If this is too much to read, just note at the start that the Godspeed… A Tribute to Pierre Kezdy album is currently on preorder, due out 28 Jul 2023. Visit this link page to access the digital preorder at Bandcamp, as well as the physical vinyl preorder and merch at Big Cartel. 100% of the profits will be going to Pierre Kezdy’s family.
I’d been working for a bit with Curt Harrison of The Usuals (also Put It Here Productions and Big Minnow Records) on some EP covers, when he asked me if I’d be interested in doing an album cover for a Naked Raygun tribute, specifically a tribute to the late Pierre Kezdy, long-time bassist of the band, who sadly passed away of cancer in Oct 2020.
Without hyperbole, my response before hearing anything more about the album was an overly emphatic “YES PLEASE!” I’ve been a fan of Naked Raygun for over two-thirds of my life. The Chicago hometown heroes are a big part of the music scene, and have influenced countless bands across the country, and the globe, that have followed. Their infectious, avant-garde blend of punk, post-punk, pop-punk, jazz and more are inimitable to this day. You know when a band is playing a Raygun-style song, and you know a Raygun song when you hear it. Additionally, as a fan of the music, I’m also a bit of an artist. Like a lot of bands, Naked Raygun also has a visual presence across their career in merch, album covers, and more. Their particular visual style and theme is something that has always interested me, and has helped to reinforce my love of the band and their image.
Regarding the cover, the conversations between Curt and myself on the development have been going on for a long time on Facebook Messenger via my art/business page at Asplenia Studios, and a lot of it is stuck back through, probably, hours of scrolling (because Messenger for Business can sometimes be a PITA). So I’m just going to try to pull from memory here.
Curt first approached me with the idea of a larger-than-life caricature of Pierre playing his bass, riding a tank in the style of Ed “Big Daddy” Roth’s Rat Fink hot rod illustrations. Including a tattered Chicago flag hanging from his bass guitar and missiles flying overhead.
We made it is far as a composited mock-up for the cover, building off of the #2A draft above. The missiles were swapped for smoke screen canisters which, with a popping, explosive effect, was intended to add a bit more drama to the action. Note that, amongst the upcoming changes, Pierre’s Gibson bass is still pretty much in the same position.
Not too long after this, though, the idea arose to incorporate elements of the Naked Raygun album covers, specifically the LPs, into the art. That idea blossomed quite quickly and the hot rod concept was abandoned for this new direction. Although Pierre, in illustration as in reality, would still be portrayed as a larger-than-life icon, the rest of the elements would be slightly more to scale. At a certain point early on, when the inspiration and creative juices were firing on all cylinders, trusting my judgment, Curt let go of the wheel and let me just have at it. In the end, elements of all six Naked Raygun studio LPs would be represented.
The idea of incorporating the classic Naked Raygun logo “beam effect” was an early one. The thought did bounce around for a second or two to try to attach it somewhere to the names of each band contributing to the album, but was quickly dropped. That would’ve been overkill, right?
Surprisingly, there aren’t many good, high resolution versions of the logo available on the web so, using Photoshop’s tools, I fudged it a bit, putting a version of the beam effect on the ‘P’ in Godspeed.
After basic work on Pierre was done, he needed a trusty steed. Although he joined the band after their 1985 debut LP Throb Throb, he’d been playing those songs for decades. Also, the art for Throb Throb, despite not being very well-known outside of the scene, is an important part of illustration history. Done by early computer art pioneer Mark Saenz, the soldier emerging from a tank had this unique digital verve that was essentially unseen back in the mid-80s and, in many ways, is still stylish almost four decades later.
In lieu of the tank design used by Saenz, I opted for the slightly more obscure, real-world M554 Sheridan light tank, in operation from 1969-1997. Parts of different variations of Sheridan models throughout its 28-year service are represented here, so what you see is not an image of any single Sheridan you could find at a museum or outside of your local VFW. (especially the bass amps strapped to the sides).
1986 would see the release of All Rise, the first album Pierre would record on, and also the only Raygun LP to feature a photograph for the cover. Naked Raygun’s imagery is typically, but not always, steeped in an industrial, military, post-apocalyptic vibe. An unknown person graces the cover of All Rise (I believe I read once it is vocalist Jeff Pezzati). Face and head covered in a balaclava and round welder goggles, our (anti?) hero wades through a misty pool of black liquid, bedecked in various industrial equipment, including a large tube of some sort strapped to their back.
For the Godspeed cover, I chose to have them popping out of the turret hatch, and to show the face more clearly. I also had to guess on a lot of the equipment and colors.
Jettison, from 1988, is another iconic cover (aren’t they all?). Seeing someone pop out of a tank, or wade into a pool? Yeah, we can buy that. But some guy speeding along an inch or two off of the ground? What is this?!?
Credits for the illustration on the album go to both John Bergin and Bryan Willette. Not only is this an amazingly memorable piece of art, perhaps in its absurdity, but using the “Jettison Guy” to the middle right on Godspeed also took care of some dead space. Win/win!
Whereas Jettison‘s imagery was in black and white, 1989’s Understand? went full color. Painted by the inimitable Phil Hale, it is likely the most accomplished visual art to grace a Naked Raygun album. It also goes full speed into The Road Warrior territory. This stylish brute looks a bit like a dweeb, but with arms like that, who’s going to say that to his face?
He always looked a bit grumpy to me and, frankly, I didn’t think I could do Hale’s art justice. So I let him drive the tank. Probably would make him happy.
Among album covers, 1990’s Raygun… Naked Raygun is the outlier. It eschews the military grade, post-apocalyptic vibes for the tuxedoed suave of James Bond. Raygun, drink, and cigarette in hand, our hero flies off in a jetpack, repeated dancing ladies in the background.
Illustrated by Saenz again, the cover humorously cuts out our figure’s face. Asking the consumer to “Attach your favorite Naked Raygun head here.” Sure enough, on the back of the album there are the four heads of the band members, dotted cut out lines and all. (Funny story, I picked up this CD used once my cassette tape wore out, and someone actually did cut out Jeff Pezzati’s face and glued it to the cover).
In 1992 Naked Raygun would disband or, as some would say it now, went on hiatus. Except for a reunion gig in 1997 which produced the live album Free Shit!, the band would stay mostly quiet until Riot Fest 2006, after which they reformed permanently. Although releasing a series of 7″s between 2009-2011 via Riot Fest, it wasn’t until 2021 that their new LP Over the Overlords would be released.
Over the Overlords features art by Chicago artist Miguel Echemendia, and is the first LP to feature a female-presenting character (the Riot Fest 7″ releases did, as well). Part cyborg, part Michonne from the TV version of The Walking Dead, it is a cover that shares a clear lineage with NR albums three decades ago, while definitely rooting its style in our modern era.
In the original and tribute version, she’s pressing that big red button to blow it all up.
One hard and fast requirement was that the bass guitar be clearly and identifiably Pierre’s Gibson bass, loaded with stickers. I used a stock photo of the same bass type as a body reference, and then a series of photos found across social media, notably this one (source unknown) and this one (photo: MXV) to re-draw the stickers as best as possible. Given, even on a 12″ album cover, these are going to be so small as to be almost unrecognizable, but I tried.
Lastly I was given free rein for the back cover. My immediate concept, which Curt 100% supported my vision of, was a candlelit shrine to Pierre, showing a photo both recent and from his youth surrounded, not by flowers, but with the odd tchotchkes of free shit that Naked Raygun would throw out at their shows. A pile of random marketing knick knacks emblazoned with the Naked Raygun logo.
the white drew carey (aka – Jeff Sorley) is the founder and head editor of TGEFM. He’s lived (outside of) Chicago, Madison WI, (ugh) Penn State, Lyon FR, Oxford UK, central New Jersey, and now within earshot of SFO in the Bay Area. When not scouring the web for more great bands and labels to post about, he also spends time drawing (mostly) silly sci-fi and anime stuff under the name Asplenia Studios.
