One of Winston’s latest projects, Solar Cantata, is in the final stages of being released. Their album cover was just revealed over Fourth of July Weekend. Here’s what they have to say about the project…
Bobby joe ebola and the Children MacNuggits:
“One of the exciting things about having a long career as independent artists is getting to collaborate with people whose work we have long admired. We don’t really get star-struck any more; over the years we’ve worked with hundreds of talented - and occasionally famous - people, in music, in film, in books and more…
But there are some people whose work has been so influential to our worldview that working with them seems like walking right up into the clouds. So it must have been temporary insanity, liquid courage or a bit of both that led us to reach out to Winston Smith about doing the cover art for our album Solar Cantata.”
“We’ve been fans of Winston’s work since before we knew it was his. Those early Dead Kennedys album covers and the unforgettable logos he created for Dead Kennedys and Alternative Tentacles Records were wallpapered to the inside of our brains. From his book covers for investigative journalist Greg Palast, to George Carlin’s 2001 comedy album Complaints and Grievances, Winston helped define the visual aesthetic of punk, and the broader underground culture of resistance. His subversive, satirical collage work gave us all a lexicon to critique the phoniness and deadly hypocrisies of the empire into which we were born. It opened conceptual doors for us that we were not fully aware of until later, influencing our music, our politics, and how we conduct ourselves in this world.
All of this is to say that we were honored when he agreed to create the art for our album cover. And boy did he nail it. His piece ‘Bumper to Bumper’ succinctly captures a lot of what this album is about; our mixed feelings about the breakdown of the empire’s cruel machinery, the hard times we see ahead, and the struggle to find meaning in a world that seems intent on burning itself down.
So without further ado we present to you the first look at the cover for Solar Cantata. Our Kickstarter campaign ends July 11, so there is still time for you to pre-order your copy of the album, featuring over 50 musicians with cover art by Winston Smith, gatefold art by Erol Otus, photography by Michael Garlington and Anthony Marchitiello, and lettering & layout by Jason Chandler.” ~Corbett & Dan