Alien surf guitar instrumentals. Merrell is based on the West coast of the USA and has been playing music since the 1950's. Area 51 (my third project for Merrell) was commissioned in 2012 and needed a 'B' Movie touch. The inside tray quote was verbatim, hence the wobbly English. A limited run of this release came with a bonus DVD documentary.
The band's previous designer had been Vaughn Oliver (look him up). The photographs came from the splendid American Archive.org web site and were taken by Marion Post Wolcott. Marion documented depression-era America and her work echoed the 'gothic blues' of the band.
A selection of flyers and poster from recent years
Steve wanted to release an alternative to his famed Live Herald album. Mr Hillage said that my cover had a 'Studio 51' feel to it. The truth is that I liked the cover to Rock Follies '77, so borrowed liberally.
An eclectic and very British band. Music to Loon By is a compilation of session material that needed a complex and humorous treatment to echo its contents. The volume knob and eyeball are references to certain band members that Patto and Ollie Halsall fans will understand.
A collection of material originally recorded by Rick's sometime employers, Yes. The famed Yes 'Colophon' logo could not be used, for legal reasons. Complete band shots could not be used either. No Roger Dean rip-offs allowed, out of respect for the great man. Thanks to various Yes enthusiasts donating memorabilia and Bob Haskins donating photography I managed to produce a sleeve that told the story of Rick's career from 1970-1978 with the band.
The greatest blues magazine in the world. I spent two glorious years packing as much design attitude as I could into its pages... and great fun it was, too. A new look was created, with a nod to vintage blues LP sleeves for the design. The format is A5, a blessing and a curse when it comes to getting noticed on the shelves of WH Smith.
A re-issue of Rick's early'90s 'New Age' LP. Rick was keen to emphasise that this was the original version of a release the was re-recorded later on... and apparently stank. My design made the most of a beautiful landscape shot by Rab Ritchie and courtesy of Unsplash. The giant piano was Photoshopped in and geographical patterns were added to the mix. Lee Wilkinson supplied the shots of Rick.
Gregg Brown from the band worked on a series or re-worked Osibisa classics... This was the end result, part 1.
The first new Pink Fairies album in 30 years. Tony Henderson's skeletons grace the cover, along with many of his other sculptures. This one has made it to vinyl and comes with a free DVD. I wanted a touch of Barney Bubbles anarchy thrown in for good measure. Magenta is a splendid colour to work with...
My second project with Roadhouse. The band wanted to keep the mono images, this time taken from Shutterstock. Photoshop was used liberally and the typography was chosen to emphasise the American post-industrial blues feel of the music.
Re-issue of Ricks early 90's stab at the soundtrack for the Lon Chaney original Phantom of the Opera movie. This one appeared as a CD+DVD, LP and deluxe box set edition.
One of the longest running classic rock magazines in the UK. Over 220 issues and counting. Rock Society is published on behalf of the Classic Rock Society, a group of volunteers that promote music via this magazine, a sampler CD and lots and lots of live music across the UK.
An eight disc limited edition box set was released by Bill Bruford in October 2017, containing remixed material and extras galore. I worked closely with Bill on three revamped gatefold sleeves and one new bonus release, housed in a black box, with 16 page, 12inch booklet and other extras.
A truly great musician... Gregg has worked with Sting, Amadou & Mariam, Damon Albarn’s African Express, Billy Cobham, Lauryn Hill, Youssou N'dour, Bombino and Osibisa, amongst others. This release was the first anthology of Gregg's work and features some great, genre-defying music. I wanted a touch of Earth Wind and Fire/Funkadelic space funk graphics. Gregg was a pleasure to work with, supplying sleeve notes and making positive suggestions as to the overall look of this project.
