Barbarian Riot Squad – “Crom” sneak peak
By kevincross on July 2nd, 2010Posted In: Blog
I just finished tracking for a song tentatively titled “Crom”. As with the last audio sample I posted, this still needs to be mixed and the vocals still need to be recorded.Barbarian Riot Squad – new illustration and wallpaper
By kevincross on June 30th, 2010Posted In: Blog
Using some of the influence I’ve taken from some of the “Cartoon Modern” art style I’ve been really into, I made a new illustration for Barbarian Riot Squad. I also, made 3 wallpapers using this image for anyone interested.
Click below to get the wallpaper:
I just finished a new logo for my new punk rock music project and thought it’d not only be cool to show the logo, but also play a short sneak peak of one of the songs that will be on the record.This clip is for a song that is tentatively titled, “Raise the Black Flag”. I still need to mix this track and record the vocals, but I think this will give you a good idea as to what musical direction I’m taking with Barbarian Riot Squad. Click below to hear this work in progress:
I just finished this patch design for my new music project, BARBARIAN RIOT SQUAD. Yep, that is indeed the visage of CROM!
Its that time again! Time for me to release an out of print record from one of my old bands for you to download. This time its GOODFELLAS, one of the lesser known groups I was part of. We hailed from Oakland, CA. for about two and a half years during 1995- 1998. During the lifetime of the band, we recorded one full length LP and one 7″ EP. Personally, I don’t mind if the LP is lost to time and remains hidden, but I’m still pretty happy with the “E.B.S.R.” EP we did. Its really when the band was coming into a sound and direction that I preferred. Friends of ours in other bands, such as Screw 32 and A.F.I., were calling their style of punk rock E.B.H.C. for East Bay Hard Core. So, being the cheeky skate punks that we were, we decided to call our style of punk rock E.B.S.R. for East Bay Skate Rock.
The first lineup for GOODFELLAS was Shawn Chatelain on guitar, Will Thompson on bass, Tom Landon on guitar, Jude Ramirez on drums, and I did vocals. By the time we recorded “E.B.S.R.”, Brian Hood had replaced Tom on guitar. Soon after that recording, Will left the band and I played bass as well as did vocals for the remainder of the band’s existence.
Although, this wasn’t one of the more successful bands I was in, I miss this time incredibly as well as all the guys in the band. Unfortunately, I’ve lost contact with a few of them and I only get to see the others on very rare occasions.
Enough rambling. Here’s the GOODFELLAS “E.B.S.R.” EP…
Click here to listen to “TOMBSTONE DISASTER”
Click here to download GOODFELLAS “E.B.S.R.”
Hi Everyone!
I’m stoked to announce that I’ll be attending KIDS READ COMICS this year. I’m also going to be running a couple workshops with my friend Mark Rudolph, a fellow host on the Art & Story Podcast, on Saturday and Sunday. In addition, there will be a live Art & Story show at the event with Jerzy Drozd, Mark Rudolph, Krishna Sadasivam, Sara Turner, and myself. Lastly, thanks to the kind donations and wonderful subscribers to Art & Story and Art & Story Supreme, we are able to be one of the sponsors of the event. We will be providing real catered food for everyone tabling at KIDS READ COMICS. Looking forward to the show and meeting all of you that are able to attend!
Please click on the images above and below for more information.
xoxo,
Kevin
After it was called to my attention that a few records, from bands I was in, have gone out of print and are being sold at collector prices, it occurred to me that its a shame most people won’t be able to hear this stuff. So in the spirit of sharing and punk rock, I’m going to be making these records available again over the next few weeks. This week, I’m starting with BIG RIG.
BIG RIG wasn’t around for long. We only recorded one 7″/CD EP and a demo. The band started with me on guitar and two friends from high school, Brandon Riggen on drums and Doug Sangalang on guitar. We soon got Jeremy Goody on bass and Jesse Michaels on vocals in his first band since OPERATION IVY. In 1994, Lookout Records put out the “Expansive Heart” EP:
Track List:
1. Expansive Heart
2.Will Alone
3. New Fist (click to hear this track)
4. Persistance
Liner notes in the insert of the vinyl release of “Expansive Heart” say, “BIG RIG was a short term musical project. We played for a couple of months this year (1993) and then went onto other things. We decided to put out this record simply because we developed a liking for some of our songs and thought it would suck if nobody heard them.”
Before we had decided to make it a “short term musical project” we recorded a demo in 1993:
On the demo are different versions for three of the songs that would wind up on “Expansive Heart” and three songs that have never been released before now.
Track List:
1. Escape From The Freezing Ice Hut
2. Our Secret Hours
3. Mr. Down and Out (click to hear this track)
4. Will Alone
5. Expansive Heart
6. New Fist
The last track I’ve included in this download is a work in progress that never got finished. Its just added here for posterity. The sound quality for the work in progress and the demo version of “New Fist” has some crackle, but they were transferred from an old cassette tape.
Click here to download BIG RIG “Expansive Heart + Demo”
Hi everyone,
I just thought I’d write a little note about the schedule and my future plans for Monkey Mod.
I’ve been having a pretty good year so far with illustration work from some really cool clients. Unfortunately, Monkey Mod doesn’t pay the bills. Until I meet a patron of the arts or it does make some cash, the comic will have to take a back seat to paying work. That doesn’t mean the comic will be going away. It just means that updates are going to be slow.
After the current story line has finished updating, I’m going to finish each story line to completion before updating it. This way, I think, I won’t be leaving readers hanging when I get crazy deadlines that keep me away from Monkey Mod for an extended period. Aside from checking in with this site, the best way to hear when new stories update is to click the “Follow Me On Twitter” link in the left sidebar.
Additionally, I have been seriously entertaining the idea of changing the art style to be in a similar vein to the deceptively simple cartooning style exhibited by UPA animation and Hanna-Barbera animation from the 1950s and 1960s. Its a style I’ve really fallen in love with! I feel like if I do a similar style, I’ll be able to produce comic pages at a faster rate and get more stories out sooner over a shorter amount of time. Plus, I think that style will lend a bit more to the mod aesthetic. Not to mention, more fun for me to draw.
Furthermore, I have realized that some of the extras that I wanted to include on this site have spread me a bit thin. So, the podcast is not going to be updating. I’m still going to do a series on “The History of Mod” as promised, but that will be the extent of the podcasting. You’ll be able to hear it in the Monkey Mod Radio player on the Extras page along with future Monkey Mod music when it is complete. I currently have plans to do a Monkey Mod record in the next year or two and there are a couple Monkey Mod animated shorts I hope to put into production as soon as time permits as well. I had to sacrifice the podcast to keep room on my plate for the music and cartoons. However, I should note, the comic is the most important aspect of Monkey Mod. So, the music and cartoons are going to be fun extras that I’ll get to when the mood strikes.
Thanks for visiting!
Stay cool,
Kevin
This is freaking me out right now! Its a rad piece of American cartoon garage rock and although its a little pop, listen for the fuzz guitar tone … way cool!
This is rad! Thanks Chris!!!
I’ve been putting these iPhone wallpapers together with existing art, but if you folks are liking them, I’ll do some brand new ones exclusively for the iPhone. Please let me know. Also, I’d be interested to hear if there is any interest in a desktop wallpaper?
As promised, here’s another iPhone wallpaper. Hope you dig it!
I have to give my friend, Jerzy Drozd, full credit for having the foresight to create some iPhone wallpapers. (Click here to get some of Jerzy’s iPhone wallpapers) Its kind of hard to believe we didn’t think to do this sooner. Anyway, with influence from my trailblazing friend, I’m going to be posting some iPhone wallpapers here from time to time. Below is my first one and its a glimpse at some art from a page to be posted in the near future. Stay cool!
Its hard for me to correctly express how awesome it is and appreciative I feel when I get some fan art. I can say that I do feel very blessed and honored anytime someone spends their time to draw my little character. I was especially blessed yesterday when I got two pieces! They are by Chris Butler and Jamie Gambell. I’ve added them to the Fan Art page in the Extras menu, but check ‘em out here now:
By Chris Butler
By Jamie Gambell
THANKS GUYS!!!
As I look towards the future in this new year, I found a relic from my past and thought I’d share. From the Autumn of 1999 to late 2005/early 2006 ( I can’t remember the exact date when we officially called it a day), I was the guitarist and one of the vocalists for a band called Pitch Black. We started off as what I guess could be classified as a horror-punk band and ended up as a post-punk band. We always just claimed to play “The Modern Sound”, which was a nod to the mod culture I am enamored with. Being in Pitch Black was one of the best times of my life! The band break-up was even amicable & we are all still friends. Something I’ve found to be rare in other bands I’ve been in. By the end of our run, we had recorded a split EP with The Enemies for Lookout! Records, 2 LPs for Revelation Records, and a 7″ EP for Cheetah’s Records. We also did a bunch of touring with a lot of great bands throughout North America.
This video is from a track off our self-titled debut LP on Revelation Records called “The Bride”. This song also made it to a couple skateboard videos and clips of it were played on a couple skate contests that ran on ESPN at the time. The video was produced by a friend of mine, Mark Yang, in the motion picture department while we were both attending the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. This video was part of a class project for him. I think that’s why there are so many techniques used and why some of them come off as a bit silly, but I think he needed to show the teacher he had learned everything that was taught. Mark was a super rad guy who was as enthusiastic about Rock-n-Roll as I am. After we graduated, he had to go back to his native Tawain and I am sorry to say that we lost contact after that. I hope he’s doing well! Lastly, I hope you all dig the video and maybe even get a chuckle out of what I used to do before becoming a cartoonist.
Happy Holidays!!!
As of this writing, I think I’m going to be updating comics on Tuesdays. While the ‘Unmasked’ story line is progressing, I’m going to post the original pages, as they appeared in the ‘Monkey Mod Unmasked’ mini-comic, on the Fridays following the regular comic update. That said, here’s the original version of page 1:
Today I was stoked to post some more art to the fan art gallery in the extras menu. This first one is by my Ghettomation co-host and animation trail blazer, Jim Lujan. Check out his cartoons when you get a chance because they are awesome!
The next is from Colin Panetta, who does a cool comic called Dead Man Holiday.
Thanks to everyone who has sent me art! It means a lot!!! You rule!!
I was stoked to receive some new Monkey Mod fan art a couple of days ago from Luis Escobar. He is a talented story artist for the Simpsons and is part of the Cartoonistas, which was started by my pals Jim Lujan and Javier Hernandez. I’ve added this piece to the fan art gallery along with all the other way cool art I’ve gotten from some of my other friends.
