1. What piece of art has recently caught your attention? I can’t narrow it down to just one piece of art, but the works of Phantom City Creative and “Ghoulish” Gary Pullin have been on my frequent surfing list for a while now.

Phantom City and Gary are both located in Toronto and I had the pleasure of meeting these guys last month. Their work tends to focus on movie posters/illustration and they really are leading the way in the Canadian poster design movement. Both have some nice ties to Mondo and have produced some incredible work over the last couple of years. Well worth a look. Real nice guys too.

2. If you weren’t doing what you do, what would you be doing? I really can’t think of NOT doing art to some degree. I mean, I’ve been drawing since I was 4 years and never stopped. It’s a part of who I am … the largest part actually. I knew really early that doing fun creative stuff would be with me for a very long time and I kept it up, despite being yelled at by teachers for drawing in class or being made fun of by dickheads I went to junior high with.

When asked this question I used to say “I’d be a symboligist” like what’s-his-name from the DaVinci Code, but that was only because of the meaning behind symbols and logos which ties into design again.

But I CAN say that if I weren’t doing this, there’s no way I’d be as happy.

3. Who are you most looking forward to hearing/seeing at WMC Fest? There’s a handful, but Chuck Anderson is top of the list. Been talking to that guy for quite some time and have been a fan of his work, philosophy and musical taste all the while. I have some choice heckles set aside just for him. That’s not true.

Also looking forward to Johnny Cupcakes. He’s the man. I love his designs, but more so his work ethic and lifestyle. He’s a happy guy, pretty envious of his relentless optimism sometimes, but his website can always put a smile on my face. Can’t wait to shake his hand.

4. What are three things you grab before walking out the door? iPhone for my music, $2.25 for the ferry and my Field Notes book in case I need to doodle something in a hurry. A quick 4th would be a handful of Signalnoise stickers in case I want to bomb a random bathroom.

5. How does music play a role in your life? What bands/albums are on heavy rotation? Pretty big role. I’m not one of those artists that requires music to be playing all the time while I’m working, but there are occasions when I’m working on something where music plays a pivotal role in the outcome, like my DRIVE poster or my work for metal band THE SWORD. In those cases, music is like R&D.

Bands in heavy rotation, here we go. Big list. Alphabetical order for quick reference:

Anthrax, At The Gates, Baroness, Beatles, Black Sabbath, Boris, Cave In, Converge, Dark Fortress, David Bowie, Enslaved, Guns n’ Roses, Harry Nilsson, Iron Maiden, Isis, Jim Guthrie, Judas Priest, The Kinks, Kylesa, Led Zeppelin, Mark Lanegan, Mastodon, Misfits, Monster Magnet, Mötley Crüe, Nirvana, Priestess, Probot, Pulp, Queens of the Stone Age, Rainbow, Reckless Love, Red Fang, Scott Walker, Skid Row, Sleep, Soundgarden, The Sword, These Arms are Snakes, Tool, White Zombie, Wolves in the Throne Room.

Be sure to check out Jame’s site and follow him on Twitter! James will be speaking in the Reinberger Auditorium Sunday, June 10th from 6:15 – 6:45pm!

Click here to order your tickets to WMC Fest today! If you’re interested in joining us as a sponsor for as little as $50, there are numerous packages available here.

1. What’s one of the most surprising places from which you derive inspiration? I don’t know if anything’s off limits or surprising anymore, inspiration wise. Once you’ve been doing this for a while it seeps into every part of your life; and one just absorbs bits and pieces of inspiration everywhere. It can be the contrast of blue construction paint against the texture of cracked asphalt, that ever-so-slight gradation on a truck stop coffee mug, or that fading hand-painted sign on the laundromat down the street. Its everywhere, its constant.

2. Over the past few years, what’s one thing that has really challenged you creatively? A few years back I enrolled in a screen printing class because its something I’d always wanted to learn. I had been doing client work for so long I totally forgot what it was like to design for myself – just for fun. The prints for my class we not brochures or logos or packaging and they weren’t for any one client so there were no implied “rules”, design-wise (well, besides designing around my limited abilities as a rookie screen printer). I didn’t know where to start or what I wanted to say. Somewhere along the way, I’d lost my voice as an artist. It was a challenge to get it back and it took 10x as long to design my first project than it did to produce it. Since then, I’ve got an ongoing personal series I revisit every now and again to keep up that voice familiar. Its a fun free-time project or when I need a break from client work.

3. Who are you most looking forward to hearing/seeing at WMC Fest? Unfair question. All. Of. It.

I’m a self-proclaimed designerd and TOTAL music junkie, so this fest is like is like some form of heaven on earth, right?!

4. How does music play a role in your life? What bands/albums are on heavy rotation? Music is the reason I AM a designer. Its played a larger roll in my life than just about anything. It is and always will be my first love and lifelong companion. I started out as a music major but once I realized i didn’t want to spend 80% of my waking hours in a practice room learning every flute concerto ever written, so I switched out of the music program. I had a healthy collection of gig posters adorning my walls and a giant cd collection so when it came time to pick a new major, design had already seemed pretty near and dear to my heart.

Bands/albums in current heavy rotation: Amateur Love, Cotton Jones, American Analog Set, Luna, David Bazan, The National….or, check my last.fm.

You can follow Erin on Twitter or visit her site! Find her at WMC Fest at the iLTHY Workshop all weekend!

Click here to order your tickets to WMC Fest today! If you’re interested in joining us as a sponsor for as little as $50, there are numerous packages available here.

Classics: The Ramones – Leave Home, The Buzzcocks – Singles Going Steady, The Get Up Kids – Something To Write Home About, Rocketship – A Certain Smile, A Certain Sadness, Butterglory – Crumble

And there’s more: Death Cab, Halfway to Holland, Jets To Brazil

Best album cover ever? Andrew W.K. – I Get Wet, Green Day – Insomniac, Beastie Boys – License to Ill and that one of Bruce Springsteen’s butt.

Who are you most excited to see at WMC Fest? All our friends! Two Knights, Annabel, Northwestern, Empire! Empire! (I was a lonely estate), Into it. Over it., Algernon Cadwallader, Cherry Cola Champions, Signals Midwest. Excited to see Cloud Nothings in their home turf.

If you could have any super power, what would it be?  Teleportation: no need to ride that bus again, no more money on gas, more time to sleep until the last possible second.

What’s your favorite guilty pleasure artist (or band!)? Zolof the Rock and Roll Destroyer, Katy Perry,  Enrique Iglesias.

What are your 3 tour essentials? Friends, pizza and dranks.

Give ‘em a listen:

Follow Dowsing on Twitter, check ‘em out on the web + Bandcamp and keep up with the band on Facebook! They’ll be playing outside of the Saigon Plaza Saturday, June 9 from 5:30 – 6pm!

Click here to order your tickets to WMC Fest today.  If you’re interested in joining us as a sponsor for as little as $50, there are numerous packages available here.

*Photos pulled from Dowsing’s Facebook.

Preview more of this year’s line-up by downloading the free 22-track
WMC Fest 2012 Music Sampler!

My name is Dan Christofferson, I’m an illustrator, painter, designer, and insufferable charmer from Salt Lake City, Utah. I came to WMC Fest last year through Big Cartel, the gracious wind beneath my artistic wings. I had the chance to paint a mural in the gallery space during the festival, and even spoke on the second day about my experience as a passionate independent artist advocate. Anything people may have heard about me most likely has do to with either the images and icons of Salt Lake City I use in a lot of my work, or an intense, but far too intimate half-hug they got from ol’ Danny C.

2. What are the specs of the art print (you already answered) and who is printing?

This gorgeous, 16″x24″, 4 color, letterpress beauty is printed on 220 lb., ecru, Crane “Lettra” from Neenah Paper. I know a few of us out there who just shivered, then buckled at the knees with that description. The printing was done on an old, massive Heidelberg flatbed by the villainous thieves and gluttons (just lemme get creative guys, sheesh) at The Mandate Press in Salt Lake City. It will be available for sale at WMC Fest and in Go Media’s online store.

3. How did you come up with the idea for the art print?

The crop of locals I met last year from Cleveland had so much pride and loyalty when it came to Ohio. I started researching the history of the north coast area and got sucked right in. The image I started with went all the way back to the particularly dextrous and canny natives who likened themselves to the raccoons in the area. They even used the iconic mask and tail in their dress and rituals.

Raccoons are extremely smart and unbelievably crafty with their hands. That concept fell right in line with the unbelievably talented people I met at last year’s WMC Fest. Thrifty, little sneakers. The environment in the poster references the massive lake to the north, full of a remarkable amount of shipwrecks (and probably buried treasure), and the forests for which the city got its nickname.

Oh yeah, and those crafty native inhabitants were argued to be the first to use poison on the tips of their arrows!

4. Do you have any sketches or preliminary concepts to show?

Yup, I usually like to start with a bunch of quick sketches to solidify some of the ideas floating around in my head. The research I did was pretty full of cool imagery, I just needed to organize it and try to tell a bit of a story with all the visuals. I had some ideas that either didn’t work as strongly with the piece as a whole (trees as pencils), or didn’t feel as iconic as the final solution (the boat/monster in the lake, or the WMC monogram with the eye).

5. Do you have any insight into the design or printing process?

The printing process is always amazing, like magic. One of my closest friends, Ben Webster, runs the Mandate Press in SLC. We’ve got such a close relationship, in fact, that he rarely vomits in his mouth when I ask him to donate a huge, 4-color piece to a good cause.

We stock up on red bull, he fires up some weird rock band from our high school days, and we print through the night. He has the uncanny ability to multitask, reaching in and out of this huge, mashing machine while never missing a beat in our heated conversation. It always gives me sweaty palms, but we’ve created some really amazing pieces together.

6. Are you coming to WMC Fest 2012? What are you most looking forward to?

Yeah, I miss the hell out of my dudes, I’ll absolutely be there. The best thing about WMC Fest is the comfortable and calm way we experience all this real history being made. It feels so simple. The speakers are perfect, that little block of Cleveland feels instantly like home, and we watch these awesome, inspiring artists impart all this wisdom to a humble crowd ready to learn. The huge task will be to keep it this simple as it grows. I imagine you’re all up for the challenge.

June 28th – July 30th of this year. Friendship Festival is another Grassroots movement in it’s second year based out of 2 venues in Brooklyn, NY. Suburbia, and the Mckibbin Lofts (see the link above for the addresses). They are supporters of us here at WMC Fest, and likewise, we support their amazing band roster and overall punk spirit too! I am gonna make my way down there this year. For all of our friends in the New England region, and NYC region, check this Festival out!

I asked Ricky E. how Friendship Festival came about, and he told me how it was spawned out of nabbing peer bands to help out 2 touring bands. They got so many bands in support that it turned into a 1 day fest with 24 bands. This year it will be 3 days with over 30 bands, including help from Flannel Gurl and Meadowbrook Records.  Also, many bands from our friends and sponsor, Topshelf Records are playing as well.

-Jesse Sloan

1. What piece of art has recently caught your attention? Oh my goodness… Tom Scioli! I was lucky enough to meet him at my hometown’s Comic-Con last week and his work tore me up. He is the living breathing reincarnate of Jack Kirby. And not in a rip-off sorta way. Straight up gold. And his new work, “American Barbarian,” was just published by AdHouse Books! Google image search “Tom Scioli” and make sure you’re sitting down…

2. If you weren’t doing what you do, what would you be doing? Do I have the same body in this universe? If I could swap bodies with someone more hunky, I’d be a professional soccer player. If I had to keep this one, I’d probably read more. More comics, of course.

3. Who are you most looking forward to hearing/seeing at WMC Fest? Friends. There are so many old friends, new friends, e-friends, flesh ‘n’ blood friends…I can’t wait to be doing anything in Cleveland with friends.

If I had to be specific, I’d say I am really looking forward to shaking hands with a man named Erik Marinovich, hearing stories from a man named Matt Stevens (and then telling him I love him), standing in the same room as Jennifer Daniel but being too nervous to say anything, and then staring into Glen Infante’s eyes as long as he’ll let me.

4. What are three things you grab before walking out the door? My phone — a little bit because I’m addicted to pressing its buttons, and a lotta bit because I ride my bike to work and listen to music on it.

My headphones — see above.

If I’m lucky…whatever I bought the night before and can’t wait to show my office-mates. Usually a Jack Kirby find.

5. How does music play a role in your life? What bands/albums are on heavy rotation? Music is everything. It’s the bone and the marrow. Everything I do is accompanied by music. Everything I am is because music tricked me into thinking so. It’s the only thing we’ll all ever really have in common. I’m being dramatic, but I kinda mean it. Music plays a critical role in my everyday.

Heavy rotation:
Always – - Tears for Fears, OMD, Tangerine Dream, Roy Orbison, M83
Lately – - Depeche Mode’s “Speak & Spell,” Fleetwood Mac’s “Mirage” (not the Stevie tracks), Stepdad’s “Ordinaire EP,” and Tanlines’ “Mixed Emotions.”

Be sure to check out Nate’s site and follow him on Twitter! Nate will be speaking in the Reinberger Auditorium Saturday, June 9th from 3:15 – 3:45pm!

Click here to order your tickets to WMC Fest today! If you’re interested in joining us as a sponsor for as little as $50, there are numerous packages available here.

Favorite gig poster or artist that consistently blows you away with their artwork? All of the stuff that John Dyer Baizley does for bands always blows me away.

Who are you most excited to see at WMC Fest? Really pumped to see Algernon Cadwallader, Dowsing and Saintseneca.

If you could collaborate with one artist or band, who would it be? That’s a really hard question. I would have to say that it would have been awesome to play shows with Nirvana when they were still around but I can’t speak for what the rest of the band would say.

If you could have any super power, what would you choose? Flight? That would be pretty scary at first but it would save me time and money, so yeah I guess I will stick with flight.

Favorite guilty pleasure song (or band!)? Probably that Aerosmith song from Armagedon… maybe not, but it’s sort of a jam and Steven hits some crazy high notes.

What are your 3 tour essentials? For touring I always buy new socks, new underwear and a sleeping bag.

What’s your favorite part about being a Cleveland band? That there are so many awesome people in this little ”scene” who are always down to help out. There are also so many awesome bands around the area right now.

Give ‘em a listen:

Check out Two Hand Fools on Bandcamp and keep up with the band on Facebook! They’ll be playing Sunday from 6:35-7:05 outside the Saigon Plaza during the Fest.

Click here to order your tickets to WMC Fest today.  If you’re interested in joining us as a sponsor for as little as $50, there are numerous packages available here.

*Photos pulled from Two Hand Fool’s Facebook.

Preview more of this year’s line-up by downloading the free 22-track
WMC Fest 2012 Music Sampler!

1. What’s one of the most surprising places from which you derive inspiration? From reading books, both fiction and nonfiction alike. Seeing only words forces you to use your imagination and visualize what doesn’t actually exist in front of you. Rather than mindlessly ogling the work of other creatives, reading puts you in control.

2. Over the past few years, what’s one thing that has really challenged you creatively? My Creative Director Dana Lytle. He’s constantly telling me to “push it”. What that means exactly is perpetually open to interpretation, but it’s often direction enough to refine my work and get it to a point where everyone is happy and proud of the finished product.

3. Who are you most looking forward to hearing/seeing at WMC Fest? Tuesday Bassen. I had never met her until last October when I needed a place to stay in NYC. She’s an incredible illustrator, and an absolutely wonderful person to be around. So even though I’m already fairly familiar with her and her process, I’m still thrilled to see her speak.

4. How does music play a role in your life? What bands/albums are on heavy rotation? Music never really influences my work from a purely creative perspective, but it certainly has the ability to calms my nerves when I need it most. Bands I listen to a ton are Peter Wolf Crier, Milagres, Big Spider’s Back, Ganglians, and The Lord Dog Bird.

You can follow Evan on Twitter or visit his site! Find him at WMC Fest at the iLTHY Workshop all weekend!

Click here to order your tickets to WMC Fest today! If you’re interested in joining us as a sponsor for as little as $50, there are numerous packages available here.

1. What’s one of the most surprising places from which you derive inspiration? I think a great designer gleans inspiration from all over the place, but one of the most surprising places I find inspiration is my one (and a half) year old son, Asher. He doesn’t really talk yet, and he doesn’t know who Saul Bass is, but he wakes up everyday with more energy and excitement than any one person should have. I like to tell myself that if I can put even half that much effort and passion into my work and craft that I’ll have done good for the day—it just gives me a drive to create and push forward that I find in few other places.

2. Over the past few years, what’s one thing that has really challenged you creatively? One of the greatest challenges of designing for the internet is that it is constantly changing—new devices, new technology, and new mediums are always making the canvas a little different with each day. And I absolutely love designing for that reason. Trying to be as creative as possible and push the boundaries of what the internet can do is an equally stretching and rewarding process. I really wouldn’t give it up for anything.

3. Who are you most looking forward to hearing/seeing at WMC Fest? Johnny Cupcakes. I’ve followed him and his brand for so long, and the story is absolutely amazing. *Everything* they do is so on point, and so fun. It’s just really refreshing to see people do what they love for a living, not take themselves too seriously, and turn that into a booming business.

4. How does music play a role in your life? What bands/albums are on heavy rotation? I don’t think I could do what I do without music on constantly. It keeps me going and I’m pretty sure I’ll need hearing aids someday, but I’m just going to embrace it for now. Lately my rdio feed has been a lot of Explosions in the Sky, Now, Now, Dirty Ghosts, Memphis May Fire, and Miike Snow.

You can follow Ryan on Twitter or visit his site! Find him at WMC Fest at the iLTHY Workshop all weekend!

Click here to order your tickets to WMC Fest today! If you’re interested in joining us as a sponsor for as little as $50, there are numerous packages available here.

1. What piece of art has recently caught your attention? Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon

2. If you weren’t doing what you do, what would you be doing? Props, vehicle and costume dept. for the Nolan batman films…no, seriously.

3. Who are you most looking forward to hearing/seeing at WMC Fest? So many great people, but really looking forward to hearing from Johnny Cupcakes. I think the rise of his brand is pretty fascinating.

4. What are three things you grab before walking out the door? Kind of boring but I always do a wallet/keys/phone check. Definitely an involuntary habit.

5. How does music play a role in your life? What bands/albums are on heavy rotation? Music to me is very inspiring. Can spark ideas and completely change my frame of mind. Just took my son to his first “big” concert to see the Black Keys and that was such a cool moment, I’ve been listening a lot to relive it. Other than that, constantly coming back to Ryan Adams, Phoenix and played the latest Bon Iver to death this entire past year.

Be sure to check out Matt’s site and follow him on Twitter! Matt will be speaking in the Reinberger Auditorium Sunday, June 10th from 2:30 – 3:00pm!

Click here to order your tickets to WMC Fest today! If you’re interested in joining us as a sponsor for as little as $50, there are numerous packages available here.