A conversation & artist profile of sorts with ole school NYHC artist Sean Taggart. Check out his work and support ------>http://www.seantaggart.com/
1) After you came back to NYC in the early 80s and saw AF blow the roof off, is that what got you more into the NYHC scene? Before, I had always been something of a wall flower. After I came back (from a stint of work at marina in Puerto Rico), I was a little surer of myself. Especially once I realized that most of these kids were the same dicks I hated in High School, only with better taste in music. So it was on!!!
2) What were the bands that you really liked at that time and who were you hanging with back then? Parris? Tompkins Square Park 2am. Besides AF, Murphy’s Law and Virus, nothing leaps to mind. We are talking about when I first got back, right? Cos the list would grow exponentially later on.
3) I honestly wouldn’t have guessed that you were influenced by Mad magazine until you mentioned it in the Drew Stone interview. Now after seeing that I can see it. How did you develop your style so that it was influenced but not just a copy of what Mad was doing and which artist from Mad influenced you the most and why? Don Martin! The King of onomatopoeia! Glink! Shtoink! Splork! Flabadip! He is the reason I’m here, end of story. I copied his stuff when I was 8 or 9. I’ve been drawing, since birth. In fact my first “masterpiece” was when I smeared my own shit on the wall next to my crib. Ok, I was 45 at the time, but it was an artistic breakthrough. Seriously, it was the realization that here was a grown man whose job was to make kids laugh. That seemed pretty cool to me.
4) Talking to Parris he mentioned that he was big into tagging and drawing as well. Were you into the tagging scene at all as well or just more into drawing/painting etc? I wrote from ‘75–’78, I stopped when I started High School. I wanted to be a cartoonist, plus I didn’t want to get a JD card! Ha! No loss to the world, as I was an exceptionally whack/toy writer. The funny thing is I went to an art vocational H.S. and half the city’s graff writers were there! I remember Lady Pink cheating off of me in math class. Too bad for her, I was a lousy student.
5) Looking at your record covers for Agnostic Front as well as the cover you did for Full Contact Magazine, there’s always a lot of stuff going on. Are the characters in pieces based on real people? If so, who has been featured? That’s why they call me Hieronymus Mosh! The demon on the AF cover is loosely based on Vinny. At the time he had a fairly developed upper body, but no legs. So that juxtaposition informed my take on the demon. That’s really it. I’m sure the people around me did end up in my art on some level.
6) So, you’re doing all of these great NYHC related projects and then along comes the Jerky Boys. When you got that gig you mentioned that it didn’t take much time at all to knock out but stretched it to make it seem like you had to earn the fee you were getting. (I love that story btw). When you started getting gigs with good money, did you find yourself somewhat intimidated because of the bigger money? There’s like a six-year gap between the two, homie. When I did the initial Frank Rizzo design for them, I was doing work for the New York Press, Outlaw Biker, Screw Magazine and Hair band t-shirts for Brockum entertainment. As well as some stuff for Topps trading cards. HC was pretty much out of the picture by then. I do remember that dude from H2O contacting me (on B.J. Papas recommendation) for an album cover. He didn’t seem to know what I did, so he kind of gave me a laundry list of everything he wanted. I passed. I was also working nights as a legal proofreader. It really should be stressed that it’s incredibly hard to maintain a 100% freelance career. At least that’s the case for me. As for that cake gig you mentioned. It was for the Jerky Boys movie poster (all praises to them for taking me along for the ride), Disney gave me a layout to follow. It was very straight forward but it was the most money I’ve ever gotten for art. I started putting all kinds of pressure on myself when all of a sudden: “Fuck! It isn’t my fault they’re paying me so much for such little work!” I got it done in like a couple of hours.
7) When you talk about thee AF “cause for Alarm” cover it’s funny because you genuinely seem surprised that the artwork has become a classic within the hardcore community and still is all of these years later. What do you remember about coming up with that piece? How long did it take to do? It took a month, mainly because I was so nervous. It was my first “real” piece of art, so again, I put a lot of pressure on myself. I felt it was important at the time, but when you’re twenty, a year in the future seems like forever. Now I just eat up decades!
8) After the AF and Crumbsuckers covers how busy were you getting within the hardcore scene and were people wanting you to do basically “cause For Alarm 2”? No one was really beating down my door or anything. I did the Carnivore stuff and a Whiplash cover but not much else, a couple of things for Underdog and Murphy’s Law, that was about it. Prong! Almost forgot about those guys. Another favorite band. I was so lucky that I got to do all this work for bands I loved.
9) So after you are getting established, you make the move out of the city. At that time were you still going to shows or were you more dedicated to your art?
I moved out of NYC in ’94 I hadn’t been in the HC scene since ’86. As for established, I was an established project manager at DC Comics. The Jerky Boys was an amazing thing, but I couldn’t figure out a way to parlay that into something else. What it did do, was generate enough income that my wife and I could put a down payment on a house. The shows I went to after the HC scene were mostly alt/indie rock shows. Swans, Mudhoney, Helios Creed, Killdozer, things like that.
10) At what point did it become obvious to you that you were going to be able to make a career doing art? It’s never been obvious, either I am or I’m not. Sometimes the work dries up and I have to get a straight job. The last one was at Trader Joe’s, not all that long ago.
11) Going back to influences, besides Mad magazine, were there any other influences that you were able to get inspiration from? Tons! The early ones were: Vaughn Bode -every graffiti writer bit his style, figures, lettering, language. He should be considered the Patron Saint of Graffiti. Bernie Wrightson, the delineator of the macabre, some of the finest ink work you’ll ever see. Frank Frazetta. King of neo-barbarians. Crom be damned! Later on, it would be: Ralph Steadman, the master of splatter and the artist that illuminated the notorious “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” by Hunter S. Thompson. Required reading! Jack Davis (also a Mad artist but it was his work in EC Comics from the 50’s I was into. That guy drew amazing crowd scenes where every character is unique and interacting in all manner of ways. My jaw drops whenever I look at those panels. Plus, the guy was supposedly incredibly fast. His talent is incomprehensible to me. I could literally talk about the art I love for days on end, but the ones I’ve mentioned are the giants for me.
12) Back in the early days, what was the medium you were working in (pen/sharpie/paint..)?
For black and white stuff it was brush/pen and ink. Colour was more of a mixed bag mostly watercolours
13) With Agnostic Front’s new record “Get Loud” Roger came back to you for the cover art. When you agreed to do it did you listen to the music to get any ideas for the artwork or did you have an idea coming into the gig? It was pretty much CFA part II. Which was cool by me, I wanted to see those old friends of mine again.
14) I’m seeing the Terminator action figure online these days. Did you have a hand in the design/production of it and how does it feel to see your creation take the form of an action figure?
So that’s what they call him? I always thought that name was referencing the fascist guy from the Eliminator tour. I guess that wouldn’t make sense though. He was always just a demon skin to me. Super Seven knows what they’re doing I just had a couple of notes.
15) What projects have you done outside of the hardcore scene that took you out of your comfort zone and pushed you a bit more than the norm? For a while, early on in my career, every one of them. I’d get an assignment and I’d say to myself “Great! I’m going to do this in the style of the muralists from the 30’s”. Get another, “Super! I’ll do this like a medieval engraving!” or “Yay! Now I get to try out Russian Orthodox icon painting”. “Hey, I’ve never tried Gouache before. How hard could it be?” This always ended up with hellacious all-nighters, tears, cuts from Exacto-blades and very pissed off Art Directors. You see, they’re paying for consistency, not artistic whims. It took me a lot longer to figure that out than it should have.
16) I see a lot of artists have moved to the digital medium who before were analog. Do you do much/any work digitally or do you prefer to stick with analog? Black and white stuff I still do it traditionally with brush and ink. Colour stuff I use Photoshop. I’m a painter now, so I don’t have to sit in front of a fucking computer all day. Much better!
17) How do you see the digital medium affecting art/artists in positive & negative ways? I know that being a photographer, many of us were unwilling to make the switch to digital from film because digital was considered “lazy”. Your thoughts? I started using Photoshop and Illustrator in ’95. I have pretty much hated the experience the entire time. I’ve got the repetitive stress injuries to back up my opinion. But hey if that’s a tool you can use. Use it. I find flyer artwork has really suffered as a result.
18) Having started out working with the Cro-Mags, what are your thoughts on the whole drama that has surrounded the bands for the last 20 plus years and did you ever think they would have ended that way? Well, they idolized the Bad Brains so it’s no great mystery that they’d self-destruct.
19) Having been around back in the day when flyer art was a real art form and a stepping stone for artists what other artists from back in the day stick with you after these years? Anyone who was amazing but didn’t get that big break? Uncle Al should be worshipped, he was already a pro artist back then, so maybe that’s why he’s taken for granted. Man can he draw! He’s right up there with Shawn Kerry. Bevin Stone is the other one. He came up with this funky neo-graff, Lord of the Rings, Muscle Car style that was outstanding. I see quite a few artists that came after him, who
pretty much bit his style. He’s known for Leeway‘s Born to expire lp. Totally not indicative of what he could do. If they had let him loose, doing what he did best, we’d be talking about that album cover now 35 years later. Sometimes bands haven’t got a fuckin’ clue. Oh yeah and Matt Solomon, he did some flyers for the Cro-Mags. I think he did the best logo for the band, which is only on a couple of things. More notably the Underdog T-shirt and the single (front and back). He didn’t sign his work, so I’m constantly correcting the false assumption that I did the art. Artists, sign your work! 20) Is there any band/project/ person that you would love to work with if you could choose? Funkadelic 21) Final thoughts, inspiring words to those just starting out? Don’t be a punk for the 1%