I recently had the opportunity to create the poster for an upcoming American Babies show. Being a long time fan of Tom Hamilton (I first heard him play with Brother’s Past) I was excited to be able to be a part of this amazing show. Playing at the Fox Theatre in Boulder, CO, the show serves an unofficial afterparty for the Dead & Co show, as well as Joe Russo’s Almost Dead/Umphrey’s Mcgee, who are playing at Red Rocks that night.
I recently finished up the covers for a studio era compilation series created by Reddit user RiverportGin. The series covers all of 1.0 Phish (1983-2000) and gave me an opportunity to draw songs that are unlikely to be played anytime soon . I also had fun with the headers, Which were based off a lyric of a song found in each particular album. Click on the titles for a download link.
Set the Gearshift- The White Tape/ TMWSIY era (84-87)
Ticketstub In Your Hand- Junta Era (88-4/89)
Off To Camp- Lawn Boy Era (5/89-5/91)
While I’m Young- A Picture of Nectar Era 6/91 – 8/92
The Feeling I Forgot- Billy Breathes Era 2/96 – 3/97
These were a blast to do. It was a way to work on different methods of illustration (digital/traditional) as well as practice for the upcoming summer tour. I had the chance to go back and relisten to a couple gems (the White Tape was a blast!) and draw those seldom heard songs. While RiverportGin doesn’t have plans to make complilations for the 2.0 and 3.0 albums in the near future, I plan to continue illustrating the rest of the albums, possibly create a poster with them.
Track listings and song histories courtesy of Phish.net
© 1990-2016 The Mockingbird Foundation, Inc.
I recently provided some art for a Phish compilation created by Reddit user RiverportGin. It coincided with my ongoing project of creating song illustrations for Phish’s discography. Gin approached me about doing the album art at the perfect time and me being fan of Phan compilations, was happy to help out. This allowed me to draw the songs that Phish rarely plays live, and made me revisit their studio albums, which I haven’t heard in years. According to RiverportGin, “The idea is to capture what was happening live at the time leading up to and immediately following each of the Phish studio albums. The start date for each compilation corresponds to when Phish
started studio work for the album and ends just before work on the next album
begins.”
I was asked to include the songs found on each album, although they aren’t all in the compilations. RiverportGin came up with the titles based off lyrics, which I then illustrated.
Sound of the Storm- Farmhouse Era (11/99 – 2/00)
Flocking Outside- Story of The Ghost Era (4/97 – 10/99)
This Has All Been Wonderful- Hoist Era (10/93 – 1/96)
The Overhead View- Rift Era ( 9/92 – 9/93)
There should be 2 more compilations (Billy Breathes and Picture of Nectar Eras) but I plan to complete all the albums in the coming months.
Track listings and song histories courtesy of Phish.net
© 1990-2016 The Mockingbird Foundation, Inc.
Phish recently played their first ever shows in Mexico, on the beaches of Barcelo Maya Resort. I wasn’t able to make it, but at least was able to watch it live via stream. These show setlists are available for purchase as a 3 print set of the entire run.
Friday, 01/15/2016Set 1: A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing > My Soul, Martian Monster > Ya Mar, Halley’s Comet > Fuego > The Wedge, Theme From the Bottom > Free > David Bowie
Set 2: Drowned -> What’s the Use? > Sand -> Ghost -> Also Sprach Zarathustra >Wolfman’s Brother > Possum, Shine a Light
Encore: Rock and Roll
Teases:
· Sneakin’ Sally through the Alley tease in Possum
· Theme from Gilligan’s Island tease in David Bowie
Notes: This show was webcast via Live Phish. David Bowie contained a Theme fromGilligan’s Island tease from Mike. Trey teased Sneakin’ Sally in Possum. Jefferson Waful assisted Chris Kuroda on lights for the first time and would do so for the rest of the weekend’s shows.
Saturday, 01/16/2016Set 1: Camel Walk, 555 > Rift, Cities -> Light > Simple -> Timber (Jerry) > Wading in the Velvet Sea, Reba[1], Chalk Dust Torture
Set 2: Golden Age -> Prince Caspian > Halfway to the Moon, Joy, 46 Days ->Twenty Years Later > Julius, Harry Hood
Encore: Character Zero
[1] No whistling.
Teases:
· Magilla tease in Simple
· Reba quote in Chalk Dust Torture
Notes: This show was webcast via Live Phish. Page teased Magilla during Simple. Reba did not contain the whistling ending, but Trey briefly quoted Reba’s whistling coda in Chalk Dust.
Sunday, 01/17/2016Set 1: Mexican Cousin, The Curtain With, Sample in a Jar, Yarmouth Road, The Landlady, Army of One, Kill Devil Falls > Bathtub Gin, Funky Bitch > The Moma Dance[1] > Saw It Again
Set 2: Down with Disease[1] > Roggae > Crosseyed and Painless > Farmhouse >Mike’s Song > Bug > Weekapaug Groove, Slave to the Traffic Light
Encore: The Ocean[2]
[1] Unfinished.
[2] Phish debut.
Teases:
· Shipwreck and The Rover quotes in Down with Disease
· Shipwreck and I Don’t Live Today quotes in Crosseyed and Painless
· Shipwreck quote in Weekapaug Groove
Notes: This show was webcast via Live Phish and featured the Phish debut of The Ocean. Moma Dance and DWD were unfinished. Trey teased The Rover at the start of DWD. DWD, Crosseyed, and Weekapaug contained Shipwreck quotes. Crosseyed also contained an I Don’t Live Today quote from Fish. Trey teased Your Pet Cat in Weekapaug.
Setlist/notes © 1990-2016 The Mockingbird Foundation, Inc.
I recently finished up a linocut poster for the Phish Riviera Maya shows in Mexico coming up this weekend. I had been on the fence whether or not I wanted to do something for this show, since I normally just do illustrated setlists for the shows. But the idea came organically, and with a 2 week Christmas break, I really had no reason not to. I have done lucha libre inspired artwork in the past, and wanted to avoid the Mayan/Aztec based theme, so this seemed very fitting.
Inspired by vintage lucha libre screenprinted posters, I knew this was be challenge to accomplish. My “studio” consists of whatever space I have in my apartment, which doesn’t allow enough space for screenprinting. The next logical option would be to recreate a poster via block print (linocut). Although I’m familiar with linocuts, I’ve never done one this size, which usually work best when using a press. Although they were hand pulled, I actually used a baren, which helped create a more consistent black.
My first couple pulls were actually 2 color blends, which was utilized by many lucha libre posters, but I wasn’t overall impressed with it. I made a small edition of these, and may play around with it more in the future.
I finally decided on a tri color background, which I saw on a few lucha posters, but are mainly with old concert posters. Without the ability to screenprint, I had to find a way to mimic that look. I did a few with a watercolor background, but it was a bit to light for me. acrylic took a lot of time, and gouache seemed like a likely winner, but then I remembered I have a ton of cans of spraypaint, and was able to get the color blending I wanted.
My “studio”
The linocuts are available in my shop right now, limited to an edition of 30. I have quite a few variations available, and will make them for sale shortly.
The Variations
Although I haven’t posted them for sale, they are all available, so you can contact me via social media (twitter, instagram, facebook)
Wednesday, 12/30/2015Set 1: Sample in a Jar, Free, Simple > Back on the Train, Waiting All Night, 555,Roggae, The Dogs > 46 Days
Set 2: Chalk Dust Torture > Ghost > Can’t Always Listen[1] > Ghost > Waves > Bathtub Gin > Mike’s Song > Bouncing Around the Room > Weekapaug Groove -> What’s the Use? > Weekapaug Groove
Encore: Character Zero
[1] Debut.
Teases:
· Auld Lang Syne and What’s the Use? teases in Weekapaug Groove
· Magilla tease in Simple
Thursday, 12/31/2015Set 1: The Moma Dance > Possum, Wolfman’s Brother, Birds of a Feather, I Didn’t Know, Happy Birthday to You[1], Martian Monster, Reba, Walls of the Cave
Set 2: The Wedge, Wilson > A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing, Yarmouth Road, Kill Devil Falls > Piper > Twist
Set 3: No Men In No Man’s Land, Auld Lang Syne > Blaze On > Carini > David Bowie,The Horse > Silent in the Morning > Backwards Down the Number Line
[1] Sung by Fish and the crowd for his daughter Ella.
Teases:
· The Birds quote in Birds of a Feather
Notes: This show was webcast via Live Phish. BOAF contained a quote of The Birds. During I Didn’t Know, Trey introduced Fishman as “The Man Mulcahy.” The crowd sang the last verse of I Didn’t Know, and Fish then asked the crowd to join him in singing Happy Birthday to his daughter, Ella. The third set began with the band on a second stage beneath a funnel-shaped screen suspended from the ceiling. As the band jammed, part of the screen descended and became an hourglass shape surrounding the stage, on which a series of images were projected. As the jam continued and the countdown to midnight approached, the band returned to the main stage.
Friday, 01/01/2016Set 1: Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan, Heavy Things, How Many People Are You,Stash, Undermind > Rift, Wingsuit, Ocelot, Lawn Boy, Run Like an Antelope
Set 2: Down with Disease[1] > Dirt, Halfway to the Moon > Theme From the Bottom >Light > Fuego > Slave to the Traffic Light
Encore: Farmhouse
[1] Unfinished.
Teases:
· Stash, Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan, and How Many People Are You teases in Undermind
· Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan, Stash, and How Many People Are You teases in Run Like an Antelope
· Manteca tease in Light
Saturday, 01/02/2016Set 1: Your Pet Cat, AC/DC Bag > NICU, It’s Ice > Horn > Divided Sky, Axilla > Maze,Train Song > Julius
Set 2: Tweezer > Sand > Limb By Limb > Suzy Greenberg > Harry Hood > You Enjoy Myself[1]
Encore: The Lizards, Tweezer Reprise
[1] Trey and Fish on drums.
Teases:
· Stash tease in Divided Sky
Setlist/notes © 1990-2016 The Mockingbird Foundation, Inc.
A shower thought (and drawing lots of Dead art) led me to doing some skull studies recently. My original thought was some kind of Mike Gordon Steal Your Face/F ck Your Face mashup, and led to this series of Skulls inspired by the members of the band. I started these over Thanksgiving weekend (Trey was drawn while waiting for Thanksgiving dinner to be ready) and got a positive response online. I had originally done these to as practice drawing skulls/ using crosshatching techniques, but upon the insistence of the interwebs, finished up the set and made prints for sale.
Prints are for sale in my shop, and I have them available in several sizes. I have prints of all four images in 11×17 and 8.5×11 sizes, as well individual prints of Cactus, Big Red, Henrietta, and the Chairman of the Boards, or a suite of all four prints.
I just added over 30 new prints and original watercolors to my shop this weekend! I found a bunch of prints that were made originally the the Phanart Show that took place at World Live Cafe during the Phish run at the Mann Center. I forgot about them until recently when I found a portfolio with the unsold prints. The prints were made from the original watercolors I used for the song illustrations I use in my setlists.
I have some of the original watercolors from which the prints were made from. These are ink and watercolor on 6×8 140lb cold press paper.
I also have some of the original watercolor paintings that I used for some of the show headers. While I generally do a mixture of tradition and digital for my headers, these are done traditionally (ink and waterolor) on 8.5×11 paper.
They are all reasonably priced ($25 and under) and be sure to follow me on twitter, and instagram for special sales and whatnot!
I was recently asked to create a poster for a benefit event in honor of Chris “Buzz” Deardorff, a great friend and musician who recently passed away. He leaves behind a wife and daughter, for whom the event will benefit.
I am also selling a signed a numbered edition of the poster, from which all the proceeds will benefit the Deardorff family. I’ll have about 25 on hand at the show, and the remaining 25 will be available online for those that may not be able to make the event, but would like to help out Jess and Josey. Posters are 11×17 on cardstock, and they are available here directly via my site and will be mailed out after the event on 11/28.
The folks I did the Without a Net poster for really liked it, and gave me the opportunity to do another poster for an upcoming show at the Brooklyn Bowl in NYC! This is an all star line up playing the music of Phish, jazz style! It features members of DMB, Snarky Puppy, Sun Ra, Strange Design, and more. Find more info via the Facebook Event page
Not just reading the book, 