It was about time. I’ve got to design a lot of fun band/show-related stuff over the years, but I’ve never got to do a proper album for my friends in Flamingo Nosebleed, a local punk band. Sure, I’ve slapped together a layout with pre-determined pics in the last minute for the guys, but on this release, Headbanger, I really got to think about the look I wanted to convey.
I guess the design actually started with the demo last year when half the album still needed to be written. We knew it would be a limited run—handed out to fans, bands and labels—so we took advantage of that fact. We bought a bunch of cardboard sleeves and then I had a hand stamp made with their logo. The back was a short run of numbered stickers and the discs themselves were each hand-drawn by the dudes and I on a road trip. For added fun, I made a folded booklet that jokingly promoted the band for a show they were playing.
When I sat down to actually conceptualize the final album artwork, I knew I wanted a look that said “headbanging”, fast music and couldn’t be confused with another band. I figured the best way to get all the movement I wanted was by sticking to a sketchy style; my medium of choice was ink and a brush. I probably rewrote the band name 20 times before I got the one I wanted. For the backside, they wanted a band photo and often referenced that they liked the “WANTED” image seen in the Ramones, Adios Amigos poster. I thought, what if they took that layout but were each headbanging—almost in a blur. We got Bambi Guthrie to execute the images and a month and a half later, we had the shiny products in our hands!
Oh and I had to finish things out with an album release poster too.
