Giving Thanks

The other night I caught a screening of Tim O'Donnell's documentary, George, at the Dinner and a Movie Haven, Chunky's in Pelham NH. The place was completely packed, and the film was well received. A few words from the website: "You don’t play wrestling, you wrestle. George learned how to wrestle, but he also learned how to use hard work and discipline to overcome life’s oppositions. This film is more than a documentary on an athlete; it parallels the demands of wrestling with the adversities facing our inner city youth." The doc is available here on DVD, and part of the proceeds go towards George Hargrove's college tuition.

Tim contributed the above piece to the CP book, and you can check out a bunch more of his work at All That is Art. He has a great eye for color, and creates trippy compositions with his unique style. Big up to Bimby, our God-cousin, more things with him in the future.

Pirate Booty

Right before the CP book went to print, I asked my non-eskimo brother Matt Doughty if there was anything else the book needs. His reply? Booty. He delivered the goods with this space-swashbuckling beaut.

Matt has been a big influence on all of my design work, and over the past few years we went from collaborating on Beantown Toys to partners in Onell Design. Moreover, these day/night jobs are also spilling over into the MADD world, and we're finalizing a few toy designs. Somehow, out of the hundreds of characters and figures we've produced together (yes, hundreds!), we still have not officially released a DB figure. That is about to change.

We're Coming For You

The piece above is another collab between Boris Savic and myself, aka Destroy Banimon. Boris created all the vectors from his twisted mind, and I simply tweaked the colors and added to the subliminal messages. Look for the long-awaited third book of his amazing Bānimon comic to hit the streets soon! For those that were there, Boris did an insane live painting last weekend at our Halloween show in Cambridge (pics to come). The remaining tees we made together will also be available in the MADD shop shorty.

DBDL on the horizon.
In the coming weeks, we will be launching a brand new download store, dubbed the DBDL. The site will feature exclusive tracks including "They're Coming For You," a Pirated-rework by Gejius. Keep it here for more details!

Pirate Oil

A piece from Alvan Long's Oil War series, this was donated to the project after an afternoon session while mastering [something] with Nick Z. Alvan has a very distinct, genuine style to his mixed media pieces. Chaotic cutouts and globs of color, his work blends material with meaning. (I have to personally thank but also apologize to Alvan, whose name was misspelled Alvin on one page of the book.) The great look and feel to New Alliance Studios is hugely in part of Alvan's artistic eye.

DB and New Alliance actually have a few things in the works- can't say much now, but one involves a performance in the EMF, and the other a remix by a certain Campaign For Real-Timer. More soon!

Breaking News from Music A.D.D.

Destroy Banimon

Phew! It's been a while since this site had some luv. Well, starting next month, quiet-time is over. Throughout November, we will be posting art from the Culture Pirates book- some you've seen, some you haven't. In addition to the music video debut, we will be releasing a very special limited edition HARDCOVER version of the book! The new publication will also contain a few new pages of art and some bonus goodies, so stay tuned!

Fellow Culture Pirate and Banimon creator Boris Savic and I have collaborated on the poster seen above (and by collaborating, I mean I raped & pillaged one of his comics late last night...). We have a few more things up our collective sleeve, so be on the lookout for more from DESTROY BANIMON! And keep that date clear- on Friday October 30th, Middle East downstairs will be hosting thee place to be on the Eve of All Hallows' Eve... hear Culture Pirates live, along with dark dubs and Halloween classics.

facebook event here.

V I N Y L !

The records came in this weekend and they are absolutely beautiful! The majority are marbled, and a few are a pretty solid bright turquoise green. About 16 different color variations in all, though all 500 are unique. The greenish/yellowish/pukish colors match the book very well, and the whole package kicks some series pirated ass. Sounds great spinning, looks great hanging... whatever you choose, we won't tell. In 3 days we hit the road with these- from Boston to Colorado, come out and show your Pirate Luv!

Culture Consumptin Pt. III

Revealed! Here is the long-overdue final installment from Roberto Enamorado. Please head over to his new site, Red For You, to see sketches and read all about this amazing piece. Roberto came up from NY to catch our show at O'Brien's last month and we all had the pleasure of seeing the close-to-finished drawing in person. Not only is the line work and detail stellar, but the thought processes and meaning behind the image is very cool (blog post here). The end result came out great- look for it right in the center of the book. Roberto truly made Culture Pirates his own, and we are extremely thankful for his contribution.

We are growing oh so very close to the official release... so without further ado... 

Culture Pirates now streaming on our new DB mixtape mp3 player!

Enjoy!

Pirated Video

Last weekend we shot a video for Culture Pirates. Full gallery is posted here. Massive thanks again to our amazing crew. Stay tuned for a full behind the scenes recap.

Apologies for the lack of updates the past few weeks... needless to say, we've been beyond busy- new record, book, tour, and exciting announcements to come. This is shaping up to be Summer of Babylon...

Callgrim Pirate

Culturing Pirates Pt. I

This quick sketch comes from our good friend KTRON, whom you may recognize from our sEParation album art. KTRON is known for her amazing renditions of kooky monsters, skeletal punks and insanely charismatic pirates, so we knew she would have fun with this project. This time around she stepped out of the usual realm of sea dwelling humanoids and played with the "culture" theme, as in cell culturing pirates... it somehow makes perfect sense. I have a feeling these swashbuckling organisms are going to spread quick...

Culture Consumptin Pt. II

2 more images revealed, 2 more to go...

Masked

Culture Consumptin Pt. I

The latest contribution comes from Roberto Enamorado. We will be revealing more of the piece along with a final animated sequence over the next few weeks. Be sure to check back to see this beast revealed. Muchas gracias Roberto.

This is Not a Pirate

This weekend, we entered the brand new facility of The Kennel Studios, while simultaneously stepping back in time a few decades. We've done all analog sessions before, but not on 1" tape and all vintage gear- needless to say, we got some very cool, retro sounds. We'll have a full post detailing the whole session with pics & video asap.


I was extremely pleased to see two new additions to the CP book gracing my inbox when we got back, both from Jason Ralls. Jason is not only an amazing illustrator and expert designer, he's family (to me and John that is). If you know anything about Dada and Surrealism, you may recognize the Magritte piece he is appropriating in the clip above. Throw in the "This is Not" reference from our first single, and the fact that he is currently living in Denmark working for Lego... the image is an appropriated pièce de résistance. Thanks cuz!

Babylon x Haloz

This piece comes from NYC's Steven Lew, aka Kidlew for Madeinchorea™. One of the first illustrations he showed me was marker'd on a Priority Mail address sticker. I thought it was kind of an ingenius way to acquire free canvases. On my walk back to the New Yorker hotel that evening, I must have passed at least 3 or 4 of his pieces stuck to scaffolding, mail boxes, and other random places. Lew has such a distinct style and creates super simple, yet very iconic characters, all with a Sharpie or two. Huge props to Kidlew- this is the first completed piece for the book. While he finishes up his new website, check out his flickr page.

Culture Triteness

Here's a glimpse of what Jesse DeStasio is working on, the Cliché Bot. Not only does it steal from cultures, but each cliché attachment makes it stonger...! Is there a specific term for finding words within words (ie, the che reference)? If there is, I'd totally use it here.

I met Jesse a few years back at one of the New York Comic Cons. After seeing his range of work- illustration, sculpting, painting, photography, karaoke- there is not much he can't do, and kickass at it. Thanks for the sneek peak!

It starts...

Culture Pirates sets sail! Boris Savic of Rocket North/Banimon comics sent over a lil piece of what he is cooking up. If you are not familiar with his work do yourself a favor and pick up the first two Banimon Comics at his store here. It's amazing how much action + story can be packed into each page using only 3 colors. We're stoked to see what this turns into...

Culture Pirates!

Culture Pirates is record + book project created by Destroy Babylon. The new single will be pressed on 7” vinyl, packaged in the centerfold of a 7x7” book featuring a dozen artists interpretations of a Culture Pirate.