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:

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

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

Click here to view the embedded video.

Check out more of Chris Kawagiwa’s art by clicking here.