AWESOME PARTY SQUAD

QUESTION: Do you like to party? If your answer is "Uh, yeah!", then please keep reading. If you feel like you don't get into a party like you used to, welcome to my world. In what seems like an other lifetime, I played guitar in a band called "Step on it!". In that band the drummer, Dan Hill, would talk of doing a band where he would sing. Fast forward one year after saying that, and Dan gave us Cross Examination.

SOME would say Cross Examination is the ULTIMATE party band, a band that features a cross over metal and hardcore sound. As much as this band parties, they also produce a sound that is all their own and very well written. On their debut album, my friend Dan Z and I were asked to contribute a collaborated effort.

DAN went to work on a illustration for the cover entitled "THE HUNG JURY" which you can see below. Dan is an insanely talented artist and it's always a pleasure and honor to work with him. This is the first of two projects we worked on together, the other being the Humanoid artwork.


FOR the inside of the booklet (and vinyl version) I wanted to set a scene of a court room with a party atmosphere. A thought that was hilarious and yet a lot of imagining hours. When prepping the art, I fist had to gather the elements. Dan supplied a six pack of ROCK N' ROLL beer. I set up a mock photo shoot in my kitchen, crushing the empty cans and setting them up in various positions.


ONCE that was finished, I shot multiple images of plastic bags that I used to create the evidence bags and for the "herb" that was actually kitten litter. I then pieced together a document and water mark for "official party documents". The piece it self took about 25 hours of photoshop work and 3 hours of photo shoot time. In the end this is one of my favorite projects and pieces that I've worked on.


above is the 7" version of the insert