Cover
Story for March 20, 2009
Subject: Where It All Begins, by The Allman
Brothers Band – a 1994 release on Sony Records, with cover artwork and design
produced by Ioannis.
With the
band celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, and in the midst of
its annual multi-show run at NYC’s Beacon Theater, I thought that it’d be
interesting for Cover Story readers to get a look behind the scenes of the making
of one of their more-recent record covers – the one for 1994’s Where It All Begins, created by the
designer/painter Ioannis – in that, like the band, it represents another
well-done turn on a classic original effort.
Before the
band had established its logo (the first version of the stacked text appearing
on their 1979 Enlightened Rogues LP),
the band’s record covers had featured a wide variety of designs – both photo
and illustration-based, including Jim Marshall’s iconic photograph used on the
cover of their Live At Fillmore East
double album and James Flournoy Holmes’ illustration for Eat A Peach. However, band insiders (musicians and crew) had their
first exposure to a mushroom-based ABB logo in 1970 when tattoo artist Lyle
Tuttle was hired by brothers Gregg and Duane to create a tattoo design that
would then be distributed to the entire ABB family at a cannabis-fueled party
during a stop-over in Columbus, Ohio. This design obviously left a lasting
impression (sorry!) on guitarist Dickie Betts, who later suggested that it be
included in the design you’ll read about shortly.
In 1994,
the always-morphing line-up of the Allman Brothers Band consisted of the four
living members of the original band - Gregg Allman, Dickey Betts, Butch Trucks
and Jai Johanny "Jaimoe" Johanson - all who had reunited for
their 20th Anniversary tour in 1989 - and added players including
guitarist Warren Haynes (the new “hardest working man in show business”),
bassist Allen Woody and drummer/percussionist Marc Quinones. Driven by strong
play on AOR stations, the record ultimately went gold, but it turned out to be
the last one that Mr. Betts would play on, with Mr. Haynes replacing him
permanently in 2001.
In as much
as their fans love their recordings, it is the band’s live performances that
have given them the opportunity to play to sold-out crowds for 40 years, so
like any manager worth his/her salt, it was important for Bert Hollman to find
someone with the talent to produce just the right designs for the band’s tour
merch. This timely need opened the door for Ioannis into the band’s inner world
and, based on the fact that the relationship is still strong 15 years later, the
band and its fans have been greatly impressed by the now-iconic mushroom-based design.
The details of how it all begins are chronicled in today’s Cover Story…
In the
words of the artist – Ioannis – interviewed December 2008 and January 2009 -
In the
early spring of 1994, the small design firm that my brother and I had started
was only a couple of years old, so designing the next cover for the Allman
Brothers Band was the last thing on my mind at the time. A friend of ours in
the merchandising business had been contacted by the band’s manager (Bert
Hollman) and was asked to provide a design for tour shirts for their upcoming
tour, so he called us for help. I sketched a couple of ideas and then packed up
the car for the drive up to Massachusetts (from our office in Connecticut) to
present them. At the last minute, I decided to take one of my paintings along
to show him how my fine art looked.
Bert
turned out to be very down to earth type of guy and one with a great eye and
appreciation for artwork. When I showed him my painting, he looked at it long
and hard and said “forget the t-shirts for now - what do you think you could do
with this?”. He then showed me a pencil drawing of a bunch of naked girls
dancing around a mushroom. “Dickie (Betts) sent me this” he said, “and we have
an album coming out and are in need of a record cover really bad. We are also
really behind schedule, so can you put something together in a week?”
At this
point, my head was spinning. I was caught totally off guard as I had the whole
sales pitch for the designs for the tour merch in my head. “Do we have a
title?” I asked. “Epic (the record label) is thinking, ‘Greetings from Jupiter’,
but I don’t think we are going with that” he replied. “I like the sketch, but
not the naked girls,” I said, adding “I guess the mushroom is cool.” “Well,
that is what I want - to take the mushroom icon to a new level” he replied.
For the
entire drive home, ideas started going through my head. I must admit I was
never a huge ABB fan when I was a teenager because, growing up in Europe, I was more exposed to Rock and
Roll from the U.K.. However, once we moved to the U.S.,
it was impossible to avoid their music and, more importantly, I thought that it
was great! They were the forefathers of “Jam band” music and, to me, they had more
in common with Santana and The Grateful Dead and less with Lynyrd Skynyrd and
the Southern Rock movement.
When I got
home I went through the whole ABB catalogue and noticed that - with the
exception of Eat A Peach - there was
hardly any illustrated cover art. I decided then that I would do a painting for
the main cover image. Around that time, my wife and I (with our 8 month-old
daughter in tow) had moved to a new house near the ocean. I had not painted in
a long time and, while setting up my new studio, I was inspired and started to
paint again, so by the time this commission came about, I had worked out all of
the kinks in the process.
I first hired
a friend of mine to shoot a picture of denim fabric that I’d use as the
background texture and I then began to sketch the cover artwork. I realized
that showing my client pencil sketches was not going to work - they were not
going to get the gist of it from sketches - so I proceeded to paint a small 6x6
inch cover in inks and acrylics. I comp’d the whole piece together in two days
and then, very nervously, drove it up to Bert’s house to show it to him. “This
is great” he said. “Let me show it to Dickie and I will get back to you.”
About a
day or so later he called me with the verdict. “He loved it”, he said. “How
quick can you get it to the label?” “Well”, I replied, “I will need at least a
week or so to do the painting”. “What painting?”, he said. “I thought that WAS the artwork!” (in the
years since, we still get a good laugh about that). And so, with my daughter
crawling around in the studio, I started the painting.
Although the
first two versions were, in my mind, horrible, things started to come together
in the third one. I did some airbrushing (mostly for the sky), used enamel
marbling on the rocks, and acrylics, pencils and dyes for the details. I
decided on a sunset view of the southern bayou with waterfalls and springs in
the background and a huge (some would say) phallic psychedelic mushroom coming
out of the water as the centerpiece - pure fantasy artwork.
When it
was done, I packed it up in my car and, with my friend, took a ride on up to
Boston again. The band had rented an old warehouse and had set up to rehearse.
Bert led me inside and propped the painting up against the wall. As the band
took a break, he brought in each member - one at a time - and showed them the
art. One by one, everyone approved, and last one up was Dickie (remember, it
was based on his idea – well, sort of!). He took one look at it, turned around
and then hugged me, saying “this says to me ‘Where It All Begins’.” Thus, the
title.
After
everyone had left, Bert leaned over to me and said “it is a great piece,
except that it doesn’t look anything like the comp we originally showed to
Dickie,” and he was right! As I embellished and polished the real painting, I
was not paying attention to the original 6” x 6” comp, so although the concept
was the same, the artwork bore no resemblance to the sample image that Dickie
and the others had originally reviewed. However, everyone liked the new
painting so much that no one really had noticed the change.
I then
took about a week to do the layouts and package design and brought the whole package
to Poughkeepsie, NY where the band was launching its summer tour. Backstage, I
showed the artwork to everyone and got pats on the back all around, which is
about the best you can hope for as a designer. Later on, I created t-shirt and
poster designs for the tour (and even a single).
Thus began
a relationship that has lasted to this day. The artwork I did for this project more
or less put my art career on a stable path as more commissions for artwork came
as a result. I had almost stopped painting – which was my first love – but this
piece whetted my appetite and gave me the confidence to paint again. Now I was finally
enjoying success as an art director, with a number of new pieces coming out
that summer - including a painting that would later become a cover for Lynyrd
Skynyrd, as well as tour art for Bon Jovi.
In 2006 as
a VIP guest of legendary drummer Butch Trucks I went to see the ABB at the
Beacon Theater in NYC during their now-famous annual “March Run” concert series.
There, I ran into a whole bunch of old friends, most notably Kirk West, who is
their road manager and general creative guru and historian. I had not sat
through a performance in a while, and while leaning against a stack of sound
equipment on the old stage just a few feet from Greg Allman, I realized that I
was watching an American rock legend kick it into high gear to a sold out crowd
who were in the band’s grip within just a few minutes.
As the
night wore on and the band continued to jam, I watched my artwork projected
behind them under the rainbow hues of the stage lighting. There was a moment in
time where it all came together for me, just like when I used to fantasize as a
kid about my art being part of the fabric of Rock music. I also humbly realized
that, looking at the expressions at the sea of faces in the rows in front of me
(from my vantage point on the stage,) my small contribution was being cemented into
the Allman Brothers Band lore.
Bert
Holman calls it “a great piece of artwork and a fan favorite”. To this day, it
is still reproduced on posters, t-shirts, prints, backdrops and animations used
by the band - I have even seen the art bootlegged on t-shirts, patches, tattoos
and bandanas! Every time I display the original in an art exhibit, a small
crowd gathers in front of the painting. I like the painting myself, but I am
not sure if it’s the art itself or the fact that it is such a recognized part
of the band’s iconography. In any case, the tons of complementary e-mails I
have received from fans over the years have really made it all worth while.
ABB Tour
Art – 1994, 1995, 2007
About the
artist – Ioannis –
Ioannis was born in Athens, Greece.
In 1967, his family moved to the United States
and, at an early age, he became influenced by American comic book artists. He
immediately knew he would be an illustrator and began creating and drawing his
own comic books, which he then sold around the neighborhood. His love for music
pushed his artistic development in a particular direction, with the hopes of
one day creating artwork – and, in particular record sleeve design – for the
music industry. During his teen years he
began painting in different media, developing a unique mixed-media technique
combining photographs, several types of paints and mixing traditional and
airbrush applications.
As he began college, Ioannis had already begun providing
design services to the local independent music acts and labels. In the early
1980s, this expanded to include clients in the New York
music scene where his work as a freelance art director increased
dramatically. Since then, he has done over 165 record covers/CD packages,
along with a vast catalog of promotional material, merchandise and tour art for
a diverse series of clients in the Classic Rock, Metal, Jazz, Prog Rock, World
music, alternative, and electronic genres.
Some of
his music clients have included Universal Records, Sony Records and
Sanctuary Records Group, providing designs for Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, STYX, Blue
Oyster Cult, Dream Theater, King Crimson, Yngwie Malmsteen, Biohazard, Sepultura,
Lynyrd Skynyrd, Quiet Riot, Dokken, Johnny Winter, Extreme, UFP, The Tubes,
Eddie Money, Van Zant, Saga, and many more. In 1994, he was one of 80 artists selected to
create a mural at Woodstock II, and his works have been featured in many
magazines, books and exhibitions worldwide.
His design firm -
VIVID IMAGES CREATIVE - also creates film posters,
entertainment company ID programs for Radio and TV companies and
programs,
websites and viral campaigns for entertainment clients, while his art
company - DANGEROUS AGE GRAPHICS - showcases, sells and promotes his
original
artwork (original works have been selling recently in the $25 - $50K
range) and manages his licensing and merchandising operations.
He resides on the coast of New England with his family, who are a constant
source of inspiration.
To learn
more about Ioannis, please visit his website at
http://www.dangerousage.com/main.html
To learn
more about The Allman Brothers Band, please visit their website at
http://www.allmanbrothersband.com/
To see
some of the new special edition prints produced by Ioannis, please visit the
RockPoP Gallery site at
http://rockpopgallery.com/items/ioannis/list.htm
All images
featured in this Cover Story are
Copyright 1994 - 2007, Ioannis/Vivid Image Design - All rights reserved. Except as
noted, all other text Copyright 2009 - Mike Goldstein & RockPoP Gallery
(www.rockpopgallery.com) - All rights reserved.
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