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THE STAIN TRAIL : I can't tell if any well proportioned listeners of punk music will take to Cult Ritual's leveling use of the form as a prison for flayed ideas & quartered mangles of nihilism, anger, manipulation........but I would like to think it's at least possible. For me, 30 some odd years after....let's say....Black Flag angsted about the West Coast, a hardcore band should be less about how well you beat your instruments up and more about how horrible you sand the genre's primal elements across any listener's tuned appreciation. It's about making sure it feels like everything is about to break into pieces, blow the seams, boil the body. It's about about gutting and slicing the lively parts & wearing them for a cannibal night in fear. It's about muddled mastery and enthusiasm for atmosphere over etched regurgitation. Or maybe, I am projecting to wide a net for something so rooted in being a mannered, musical troglodyte. Regardless, I am obviously about to say that I feel Cult Ritual is occupying a ferocious spot in all of that well-trodden land, giving credence to my "yes" of designing a record cover for them.
Anyway.....
I would like to think I can make that personal account of heat hate feed right into the fact that I am writing up this commercial for the new IT'S THE TOTAL DOOMRIDE! tote bag, but....well, I can't. So, let me just say in plain words again : the IT'S THE TOTAL DOOMRIDE tote bag is finalized, finished and ready for your whatever dollars. This is the first item in my new EXORCISE! product line and basic English would have me tell you that it's mainly inspired by my love of old WW2 exploitation films (or Men On A Mission films as Tarantino would say) like Salt in the Wound, The Dirty Dozen (not really exploitation but.....), Castellari's Inglorious Bastards, etc. etc. etc. with a little dose of G.I.S.M. enthusiasm sprinkled in. You may remember me sprouting this image as a graphite drawing last year when it started travelling with the DRAW! Travelling Art Show.
.......yes, thank you, you're right, it's factual, no kidding, sincerely, indeed there is a new Steak Mtn. webstore that has been created, brought to life, revived from a dead idea, etc. and it is called EXORCISE! Eventually it will be filled to the gills with un-band related Steak gear of many genres and races : shirts, tote bags, original drawings, printed matters....you get the idea...it's not high concept, it's commerce so all the usual buying stuff suspects will be accounted for. Right now as a test run, Nathan and the Merchline squad have created the site and I slipped them some of the limited prints from two years agos collab squeezefest : The '64 Death Pack. I realize the prices are steep, but realize that you might want to get in on the ground level with some of these prints cause Gabel, Bowen and Horsebites are only getting more popular and exciting to the kids with money to burn and having these will be a collectors something at some point. Look out soon for a limited edition shirt of my ADULTS ONLY! drawing and rocksteady colored totebag of IT'S THE TOTAL DOOMRIDE. I am sure I will be sending out a commercial for you to read about when they are available for you's to buy. BUT REMEMBER : EXORCISE!
Also, please note I have done a new Steak signature shirt for SHIRTKILLER. If you remember correctly, as you should, I ran freely into a overprinted frenzy with them for the Octoskull design a year or so back. I have returned to their fold with a shirt of my FUNERAL MOON drawing. They are taking pre-orders now and should begin printing and sending things off in the next few weeks, follow the link to get yourself outfitted with all the black metal breakfast table irony.
Here is an image of it :
2.) If you want to see the full THE MOST EXPLOSIVE PICTURE OF THE YEAR! solo show that is currently up at The Threadless Gallery then THEN CLICK HERE.
3.) Speaking of the Threadless Empire, there has slowly but surely been a flux of stock for my DECAPITATED DOOMSDAY shirt over at this link here! Act a little sludgier but still swiftish to buy one of these before they go the way of 8-Tracks and my career.

Here is the poster for next weeks triumphant THE MOST EXPLOSIVE PICTURE OF THE YEAR!!!!


In other news, if you are just looking at Steak Mtn. for the first time, be aware of these things:
A.) Click this link for the official Steak Mtn. blog.
B.) Click this link for my regular non-Steak Mtn. blog, covering internet ephemera, other artists I love, reviews of junk and mean spirited op/ed pieces.
C.) Click this link for the official Steak Mtn. Myspace, where you can be my "friend" or whatever.

Recently, Steak Mtn. was asked to be a guest author for the whole month of August, basically recreating the tradition of pointing an adjective filled finger in the direction of something/someone that breaks open my brain with their immense amounts of irreverent visual power. And since I consider myself a professional fan above anything else, always geek mailing other artists and designers....daily (some of you may have received a few of these exclamation notes), I jumped at the chance to have a public spot to be loud about the creatives I am totally in love with : some old, some new and some sorely overlooked due to maybe being 16 and not really having a forum or know how to get their stuff in front of viewers.
I cracked the hull today with a wordy post on Brooklyn based painter, Elizabeth Huey & tomorrow I will be talking Gary Panter......so keep your eyes peeled on http://www.itsnicethat.com all month (and after that cause Will & Jez party all the time on that thing) for the 25 or so artists, designers, musicians, architects, etc. that I will be spotlighting in my terribly convoluted...prose (?).....

