INTRODUCTION
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In 1995, I was a confused 19 year old starting my first year at Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin. I had taken a year off of high school due to a general lack of interest in anything other than a vague dream of rock stardom. As far as my evolving musical tastes, I was on a search for anything strange and new. I was looking for something compatible with my cliched suburban angst and misguided anger. A girlfriend back home had begrudgingly introduced me to the wonders of punk rock. I believe she secretly found me to be a bit of a poser and felt like she was betraying a secret punk society with each band name she told me. Sure I had found some gems: The Ramones, The Misfits, The Damned, The Undertones.
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town were listening to But a lot of what the punks in my clean, too precise. The just didn’t do it for me. It was too r instruments. It was musicians were too good at thei lacking a certain soul. it. I’m lying in my Cut back to my dorm room in Belo a faint but aggressive bed, staring at the ceiling, when and into my life. sound pushes its way into my room LOUD. To me, at that It’s quiet but at the same time it’s of wild, untamed moment, I was hearing the sound raw. It was equal youth. It was fast, noisy, dirty, and
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parts angry an
musical “aha
d sexy. It was
” moment. Th
what I had be
my
is is
en searching for. I got d followed th e sound next door to m y friend Vince’ s room. Trying to sound only mildly interested, I as ked casually, “Hey, Vince, what ar e you listening to?” He told me it was All Night Riot, the new reco rd by The Mak ers. He handed me th e cover. It was cool. The band look ed cool. The type looked cool. It reminded m e of the early Beatles records I had discovered in m y parents’ ba sement. I didn’t know it then, but no t only was this my fir st introductio n to the world of gara ge rock reviva l, but I was getting my first look at the design work of Art Chantry . out of bed an
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Chantry and The Makers were a part of a cultural scene that defined the ‘90s for many but was ignored by the mainstream. Out of it came not only some of the purest, wildest rock and roll ever recorded, but also a unified body of design work filled with bold colors, provocative imagery, and youthful spirit. As I began to do the research for this book, it quickly became apparent that there were few, if any, mainstream resources available on the subject. I emailed Art Chantry to see if he could provide any leads. He responded, “ ... there’s no place to research it properly. I suggest you start digging and write the proper bio on the scene. Lord knows it was important enough to document” (Chantry).
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While I’m unprepared at this moment to write a comprehensive account of the entire ‘90s garage scene, I am excited to have the opportunity to introduce a new generation of music and design lovers to a treasure trove of overlooked audio and visual gems.
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THE EVOLUTION OF GARAGE ROCK
Garage Rock. Garage Punk. Hot Rod. Surf. Space Age. Monster. Rockabilly. Teenbeat. Trash. These terms have all been used to describe a scene, which in the 1990s, culminated in what could easily be argued as its finest moment. During these key years, art and music came together to form a vibrant, electric, and exciting era of rock and roll music. The sounds mimicked the visuals, and the visuals mimicked the sounds. It was a rare union of designer and client. Those designing the flyers, posters, and album covers of this era shared the same interests and influences as those making the music. A new generation of like-minded musicians and designers bonded over hot rod and monster b-movies, fuzz guitars, vintage girly mags, surf culture, and much more. “It was a style built around primal amateurism run amok. And it was GOOD� (Chantry).
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To understand how this “golden era of garage” came to be, it is important to look at the historical lineage of the music. It can be dated back to the earliest American country and blues, but for these purposes we can begin in the 1950s with a look at Link Wray. “LINK WRAY. Father of the POWER CHORD. Creator of distortion. Punk, heavy metal, grunge, garage, real rock guitar ... it all started here” (linkwray.com). Wray is credited with inventing the power chord and being the first musician to use distortion in a rock and roll recording. His song “Rumble” was reportedly banned from radio airplay “for fear that it would incite teenage gang violence” (linkwray.com).
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In the 1960s, countless teenagers, influenced by the sounds of The Beatles and other Brit-pop groups (who in turn had been influenced by American blues and rock and roll), picked up guitars and formed their own groups. These groups were dubbed “garage” since many used their parents’ garages to practice. Many of these bands were immortalized on the 1972 compilation album Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965-1968. Music critic Mark Deming writes “ ... the primal power and sheer sense of fun audible in this music seemed like a minor revelation that became a clarion call to musicians, fans, and music scribes around the world” (Deming).
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The more successful bands of this era include The Seeds, The Standells, The 13th Floor Elevators, and Count Five. Other American garage groups played a simpler form of party-driven rock and roll, sometimes called “Frat Rock.” Although the most famous of these bands was The Kingsmen with their version of “Louie Louie,” The Sonics and The Fabulous Wailers from the Pacific Northwest probably had the greatest influence on ‘90s garage. These bands played aggressive, snotty, loud music. It was what we now call “punk rock” in every sense other than name.
The design of 1960s garage rock included a few distinct styles. One style common on record covers of the time was the use of a boxed-in photograph of the band, surrounded by quite a bit of typography. The type might include the band name, the record label, a listing of the tracks on the record, and more. This technique was also popular in the 1950s, on covers ranging from jazz to soul to rock and roll. Some posters and record covers from the era adopted a new style: Psychedelic Art. Influenced in part by the Art Nouveau works of artists such as Alphonse Mucha and Aubrey Beardsley, these pieces used elaborately-drawn display type; swirling patterns; and wild, vibrating colors to create a style in keeping with a burgeoning drug culture.
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Punk rock a p
peared in th e 1970s product of the youthful aggress ion of band s like The Sonics and The Wailers . While punk differe d from gara ge rock, it was a key component in garage rock’s evolu tion. Musica lly, most of these band s played si mple, catch y rock and ro ll infused w ith a heavy dose of volu me and an ger. In New York City, b ands like T he Ramone s and The Dic tators took cues from The Beach Boys, and P hil Spector produced “girl group s,” such as The Ronett es and The Crystals. In the UK, ban ds like The Undertones, The Damne d, and The Buzzcocks played the ir own vers ions of revv ed up rock an d roll. as a direct
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This scene was defined by its rebellious attitude, and the design seen on album covers, flyers, and posters reflected that. This design was a culmination of a couple of factors. One was that ambitious kids without funding required a way of mass producing flyers and zines. Without money or an education in design, they photocopied collaged images and cut out type that resulted in a distinct style, perfectly in keeping with the message of the music. Even when these bands had a budget from their labels, they continued to use this “low-brow” style as a mark of cultural identity and anti-establishmentism. Using a DIY aesthetic was a way of letting the world know they didn’t need help from the corporate man.
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In the 1980s, while punk branched off into various sub-categories, garage rock had its first major revival. Bands like The Fleshtones, The Chesterfield Kings, and The Lyres began mimicking Nuggets-era garage rock sounds. Using antiquated guitar effects pedals such as the fuzz box, many of these bands did their best to create a sound as close to the original as possible. The second half of the ‘80s saw certain bands such as The Cynics, The Mono Men, and the Gories fusing these sounds with speed, aggression, distortion, and volume.
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One of the major players of this decade was Billy Childish, who made some of the meanest, dirtiest, lo-fi rock and roll the world has ever heard. His output was and continues to be staggeringly prolific, with over fifty records to his name. His bands include The Pop Rivets, The Milkshakes, Thee Mighty Caesars, the Delmonas (Thee Headcoatees), Thee Headcoats, and the Natural Born Lovers. This era of garage rock did not have a unifying graphic design style. Much of it was a product of the times, utilizing whatever ‘80s style was in fashion.
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THE 1990s GARAGE’S GOLDEN ERA
In the 1990s, the ga
revival that began
erupted into a full
rage rock
in the ‘80s,
on explosion. All over the country —except in the major media hubs of New York City and Los Angeles, which largely ignored the trend— record labels and bands came tog ether to form vibrant undergroun d scenes. In 1990, Dave Crider of The Mono Men, along with his wife Bekki, started Estrus Reco rds in Bellingham, Washing ton. Crider was dedicated to puttin g out only the music he thought was cool. This included garage, su rf, hotrod, trash, pop, rockabilly, pu nk, or usually, a combination of the se styles. Estrus began by releasin g only vinyl records, succumbin g to the CD format very late in the game. Crider
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Crider also helped solidify the popularity of garage with his annual festival Garage Shock held at the 3B Tavern in Bellingham. The final Garage Shock was held at Emo’s in Austin, Texas, in 2001. Bands who released material on Estrus included The Drags, Man or Astro-Man?, The Makers, and The Mono Men. If you were a fan of Estrus records, it is likely that you were a fan of everything they released. “They didn’t release any bad records, period (so long as you had the same taste)”(Chantry).
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The Pacific Northwest also gave us Sympathy For The Record Industry (SFTRI), a record label out of Olympia, Washington, started by Long Gone John in 1988. John ran his highly influential record label out of his bedroom and was the only employee. “There were stories (some of which I created) that I was a trust fund brat, that I owned slaughterhouses and that I was heavily involved in the pornography industry�(McGovern). SFTRI put out records by bands such as The Lazy Cowgirls, The Cynics, Billy Childish, and The White Stripes. San Fransisco had Rip Off Records, started by Greg Lowery, bass player for pioneering lo-fi garage punks Supercharger. Rip Off got its name by releasing 7-inch singles with music on only one side of the record. Although Lowery was part of a local scene that included
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e and th eens, t y b b ucing e Bo introd ies, th in m l m a t u n eM strume ch as like Th was in unk su f p f bands e O g ra d Rip ese ga o mine omen, Japan ey als h o Trashw t T . s s e r t to ta gistra ited S es from the Re the Un releas d r n o f a , s e t uds. Texa enera Out Lo ustin, ’ A Teeng in f y o r t eC ene s stric nd Th tile sc d by it eds, a e the fer R h e is h u ,T ark, ting otards ith a d as dis w w s e e s v The M a slee ff rele nd white Rip O lack a plain . .. Ever y ll in b “ : a , ic t e e m h en you d-na aest ack th e ban b h design t s e d v n lee oa it was hose s y phot knew ne of t mudd u o o y w a d s n If you cord, a white. Off re ip R a it was ). knew ”(Gelt e good b o t going
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Bomp!, sta
rted by the revered Gre g Shaw, ha 1974. Shaw d been goin ’s label had g strong sin always bee ce putting out n seen as so records fro m e w h at of a tast m The Stoo emaker, ges to The comtempora Brian Jonest ry garage re own Massa vivalists Th cre to e Black Lip Goner Reco s. rds was sta rt e d in 19 93 in Memp member Eri his, Tenness c Friedl. Go ner put out ee, by Obli essential re vians rockers The cords from Oblivians, garage pu Quintron, a nk nd Japan’s to release d Guitar Wolf irty, raw rock . T h a e n y d co ro n ll from more tinue Nobunny a contempora nd The Rea ry bands, su tards. ch as
Crypt Records from Hamburg, Germany, became famous for its Back From The Grave series which picked up where Nuggets left off, compiling long lost singles from 1960s garage rock bands. During the ‘90s, Crypt also released records from seminal garage punk stars such as The New Bomb Turks, The Devil Dogs, and The Blues Explosion, among others. Crypt’s current mailorder catalog boasts records from ‘50s R&B, 60s Punk, Weirdness/Exotica, Instrumentals & Surf, Rockabilly, Buffalo Bop, Vampisoul, Girl Groups and more. As diverse as these categories sound, they all fall under the same aesthetic umbrella as garage.
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Norton Records from
New York City is also key in the history of ga rage rock. Norton’s story began in 1976 wh en Billy Miller and current Cramps’ drumm er Miriam Linna collaborated on a zin e called Kicks. In 1986 they formed Norton to reissue music by wild man guitarist Ha sil Adkins. This led to reissues of lost classi cs from primitive, retro rock’n’roll, rocka billy, garage punk, garage rock, lounge mu sic and early R&B. If it weren’t for Norton, the new generation of garage rockers would n’t have heard these important recordings. While famous for their reissues, Norton also released records by recent groups such as The Hentchmen and The Flat Duo Jets. Numerous other labels from that time deserve attention, inc luding but not limited to, Big Neck, In The Re d, Planet Pimp, Kill Rock Stars, Sub Pop, Dio nysus, Get Hip, Bag of Hammers, Empty, an d Munster.
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Aside from musical similarities, this new scene was glued together by a similarity in visual aesthetics. This was seen across posters, record covers, flyers, stickers, buttons, videos, and all artistic media. Many
of the same influences that inspired the musicians inspired the graphic designers. These included classic hot rod and monster movies, the sexploitation films of Russ Meyer, ‘60s surfer graphics, pulp novels, vintage girly mags, antique advertisements, old comic books, Dada collages, psychedelic posters, xeroxed punk flyers, Op Art, and more. There was an obsession with art and design from a forgotten past—things the history books leave out.
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Designing somewhere between sixty and seventy percent of the covers and posters for Estrus records, Art Chantry was one of the key progenitors of ‘90s garage design. Chantry cultivated a style that would become synonymous with the scene. Using his immense and growing collection of vintage printed memorabilia as well as antiquated methods such as photoset type, Chantry pieces together found materials into cohesive and well-balanced, yet exciting and wild works of design.
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“Because his goal is to self-consciously perpetuate forms from the past, he is an archaeologist as well as an artist, preserving as well as reinventing artifacts of design, especially ephemera that others would not consider worth keeping: comic books, pornography, carnival graphics, ads found in the backs of old trade magazines, pictures of hucksters and long forgotten politicos� (Lasky).
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kWorking a bit later in the game, Minneapolis-based Amy Jo Hendric y, imager son’s work carries on the Chantry tradition with its found vintage
Hendrickeye-popping inks, and a fondness for distressed textures. While xerox son’s work is mainly screen-printed, she also uses the cut-and-paste flyers method. While Chantry tends to downplay the lasting worth of his can there and posters, Hendrickson has been outspoken in her belief that be a thin line between graphic design and fine art.
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“People have come to realize that graphic arts can—and often do—serve more than just a utilitarian purpose, that immediacy and lasting aesthetic value aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive” (Smith). Also similar to Chantry, and in keeping with the garage rock aesthetic, is Hendrickson’s ability to infuse a sense of playfulness into her designs. This can be seen in her childlike poster for Holly Golightly with The Woggles and in a poster for The Trashmen showing a gleefully surfing chicken.
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Many of the people designing posters and record covers at this time were illustrators first and foremost. Often, popular underground comic book creators would be hired by a band or label who were fans of the artist’s work. One such comic artist is Peter Bagge out of Seattle, Washington. Bagge, whose recognizable illustration style is heavily influenced by the work of R. Crumb, is well known for the comic book series’ Neat Stuff and Hate. Jamie Hernandez, co-creator of Love and Rockets (another comic book series), illustrated covers for The Makers and The Coyote Men among others. Daniel Clowes, creator of the comic book series Eightball and Ghostworld, is a frequent cover artist for The New Yorker and is an academy-award nominated screenwriter. Clowes designed and illustrated record covers for The Raunch Hands, The Supersuckers, The Cheater Slicks, Thee Headcoats and more.
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n this scene are Coop and Two of the biggest names to have worked withi style. Coop got his start Frank Kozik, who also have a mostly illustrative re subculture which included in Los Angeles as part of the Kustom Kultu in his career, Coop began custom car and motorbike enthusiasts. Early Gone John at Sympathy for designing sleeves and gig posters for Long The Record Industry.
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Maki, a writer for the counterculture magazine Bizarre writes “His bold, comic book style, retina-sizzling colours and images steeped in 1950s Americana have made him one of the hottest talents to burst out of the ‘lowbrow’ art scene, a deviant genre he shares with Bizarre favourites Mark Ryden, Todd Schorr and Shag” (Maki). Coop, who refers to himself as an altruistic pervert, is famous for his images of bright red naked devil women. His most famous image however, is a grinning, cigar smoking Satan.
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Frank Kozik started his design career in Austin, Texas, designing black and white flyers for local punk rock bands. As demand for his work grew, he transitioned into large scale silkscreened posters, which soon found international renown. Eventually, Kozik found himself designing work for megastars such as Neil Young and Nirvana. The majority of Kozik’s work employs a bright, cartoonish style, often twisting classic pop culture into something disturbing or sleazy.
One poster he made for a New Bomb Turks/Teengenerate show has the classic Hanna-Barbera character Augie Doggie pulling the pin out of a grenade while holding a bloody knife. Kozik’s work is clearly influenced by pop art and classic comic books, but when asked to list his influences, he says, “Everything. Every fucking thing I’ve ever seen. I just collect massive amounts of all that shit. I’m a big paper-goods collector. I just sort of scour the book shows and find stuff that freaks me out and makes me say, ‘Oh, I want to copy that’”(Tobias).
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Most people creating within this subculture are not simply musicians, designers, or illustrators. More often than not, they work within many creative fields. Frank Kozik owned and ran Man’s Ruin Records. Poster designer Courtney Callahan plays drums in Los Shimmy Shakers. Peter Bagge plays guitar in Seattle band Can You Imagine?. Amy Jo Hendrickson started her career booking bands in Fargo, North Dakota. Mike McCarthy, also known as JMM or John Michael McCarthy, stands out as a prolific creative, trying his hand at a wide variety of projects. McCarthy, who started out drawing fan art in the 1970s, began his professional comic career in 1987. His comic work has been published by Dark Horse, Eros, and Fantagraphics. He later began designing flyers and record covers for Estrus and Sympathy For The Record Industry.
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ucing, tive scope to include writing, prod McCarthy then broadened his crea f, and ds such as The Hives, Guitar Wol and directing music videos for ban age ies such as Sore Losers and Teen The Makers, and full length mov Fingers ing in bands such as Distemper, Tupelo. He is also a musician, play of an Rockroaches. Another example Like Saturn, Nehilistics, and the s the y past for inspiration, McCarth cite artist within this scene mining the e were tively fertile. He claims that thes years 1935 to 1977 as the most crea e-in omic books, rock and roll, and driv the years when his three loves—c defines relationship. To clarify, he further cinema—had the most symbiotic th to stein to Star Wars, Will Rogers dea these years as “Bride of Franken ics, until the death of underground com Punk Rock, the first comic books is ley”(McCarthy). McCarthy’s style and the Life and Death of Elvis Pres esque whiskey, guns, switchblades, burl steeped in Southern trash culture: rse, Elvis Presley. girls, comics, leather, and of cou
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There are too many designers to mention in these pages. For every garage band that existed, there was likely to be at least one member who designed flyers, posters, or album covers. The ‘90s was a prolific time for the genre, both in music and design.
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