UnCovered Interview - Over-Nite Sensation by Dave McMacken

UnCovered Interview - Over-Nite Sensation - a painting by artist Dave McMacken

Subject - the making of the cover of the Frank Zappa album titled Over-Nite Sensation, released in 1973 on DiscReet Records.



I credit my brother Bob for introducing me to Frank Zappa. While I was engrossed in my Black Sabbath, Mahavishnu Orchestra and Santana albums, Bob was happy to memorize every word of his George Carlin and Frank Zappa records, and since we had to share the stereo (located on top of my mother's player piano), I listened (and learned) while Bob would play Over-Nite Sensation almost endlessly.

I'd always been attracted to bands whose lyrics included doses of comedy and nod-nod wink-wink innuendo (beginning with The Kinks and, later on, The Sex Pistols), but this Zappa album was the first one where I just could not believe that I was hearing what I was hearing (and, at the same time, praying that my Mom was not listening as well). He goofed on TV programmers, Montana ranchers and sex, but these parodies were laid on top of really impressive musical beds - the Mothers band augmented by virtuosos including George Duke on keyboards and Jon-Luc Ponty on violin - and so the total package resonated with me in ways unlike anything I'd heard before.

The record proved to be much more popular to the mainstream AOR audience (than the 16 records he'd released since his 1966 debut titled Freak Out!) and, therefore, became FZ's first gold-selling LP. Of course, this popularity confused those self-appointed protectors of pure Zappa-ness (who branded the record as being too commercial - I mean, he'd go on to perform "I'm The Slime" on SNL, for goodness sakes!), while others who'd always appreciated his clever word-play thought he'd abandoned the Intelligentsia to gleefully muck about in some of the slime he was singing about. Whatever. I just thought that he was having fun (while telling you exactly what he was thinking/fantasizing about) which is, after all, the reason most of us joined bands in the first place.

Another thing about Zappa was clearly illustrated by the artwork he commissioned for this record - he appreciated the opportunity to use the record's packaging to give fans even more to talk about along with his music and lyrics. I touched on his portfolio of cover art a couple of years back during my interview with Jerry Schatzberg about the hilarious Sgt. Peppers parody he helped produce for We're Only In It For The Money and have long been a fan of Cal Schenkel's body of work but, just as the composer's music would continue to take new and exciting turns, so would his cover art.

To continue this tradition of album art excellence, they (Zappa and Schenkel) would turn to the illustrator that had helped them with the promo artwork for the soundtrack album for 200 Motels, artist Dave McMacken. Dave had recently set out on his own after a somewhat messy break-up with his former studio-mates, so this opportunity couldn't have come at a better time, and Dave was up for something new and exciting in his career. As you'd expect, the job - and the resulting image - pushed cover art - and the illustrator - to new extremes, so if you'd like to learn the story behind "the making of" Over-Nite Sensation, "don't touch that dial"!

In the words of the artist, Dave McMacken (interviewed late March/early April, 2010) -

After getting out of the Art Center College of Design in LA in 1967, I joined up with Craig Butler, Art Snyder and Patti Mitsui to form a design studio called "The Institute For Better Vision". We specialized in rock music and film projects and did a number of projects together including Sweetheart of the Rodeo and Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde for The Byrds, Pickin' Up The Pieces for Poco and, finally, all of the promo graphics - including the record cover, billboards, movie poster and whatever - for Frank Zappa. At this point in time, Bizarre Records was becoming Discreet Records and Cal Schenkel was Frank's in-house artist. Frank and Cal were putting the wraps on 200 Motels and were looking for an artist to help them, so we heard about it and met up at Murakami Wolf Swenson Films in Hollywood - just off Sunset Boulevard - and showed Cal my work.

They decided to try me and asked me to do a comp of a section of the cover that would feature Frank in a "pulp-style look", looming over the populace and "bingo", 200 Motels (editor's note - this comp would later be reworked to be used as the cover of the Zappa EP for Rhino titled Rare Meat, see image, below). Cal was a very calm character, a great artist for Frank, and I was honored to work with him, FZ and Murakami Wolf Swenson Films. Cal and I bumped into each other all of the time while he was doing animations and I was doing backgrounds. Zappa always amazed me - he was very disciplined, stern and could be abrupt - but his talent dropped my jaw. One time, he and Gail invited me to dinner and he took me to his basement studio and showed me his quadraphonic sound system and all his guitars, drums and pianos. Gail kind of scared the crap out of me and I had to bail to go feed my dogs. 200 Motels turned out that that was my last work with "The Institute", because right after the movie project was done, we dissolved the company then and there during an argument that included throwing furniture and each of us calling the others all kinds of cool names.



Fast forward a couple of years and Frank calls and asks if I want to paint another cover for him. I nearly fell off my chair. He wanted to get started immediately and so that night I listened to a truly bizarre take of the scene that Zappa imagined. In fantastic detail, he proceeded to tell me the story of Over-Nite Sensation and that the cover painting was to be done in a formal, realistic "Dutch Master" style, with the objects in the painting to be portrayed as visual elements from the story.

The painting captures a moment in the life of a band roadie on tour, with "Over-Nite Sensation" being a reference to the horniness of bands on the road. The space we're looking at is in a true perspective, but they're in a mirror and the object on the viewer's side are in reverse. Our focal object is a grapefruit, the symbol of a sexual object, and the grapefruit's been penetrated, with "cum" oozing out of it. The fire extinguisher symbolizes the completion of the act of intercourse, and even the frame is a sexual fantasy, starting off in gold and going to rot. All of the other items - the Holiday Inn, the food, maps and oozing TV - represent the doldrums of being on the road.

I took tight notes during this session - I wasn't given a written assignment or description - and worked on this painting for 2 months, meeting many times with Frank to discuss the work in progress. I started with a pencil and it evolved as we went along, with Frank adding more as "more was always better"- it is really cool when the musical act is also the Art Director and owns the production company! During the process, we had one meeting with Chris Whorf at Warner Brothers just to include the record company at some stage during the development and I showed him the pencil sketch I'd done. He loved it and picked it up and was going to leave with it to use it as the final art. In hind-sight, it might not have been such a bad idea, but there was no way that I was going to miss out on the fun I was having, so I retrieved the sketch and went off to Illustrationland to continue my work. I did the final painting using casein paints, which were a cool mixture of oils and acrylics and had the lovely aroma of vanilla. They later discontinued these paints and I new paint exclusively in acrylics - they're way less fussy.

In the end, I had all the time I needed, and that helped this job become one of my favorite experiences ever. Since we all knew each other, this post-200 Motels life was easy. Cal and I became good friends, with both of us living close-by in LA. I loved the rock scene and even though Frank was all business, all the time - in the art and in the music - I'd show up at Frank's studio in Glendale and offer him a beer - which he never accepted - and I'd get to work, hanging around listening to The Mothers rehearse. Frank would show George Duke how to lay down some music and then jump over to Aynsley Dunbar's drum kit to do the same - prodding and pushing them to produce what he wanted - really fun stuff but, at times, it was a bit much for me. My black lab "Shakespeare" was a buffer for my shyness, since she loved all of the attention, but sometimes I just wanted to finish my work and go home...

When I was done with the project and my clients were happy, I looked back on the time I'd spent with everyone associated with Frank Zappa and realized that the experience would have a colossal effect on my work going forward. It indeed has lasted all of my life - I worked for Frank Zappa - there's no need to say anything more.

About the artist, Dave McMacken -



Dave left Newport, OR in the Fall of 1963 and rode the Greyhound to Los Angeles to attend the Art Center College of Design, graduating in 1967. He started his career in advertising as a junior art director at Sinay/Lipson in Hollywood, during which time his college draft-deferment status came to an end and, with the prospect of Vietnam looming in every young man's lives, he applied for C.O. status and the draft board in Newport granted his request, sending him to work as a psychiatric tech at LA County Hospital for two years. Afterwards, he met up with his college buddies and started "The Institute For Better Vision".

After The Institute split up, Dave took on a number of freelance assignments for clients such as Peter Whorf (ABC Jazz), Chris Whorf at Bizarre (Frank Zappa, Bootsy Collins), Nancy Donald and Tony Lane at Columbia (Weather Report, Flo & Eddie) and Roland Young at A&M Records (Tom Scott, Louis Armstrong, The Tubes, Peggy Lee, The Carpenters, Horizon Jazz, etc.). It was also at A&M that he met his wife, Judy, who worked as a creative secretary for the Art department there.

Other album cover projects of note include AC/DC's Ballbreaker, Warrant's Dog Eat Dog, Freak Show for The Bullet Boys, Black Market for Weather Report, Reel Music for The Beatles, The Joker for Steve Miller, 1941 for Steven Spielberg's film of the same name, and Leftoverture for Kansas. He also did work for The Temptations, Jackyl, Bedlam and The Beachboys.

Non-music clients have included the JWT, Y&R and Arnold advertising agencies; Apple Computer, Microsoft and E/A in consumer electronics, Harper Collins and Simon & Schuster in books, and a large number of travel posters for various locales' tourist bureaus. His film work includes assignments painting backgrounds for the animated films Puff The Magic Dragon and FernGully:2.

Dave currently is working on campaigns for the California Avocado Commission and BBC Channel 4 in London. He lives in the Torrington, CT area with his wife and a large pack of dogs.

To see more of his work, please visit Dave's web site at

http://www.mcmackengraphics.com/cgi-local/content.cgi

About UnCovered -
Our ongoing series of interviews will give you, the music and art fan, a look at "The Making Of" the illustrations, photographs and designs of many of the most-recognized and influential images that have served to package and promote your all-time-favorite recordings.

In each UnCovered feature, we'll meet the artists, designers and photographers who produced these works of art and learn what motivated them, what processes they used, how they collaborated (or fought) with the musical acts, their management, their labels, etc. - all of the things that influenced the final product you saw then and still see today.

We hope that you enjoy these looks behind the scenes of the music-related art business and that you'll share your stories with us and fellow fans about what role these works of art - and the music they covered - played in your lives.

All images featured in this UnCovered story are Copyright 1971 - 2010 David B McMacken/McMacken Graphics - All rights reserved. Except as noted, all other text Copyright 2010 - Mike Goldstein & RockPoP Gallery (www.rockpopgallery.com) - All rights reserved

Cover Story Interview - artist Phil Travers - The Moody Blues "In Search of the Lost Chord"

Cover Story for March 28, 2008

Subject: In Search of the Lost Chord, a 1968 release (on Deram Records) by The Moody Blues, with cover artwork & design by Philip Travers

After the success of their Days of Future Passed record (featuring the memorable cover artwork by artist David Anstey) in which the band began the transformation from its original, Denny Laine-led pop songcrafting (“Go Now”) to writers of early symphonic rock masterworks such as “Forever (Tuesday) Afternoon” and “Nights in White Satin” – delivered in Decca/Deram Records’ new “Deramic Stereo Sound” – the release of 1968’s In Search of the Lost Chord delivered to fans of the band a record showcasing their new, more experimental and psychedelic leanings.

Mike Pinder’s Mellotron replaced much of the full orchestra from the previous record, and the rest of the band added the popular “psychedelic” instrumentation of the day – sitar and other stringed instruments, flutes, harpsichord, etc. – to fill out the sound and make it more possible to recreate the music in live performances. Pinder also continued introducing listeners to Graeme Edge’s wonderful poems, his readings of which set the mood for the complex and beautiful music and lyrics that would follow (although we do get to hear Edge’s own voice and maniacal laughter during his recitation of the album opener “Departure”).

Songs on this record included fan favorites such as the rocking “Ride My See Saw”, “Legend of a Mind” (a Ray Thomas trippy tribute to Timothy Leary), “Voices in the Sky”, “The Actor” and ending with “the lost chord” itself - “Om” (which went along with the tantric graphics found inside the record’s gatefold cover).

A late 60’s psychedelic record from a band like the Moodies – one that truly exemplified the notion of a long-playing sonic experience - could only be packaged in an album sleeve with a truly fantastic cover image that would only add to the overall experience. This notion required a visual artist of exceptional talents, which prompted the band to turn to artist and illustrator Phil Travers, who’d impressed them with his previous work for the label. I think that we’ll all agree that the result of Phil’s commission was an image that would send the record owner immediately on his own search for the answer to life’s existential questions (“how can I be on the outside, looking in, if I’m dead”?, for example). To find Phil Travers, all I had to do was search on Google, after which he provided me with the recollections of his efforts on this project that are outlined in today’s Cover Story…

In the words of the artist – Phil Travers (interviewed in late February, 2008)

After five years at Art College in London, I got a job in the art department at Decca Records. I spent my time there designing record sleeves, and after about two years, I left Decca to take a job as a designer/illustrator in a design office in Wimbledon. While there, I was contacted by someone I knew at Decca because, apparently, the then-manager of the Moody Blues had been at Decca to look through their catalogue of sleeve designs and he’d really liked an illustration of mine which I had done shortly before I left. Shortly thereafter, I was invited to an introductory meeting with the Moodies at a pub in London - I forget which one – and after we’d worked out the details of the commission, I was invited to listen to the soundtrack of In Search of the Lost Chord at their recording studio.

While I was listening to the music, the concept for the cover was actually given to me in some sort of subliminal way. The recording and mixing area of the studio where I was sitting was separated from the area where the band would play by a large glass window and in this glass I could see several images of myself - one above the other - almost as if I was ascending up into space.The band wanted me primarily to illustrate the concept of meditation. This was not something that I had much personal experience of and so my initial thoughts about such an ethereal subject were, unfortunately, insubstantial, and so I wasn`t producing any cohesive visual ideas, with this lack of ideas evident in my first rough designs. In fact, as time was getting short (by the way everything was always wanted in a hurry) I was starting to panic. It was then that the image in the glass window of a figure ascending came back to me and, after that, everything just fell into place.

Its impossible for me to tell you now how long it took me to produce the illustration, other than to say that, in most cases, I had days rather than weeks to complete them and submit them for approval. As for the way I painted, I used Gouache and some watercolour, and very often I employed an airbrush.

The band was a good bunch of guys and generally I got on pretty well with them. They were always fully involved in the project (this, and the next 5 records I did for them) from start to finish. Apart from the album Every Good Boy Deserves Favor - where they had come to me with their own idea on how the cover should look - there was a similar working pattern for all of the other sleeves. At the first meeting we would listen to the soundtrack together and discuss the themes and ideas behind the album. It was then left to me to produce a pencil rough which was then discussed further. Eventually a consensus would be reached and the painting would begin in earnest. Time always was of the essence, and many times I was working all day and all night to meet the printer’s deadline. But I have to say it was greatly fulfilling and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

About the artist, Philip Travers –

Born in 1945, Philip studied art and design at the Sutton School of Art and the London School of Printing. After college, he spent several years working as a designer and illustrator in studios in the London area. It was at this time that he became associated with the internationally-renowned rock group - The Moody Blues - for whom he produced record sleeves in the late 1960s and early `70s, including:

- In Search of the Lost Chord (1968)

- On The Threshold of a Dream (1969)

- To Our Children’s Children’s Children (1969)

- Question of Balance (1970)

- Every Good Boy Deserves Favour (1971)

- Seventh Sojourn (1972)

Special Cover Story bonus image! The link below is to an image of a painting from Phil's website which he painted prior to producing the cover for Seventh Sojourn. It was this painting that gave him the initial idea for it.

http://rockpopgallery.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/03/28/past_present_and_futuresm.jpg
In addition to the images for The Moody Blues, Philip created a couple of sleeves for the band `Trapeze` (the seminal hard rock band produced by John Lodge and featuring Glenn Hughes and Dave Holland) on the Threshold label and, according to Phil, “I did do a sleeve for The Four Tops single `A Simple Game`. This was produced by Tony Clarke. However, it was never used, which is a pity because I think it was really good!”

Coming initially from London, he grew up enjoying the landscape of Surrey and the surrounding counties, and his paintings at this time were exhibited at galleries in Wimbledon, Thames Ditton, Windsor and Petersfield.

Philip moved to Cornwall in 1976 after spending several holidays in the area and then deciding that he should live there. He felt that the close proximity of the sea, and the diverse and exciting landscape that it engendered created a stimulating environment in which to work. Phil is mainly concerned to convey the mood and atmosphere of the subjects he is painting, and with his bold use of light and shade, he continues to produce highly-dramatic images. He often likes to include animals and sometimes figures in his work, as they provide not only life and a focus but also a narrative element.

To see more of Phil Travers’ current work, please visit his website at http://www.philiptravers.co.uk/

To see all of the Moody Blues-related items in the RockPoP Gallery collection please click on this link - http://rockpopgallery.com/items/moody-blues/list.htm?1=1

Moody Blues update – The Moody Blues continue to tour the world today (you’ll find their schedule on their web site – http://www.moodyblues.co.uk/ ). The soon-to-open Hard Rock Park in Myrtle Beach, SC, will feature a ride named "Nights in White Satin - The Trip", which will include a version of the title song newly re-orchestrated by Justin Hayward. And even after the release of 25 Top 100 charting singles, the sales of countless millions of records, and sell-out tours world-wide (including a multi-night stand at London’s Royal Albert Hall, later this year), they have STILL not been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Very sad.

About Cover Stories - Our series of interviews will give you, the music and art fan, a look at "the making of" the illustrations, photographs and designs of many of the most-recognized and influential images that have served to package and promote your all-time-favorite recordings.

In each Cover Story, we'll meet the artists, designers and photographers who produced these works of art and learn what motivated them, what processes they used, how they collaborated (or fought) with the musical acts, their management, their labels, etc. - all of the things that influenced the final product you saw then and still see today.

We hope that you enjoy these looks behind the scenes of the music-related art business and that you'll share your stories with us and fellow fans about what role these works of art - and the music they covered - played in your lives.

All images featured in this Cover Story are Copyright 1968, 1972 and 2008, Philip Travers - All rights reserved. Except as noted, all other text Copyright 2008 - Mike Goldstein & RockPoP Gallery (http://www.rockpopgallery.com/) - All rights reserved.

Cover Story Interview - Lee Conklin on the making of the cover for Santana's 1969 debut LP

Cover Story for March 14, 2008

Subject: Santana, a 1969 release (on Columbia Records) by Santana, with cover art & design by Lee Conklin

The cover of Santana’s debut record was adapted (at Santana’s request) from a poster design originally done for a concert performance at Bill Graham’s legendary San Francisco venue, the Fillmore West. This iconic image done in pen and ink was certainly one of the best examples of early psychedelic art.

Both guitarist Carlos Santana and artist/illustrator Lee Conklin hit their stride in San Francisco’s mid-60’s cultural scene, with Santana finding a wide variety of music being played in the clubs (Tito Puente’s salsa, folk, Gabor Szabo’s jazz and in 1966, a concert by the great blues guitarist B.B. King at the Fillmore West that would greatly influence the development of his own personal style) and Lee Conklin meeting a number of aspiring artists – Victor Moscoso, Alton Kelley, Stanley Mouse, and many others – who were producing the promotional posters and related graphics for events at the Fillmore and at Family Dog’s Avalon Ballroom and other venues.

Soon after his B.B. King-inspired epiphany, Santana formed The Santana Blues Band (later shortening it to simply “Santana”) and the band made its debut at the Fillmore in June, 1968 (playing a 4-nite stand that was released in 1997 by Columbia/Legacy in a set titled Live at the Fillmore 1968). Santana impressed Bill Graham so much that the band became a regular act at the Fillmore, packing the auditorium regularly.

And then came the Summer of Love, Woodstock, and the band’s legendary performance there on 8/15/69...

Santana’s debut album was released the same month and featured great examples of what would be both “the hits” (“Evil Ways” and “Jingo”) and well-known examples of the band’s musicianship – particularly after their performance at Woodstock – such as the powerful “Soul Sacrifice” (written to be premiered at Woodstock and a particularly impressive showcase for drummer Michael Shieve, I must say). The record peaked in the Top 5, going on to remain on the charts for over two years and ultimately selling over four million copies. Rolling Stone Magazine ranked the album #150 in their 2003 list of the “Greatest Albums of All Time”.

This album featured a classic line-up including Carlos Santana on guitar/vocals, Gregg Rolie on keyboards and vocals, and the awesome rhythm section consisting of David Brown on bass, Michael Shrieve on drums, and Michael Carabello and Jose “Chepito” Areas on percussion.
Lee Conklin also became a favorite of Mr. Graham and produced a particularly trippy poster (aka "BG-134" to collectors) promoting two multi-day shows at the Fillmore (8/27-29/68 featuring Steppenwolf, the Staple Singers and Santana; 8/30-9/1/68 featuring The Grateful Dead, Sons of Champlain and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band – amazing!), with the resulting pen and ink image so impressing Santana that Lee was asked to create the cover for Santana’s debut, the details of which are presented here in today’s Cover Story. So grab a pick, practice your Sustain, and read on…

In the words of the artist, Lee Conklin – (interviewed February, 2008) –

I didn’t start out initially to be an artist, but while I was studying History and Philosophy at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, I took on the role of cartoonist for the college paper called the “Calvin College Chimes”. I met my wife Joy there, left school, got married and moved to Florida. The Army grabbed me and I cooked for a year in Korea. They let me out in 1967 and we moved to Los Angeles.

In L.A., I did some pen and ink work and some of it was published by the Los Angeles Free Press (remember “Don’t be a creep, buy a Freep”?), which was cool, and I read an article in Time about the “Summer of Love” and that San Francisco was becoming the center of the Universe for music and art and since I wanted to be a cartoonist, my wife and I decided to move up there to see what we could find.

I heard about the Fillmore and that Bill Graham was hiring artists from the area to make posters for his upcoming shows, and so one Friday night I went there with some drawings and showed them to him. He must have liked what he saw because he asked me if I could do a poster over the weekend for the following week’s show! He chose one of the drawings I had already done and I spent the weekend doing all of the lettering.

From then on for the next two years, I had a pretty steady gig doing posters for Bill and the Fillmore West (Ed. note – he did over 30 posters in 1968-69). At the same time, the Santana band was playing there pretty frequently and I was well aware of their music, both from performances and their demos, which received extensive airplay on FM radio in San Francisco. One day, Bill asked me to do a poster for a show that Santana was headlining and so, with a little inspiration from a Muse named MaryJane, I remembered seeing a picture of a lion in a book of animal picture I had and used that image as the basis of my drawing. Even then, I knew that I was making art for future generations and so even though Bill usually liked posters in color, I detailed this one in pen-and-ink. I only made one image, and the next morning he told me that he was going to print is as it was, so he must have been happy with the results.

Santana also thought that the image was really great, so afterwards he contacted me and asked me to redraw the image for the cover of his debut record. Although the drawing I created really was not inspired by Santana, I guess that the details and the nature of the images impressed him and the people at the record label. My challenge has always been to subvert the poster form to whatever my muse insists on and then to convert my psychedelic experiences to any medium I’m working in. I made it my mission to translate my psychedelic experience into paper. Later on, in the early 70’s, I took acid and when I went to art class, all I could do was sit and stare at the teacher…LSD had little to do with my most-creative efforts (as a druggy, I am over-rated)!

About the artist, Lee Conklin –

Image link -
http://rockpopgallery.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/03/14/leeconklin.jpg

Lee Conklin was born July 24, 1941 in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, and grew up mostly in Monsey, New York. Lee's dad was a house builder, his mom was a nurse and he was the youngest child in a family of three brothers and three sisters. Lee graduated from Spring Valley High School in 1959 and attended Calvin College in Grand Rapids Michigan for several years, where he studied philosophy and history and met his wife Joy. In 1972, Lee and Joy had a son, Quinn, and in 1979 a daughter, Caitlin. They have lived in various parts of Northern California over the years.

Lee is now a fulltime artist working out of his home studio in Columbia, California where he continues to create his incredibly-detailed works of poster art (which, according to Lee, he calls “New Age cheesecake”!).

Conklin’s Fillmore posters remain amongst the most-popular and highly-prized with today’s poster collectors - a true testament to his prodigious talents.

To see more of Lee Conklin’s current work, please visit his website at http://www.leeconklin.com/

To see Lee’s “Lion” print in the RockPoP Gallery collection, please click on this link -http://rockpopgallery.com/items/lee-conklin/list.htm?1=1

To see all of the Santana-related items in the RockPoP Gallery collection please click on this link - http://rockpopgallery.com/items/santana/list.htm?1=1

Santana philanthropy update – Santana and his ex-wife Deborah founded their Milagro Foundation in 1998, which has distributed nearly $2 million to date to organizations that “promote the welfare of underserved children in the areas of health, education, and the arts.”

To learn more, please visit the Milago Foundation’s website at – http://www.milagrofoundation.org/

In addition, Santana has joined the fight against AIDS in Africa through a partnership with ANSA – Artists for New South Africa (in 2003, all of the proceeds from Santana’s U.S. tour were donated to this cause). To learn more about ANSA, please visit their web site at http://www.ansafrica.org/ .

Other organizations he has championed include Hispanic Education and Media Group, Doctors Without Borders, Save the Children, Childreach, Rainforest Action Network, Greenpeace, American Indian College Fund, Amnesty International, and the LA-based Museum of Tolerance.

All images featured in this Cover Story are Copyright 1968 and 2008, Lee Conklin - All rights reserved. Except as noted, all other text Copyright 2008 - Mike Goldstein & RockPoP Gallery (www.rockpopgallery.com) - All rights reserved.

Cover Story Interview - Jimi Hendrix Experience's "Are You Experienced?", with photography by Karl Ferris

Cover Story - Jimi Hendrix Experience's "Are You Experienced?", with photography by Karl Ferris
Cover Story for February 22, 2008

Subject: Are You Experienced?, a 1967 release (on Reprise Records) by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, with cover photo & design by Karl Ferris

Considered by many music fans and critics as one of the (if not THE) greatest debut record from a rock-era artist, Are You Experienced (with or without the ?) also illustrated how records were produced, packaged and tailored for distribution to the world’s music marketplaces. Released in the U.K. in May, 1967, the record was a compilation of the fantastic music and performances that had been wowing crowds in London theaters up to that point. Those crowds included most of members of the leading musical acts of the time - including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Animals, The Hollies, The Who (and many others) – who’d all come to watch and listen in stunned amazement to the trio’s musical magic.

In the 40+ years (yes, that long ago!) since its release, the record’s influence on both the musicians who’ve striven “to play guitar like Hendrix” and those who create “Best Of” lists continues, with EVERY top guitarist today confirming Hendrix’s influence on their playing and the record’s positions on Rolling Stone magazine’s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time” (#15) in 2003 (following up its #5 ranking in 1987’s “Best Albums of the Last 20 Years” and #5 on a similarly-titled list published in 2001 by cable net VH-1. It is now also a national treasure in that it has also been selected to be permanently preserved by the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry and archive.

The performances included on the album include many compositions that would become Hendrix’s signatures, including "Purple Haze", "Manic Depression", "Hey Joe", "The Wind Cries Mary", "Fire " and “Foxey Lady". After 3 of the band’s singles hit the Top 10 charts in the U.K. and the incredible buzz following their mind-boggling performance at the Monterey Pop Festival, the act’s record label rushed to release the record in the U.S. by the end of August.

While the music on the LP represented the leading edge of musical prowess and technical sophistication, the packaging in the U.K. was not what Hendrix thought accurately matched the act’s psychedelic and forward-reaching nature, and so he took this complaint to manager Chas Chandler, who then called upon well-known London photographer Karl Ferris to work with him and the artist to come up with imagery for the upcoming U.S. release that would be a better match to the music. Karl was kind enough to provide Cover Stories with excerpts from an upcoming biography and coffee table book of his most-recognized photos so that we could give you the complete story about “the making of” the universally-recognized psychedelic image that was used on the cover of this seminal record. So, if you’ll ‘scuse me….

In the words of the photographer, Karl Ferris -

The first time saw I Jimi Hendrix was at his début showcase of “The Experience” at the “The Bag O’Nails” club in London in January 1967. This was where I saw members of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Animals, Graham Nash, Eric Clapton and many other in the ‘rock elite’ watching awestruck as Jimi unleashed his powerful music on them. They were thunderstruck and completely blown away as evidenced by the awesome silence after he finished, followed by a thunderous applause, with all those jaded ‘rock stars’ going crazy over his performance. Pete Townsend turned to Clapton and said "We might as well go and work for the Post Office now". Jimi was the talk of the London after that…

Later, in May 1967, apparently Jimi saw my Hollies “Evolution” cover which had recently been released and said to his manager Chas Chandler that he wanted something similar - “something psychedelic” - on his Are You Experienced album when it was to be released in the USA. He was not happy with its UK cover which, he said, ‘made him look like a fairy’, so he sent Chas off to contact me. We set up an appointment to meet at Jimi’s flat in London, and I took my portfolio along. He loved my work - especially the psychedelic shots - and asked me if I would create a new album cover design for the Reprise Records release in the U.S. I said ‘yes’ and that I would have to absorb his music for inspiration. He said that I should accompany him to Olympic studios, were he was recording his next LP, titled Axis Bold As Love.

I was totally mind-blown by what I heard there. The shear power of his psychedelic experimentation was awe inspiring, but when taking a break from playing he was a very nice, unaffected and a shy kind of a guy. He asked me where I was from and I mentioned that I had lived in Vancouver for 4 years. He was surprised and said that he also had lived in Vancouver with his grandmother for a while. We then started smoking joints and swapping Vancouver stories, and we got on famously.

At 4am the next morning, I went home with some tapes of the session and the music from the UK “Are You Experienced” record to use for inspiration for the US album design. I played the music all day and raved about the music to my girlfriend Anke, saying that it sounded so “far out” that it seemed to come from outer space. This gave me the idea of the group traveling through space in a Biosphere on their way to bring their unworldly space music to earth, and so I then set about sketching some designs of this.

For the cover, I decided to use my new “infrared” technique which I had invented, which combines the photographic color reversal image with the heat signature (and, seemingly, the ability to see the Life Force of plant and human life - it even appears to capture auras !). To create the spherical photo I decided to use a giant ‘fisheye’ lens invented by Nikon (which was much bigger than my Nikon F camera). I would shoot in Kew Botanical Gardens in London, where they had the kind of foliage that would react well to my “Infrared” technique.

Jimi loved this idea when I explained to him how this technique worked, and as I leave nothing to chance and design all the elements of my album cover shots (I had fashion and styling experience from my work in fashion photography), I wanted to pick out the clothes that the group members were going to wear in the shot. I first went to Jimi’s flat to see what he had, and when I looked in his cupboard I saw a painted jacket that an artist had given to him, saying “I painted this for you”. It had large double-pupil eyes painted on the chest, smaller eyes circling the back and psychedelic swirls everywhere else. I said, “This is it! The eyes represent the ‘mirror to the soul’ and the psychedelic vision”. Jimi agreed and said he felt is was part of him and called it the "Gypsy Eyes" jacket.

Later that evening. when Jimi was coming out of the shower before the gig later that night, I was amazed to see his hair all knapped out, as he would normally wear it like the English guys, straightened out and lacquered down into a long ‘Beatle cut’. I said to him, ‘Why don’t you wear it like that, it looks far out’, but he said ‘it looks like shit!’ I countered ‘No man, it looks unique and spacey – it’s just what we need for the cover’. His hair just needed to be evened up and so, at my suggestion, his girlfriend trimmed it into a ball and we had what was later called an “Afro”, after the Sudanese Africans who had always worn their hair like that. The next day, when Jimi’s bandmates Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell saw his hair, they really liked it, so I suggested that they have it, too. My hair stylist Johanna permed their hair into "Afros" so they would have a uniform look and we then went shopping in Kings Road boutiques for outfits for the guys.

When everything was ready, we hired a Rolls Royce limo and drove down to Kew Gardens, where I found the perfect tree which had foliage that reached the ground. I had the guys stand back inside the leaves and shot them through the fisheye lens from a low angle, to emphasize Jimi’s hands. We didn’t shoot long as we had arrived late and we ran out of light, but we returned the following day and shot some more. After the session, to celebrate we walked across the road to an ancient Elizabethan Pub and downed many ales and smoked joints in the garden (it was a good thing that we had a chauffer to drive us back to London!).

When I got the shots back from Kodak, I was amazed and pleased with spherical fisheye picture and the colors that had been created in it. As it turned out, the shot used on the Are You Experienced? U.S. cover was the first frame on the first roll - it was just meant to be – and another fisheye image from that session would later become the international “Smash Hits” photo cover.

The Kodak lab manager had great praise for the pictures when I picked them up, so when I next took them over to Jimi’s house, he was very pleased and excited and said that the shot was really psychedelic and truly represented his music. ‘You are the only photographer that is doing with photography what I am doing with music - knocking down the barriers and going far out beyond the limits’. He said that he wanted this image for the covers of his U.S. and international releases of his debut album and that I should design the whole album cover for submission to Warner/ Reprise Records. I said that I would be delighted. He then called up Mitch, Noel and Chas to come over and see the new album cover shots. Everyone was very pleased, as they were seen as the perfect images to represent “The Experience” worldwide. We planned a big celebration party that night. We took some LSD and went to the Bag O’Nails club (where Jimi jammed with Jeff Beck) and then took some groupies back to Jimi’s flat and partied all night.

The next day, I began work on designing the album cover. I started with the ‘spheres flying through space’ concept, but as this would be a very wide format, this would only work on a double gatefold cover. I found out from Chas Chandler that Reprise was being cheap and would only produce a Single Cover, so I had to rethink the design. I began with the approved fisheye shot, over which I placed a gold leaf matte with a hole cut to fit the circular photograph, and added purple filigree psychedelic lettering printed on the gold metallic matte, which would make the lettering also seem metallic. I had an artist friend of mine do the lettering, for which I paid 20 UK pounds to own.

I then organized a photo session in my studio for the back cover shot. I wanted to make a group portrait - emphasizing the group’s Afro hair styles – and so I shot it in black and white with their hair backlit to make ‘halos’ around their heads. The guys loved that shot also. I then made a printer-ready ‘Slick’ of the finished design and sent it to Reprise Records for printing the final cover. Unfortunately, they decided to pursue a cheaper route and not use the gold matte design layer, but to print it all together - photo, lettering and border all in one layer - using gold ink instead for the gold matte surround.

Disappointingly, by choosing this cheaper arrangement, the label’s Art Director was given the AD credit, although it was still my same design and art direction. When Jimi saw the release, he was very upset, as it lost a lot of its visual impact he wanted by using the gold ink border instead of the metallic gold matte surround layer, and also because they had claimed the Art Direction credit. He was very apologetic to me and disappointed, but as it was already out, there was nothing he could do about it, but he said that he wanted to use one of the studio portrait shots for the Axis Bold As Love album that he was currently working on. He said that although the design for that record was by someone else (featuring a Hindu poster design from India), they wanted to use my head shot of the group as an illustration to replace the Hindu god heads that were featured in the center. And so, as it turned out, with the photos I supplied to Reprise for the cover of 1968’s Electric Ladyland album - the final 'Experience' album that was released - my images were on all three of the U.S. 'Experience' albums issued in Jimi's lifetime.

I was fortunate and am very proud of my association and friendship with Jimi. He was a prince of a man and we spent many creative hours together discussing philosophy, art, and music. I was also fortunate to have been able to watch many of his mesmerizing performances in the studio and on stage. He was the ultimate performer - you just couldn’t take your eyes off him.

He once told me that “the music played him”, but he played the guitar with total mastery, with every inspiration that came into his mind instantly transmitted through his fingers to caress, slide, strum, beat and squeeze the music out of his guitar. Like a wizard, he would move around his instrument concocting musical magic that would entrance everyone who heard it. He had perfect pitch and timing. He would first play the melody and then go further out in his improvisation than anyone else could, and all the while you could still hear the melody, he could immerse himself deeply in a psychedelic, electronic improvisation and then suddenly, on the beat, he’d bring it back to the melody of the tune. He was the perfect combination of soul and technique - a total genius, an Amadeus Mozart for the Twentieth Century.

About the photographer, Karl Ferris -

Karl Ferris is known as "the Innovator of Psychedelic Photography". A photographer to the “British Rock Elite” - Eric Clapton, Cream, Donovan, The Hollies and Jimi Hendrix - Ferris was invited as their personal photographer to create their “Images”. He was given an insider access to the “Experience” that defined the 60’s and the world.

As a World War II baby, who grew up in Hastings, England in the 50’s, Ferris learned two things that would later affect his life, the first being the history of Hastings, conquered by the Normans in 1066. This peaked an interest in this medieval period of history and he would bicycle around Norman castles and fantasize about battles, knights, chivalry and heraldry. The second thing he learned was an appreciation of art, having a showing of his early paintings at the Hastings Museum. He later went on to study at Hastings College of Art focusing on the Pre-Raphaelite style of painting which would later influence his psychedelic photography of the 60’s.

After school and with dreams of traveling to India, Ferris signed up as a steward on a P&O liner that went to Australia via India. After returning to England he served two years with the Royal Air Force for his National Service (Conscription) as an Aerial photographer. During this period he became friends with a fellow conscriptee, who was a member of a Liverpool Mersey Beat group, and he was introduced for the first time to this type of music. He was invited back to Liverpool to see a new group - The Beatles - who were appearing at the Cavern club and was introduced to them. He was then hooked on “Beat” music from which the Beatles took their name.

After his military service, Ferris immigrated to Vancouver, Canada working as an assistant to master photographer Harold Nygard. From him Karl learned the skills of composition, form and texture. He also began an involvement in the “Beatnik” lifestyle and began hanging out in “coffee bars” listening to poetry readings and progressive jazz of such artists as Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, John Coletrane and Ornette Coleman. He shot his first music subjects at these gatherings for local newspapers and magazines. He also began to take fashion shots of girl friends and models, building up a Portfolio. Nygard told him that he had a real talent in this, but should return to London where the Mod Fashion scene was going on.

In 1964 Karl returned to England and the happening Beat scene. Ferris received commissioned work as a fashion photographer for Teen magazine “19” and later Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, French Mode and Marie Claire. These commissions brought him to such locations as Paris, Cannes, Munich, Ibiza and Morocco. When he wasn’t working he would join into the “Scene”, after meeting up (and eventually dating) Denmark’s Top Superstar model of the time, Karl was introduced to a Pop group called the “ The King Bees” who invited him to sing “Rolling Stones” cover songs with them, so he began touring in and around Copenhagen doing this.

He eventually returned to England for a “shoot” offer with Vogue. The Beatles had just released Rubber Soul and Karl had the chance to meet up with their official photographer, Robert Freeman, who encouraged Ferris to experiment with different styles of images - which he promptly did - in his unique psychedelic style. On a trip to the Spanish island of “Ibiza” he met and began shooting the “Fool” - Simon and Marijke’s Innovative Psychedelic Fashion designs. They were eventually printed in the fashion section of the London times. This was the first time such psychedelic photography and fashions had been seen anywhere. He and the Fool were invited to come to London to shoot some more “Psychedelic” fashion features.

From this Ferris received many commissions. He also began working on “Psychedelic Happening shows” combining projections of colored liquid and photographs over freeform dancers. The likes of Paul McCartney, Graham Nash, Eric Clapton, T Rex, Pink Floyd and John Lennon dropped by and began participating, by playing music, with these shows. Ferris was also invited to do a stage light show for Pink Floyd, which is believed to be the first one ever done in England in 1966.
Ferris met with Jimi Hendrix in 1967 through Chas Chandler, who then asked Ferris to be his photographer and to re-shoot the UK version of the album ”Are You Experienced” for the US market.

Karl also created the Album cover images for Donovan’s “Gift From A Flower To A Garden”, “Wear Your Love Like Heaven”, For The Little Ones” and “Hurdy Gurdy Donovan” and for The Hollies’ “Evolution”. He was also instrumental in creating their “Images” for the shoots, which then became their recognized public image.During the years 1967-69, Karl Ferris was one of the preferred photographers to the British Rock elite, shooting also many PR photos for them.

In 2003 Ferris began his quest to re-visit a time in music that defined a generation with, “The Ferris Experience” Happening. Exhibiting the famous Record Album cover photographs and a Psychedelic multimedia video and slide show, opening in Vancouver, Canada at The Exhibitions Gallery . It was be the first time in 35 years that such an exhibition had been unveiled. In 2005, Karl’s Happening show and photo gallery exhibit began a tour of major cities in the USA starting with the San Francisco Art Exchange (continuing in Toronto and other cities in 2006). Also in 2006, a filmed documentary called "Psychedelic Revolution - The Karl Ferris Experience" went into production (to coincide with the 40th anniversary of "the Summer of Love"). To watch this 17-minute documentary on YouTube, please click on the following link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pp54sT9qGQk.

In 2008, books of his Hendrix and Donovan photographs (including DVDs) will be published.

To see all of the Karl Ferris items available at RockPoP Gallery, please click on the following link - http://rockpopgallery.easystorecreator.com/items/karl-ferris/list.htm?1=1

To see all of the Jimi Hendrix-related items available at RockPoP Gallery, please click on the following link - http://rockpopgallery.easystorecreator.com/items/jimi-hendrix-experience/list.htm?1=1

All images featured in this Cover Story are Copyright 1967 and 2008, Karl Ferris and Karl Ferris Photography - All rights reserved. Except as noted, all other text Copyright 2008 - Mike Goldstein & RockPoP Gallery (http://www.rockpopgallery.com/) - All rights reserved