like it right? I guess it’s the “best british gangster movie ever”, agree??? I still need to check out Get Carter and all that.

Drew: You know what? I don’t think I have ever seen it.

Jon: WHAAAAAT???? YOU JUST SUNK THE WHOLE FUCKING INTERVIEW! THIS IS THE PART WHERE I LOOK COOL FOR KNOWING ABOUT NON-OBVIOUS BRITISH SHIT…The Long Good Friday was my ace in the hole…BLIMEY!

Drew: HA!

Jon: What’s a “Budgie”??? There’s that Clash song, “Vacuum cleaner sucks up Budgie”…I’ve heard it other places.

Drew: It’s a bird. Like a little parrot. It was not one of The Clash’s finest hours. I did once meet Joe Strummer, he was nice.

Jon: DUDE!….meeting Joe Strummer, nice to know your life’s complete at an early age.

Next up: James Blake. Don’t tell me you like this guy.

Drew: No, can’t say I do. I listened to the album, as it was recommended to me by a few people, but i didn’t get it. There are some elements of the overall sound I quite liked, but the tunes were lacking. Who knows? He may make a great album at some point, but this isn’t it, as much as the music press would have you believe.

Jon: Oasis, Blur, Supergrass. Rank ‘em!

Supergrass, Blur and then, an awful long way behind would be Oasis. In fairness, when that was all kicking off, I was much more into American music. The whole ‘Brit-Pop’ thing sort of passed me by. My early/mid teens were spent listening to stuff like The Pixies, SDRE, Nirvana, Green Day, Offspring, Afghan Whigs, Soundgarden, Guns and Roses, and my brothers tape collection of 80’s/90’s metal… that sort of thing. The first show I ever went to was Silverchair and Everclear, which i think was the day before my 15th birthday. That alone probably gives you an indication as to my sadly misguided ways. Having said that, I listened to Everclear’s first album again recently, and I really quite enjoyed it. The production on it is pretty fucking raw.

Jon: Radiohead. I love Kid A, everything before then seems pretty good(obviously) but haven’t been interested since Kid A. Whatsayou?

Drew: Radiohead are another band I simply don’t get. Not saying they are bad, but the way people talk about them, you would be forgiven for mistaking Thom Yorke for the second coming of Christ. I really try not to get into conversations about them, because i know how people feel about them, and me just sitting there going “well I don’t like them”, usually ends up in hurt feelings and raised voices.

They are nowhere near as groundbreaking and interesting, to my ear, anyway, as people would like to think.

Jon: Ricky Gervais. The snarky comedy nerd community over here has pulled a 180 on him recently. Years ago it was “the British office is the best comedy ever, I can’t believe you watch the US version” now it’s “His podcast is lame, he just makes fun of that retarded guy and The Office is only 12 episodes”.

For the record I have enjoyed his podcasts, all that Karl Pilkington shit is good and I liked Extras. Thought his jokes on the Golden Globes were good but I wasn’t into him on Curb this season and his bit as the doctor in Louie gets old real fast.

Drew: Is that even a question?

I’m in the same boat as you. If he sticks to working with Steve Merchant and put out stuff of the quality of The Office and Extras, then it’s all good. I’ve watched some of the films he has been in, and i’ve not really enjoyed them at all. But, y’know, we all have bills to pay.

Jon: The class system, what up with that? Do people in top hats and manacles spit on you if you’re wearing jeans.

Drew: Can’t say it’s something that has ever happened to me. Rumour has it, that we live in a classless society, but that’s just a load of bollocks.

It’s pretty tricky to discuss class systems, especially in the form of an interview, without coming across as either a wooly liberal or verging on the right. It’s probably best avoided.

All I can say is that I have seen some poor people, through the tinted window of my gold plated Rolls Royce.

Jon: Beer. I like Boddingtons, Samuel Smith and Newcastle. Have you tried this John Smith Ale? Recommend something for the yanks to try and track down at the local imported beer store.

Drew: Now we are talking. Most of the stuff you listed is the mass market filth that you will find in any chain pub. There has been a massive resurgence in brewing in the UK over the past few years. In Leeds and surrounding areas alone there are some really awesome breweries making bloody delicious ale.

http://www.leedsbrewery.co.uk/

http://www.kirkstallbrewerycompany.com/

http://www.saltairebrewery.co.uk/

I’m just thinking locally, but frankly, if you go anywhere in the country you will find a lot of different beers, all of which are different and unique.

Jon: Can you elaborate on this Danny Dyer character??

Drew: He’s a bit of a tit. He makes more films than anyone else i am aware of, even though I’m sure only about 12 people will ever see them. He always plays a lippy cockney geezer, and is generally fairly unlikeable. As well as his film work he also make TV shows about real life ‘hard men’, which are shit. Personally, i’m convinced that some day he will make a genuinely great film.

Jon: Bands. You’re always talking up these bands I know nothing about on twitter. Gimme the 2-3 best UK bands right now.

Drew: Fucking hell, that’s too much pressure! How can I just choose 3?!

Ah, fuck it. Well, again, I’m going local on this, and it should be stated that I do know all three, to varying degrees, but I’m very lucky to know some very talented people, who play in some great bands…

1. Humanfly – Heavy, fast, slow, heavy, progressive – http://humanfly.bandcamp.com/

2. Himself – Talky, Heavy, Fast, Slow, Beautiful, Terrifying – http://himself.bandcamp.com/

3. That Fucking Tank – Groovy, sludgy, fast, heavy, danceable – http://www.thatfuckingtank.com/

4. David Thomas Broughton – He’s a bloody genius – http://www.davidthomasbroughton.co.uk/

There should also be notable mentions to Hawk Eyes, Blacklisters, KONG, Mob Rules, Palehorse, Broken Arm and Hookworms. Infact, just go and listen to all those bands I just mentioned.

Jon: Pink Floyd. Pink Floyd is still a stoner rite of passage over here, high school and college kids get into pot and mushrooms and go through all the Floyd albums…well actually most of them probably only listen to Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall(Meddle is best, you idiots!) but the question is, is it the same over there or is Floyd old hat?

Drew: My wife is a big Pink Floyd fan. Until I met her, i’d paid them practically no attention whatsoever. Not sure it’s as much of a rite of passage over here.

I much prefer King Crimson.

Jon: Soccer….you into that shit, hooligan?

Drew: Absolutely not.

Jon: What’s a crumpet?

Drew: Umm, i’m not sure what it is really, It’s kind of a round bit of really doughy bread, with holes in it. They freak me out a bit. The texture and the way they look gives me the creeps.

Jon: Riots. Weren’t there some riots or something over there recently, people still rebelling against the whig party???

Drew: It was localised pockets of disenfranchised kids, wanting some new trainers. Fucking scumbag thieves. The sad thing is, is that there were plenty of reasons to riot. The fact that these events took place in parts of London where the government is spending millions to host the Olympics, while down the road they can’t keep open basic provisions within these communities. That’s a pretty good reason to riot, not to get a new pair of Air Max.

Jon: They still make Air Max? American sitcoms. I was in London and Brighton for a week a couple years ago and I noticed whatever the comedy channel is over there, was just getting King of Queens and I think Two and a Half Men, and the ad campaign was in full swing. It was really gross.

I would apologize as an American but, we still haven’t cleaned up the oil spill that is Simon Cowell over here. So eat a bowl of dicks!

Drew: Your sitcom’s are horrible, and we get a lot of them. We export our most odious cunts (Piers Morgan, Simon Cowell etc.) to your shores. Fair deal.

Jon: Reckon. I like how you guys say “reckon”, I reckon this, I reckon that….It’s a very useful word that has been denigrated in the states as it is most commonly associated with and incorporated in the vernacular of the country bumpkin, ignorant hillbilly, and white trash types…, like Pikeys in England. It is a useful word, I try to use it when applicable.

Drew: I use reckon a lot. It is very useful indeed.

Jon: I saw on twitter you sold your old drums or something, so you used to be in bands? The cliche, failed musician poster artist?

Drew: Not really, I was never that good. I played in bands when I was younger, and then started playing drums again a few years ago, when some friends and I started a band. It was never something we took seriously, and never thought we would really bother playing live, but we did. People seemed to enjoy it, but we were all to lazy and busy to actually do anything. I’m not really one for travelling and sleeping on floors, so the idea of touring didn’t appeal to me that much. I never really wanted to be in a band, but I do enjoy playing music. It’s just reached that point where I’m playing less and less, and lugging a drum kit around is a total nightmare, so, in a way, I’m glad to see the back of it.

I think sitting at home and drawing posters for bands, is much more enjoyable than actually playing in bands.

Jon: So you got this new Bon Iver poster, you tweet about this new album like it’s Blonde On Blonde or something. Is it that good, I got it, haven’t listened yet. I like “Skinny Love” and I like what Kanye did with “Woods”, I was gonna listen now but I started watching Bucktown…

Drew: Personally, I think it’s phenomenal. I loved ‘For Emma…’, and I liked his work with Kanye, but this sounds like such a leap forward in terms of song writing, production, lyrics… everything. I think Justin is a pretty incredible talent, and they don’t come along that often, so it’s nice to see.

I’ve always loved a wide range of music, but this year I seem to have been struck by three albums in particular, and they all seem to come from a similar hushed place. Obviously ‘Bon Iver’ has been a favourite, but I’ve been equally enthralled by ‘Last of The Country Gentlemen’ by Josh T. Pearson, and ‘Everything’s Getting Older’ by Bill Wells and Aidan Moffat. All three came out this year, and all are difficult to fault, in my eyes. It’s been a while since I connected so much with an album, and then to get three in one year, is a bit of a treat.

Jon: Let’s wrap it up! Go ahead and plug whatever you have coming up, or what’s happening right now.

Drew: I have no idea. The future is uncertain, anything could happen. I’m sure if you visit www.drewmillward.com then you will be able to find what is going down.

As well as all the usually drawing malarkie, there are plans for my creative brotherhood The Dead Sea Mob to set sail to the US next year, as well as a lot more shows in the UK and Europe. We are now five members strong (Myself, Godmachine, Tom J. Newell, Twistedloaf and Dan Mumford), with some new members and affiliates ariving all the time. It’s exciting. It’s like being in a band, but without the sound checks.

Jon: OH YEAH, a drawring question. For all the kids at home, what does a Drew Millward draw with? Brush pens, nibs, bic, pencil? And do you lean more towards photoshop or illustrator?

Drew: Anything I can get my hands on. Pencils, Rotring Isograph pens, dip pens and ink and posca, generally. I use Photoshop to clean up and get stuff print ready, and I have never used Illustrator.

There you have it! THE GREATEST DREW MILLWARD INTERVIEW EVER!!…are there other Drew Millward interviews? Probably, but I wouldn’t know. The greatest thing I gleaned is that generationally growing up at the same time in the UK and America is pretty similar as far as the media and music you’re exposed to, I suppose cable TV and the internet pretty much close the gap. The part about being into Silverchair and Everclear at 15 painted the picture of Junior High for me.

Good stuff, I enjoyed it, hope you did too, thanks again to Drew for indulging my onslaught of random inquiries.

What do we have HERE?! We have pretty much every notable human character(haven’t seen the Fox movie) from all of Wes Anderson’s films lovingly encapsulated in the aesthetic of the Sgt. Pepper album cover which is my print in this years Wes Anderson devoted art show entitled: Bad Dads put on by Spoke Art. This is my FIRST EVER GICLEE PRINT, a limited edition of 100, measures 18″ x 24″ and since they’re printed in California the prints themselves are not signed BUT you will receive my first ever CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICITY, signed and numbered! Available for purchase now.

I don’t know why I thought this would easy, maybe because it’s conceptually simple but the execution was a pain in the ass.I had a bunch of ideas for Bad Dads floating around my head, certain aspects or characters in Wes Anderson movies I wanted to focus on, I had one about Alec Baldwin(free idea, I’ll probably never do it) who narrates The Royal Tenenbaums, he’s also in this print by the way but I was looking for some concept to tie it all together…I don’t know how I landed on Sgt. Pepper exactly but once I did it just seemed to fit.

“BAD DADS” is six letters like “BEATLES” and they both start with “B” and end with “S” which jumped out and slapped me in the face right away and then I was like “oh and I’ll make Wes that important looking statue there in the foreground…” and it all snowballed from there, felt like it would be easy, a cute slotting in of this person here and that one there but I got really anal about where exactly everything would go, I wanted to match similar faces and or poses wherever I could from the Peppers cover.

It took forever but I think I included everything and it turned out well. Aside from all the film characters there are also appearances by familiar musical contributors to the Wes Anderson universe, Cat Stevens, Ray Daivies, David Bowie and others, buy a print and find them all!

It’s that time isn’t it internet? The sunny days have wandered out into traffic and have been smeared and splattered all over the freeway. It’s the same shit every year yet it’s always a bit of a bummer, it’s like a recurring bad dream….yeah I’m waxing poetic cuz this is the intro to the write up on my Edgar Allan Poe art prints (AVAILABLE NOW), but it’s true this time of year is dreary. That’s why Halloween happens now, not July. It’s a real Nick Cave, David Lynch, Tom Waits, Mark Lanegan time of year.

Maybe not everyone feels that gloomy, funky, damp thing this time of year, maybe you just start wearing a coat and don’t feel any different, but I do. My birthday’s the day before Halloween, maybe that’s got something to do with it. SCORPIO, ooooh!! Spooky, whatevs, I dunno. I just spit it how I live it homie.

Anyway seems a fitting time to release these 4 art prints based on 4 poems by Edgar Allan Poe. I’ve been sitting on them for a while, I wanted to release them on the anniversary of Poe’s death which was October 7th, that wasn’t possible but at least we got it done in time for Halloween.

There’s a lot of imagery in Poe’s work, there’s a lot to play with but I wanted to focus on some of the lesser known stuff. I like to be super obvious or intentionally way off the beaten path which is why I landed on the poems, I realized I’d never really read much of his poems other than The Raven and of course they’re a quick read which is great for me since the last book I read was Win Forever! Yeah, I know.

Kidding aside, Poe’s poems are pretty awesome. I think the imagery in a short form like that makes it a real explosive read. I jumped into designing these prints upon reading all the poems here, most of them for the first time. Check that shit out and BUY THESE PRINTS THEY’RE A SHORT RUN, I THINK THEY MIGHT GO FAST.

Here’s the full rundown on the print details:

4 prints, 8 1/2″ x 11″(Spirits of the Dead, Eldorado, Dreamland and The City in the Sea).

Regular edition, 4 color including metallic gold on Mohawk Cream, edition of only 50.

Limited edition of 20 on French Speckletone, 3 colors including metallic gold(excluding the purple from the main edition).

Here’s both sets, together:

My first ever Mystery Tube sale is happening right now!!! Or as I call it “The Jon Smythtery Tube Sale” * Fifty bucks gets you 5 randomly selected posters and or art prints, which is a wicked awesome deal to begin with BUT I have also pulled a small handful of reserve copies of sold out prints out from vault for this sale so if you’re lucky you may end up with Black Keys(Columbus) or Weezer or a sold out Big Lebowski print.

You've got like a 10% chance of getting one but it's your last chance for romance! Buy 10 tubes, beat the system Weezer fan!!!

It’s a mystery tube so you don’t know exactly what you’re going to get(that’s the fun of it) but I made sure that every tube has a print that I have deemed “premium” in it. Like one of the deep sold out reserves I just mentioned or maybe a Mallrats print, maybe one of the new Pulp Fiction prints, you’re guaranteed to get something awesome that’s what I’m saying. To be honest I think I may have gone a little too far in making this mystery tube sale chock full of good stuff but I wanted to make it worthwhile. I’m giving myself a headache trying to explain how great a deal this is, I feel like Jack Roberts.

Go here now, internet. Get you some screen printed gold for pennies on the dollar.

* some of you(like literally 2) might be saying “sometimes you’re funny on the blog, you didn’t even try this time”. This is my reply, say “Jon Smythtery Tube” out loud, it’s funny. If you don’t like it, I’m sorry. It’s like an episode of Louie, there’s one funny part. Take it or leave it.

INTERNET!

I’m kinda busy so I’m gonna keep it short and sweet here. I just made my copies of the It’s Alive poster I did for The Alamo Drafthouse available in my Big Cartel store.

It was a lot of fun to make, the prints turned out nice! 24″ x 36″, 5 color screen print. I only have 30 copies available, all signed and numbered.

Hello, I’m here. I’m waiting……

Here we has my brand new poster for Weezer at The WaMu Theater. It’s a 4 color screen print that includes metallic gold, with a signed and numbered edition of 100 pieces. They are going fast over at the Nakatomi store.

The design is a play on the package and cartridge design of Zelda. There are visual references in the poster from the song In The Garage, which is on the Blue Album…if you’re still reading this I probably didn’t need to explain that. On this tour(I think) and at this show(I know, I was there) Weezer played The Blue Album and Pinkerton in their entirety.

So anyway, the video game/nerdy design angle seemed natural for Weezer in general but moreso since Pinkerton and The Blue Album are the focus here. Pinkerton was the album that hooked me on Weezer, I guess I heard Buddy Holly and Say It Aint So enough on the radio that I liked them plenty but never felt compelled to get the Blue Album…which is weird but it happens with bands that get a lot of radio play…or it did when radio and Mtv were viable entities…in the 90′s, the sweet sweet 90′s….

I just remember listening to Pinkerton and Supergrass’ In It For The Money and playing video games non-stop one summer, I think it was the summer before 9th grade. Rebel Assault II, Warcraft II(I don’t know if Starcraft was out yet), DOOM II and all my old NES and SEGA games. I think I finally beat Dragon Warrior(with the help of Nintendo Power Magazine of course) and goofed around trying to not suck at T&C Surf Designs, is it supposed to be hard or am I retarded? I figured out the skating but the surfing always seemed like chaotic button mashing.

For whatever reason, Pinkerton is one of the only albums I loved in Junior High that still holds up today and it is forever cemented in my head with video games and I figured I can’t be alone so I stuck with my initial instinct on the design.

PS. I know the line in the song is “…I’ve got a 12 sided die” not 20 sided like you see in the poster. I didn’t realize that until I had it in there. I figured it looks good and you still need a 20 sided die in D&D too, right? Don’t you? I never really played D&D but I thought there were like 5 different kinds of die necessary to play. I’m sure I’m wrong. Sue me, I played Magic™ cards asshole!!

PPS, a note from the show, they had a little slideshow between Blue and Pinkerton. Old pictures from the early days, all that good shit but the funny thing to me was a clipping from Rolling Stone. It was a year in review piece about the worst albums of 1997, Pinkerton was #2 worst album just beat out by Bush’s Razorblade Suitcase………I think those were probably the two albums I listened to the most that year. Hurts a little to say that….for some reason I thought they would play Susanne between albums and or as an encore, didn’t happen. Okay that’s it, thank you very much internet.

More Dragon Warrior links right here…..every word is a different link. It’s kinds gross.