Full frontal disclosure: I did the Art Direction along with frequent design partner
Joel Pelletier of Wayhome.com, I drew the Leopard Lady logo and photographed a great deal of the recently released Re-Licked solo album by Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee James Williamson,
guitarist extraordinaire of Iggy and The Stooges. Then Retrokimmer,
DETROIT ROCK N ROLL and a host of other inquiring minds wanted to know
the particulars of this design process. Prepare yourself for rather dry,
clinical graphic art rumination ahead about what is actually
exhilarating, passionate, mind-blowing, wild Stoogemusic! Below, James sans makeup.
After the last Iggy and The Stooges show 9.28.13 (see LINK) and his keynote speech and performance this year at SxSW 2014 and Austin School of Rock respectively (LINK)
Williamson honed in on a project that my friend, author Harvey Kubernik
called "a karmic correction." Williamson wanted to properly record what
would have been the followup album to Iggy and The Stooges' Raw Power, songs
written by Iggy Pop and him that only saw light of day as bootlegged
tracks varying in "quality" from muffled rehearsal audiocassette tapes
to various noises sounding like Jacques Cousteau shrieking underwater
while his scuba equipment was being jerked away. When present day Iggy
somewhat waffled, appropriately intense singers promptly signed on.
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Who sang what is legible on the back cover art above. Each
singer contributes apropos Stoogepassion in his or her singular style.
You're sure to have your own favorites given the spread from O.G. punks
like Jello Biafra to popular young rock artists like The Orwells. Who
played what is documented in both the 24-page booklet and "The Making of
Re-Licked" documentary film that accompany each of the release's
formats, cd, vinyl and digital download. Below, James and Mario Cuomo, The Orwells' singer.
Below,
Alison Mosshart (of The Kills, The Dead Weather) and Mark Lanegan
(Screaming Trees) tackle "Wild Love" as a call and response duet for Re-Licked.
Below, the next three photos were shot in Dave Grohl's deluxe-but-funky Studio 606. 606's main draw could be the Neve soundboard
Dave purchased from Sound City when it folded, an establishment with
equipment so astonishing that it warranted its own documentary.
The photos above are singer Petra Haden and Primal Scream bassist Simone
Marie Butler adding background vocals; Simone on bass with James; James
being percussive with drummer Michael Urbano; singer Ron Young of
Little Caesar, Simone, and Joe Cardamone at the latter's Valley Sound
studio where the rest of Re-Licked was recorded . The touring Stooges, Mike Watt, Toby Dammit and Steve Mackay
contributed to many of the tracks as well. Below, at Valley Sound, Simone Marie finds the perfect equipment...
With
force-of-nature Lisa Kekaula (above) volcanically belting out "I Got A
Right," James Williamson playing at his finest, fastest and furious-est
plus top of her field Cleo Viper demonstrating her own right to move, I
thought this would be a good concept and a good match of talents for the
planned promotional video. Below, stellar retro-burlesque artist Cleo Viper performing in my photo studio and the "I Got A Right" video teaser, which is one of the special features included on the album's "The Making of Re-Licked dvd. Both were directed by Amy D'Allessandro with cinematographer James Stolz.
Our client captioned the shot below "rockin' the estrogen" whereas Studio
606 sound tech Vanessa Silberman (below far left) noted it was the most
women seen working in the studio rather than being companions and
whatnot. Below left to right, Silberman, Simone Marie Butler, Amy
D'Allessandro, Petra Haden, yours truly and James in front, Neve console
lurking in back. Women indeed shine on this release with Lisa Kekaula,
Carolyn Wonderland and Alison Mosshart mining all possible emotions from
their respective songs.
Below,
my drawing based upon but not mimicking the art found on James'
original Gibson guitar (see above back cover pic) used in all his
original Stooge doings and much of the recording.
James
as client fortunately presented Joel and me with strong images that
made for memorable graphics. The initial two projects were the covers
of the Re-Licked preview 45rpm singles
above, both featuring the handiwork of Trina Merry's ArtAlive
bodypainting studio, with the skull theme related to James' nickname in
the 1970s. "Open Up And Bleed" photography by Juan Moreno, "I Got A
Right" photography by Franklin Avery.
The first concept for the Re-Licked
front cover was from photographer Mark Schvartzman's session with model
Ryann Hilairey portraying the Leopard Lady sans clothing --more trompe
l'oeil body paint by Trina Merry-- as seen below left in the shot that
ended up in the gatefold of the lp and cd. It had a black background plus an extra leopard but
wasn't as strong an image as was required for a front cover,
particularly given our graphically successful predecessors on the wild
45 singles covers above.
A
Franklin Avery shot below right with James himself in Trina Merry skull
makeup against Tibetan prayer flags had been in consideration for the
second single. However, the simplicity of the color planes of the flags
adjacent James' face seemed perfect for the Re-Licked cover wherein the
busyness of a whole lotta artists' names would be competing for
attention. The artists' names column starts next to James' eyes for
maximum impact, as human nature tends to observe anyone's eyes first
(vestigial limbic brain reaction to assessing threats or not when we
were but little bitty primates in the forest) before scanning around any
layout. And I certainly approved of the 'they live again!' undercurrent
of our heroically 40-years-persistent Stooges coupled divine
intervention! (Jesus and Buddah love the Stooges to update their old
motto...)
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Even without the universal acclaim of others (an easy Google) Re-Licked's
highly enjoyable/energetic/emotional performances of some of Rock's
best music ever should be your next purchase.
And if you dwell in Los
Angeles, you're in for an even bigger treat: the live show Friday Jan. 16th at the Bootleg Hifi Theater, 2220 Beverly Blvd., L.A. CA 90057. See below!
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