Designing Album Cover Art

6 March 08

Welcome to The Pier's 'Ask Weege' column. This is where the 880 South's front man and music scene veteran will be answering questions and providing tips for up-and-coming bands and musicians.

This week, The Pier asks, 'Since The Pier is about to drop its first compilation album, what do you think makes for a great album cover? And what are your fav album covers of all time and why?'

Honestly. This answer varies and I'm sure it does for everyone. For me you obviously want kick ass artwork, that's unique.

Photography is also a great substitute. I'm a big fan of silly. I loved a lot of The Ziggens album covers. Definitely silly. I loved the Red Hot Chili Peppers albums of the past - Mother's Milk and Abby Road EP were hilarious. But that was a different time. I even dug the Pearl Jam album cover for Versus. I think it was a llama or an alpaca or something? Maybe it was a dog, the simple fact that I can't pinpoint it is exactly why I loved it, but that's contradicting cause it doesn't appear to have anything to do with the album. Then again...I could be wrong.

Led Zeppelin always had good album covers too - In Through the Outdoor and Houses of the Holy. Trippy art. Bob Marley had cool art. I always loved the Uprising album cover. It's symbolic almost. Catch A Fire is a great iconic cover, but the album where they are all chillin gangsta style with their shotguns. I think it's on the back of Catch A Fire actually? That really tells a story about Trenchtown and their roots.

40 oz to Freedom definitely caught my eye. Opie Ortiz's artwork was not only original, it told you so much about their culture and the band's motto. I could easily relate to it and even though the first time I heard Date Rape I was very bias and annoyed and at the same time intrigued. Still it opened my ears up to the rest of the album. I thought they were just another corny ska band like the rest of the ska scene that was emerging. I loved the old Rocksteady scene. I was really loving The Skatellites, early Bob Marley & the Wailers, The Specials and even Operation Ivy cause Tim Armstrong was a Campbell cat. So I had to support.

At the time I was more into punk and metal. So the emerging ska scene rubbed me wrong and at the time seeing all these dudes in suits shoutin Rudeboy and talkin about "Knockin On Wood" really annoyed me. But when I heard Sublime it really opened my mind up, plus I heard songs that they covered and that got me in the mood. Thank god. I wouldn't be the same if it wasn't for 40 Oz to Freedom.

More than anything I want the album cover to tell a story. In fact I want the album cover to be relative to the music, the album theme (if there is one), or even the songs on the album. I mean if the band recorded the song in New York City in the middle of the projects. Then I want the cover to reflect that.

When I walk through a record store, and I still go every now and then. I look for names of course, because of the music scene I'm in. I know what I'm looking for and what genre. From there if something catches my eye in the same bin or aisle. I check it out, but the other titles I came to find and then I go home and look up the album cover that intrigued me. I give it a listen and go from there on whether I wanna buy it.

I honestly don't think album cover art sells a CD anymore. Just take a look at iTunes. You're just downloading music for the most part. Not the artwork. Most people know what they are looking for, know the name of the bands they wanna hear. They find that through the internet. So I believe it's the job of the artist to paint a picture on their album that pleases their fanbase. That makes for a good album cover. If you're making an album cover to try and catch everyone's eye. It's not gonna do that much for you, but you never know who might be intrigued.

-Weege-

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