. . . among other things with a local rock trio by the name of Happy Birthday Secret Weapon.
Saw the gents play at the Sunset Tavern in Ballard a few months back in support of Levi Fuller’s ‘Ball of Wax’ project and was blown away by their performance.
We got to talking about influences, and two came up: 1) Hella and 2) The F*cking Champs.
The image above had us laughing on account of it’s remarkably sublime homage to the snarky, self-mythologizing album covers the Champs were known for.
With titles such as ‘Nebula Ball Rests in a Fantasy Claw’ and ‘Thor is Like Immortal’ or ‘I am the Album Cover,’ the Champs had a pretty good sense of humor much like the gentlemen of Happy Birthday Secret Weapon.
In addition to our image above, the guys helped me with a triptych concept that I’m still working hard to complete, so that I may get it up on the blog and soon-to-launch website.
In the meantime, you should go out and give their music a listen.
More always,
Mike






















LeRoy Bell Cover for Seattle Weekly
Couple weeks back, I got a call to shoot LeRoy Bell for the cover of Seattle Weekly.
Must confess that I wasn’t all that familiar with the X-Factor, but I was blown away by LeRoy’s story and his own career in music that encompasses writing songs for the likes of Elton John and Teddy Pendergrass, along with fronting his own band – LeRoy Bell and His Only Friends.
If you’ve got five minutes, you should check out the embedded video below (click here if embed doesn’t work) to see a performance and to catch a glimpse of how soulful he is.
At 60, he was the oldest candidate on the X-Factor, and in my opinion, the most down-to-earth and real guy there. Life experience, perhaps yes?! It’s evident that LeRoy feels every lyric he belts out, and it was an absolute honor to have the opportunity to spend time with him in his home north of Seattle.
If you’re looking for a hot ticket on New Year’s Eve, you should check LeRoy out at the Moore Theater. Run by his Twitter page to keep abreast since I suspect you’ll be hearing a lot more from him in the coming months. Either way, look for LeRoy in the Seattle Weekly out now!
More always,
Clinard