Scream for me brixton

Here is a couple of shots of Haunts playing at brixton accademy with my logo used as the stencil on all the backline. on the kick drum and all flightcases and cabs.I think it looks great. dead chuffed!

merch merch merch

So more on the outer sleeve part, after getting fed up waiting around for vinyl duplication people to give me a yes or no on the laser cutting, so i went to my uncles printing company prism digital in luton and asked. they said they would run the print for the outer sleeve just to help me out and he likes the band....(its all about who you know) but after speaking to the people he out sources his laser cutting to... they also declined the job, so basically im going to have to rejig cutting idea to a more cuttable shape.

In other news the t-shirts came back from the printers, did a small run of 50 of each t shirt in small medium and large. i managed to take a few photos before they were taken out on the road to the shows where 45 of the black shirt sold and 38 white, so all in all thats a bit of a result, so we're looking at getting a repressing, which is cool. also have been working on a pitch to make designer bags to enrich the experience of shopping with haunts compared to another band. Treating the band as almost a designer clothes label and brand. The management company like the concept but they're hopeing to hold out a little while and see how the band takes off as it might be a bit much to be doing at a early stage in the bands development.

AAALLLSSOOO

Ok there has been a load of argie bargie about the Single artwork packaging, and alot of people from management changing their minds and people in production working out whether or not they can do the outer sleeve. We're holding fast and demanding it be done at all expense and luckily our manager is backing this decision which is cool. So fingers crossed its gonna be ok. The only changes that will defiantly be making is to the back image for the artwork, its been pointed out that for a first release its a bit much to have our faces so massive. whilst the concept is to kind of mimic our heads like mount rushmore, in a way that our head are the reflection of the city. anyway im gonna tone it down a little bit and make the heads smaller cause i don't want it to be arrogant so im gonna give that some attention. I have two weeks till i go to press......... good times.

sooooo yeah.. sorry to keep you in the dark

so yeah, im now floating about the country with my video camera and the band on tour, trying my best to discover the secret world of youtube and subversive media. I hate a whole lot of work to do, which im now having a chance to explor and has opened up a nice new dimension for my work, which seems to be taking a bit of a turn in a few places. As the project is a live project its not just graphics but also an exploration in to the world of marketting, and seeing as im actually in the band, how we are marketed is a very particular thing to me. so first off i designed two runs of tshirts to be taken out on the tour. Didnt really want them to look too much like band shirts, because lets face it, band t shirts arent very cool these days. So to stick a logo on a tshirt not only would make a naff tshirt, but also would make the wearer look not cool, and we dont want association with things that arent cool.... harsh, but true. So yeah these are the two designs we went for


I think thought they looked pretty cool, so we went ahead with them, but didn't get stock samples from the printers back in time so went for a pressing of just 50 of each shirt spread across small medium and large and printed on the basic fruit of the loom shirts. had a whole bunch of similar designs on the same theme and these were the best... so yeah.. sent them off they will arrive at the venue in Wolverhampton, and we will see which one sells best.

A winter jacket maybe?

I've been messing about with the idea of making a slip case for the proper vinyl packaging to go in but i wanted to make it in a slightly contractitory style to the old englsih feel, i wanted to include a eliment that highlighted the bands dancy more current discoy edge aswell. so i thought a slip cover would be the best way to do this. I also want to use some different print finishes. on the front i want the lowslungcityskyline bit to be in a spot varnish (not black like shown) so its more visible and readble when it catches the light. then on the front and back where it says HAUNTS i want them to be cut out of the paper so it just shows through to the packaging undernieth......... capiesche? All this will be pinted on a very silky matt finished stock, thats very tactile and soft so it should set off the spot varnish nicely. But yeah if i could get anyones feed back on any of this it would be grand cause it all has to go to print really soon...... like yesterday. so anny amendment would be rad! cheers people keep it breezey.xxx

Single Art Work

yo so i gotta do some work on the pantone colour selection for the red but at the moment the vinyl cover is lookling like so.......

lights camera action 2

the second day of filming was all shot ina barn with a set competly made by us. it was pretty hectic and o ake all over, but was worth it. behind the camera ismy friend tim fox.

lights camera action

Yeah so started shooting the, its been a two day shoot, first day back int he photography studio we shot the promo shots in, but this time we were just using the white background as we need the room for longer and we had to pay this time so £130 for the day, so as we want the video to match up with the single art work we are shooting one day on set and one on the white background which will then be filled in red like the artwork. further explanation will follow, but right now its late and i just want to get the photos up. There is only a couple of photos from the day in the studio because i actually forgot my camera so a friend took a few on his phone... these are them.

front covers

HHMMMMMMMMM not sure sure how much i liked these roughs. but the basic gist is based upon... for those old enought o remeber... the Tv show Randal and Hopkirk deaceased. A cross betweenthat and then also some of the older horror thrillers. Somehting that sits uneasy but is fairly plain and strip down, that is more about the suspence and what is not in the picture than it is about the actually items within the compisition.... this will need more thought. I think the 1st is my favourite

28th May is the single release

On the 28th of May "Another Label" plan to release a 500 copy limited edition run of vinyls of "Low slung city skyline" which is good news..... but means i need to have the artwork for it done like yesterday... hmmmmm made this pic which i like, but its ot in keeping with the photos taken on the set.... now im torn!

photoshoot 2

Ok so we did another photo shoot, the idea was to basically recreate the first one but with the right members in the shot and also just to slightly refrain the set, make it more consistant. i think we achieved it, although depending on what the pics are for they might be treated differently. but these are for use for anything packaging wise and also any press or promotional material....... enjoy




this is just a pic fromt he first shoot so you can see how the set was built and put together....

T Shirts and merchandise

When on the road in a band that is still waiting for the gold disc (I.e one that so far has sold f**k all records) one of the best ways of toping up the pitifull payments you get is from selling T shirts........... Haunts need T shirts. Managers said they need to be cool so do whatever we want and they will pay for it and we keep all the money on the road, although will have to pay it back one day........ "stick with me sonny Jim and I'll show you the world" errrm yeah anyway so im thinking about designs. we don't really want anything that is datable to a certain press campaign or release, t shirts should be separate so its basically just do something fun and cool that will stand out against the merch of the other bands. i liked the idea of zebras, maybe as a all over print or something I'm not sure. but would be pretty sweet to do something where the band name is a bit more subtle. cause wearing band t shirts isn't always super cool, yet we want super cool people to wear ours... if you get me? well whatever, i need two designs here is a draft of the first.......

ok so Lets back up a bit.....

ok so iFirst off i just started messing about brainstorming visual looks ideas and logos, this is a few of the bits and bobs i came up with.this is a Photo from the first photoshoot i did for the band back in december, its all shot in photography studio and the walls are a set we built and papered in the studio. all art direction and styling was done by me (not bigging myself up, just clearing it up) only problem with this shoot is that it was taken before we had a finished line up so we borrowed a bass player (the guy at the back) from another band. the pics served their promtional purpose very well but they had to be reshot now withthe proper line up in.