I just had a jinx moment reading something Maz wrote on The Clutter blog about the dilemma of Art vs. Band. You know, when you like an artist (or artwork) but the band that is the subject matter, eh…not so much? For instance, maybe you’re a fan of Frank Kozik, but you didn’t really care for the riot-grrrl rantings of 7 Year Bitch or your boss won’t let you hang a poster in your cubicle containing the word “Butthole.” Or perhaps you really dig this Michael Motorcycle poster for Einstürzende Neubauten, but you just don’t know who they are (you should). Do you buy the art and sweat out your neuroses that a houseguest is someday going to question your musical credibility? Maz was debating a poster by Drew Millward for a band called Hard Fi. It is a cool poster. I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again: you can’t go wrong with bunnies. But how to deal with the prominence of the band name…?
I think the solution to this dilemma is to wait it out: it’s likely the artist will put out something else sans band. This is the case for Alex Pardee, IMO, an artist everybody should be watching and Chadam, a character he created with and for the band, The Used. The Used got some pretty sweet cover art, but I wasn’t about to buy their album. Flash forward to now: Alex Pardee is bringing Chadam to the big screen with the help of Unreal Engine 3 and the backing of Warner Brothers.
If you’re not familiar with Chadam, he has a MySpace page where you can read some unusually compelling (it’s still MySpace, you know) blogging about life in the town of Vulture. It’s a complex and evolving story, but you can get a taste from the press release: “Chadam lives as the “chosen one” in the hyper-stylized and exaggerated metropolitan island city of Vulture. His power of imagination is strong enough to physically change his environment and, therefore, his world … to save it from evil.” And there’s evil aplenty. The writing is dark and visual; it will be interesting to see how it transforms from words to imagery. Speaking of…
The first CGI Chadam screenshot hit the Internet this weekend, and Alex and Chadam are encouraging everyone to spread the word. The MySpace page has downloadable images and instructions for stickering and wheat-pasting to help spread the disease, or in advertising parlance, go viral. Check out a short video of Alex with a Chadam maquette and stay tuned for more info on the movie.
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