I've received a few requests to blog a little about my band "Johnny Hollow". So, I thought I'd start with a dirty little secret regarding the album cover that I painted just a little over a year ago.
I've been holding this one back for a little while... but the skeletons have to come out sometime... my band mates don't even know about this one... ok... so here goes...
The cover for Johnny Hollow's "Dirty Hands" was inspired by....
gulp...
nervous twitch...
Iron Maiden.
[the goth collective releases a roar of spooky gasps]
Please, please, before you start throwing your Bauhaus coffee mugs at me... let me explain.
I'm not much of an 80's metal fan. If truth be told, I had always kind of secretly wondered [hoped?] about the prospect of coupling a lit match with the severely teased and hair sprayed laden bangs of "Poison"...
I like big fires... though I'm not sure I could handle the stench of singed hair combined with the odour of melted rubber tights... anyway... when I was a little boy you could often find me flipping through my cousin Joe's extensive heavy metal collection of records. I was astounded and somewhat fearful of the images that governed those black discs. They gave me nightmares.
One disc in particular caught my eye and and kept it's razor sharp talon lodged there. It was a portrait of what seemed to be a zombie monster. His name was "Evil Eddie" and he had a mess of stringy white hair which perfectly crowned a relentless red stare from beneath the soft glow of a yellow street lamp. I was horrified but compelled at the same time... the image kept me up at night and harvested countless bad dreams. I was after all, only 7.
Twenty seven years later, I was home alone and polishing up the last touches of our very own mascot "Johnny Hollow". It was an ordeal to get him 'just right', but he finally seemed to be settling in comfortably within his very own post apocalyptic wonderland (which meant I knew that the cover was almost done). Johnny was very finicky about his hat, but approved (finally) the latest fashion I had offered him up.
I decided to take a break and do a little research on the history of mascot imagery within the world of rock and roll pop culture.
I clicked googles 'search' and once again I found myself in front of a pair of red burning eyes.
Not only did a nostalgic wave hit me, but I noticed that there was something very familiar about the cover... a little too familiar. I pulled up the cover I had just created and compared the 2. The compositions were VERY close!!! The street lamp was where Johnny's Lilly was. Evil Eddie and Johnny hollow were both basically cut off at the torso to emphasize the shoulders and head. And each cover had a very strong horizon line!
After all these years, the meat grinder that is my head, seemed to regurgitate this cover in a way that can only be my own, though still spawned by... Iron Maiden...
Ah well, one thing I am certain, for all his decrepit bravado and for all of his ghoulish threats... Evil Eddie would get his ass kicked in a fight with our dear Johnny. Our gothic boy wonder would send his flaming hummingbirds to pluck out those ruby red eyes before Evil could scream for his zombie momma...
