By chance are ya heading to Cincinnati for theV-Twin Expo? If so, get out to the Biltwell and Lowbrow Customs after party.
"Thiscoming Saturday, February 4th, 2012 in Cincinnati, Ohio come on out for
The Biltwell Brodown, brought to you by Biltwell & Lowbrow Customs!
Stay up to date in this age of technology by visiting the website (and vieiwng a nice Dandelion Death video from the party last year!) or perusing the Facebook Brodown event page.
We don't screw around here in the midwest, when we are ready to party
we burn it down, so bring your drinking shoes and don't be late!"
Biltwell & Lowbrow Customs Brodown after party at V-Twin Expo 2012
When it comes to understanding the process of how things work, that is something we can nerd out on all day long. Whether it be an engine running, watching a mill shape metal into a new part to be used or simply hanging out at our local print shop and watching Aardvark Printing do their magic. We can't thank them enough for their continual hard work on all of projects and their lightning fast turnaround. Some items sell out instantly and Greg and Mark keep us restocked within days, thanks fellas!
The photos below are from some recent projects being completed. Do yourself a favor, if you need some of the best screen printing done we have two shops that are beyond top notch. Out in Asheville, Matt over at BluBus Printing is a mad scientist on making new setups and can print anything. Here in Raleigh, Greg over at Aardvark is the go to man for all that is music industry for printing. If ya didn't already know, he is also the former drummer of Antiseen. Both are top notch and the only folks we work with for screen printing due to their quality work and competitive pricing.
White ink separation for the Ramones Tribute 7" vinyl - Hail To The Chief
Green Lady Killers Poison Skull tshirt graphic ready to be burned to screen
Underside view of the white ink screen for the 7" vinyl with Antiseen & Flat Tires
Cleaning the black print screen after covers are completed
The ink well
Hellbound Glory Rooster Tshirt design separations ready to burn to screen
Antiseen & Flat Tires 7" album, Hail To The Chief, custom screenprint poster, insert and vinyl
"It's been a minute since I've seen The Green Lady Killers
in action. The hometown garage rockers relocated to Los Angeles some
time ago, but before that I used to enjoy dipping into random dive bars
to catch a live show by the grrrly trio.
Needless to say I was pretty stoked yesterday when they announced on the band's Facebook page, two Arizona shows coming up in March.
You see, GLK always reminds me of the first and last time I walked through the ally entrance of the Emerald Lounge, one of the Valley's premier local music venues before it closed down in 2005.
Located just below what is now Sidebar
on Seventh Avenue and McDowell, I only have feint memories of the musky
club, but I hold them near and dear. A transplant from the City of
Angels, I was still finding my bearings back then when a friend and I
stumbled in. We heard some bands were going to be playing later on that
night so we loaded up and hung out.
I only remember two of the bands that played that night. The first,
was some touring death metal act fronted by this chick with a wicked
death growl followed by GLK.
Cherrybomb, with her signature black bangs and animal print something
or other, accosted the crowd with her gaze as she flailed on drums,
while the leather-clad, high heeled Lady Van Buren wailed and shredded
on guitar. This was how I was indoctrinated to the Arizona music scene.
It also marks the one and only time I've bought band merch that wasn't a
CD.
The Green Lady Killers play Friday, March 9, at Hollywood Alley in Mesa, and again, Saturday, March 10, at Inkenstein Tattoo's annual anniversary party.
I may have to bust out my GLK T-shirt, I'm not sure yet."
There is just something about classic movies that continue to make us want to view them over and over and over. Is it the plot lines, the depth the characters plunge into our psyche or is just damn good cinematography? If we had to pick one choice of that bunch, we would have to go with character depth, but then again, without a solid plot line the characters could be as flat as pancakes.
Mondo prints classic movie posters re-envisioned by a plethora of designers, illustrators and mad thinkers. Their approach is DIY and the way in which the posters are printed in small editions makes them even better. We have missed out on quite a few gems that we would dig for our walls such as the ones below. Dig into their archives and blog and see what Mondo is all about.
"You will never find, see, or ride, a
better example of the famous Square Four Ariel. It was restored
to absolute show condition by a very experienced Texas restoration
expert and collector. The engine/transmission was built by Keith Martin
of Big D Cycle fame. It has been the center piece of a private museum
for the last several years. The bike starts, runs, and rides just as it
looks. The torque of the four cylinder engine is amazing. It starts
very easily and after a few minutes of warm up runs out better than it
did in '58. This is obviously not an everyday bike, but it can, and
should, be ridden regularly. There is no problem keeping up with modern
traffic, but you must remember the bike has brakes from the fifties
era. The bike will be delivered to the new owner with a fresh service,
fully charged battery, and ready to show or ride. This is isn't a
distress sale, and is not cheap, the best never is.
I've been collecting vintage
motorcycles for over 30 years and I've never seen a Square Four even
close to the condition of this bike. You can be assured you won't see
another like this at a show or Sunday ride. If you are interested in
seeing the collection's website visit www.vintagememoriesinc.com PLEASE DO NOT email me about other bikes that might be for sale. If anything is for sale it will be on ebay at a future time.
I'm selling this bike only because I
don't ride it often enough. I'm selling a few of my bikes that are not
ridden often enough, or that I have more than one example. The bike has
a clear and open Texas title. It has not been registered in Georgia
since I just never used it that much."
More information about Ariel Motorcycles from HowStuffWorks.com
The 1957 Ariel Mk II motorcycle was developed by one of the British motorcycle industry's more adventurous manufacturers. Begun in 1902, Ariel produced an array of singles and twins of both two- and four-stroke design, but it is this unusual four-cylinder model that is perhaps best remembered.
During the 1920s, Ariel's Edward Turner had dreams of changing the world of motorcycling. For many years, twin-cylinder engines were the powerplant of choice, but Turner had grander ideas.
Envisioning a four-cylinder engine that would fit neatly into a typical frame, he devised the unusual "square four" design. It used two crankshafts geared together and four cylinders arranged in a square pattern, with a pair of pistons tied to each crankshaft.
Displacing 500 ccs, the first Ariel Square Four appeared in 1931, venting its exhaust through only two pipes. The four was enlarged to 600 ccs in 1932, and then to 1000 ccs in 1936.
In 1953, the Ariel 4G Mk II version appeared, carrying a four-pipe exhaust system and an alloy block in place of the previous iron version.
Some other changes were evident by this time as well. The tank-mounted instrument panel was eliminated and the gauges were now mounted atop the wide headlight nacelle.
A new plunger rear suspension provided a softer ride but needed fresh lubrication every 250 miles. The girder front fork had been converted to telescopic in 1946 and went largely untouched.
Turner left Ariel to join Triumph in the mid 1930s, where his talents in developing the Speed Twin helped revive the ailing concern.
Ariel's success with the Square Four continued through the 1950s, after which the company concentrated on medium-displacement two-strokes that were a cross between a scooter and a motorcycle.
The engine of the 1957 Ariel 4G Mk II motorcycle used the "square four" design, which consisted of two crankshafts geared together and four cylinders arranged in a square pattern, with a pair of pistons tied to each crankshaft.
We were recently passed along these pedals and graphics by a project introduced in a class. If you happen to check out music gear, often times it can be quite lack luster in the visual design department and could use a major overhaul. DRNO pedals repackaging have just that new kind of allure that is sure to attract many new folks on first glance. Now its up to the sound to be as top notch as the design motif.
Check out this video review below on the Black Magic pedal and peep the old artwork. Easy to tell that the revamp was a huge success visually. Also, have a listen to that low end fuzzed out tone, damn right!
Recently I created the logo artwork and packaging design for DrNo Effects, a range of vintage guitar effect pedals. It has been an absolute pleasure to work on this job as I always love to mix graphic design, custom lettering and illustration. This project had all of these elements. I started by doing some rough sketches, and created six different vintage styles, one for each guitar effect. Within each artwork, I tried to reflect the sound and style of the effect. I created custom letters to make every effect unique and special. Finally, I placed the sketches in Illustrator, traced them and added colour.
As I'm a guitar player myself I have to say these vintage guitar effects are truly amazing and really take you back in time. But I guess this goes without saying as Alain Johannes of Queens of the Stone Age is one of the many users of DrNo effects. The effects are produced using the best components and materials available, and every stomp box is 100% handmade by DrNo himself.
