Every once in a while something happens that you didn’t see coming. This was one of those things.

At The Drive-In were a bit of a pivotal band for me. They released ‘Relationship of Command’  at the same time that I moved to Leeds. I bloody loved that album, and still do. A few months after that, they appeared on ‘Later’, and proceeded to play, what still remains, the most exciting musical performance I have ever seen broadcast of TV.

That album and that performance opened up the way I thought about music, and for that, I can’t really be thankful enough.

Having grown up in Bolton, and spent the previous year living in Preston (neither being much of a hot bed of mind expanding rock shows), in an era before the ability to sit down at a computer and listen to any music you could ever wish to hear, my musical knowledge was pedestrian, at best. The move to Leeds made me aware of what a brilliant music scene there was around at that time, and had I not discovered At The Drive-In, and started to delve into a much broader range of music, there are countless local and touring bands, that had a big impact on me, may have passed me by. Who knows? I may even have a proper job now, instead of drawing pictures for a living.

So, when I got an email asking me to make a poster for them, I initially froze in sheer terror. That lasted a while, then I decided to get my shit together and get on with the job in hand.

I wanted to create something that was alien, sprawling, exciting, kinetic, colourful and dark. Something that represented what I heard the first time I listened to the band.

I’d like to thank Cedric and the rest of the band for asking me to be part of this, and a big thanks to Mitch for everything running so smoothly.

Hope you dig it.