MERITALES: MERIVALE INTERVIEW
In October 2019, the legends from Merivale came by the studio for a chat about some upcoming projects at the Vic On The Park, my artwork and my processes. Rad to be a part of. Here’s the link.
How did you become an illustrator?
A million years ago a lot of my friends were starting bands and wanted gig posters, shirts and stuff. I was just getting started and I used to help out my mates with very very shit gig posters. And over time I figured it out and I never went to an art school or a college or learned anything officially, which I think helped me overcompensate and figure it out myself. And over time, after you’ve done a couple of thousand posters for your mates, you figure out what’s what.
Were you that kid in class who was always drawing?
Yeah. It’s always been quite therapeutic for me. I find it quite meditative to just switch off and draw something, just mindless drawing especially, when there’s no real plan. But I guess the thing that happens after time, if you get quite good at it, and you start putting your work out there, the jobs get bigger, the budgets get bigger. I had a full-time job at the time and I went part-time, so I had more time for illustrating and drawing.
What was your full-time job?
I used to work in music copyright. Essentially helping bands pay royalties to record covers. About seven years ago, I got too busy with illustrating, and murals, and everything, so I just went full-time. It’s been the busiest I’ve ever been, I’ve never worked harder and I’ve got no regrets. It’s so much fun.
Have you always had a similar aesthetic or has your style developed over time?
It’s definitely evolved. I don’t know if I’ve gotten better, it’s just changed. But I guess that’s kind of what’s going to happen if you do that much work, eventually it will take on its own thing. I guess my influence was always Mambo, old school White Zombie gig posters and stuff. Like the rad t-shirts I’d see at Utopia Records when I was growing up. Just put that all in a blender and see what comes out and you’re left with a guy who just likes drawing and skulls.
And so what is the obsession with skulls? Do you know where it’s come from?
I don’t know! I grew up watching cheesy horror movies with my dad. We’ve always had this idea that ghosts and monsters aren’t real, so we just kind of make jokes about it and watch a lot of cartoons and joke about death and all kinds of stuff. I never really thought it was scary. Every now and again when someone says to me I don’t like skulls or a job comes up and they say we don’t want skulls. I say, ‘Why not? What’s wrong with skulls? They’re fun!’ I totally appreciate that everyone has their own thing but when I look at skulls I just see poking fun at death, taking the piss out of it. Who cares? Have some fun.
Are there any other motifs that reoccur for you?
Yeah, I have some classic icons that I like. I love grim reapers, I love skulls and skeletons. I love snakes and eagles, and all the kind of cool tattoo stuff. I guess a lot of my style kind of comes from that traditional kind of Americana punk rock. I like bold images. I like when stuff looks like it’s been screen-printed, or stamped, or branded or somehow burnt into something. I don’t like too much shading or detail. I like to keep things really simple and that’s become my style and that’s what I do.
Do you ever get creatively blocked?
I do sometimes. Sometimes I feel like there’s one cliché answer and I give myself shit for landing on the most obvious thing and then all you have to do is go and work on something else or go for a beer or something. If it’s not an urgent rush, just take a minute to think on it or sleep on it. Often you’ll be in the shower and it will be like, ‘Boom! Got it.’ The lightbulb moment is totally a thing. It’s cool to spend a few minutes on Pinterest and maybe everyone’s doing a dagger through a burger? So, f*ck it! I’m going to do an exploding burger.
What are the jobs you’ve done that you’re really proud of?
I’ve had a few jobs that have been dream jobs. I got an email about doing a tour t-shirt for The Rolling Stones – that was a big day. Another one was being briefed to work on a summer range with Mambo. I’d always grown up being obsessed with Mambo and loving the Mambo artwork and finally being able to do it my way was really cool.
Is there anything you’re busting to do that you haven’t done yet?
My new favourite thing is painting murals and travelling. In the next few weeks I’m heading over to LA to go and paint some big walls for a couple of bars over there. We’re going to do a couple in LA and then head over to Austin, Texas, and do some over there as well. I always try and be critical of my work and what I’m doing. I’m very aware if I’ve done the same thing 500 times. And, jokes about skulls aside, I do take it seriously and I do look at my work and go you know what too many skulls this month! Let’s push snakes.
Your studio is at Young Henrys, who you’ve done a lot of illustrations for. Is it dangerous working in a brewery?
Working in a brewery is both terrifying and incredibly dangerous. It’s very fun. We drink a lot of beer. Being freelance requires a lot of discipline, let alone the introduction of endless beer.
It’s the ultimate test?
It’s the ultimate test.
What’s your plan for The Vic on the Park murals?
We’ve basically started with the idea of this grim reaper band. We’ve got this singer, this drummer, this guitar player and so on and we’ll tie the different murals to various phases of the House of Rounds event.
It’s a lovely tie-in because you designed The Vic on the Park logo. Can you explain how that came about?
It was probably about four or five years ago now. We were working with the guys running the Vic at the time and they wanted to give it a bit of a facelift and tie themselves in better with Marrickville and we came up with a whole bunch of concepts and the one that stood out was the illustration of the pub because it’s such an iconic corner. Drawing the pub like that was cool. It was a cool stamp. I feel really good about that one.
If you had to describe yourself in three words what would they be?
Super rad legend.
