Open Wounds - Demo tape

My man Gijs from Amsterdam (who has since relocated to London) has been a huge support for me during several of my designs, helping out with suggestions and ideas. He got in touch and asked if I could do a design for his new band's demo, and I jumped on it. Rolling with the theme of open wounds I gathered a lot of gory shit and created these sometimes Carcass-reminding things (as on the front cover background) and othertimes just weird shit, like the background of the lyrics and the collage on the back of the insert. The design was screen printed with the colors separated.

Otherwise I did my usual thing, combining photoshop work with brush and paint. I played around with some different logo designs and came up with the W inside of the O. I also like how the written band name came out.

Listen here (the bandcamp site is also based around my tape design):
http://openxwounds.bandcamp.com/releases
http://openxwounds.bandcamp.com/releases
http://openxwounds.bandcamp.com/releases

Correction - Weaken The Stronghold EP + shirt

Here's something I did for my own band Correction. The front cover and insert consists of various photos that I've scanned from books from the libraries in town, a sure way to get a lot cooler shit than a regular google search. I hand painted the logo at the top of the insert, and thought it looked cool enough to use instead of the regular logo from the front cover. The lyrics are typed on a real type writer but edited to not take up as much space. The a-side label is obviously a reference to Insted's classic LP "Bonds Of Friendship" while the b-side label is actually not a photo from a Correction show, but from when I sang a song together with Coke Bust in Berlin the summer of 2013, presumably it was Cock Sparrer's "Watch Your Back." The Xd up fist on the back cover comes from a local magazine form the city Vänersborg in Sweden from the early 90s, that had an article covering the straight edge scene in city. Vänersborg had bands like Outstand and Ultimate Concern and most importantly Start Today, and the record label and distribution No Looking Back was an importany hardcore hub around the time, releasing for example the first Nine CD "To The Bottom." I kept the paper all these years and found it suitable to use on this design.

Listen:
https://xcorrectionx.bandcamp.com/
https://xcorrectionx.bandcamp.com/
https://xcorrectionx.bandcamp.com/

Order (it's not a pre-order regardless of what the link suggests):
http://ctwrecords.bigcartel.com/product/correction-weaken-the-stronghold-7-pre-order
http://ctwrecords.bigcartel.com/product/correction-weaken-the-stronghold-7-pre-order
http://ctwrecords.bigcartel.com/product/correction-weaken-the-stronghold-7-pre-order

Agent Attitude - Deranged Realities LP

I did most of the work for this LP while on the road with Nick Tape in the US last spring/early summer. The lyrics were handwritten in Portland, Oregon, occupying the home-office desk of Justin who used to play drums in Time To Escape. A whole lot of Photoshop editing was done in Jasmine Torso's punk house in Oakland, where we stayed for two-three days during Coke Bust's gigs in the Bay-Area. I did my best to take sharp photos of lyrics while cramped into a very tiny touring vehicle, and spent endless hours of trying to edit the photos to make sure it didn't come through that the sun had been shining in differently upon them depending on what direction we were driving and what time of the day it was. Plus the occasional cloud. I printed everything in DC, and then took new photos of the lyrics taped onto pizza delivery boxes. To sum up: not the best of circumstances, but a lot of cool memories.

I have previously done Agent Attitude's EP from earlier this year, for which we opted for a more clean, straight forward design. I am happy with parts of that, but I don't think the front cover worked very well. This time around the band supplied me with the front cover drawing, plus the drawing on the lyric sheet. The big photo of Jakob on the lyric sheet was taken by James of Coke Bust in Europe the summer of 2013.

For the labels, we went for a classic design, and exchanged the usual copyright yadda yadda text along the edges with two longer quotes from classic bands from Uppsala, the city Agent Attitude comes from. The A-side is a quote from Äppelkarters, the B-side from Diskonto.

Thanks to Johan Monument, Jakob Adult Crash and the band for letting me do this!

Ego Trip - Alter Ego 7"

Here's a record that has been out for a while now. I also did some work for Ego Trip's demo last year. I'll admit that I struggled a bit with the front and back for this one, and when looking at it now, it might look a little too computerized. I am not a fan of when cut and paste stuff gets edited in a way that makes it look like it was faked. Also, the brick wall should have been limited to just a small part at the very top of the canvas, The inlay however looks a lot better.

In usual fashion I combined different things here. Pen in hand, printing photos and re-scanning them, editing in photoshop etc.

For the labels I had some fun with a photo I took of Pat (of Ego Trip) together with his CTW label mate Tomas in Helsinki, Finland. The guys are actually standing by a statue that resembles the logo of the label, but that can't be seen. I like such little references, especially on labels, where I think it's more than okay to fuck around a little bit. Also putting Pat into a photo of Public Enemy just seemed like a fun thing to do.

Ego Trip on facebook.
Ego Trip on bandcamp.

Damaged Head - Tunnel Vision LP (Adult Crash / European version)

Long time coming (I did the basic design for this in early spring but various screen print matters delayed the finished release), the European version of the Damaged Head LP is finally out on Adult Crash Records. This is probably one of the coolest things I've done, but it definitely demanded a shit load if time and effort, especially the type writer stuff. I used a type writer at a friend's place, and it had something wrong with it causing some lines to be red instead of black, and some a mix of the two. That happened by accident but I rolled with it and created the whole design around the colors. It was the same type writer I used for Damaged Head's 7" from earlier this year, and similarly I re-used the idea of tearing photos into pieces for both the back cover and inlay of this LP, like on the back cover of the EP. I like the idea of linking the releases in that sense. The DxHx logo on the poster side of the inlay and back cover, as well as the band name and record title on the lyric side of the inlay, were done with brush and acrylic paint.

The little dragon is painted by Xaveiro from São Paulo, from the band Disxease.

The US version on Man In Decline should be out soon, too.

Order the record from Adult Crash.

Damaged Head on facebook.

Damaged Head on bandcamp.

Sectarian Violence - EP tour cover 2012

This is something I did for the UK weekend we did in 2012 around the release of the 7" on Grave Mistake. I've probably never been as ashamed on stage as when we fucked up a Discharge cover in Leeds, but in general, it was a nice start to Sectarian Violence as a live band. 

Blind Authority - No Future EP

Funny facts: the front-cover is drawn by Lloyd from Brisbane, Australia, who released the Correction demo tape over there last year, and the record label logo is designed by my flat-mate Jacob. Family affair this, in other words.

I did a lot of work on this debut EP by Blind Authority out of England while I was on the road in the US. Thankfully, I was able to make use of my archives of scanned photos for the back, after the band decided to scrap the idea of a band photo that I had massive problems getting to look any good at all. Everything in the inlay and on the back cover was printed and then re-scanned before being placed in the design, which gives both the photos and the text a special edge.

Listen to the EP here: http://blindauthority.bandcamp.com/
Order it here: http://selfacceptancerecords.bigcartel.com/product/blind-authority-no-future-7

Damaged Head - Self Titled 7"

Damaged Head is a rather new band from Uppsala and Stockholm featuring members of bands like Nitad, Herätys, Agent Attitude, Forced Into and a lot more. Adult Crash picked them up directly and the band's first release is this EP on the Danish label, which is also going to be a one-sided 12" in the US on Man In Decline Records. I had the honor of doing the design for both. The 12" is not out yet, but the only difference - except for the size obviously - will be the screened design on the flipside. I'll post that later once it is out.

This design took a lot of time to get together. I am extremely thankful that Mike Tommyrot from Syracuse of Black SS fame (he drew the cover of the second Path Of Resistance cover!) agreed to draw the front cover, not only because it turned out better than I had expected, but also because it allowed me to focus on the rest of it. I typed all the lyrics and credits on a type writer and then spent hours and hours editing it, finding new ways to combine lines and work with margins. At first, we had a silly idea that all members would be presented on a fake psych ward registration card, but it was hard to make it look good and I am thankful the idea was scrapped. Sometimes you have to invest x amount of hours into a bad idea before you can actually move forward and create something you're happy with. And I am happy with this one. Much of the images deal with lobotomy: the front cover, the b side label picture, the boy on top of the lyrics and the big hand and skull beside the credits. I like how that theme worked out so well.

I am currently working on the layout of the Damaged Head LP, due on Adult Crash this spring.

Damaged Head on facebook
Damaged Head on Bandcamp

xRepentancex - 90s design

I was asked to do a shirt that looked as 90s as possible for my mates in xRepentancex from the UK, possibly my favorite current band reaching for that typical 90s vegan metal sound. I think both colors and design worked well here. I worked with pens and brushes to write the text with help of printed fonts, to make it look a little bit cooler than "just" a font. The band logo was fixed with pencils and then touched up in Photoshop, giving it the thick outline. Once again, I love mixing different tools. 

Check out xRepentancex here:

On Facebook

On Bandcamp

Buy stuff here:

Limited Run webshop

A couple of gig flyers

I've done shitloads of gig posters, some cool and some pretty boring to be honest. Here are a couple from the first category - if I am allowed to say so. At the top there's the flyer for the Undergång/Coke Bust/Sick Fix/Gust/Urbanoia show we set up the summer of 2012. Working with various references here, the most obvious being the Bad Brains lightning bolt. The building is an old tower in Gothenburg, and the two heads are the singers of Undergång, taken from one of the oldest available pictures of the band. The second Coke Bust flyer is from earlier this year. Very easy design but I like how the different elements come together in their simplicity. At the bottom there's the flyer I did for the Dirty Money/Hårda Tider/Commitment Crew/Stay Hungry show in Gothenburg at the end of summer in 2009.  

Coke Bust - Permanent Mission shirt

Here's a design I did for Coke Bust's summer tour in Europe 2012. This might look like a typical back design, but it is actually the front of a one-sided shirt. I guess there is some kind of thought to dividing the soldier into different parts, with the central one having more shades, especially with respect to the use of the word "permanent" as it is. The conflict between the permanent military mission and the fragile, breakable humans partaking, perhaps?

Sectarian Violence shirts

I've done a number of shirt designs for Sectarian Violence by now. The No Use design below was also printed as white on burgundy and white on dark blue. The Upward Hostility shirt was done in co-operation with Jacob Bondesson (http://retracethelines.blogspot.se/), whom I often turn to for Photoshop expertise when my own talent runs dry. 

Stay Hungry, photo collage from the "No Beginning, No End" 12"

I did this collage for the insert of the first Stay Hungry record, old school cut and paste style. We had only played a couple of shows by then, but I added loads of funny hang out pictures and ended up with a pretty cool thing here. Loads of friends, shenanigans and weird things happening. See Andy's hand reaching for my ass? See Joel Skog stepping on the Risk board game? See Andy punching a heavily grimacing Goran in the face? In the end, the collage was printed in black and white, which made it lose some of its charm, as well as the "Speak English Or Die" feel I was hoping for, but it still looked sweet enough. 

Iron To Gold, flyer for "In The Zone" 7"

Iron To Gold has been my favorite European hardcore band for a couple of years now. A great demo was followed by two incredible EPs in 2011, with these old school Poles perfecting their ultra tight mix of Judge, early Strife and Inside Out. Over time I've come to know the band a little bit, especially after flying them up here for four shows in October 2012, hanging with Pat at Fluff and their guitar player in Exile, Piotr, in Stockholm. Pat asked me to make a flyer for their upcoming third 7", saying "make it look like a flyer for 'Only The Strong' compilation," referring to the early Victory release. In the end, after giving it my own touch, I realized it was pretty close to a Hardware Fanzine look, and so I just went all in with that, as it is a pretty cool thing anyway.

Iron To Gold on facebook.
Iron To Gold on bandcamp.

xRepentancex - Statement rip shirt design

Pat asked me to do a rip of the classic Statement "Prepare For Battle" EP cover. Since XREPENTANCEX contains more characters than STATEMENT, I had to make the font smaller, but I still think it turned out pretty cool. Other than that it was all just quick photoshop stuff to make it look good on a white background. I have made a second shirt for the band too, which should be printed quite soon I reckon. Really glad to be asked to work with these lads, as xRepentancex is one of my favorite current European bands. Pat's riffage is insanely good, setting the band apart from other current 90's inspired units. 

xRepentancex on facebook

xRepentancex on bandcamp

Correction, demo, sticker and shirt

Correction is a band I've been doing with my brother in arms Mattias since last winter. Nick Tape released our demo on the US on his new Flophouse Records and Tapes, and Pat got the European version out on Carry the Weight. Later on we even got an Australian tape out, via Lloyd at Good Clean Hate (props for the OCHC reference dude!).

The tape has a picture of saw mill workers in Sundsvall, Sweden, accompanied by a little text about how they banned alcohol during a strike in their city. The back has a sweet Brotherhood-remake picture taken by Yohanna of Yo Vegan fanzine. I went for a pretty unruly cut and paste layout for the lyrics, and dig how it turned out. I guess I like this side better than the front, in the end.

Here are also a couple of merch items. First off a sticker and patch design. I scanned a tiny picture from an old fanzine that I bought almost 20 years ago. I love old school rasterized images. It is hard as fuck to get the same feel while using filters in Photoshop. I guess I should learn to do it the correct, manual way instead. The words look blurry and fucked up but turned out super cool on the prints.

The shirt has a collage of various fucked up things, with the big Xd up fist in the middle symbolizing not hiding away from any of the world's insanity via mind-numbing substances, religion or other ways to forget about reality. 

Correction at Flophouse
Order the US version here.
Correction at the CTW bandcamp.

Australian version with red X on the tapes.

Dan from Barge fame holding up the US version, also seen below.

Mr Flophouse himself posing with a Correction shirt in Atlanta, and live in Tampa, FL during the Coke Bust "Confined" tour the summer of 2013.