Like Factory Records & Peter Saville, The Velvet Underground & Andy Warhol and The Beatles & Peter Blake linked to every great band is a great artist. Perfect bedfellows a piece of art on a sleeve can become as iconic as the very sound it represents. And so we introduce the technicolour raw-stylings of Skullux whose artwork oozes the same raw rawk ‘n’ roll attitude as the music if wraps itself around.
How did you first get involved with Jennifer and Royal Trux?
As a longtime Royal Trux fan, I discovered around 2005 they had a Myspace page and I befriended them. I had some drawings displayed on there and it was a great pleasure to get to know that Jennifer liked my stuff and she contacted me about doing a cover for them. It was like a dream come true, doing artwork for my favourite band!Magical.
Your artwork suits the music of RTX/Black Bananas perfectly! How does the collaborative process work between you and Jennifer?
For our first collaboration, Western Xterminator later retitled RaTX, JJ gave me some very dope suggestions story-wise, tied in with the Pied Piper theme. But basically I´m free to work from intuition. Trying to tab into the mental pool of shared sensibilities. I get ideas by listening to their inspirational music which conjures up images that I then put together. When the artwork grows, it creates its own kind of telepathic vibe in synch with the Black Bananas aesthetic.
What is your creative process and media?
First lots of black coffee and cigarettes… Inspiration itself is the easy part, realization is more like a constant positive battle with myself. A rewarding struggle but it also should be good fun. For the drawings I use crayons mostly, sometimes ink and feather. When I make collages I use whatever I find, from old magazines to safety pins, cigarette burns or nail polish.
Who and what are your main influences?
Outsiders and freaks, the true life blood. Occultism and Magic. The sleazy underbelly of the big city. Fairground art and movies like Christiane F or Streetwise. Wildlife and Italian fumetti art. My cat Geno. Trying to master everyday´s crazy life. Mistakes are inspiring… and killer weed.
What soundtrack do you like to work to?
While drawing the Black Bananas cover I constantly listened to Ultra Wave by Bootsy Collins and Common Man Boogie by Dusty Rhodes. Otherwise, what plays on my stereo at the moment: 70´s Bowie, P-Funk, Nuggets Compilations, Gram Parsons. I also love to work in silence (if possible).
Who have been your favourite clients to work with?
JJ Herrema and Black Bananas of course! Always so inspiring. Sasha Eisenman for Friendshirts; way cool. Also creating stuff for Emily Hoy (Volcom) was awesome. Working with Tiago Miranda, Natalie Wood (Something Else) and Aya Tanizaki (Zucca) was a great experience as well.
Who are your favourite illustrators?
Greg Irons, Robert Crumb, Joe Coleman, Bobby Beausoleil, Fergus Purcell…all amazing artists.
Are there any other bands who’d you like to work with?
No dream list. Any band out there who is dangerous, sexy and weird.
Originally appeared in Fused Magazine 2012
