AT Bat emblem

When I made the Alternative Tentacles Logo it was based on a chicken-scratch rendering that Biafra suggested to me way back, over 40+ years ago.

I misunderstood its use, thinking it would be the central graphic for the center of a certain single record release. But I later realized it was for a Label— being a Record Company with LOTS of records (as well as T-shirts, stickers, patches, coffee mugs, solar powered dancing hamburgers, etc.)

I never would have guessed that my ornery little bat character would go on to inspire so many variations on the theme. So for lots of artists my advice is to give it your best, give whatever you're working on 100% of your talent and skills because you never can tell if your work will wind up being EVERYWHERE.

To design the Bat I turned to a set of cartoons that I would pass round the classroom when I was around 9 or 10 years old (1961 or ‘62). I used to draw characters with triangular eyes and noses, etc. (I called them “Maquinies”). Little did I know that my 4th grade doodles would come back to haunt me in the not-too-distant future.

Now I’ve seen my bat character painted on walls, drawn in the margins of school notebooks and tattoo’d on people’s heads, arms, legs and torsos. (Unfortunately artists can’t get royalties from graffiti or tattoos . . . )

But— it has been very gratifying to see the totally cool re-interpretations of my basic bat as revered by artists and fans over the last 40 years. Some versions are abstract, some are whimsical and some are highly realistic, such as renowned artist Chris Shary, among others. I’m amazed to see the endless variety of artistic expressions and interpretations by a whole new generation of artists and AT fans.