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Under the Influence – Mischief Brew / Franz Nicolay

Alright! I drew these like five billion years ago (read: six months) and honestly don't know if the record ever came out or not, but enough time's passed by now that it's got to be safe to share to the world, right? Right??

Anyhow, this one was super exciting for me because I LOVE LOVE LOVE Mischief Brew. These guys are off the fucking chain with fun awesomeness and you should all rush out and listen to their albums right now:

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On the flip side of that record is none other than Franz Nicolay who, in addition to a respectable solo career, also plays in the Hold Steady and the World/Inferno Friendship Society, two of the better bands in existence right now. So, basically, he's cooler than all of us combined. Plus he has a totally epic mustache. Respect:

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Okay then! I have another super amazing thing to share with you guys that I got to work on, but I'll save it for after the weekend.

Mitch out.

Under the Influence megapost

PRIORITY NUMBER THE FIRST:

Follow me on Twitter. I just started doing this shit and it's really fun.

PRIORITY NUMBER THE SECOND:

I have no idea how far behind I am on updating you guys on completed Under the Influence record covers. Hpefully I can get through this megapost without too many repeats. All records can either currently be purchased, can soon be purchased, or are out of print and can no longer be purchased from Suburban Home Records, or at Interpunk, or wherever it is you kids are buyin' records at these days.

Kickin' things off with Fallen From the Sky doing a track off the first Foo Fighters album:

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Not the most exciting thing I've ever drawn, I'll admit, but what the crap are you supposed to do to the original that would still reflect something about the band doing the cover? I think America's Wang in place of the ray gun is about as good as it gets. MOVING ON.

The Wonder Years pay tribute to... Lit?

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Ya got me!

Baltimore's Ruiner do a song off [What's the Story] Morning Glory by Oasis:

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The cityscape from the original was replaced with a venue in Baltimore that Ruiner seems to play at every now and then. I've never actually been to Baltimore, and don't know much about it that I didn't glean from the films of John Waters, but good ol' Google Street View was happy to help me out with this one!

Up next, Attica! Attica! do a jam off one of my favorite albums of all goddamn time:

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I'm fine with how this one turned out. Falling off a bike is way more Tru Punx than falling off a bull. Win.

Noise By Numbers cover an old Jesus and Mary Chain tune:

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There are few things in life more exciting for me than discovering I get to do a record cover for a band featuring Danny Vapid. Stoked doesn't begin to explain it. Hope they were okay with how it turned out!

Okay. Okay. This next one was a tidal wave of emotions for me. Cheap Girls rockin' a familiar choice in cover song by none other than Belle & Sebastian:

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I want to be straight with you guys. When I found out Cheap Girls had covered this song, I was furious and devastated at the same time. You see, I occasionally serve time in a Belle & Sebastian cover band, and our debut 7" had just FINALLY gone to press, featuring, of the four songs on the thing, this exact song Cheap Girls was covering. Talk about stealing my thunder, ESPECIALLY since the Cheap Girls are a fucking amazing band, who I am quite fond of, and who will no doubt do a much better version than my tone-deaf ass possibly could. Every bit of pencil mileage I laid down for this thing was a dagger in my heart. Bah! Alas, time has passed, I'm not particularly upset any more, and I managed to crank out a second parody of the same album cover without repeating any themes or ideas. Go me! And go Cheap Girls! I'm sorry I was ever mad at you. But, seriously, you fucking do that again and I will drink your blood.

UP NEXT! The Flatliners play a song off ANOTHER one of my favorite fucking albums OF ALL TIME:

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YES! I replaced the cobra from the original with the CN Tower from Toronto, from whence the Flatliners hail. I'm so fucking CREATIVE, you guys! And I carried the theme of local architecture with the b-side:

Dead to Me laid down a sweet Fugazi jam:

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As you can most likely tell, the Hopewell Centre from the original was placed by none other than the Golden Gate Bridge. Fun Fact: San Francisco was once known as "The Golden Gate," which is why the bridge carries that name despite being painted red! YOU'RE WELCOME!

WHEW! So many down, so many yet to go. Speaking of, I need to go wrap up the next one I'm working on. I'll show you once it's done. Until then, GET OFF MY LAWN.

Under the Influence – “Volumes 1-10″ – front and back cover art

Hey, people. A bit slow on updates as of late as Amanda and I have been busy spending the last ALMOST A YEAR putting together the big top secret project thing. BUT. As of tonight, Amanda has officially finished watercoloring 100% of it, and now all I have to do is format the last four or so pages and we are set to print! Whee! Feels pretty good to be so close to having my head out of water on this damn book. I'll breathe a few nice, deep breaths of relief before jumping back into the next one.

Anyhow. Totally unrelated to that, here are the front and back covers to Under the Influence volumes 1-10 (Drawn by me, watercolors by Nation of Amanda):

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As you know, Under the Influence is a series of 7"s put out by Suburban Home Records wherein bands cover bands they consider influential to their sound. Then, for the covers, I do a "cover" (i.e. parody) of the original album art said song appeared on and alter it to be more appropriate to the band doing the cover song. Well, the first ten of these 7"s are now being collected as a CD/2xLP, and so Amanda and I made a cover for the whole thing incorporating characters from several of the records featured on this collection in an all-new take on the cover of the old BYO comp "Someone Got Their Head Kicked In".

The back cover was completely fabricated in my mind and isn't a parody of anything. Turns out I can occasionally come up with shit on my own. Neato!

Anyhow, so I should be able to announce Top Secret Project very soon, and I'll let you know here when I do. Well, I mean, this is where I'll be announcing it. Yeah. And I'm also about to start a few more 7"s for the Under the Influence series and hope to have those done very quickly, so I'll share THOSE here as well! AND SO FORTH! I'M SO EXCITED! SEASON OF THE MITCH IS IN FULL SWING!

Later, skaters.