self-titled - no. 3 - (Page 51) “ARE YOU GOING TO DO THE SAME OLD CHICK FIGHTING A DRAGON WITH A SWORD, OR ARE YOU GOING TO TAKE YOUR SUBJECT MATTER TO A PLACE WHERE YOUR AUDIENCE REALLY HAS TO THINK?” “Playing live is stressful and physically strenuous compared to art,” explains Keely, speaking from his Brooklyn apartment a few months later. “I still get nervous [at shows], but doing an opening is simple: You hang the art and sit around for three hours while eating hors d’oeuvres. Art was always easy for me. It wasn’t like music, where I really had to struggle to learn how to play instruments.” Maybe so, but the incredibly complex ballpoint pen layout for Trail’s first self-released LP, The Century of Self (Richter Scale/Justice), was far from easy. It took nearly two years of planning, sketching and storytelling. “One of the most important things for me is subject matter,” says Keely. “That’s what I’ve really been developing lately—a story behind everything. That’s where the real revolution is. Anyone can learn technique and be a great draftsman, but are you going to do the same old chick fighting a dragon with a sword, or are you going to take your subject matter to a place where your audience really has to think?” As a kid, Keely studied the art featured on his favorite records. “Some of that stuff looks simple now, like Led Zeppelin’s IV with its drab wall and the picture hanging out,” he says, “but opening the gatefold while listening to ‘Stairway to Heaven’ was pretty intense and deep for me. “There was a period in the ’90s that really pissed me off,” he continues, “where ‘post-rock’ bands from Chicago all had album art with the band’s photo blurred and the band’s name in a sans-serif font. I really thought that was the end of everything I loved, and the future of music-associated art. For me it’s always been a personal statement that we put as much energy into the art as we do the music.” Here Keely shares his thoughts on his recent work, including many of the pieces that ended up in The Century of Self’s own gatefold sleeve.
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of self-titled - no. 3 self-titled - no. 3 Contents Titus Andronicus A.C. Newman Los Campesinos! Zombi Arthur Russell Gentleman Jesse Circlesquare Oneida Cut Off Your Hands Frances and the Lights School of Seven Bells and Free Blood ...Trail of Dead’s Conrad Keely cLOUDDEAD self-titled - no. 3 self-titled - no. 3 - self-titled - no. 3 (Page Cover1) self-titled - no. 3 - self-titled - no. 3 (Page Cover2) self-titled - no. 3 - self-titled - no. 3 (Page 3) self-titled - no. 3 - self-titled - no. 3 (Page 4) self-titled - no. 3 - self-titled - no. 3 (Page 5) self-titled - no. 3 - self-titled - no. 3 (Page 6) self-titled - no. 3 - self-titled - no. 3 (Page 7) self-titled - no. 3 - self-titled - no. 3 (Page 8) self-titled - no. 3 - self-titled - no. 3 (Page 9) self-titled - no. 3 - self-titled - no. 3 (Page 10) self-titled - no. 3 - self-titled - no. 3 (Page 11) self-titled - no. 3 - self-titled - no. 3 (Page 12) self-titled - no. 3 - Contents (Page 13) self-titled - no. 3 - Titus Andronicus (Page 14) self-titled - no. 3 - Titus Andronicus (Page 15) self-titled - no. 3 - A.C. Newman (Page 16) self-titled - no. 3 - A.C. Newman (Page 17) self-titled - no. 3 - A.C. Newman (Page 18) self-titled - no. 3 - A.C. Newman (Page 19) self-titled - no. 3 - Los Campesinos! (Page 20) self-titled - no. 3 - Los Campesinos! (Page 21) self-titled - no. 3 - Los Campesinos! (Page 22) self-titled - no. 3 - Zombi (Page 23) self-titled - no. 3 - Arthur Russell (Page 24) self-titled - no. 3 - Arthur Russell (Page 25) self-titled - no. 3 - Gentleman Jesse (Page 26) self-titled - no. 3 - Gentleman Jesse (Page 27) self-titled - no. 3 - Circlesquare (Page 28) self-titled - no. 3 - Circlesquare (Page 29) self-titled - no. 3 - Oneida (Page 30) self-titled - no. 3 - Cut Off Your Hands (Page 31) self-titled - no. 3 - Frances and the Lights (Page 32) self-titled - no. 3 - Frances and the Lights (Page 33) self-titled - no. 3 - School of Seven Bells and Free Blood (Page 34) self-titled - no. 3 - School of Seven Bells and Free Blood (Page 35) self-titled - no. 3 - School of Seven Bells and Free Blood (Page 36) self-titled - no. 3 - School of Seven Bells and Free Blood (Page 37) self-titled - no. 3 - School of Seven Bells and Free Blood (Page 38) self-titled - no. 3 - School of Seven Bells and Free Blood (Page 39) self-titled - no. 3 - School of Seven Bells and Free Blood (Page 40) self-titled - no. 3 - School of Seven Bells and Free Blood (Page 41) self-titled - no. 3 - School of Seven Bells and Free Blood (Page 42) self-titled - no. 3 - School of Seven Bells and Free Blood (Page 43) self-titled - no. 3 - School of Seven Bells and Free Blood (Page 44) self-titled - no. 3 - School of Seven Bells and Free Blood (Page 45) self-titled - no. 3 - School of Seven Bells and Free Blood (Page 46) self-titled - no. 3 - School of Seven Bells and Free Blood (Page 47) self-titled - no. 3 - School of Seven Bells and Free Blood (Page 48) self-titled - no. 3 - School of Seven Bells and Free Blood (Page 49) self-titled - no. 3 - ...Trail of Dead’s Conrad Keely (Page 50) self-titled - no. 3 - ...Trail of Dead’s Conrad Keely (Page 51) self-titled - no. 3 - ...Trail of Dead’s Conrad Keely (Page 52) self-titled - no. 3 - ...Trail of Dead’s Conrad Keely (Page 53) self-titled - no. 3 - ...Trail of Dead’s Conrad Keely (Page 54) self-titled - no. 3 - ...Trail of Dead’s Conrad Keely (Page 55) self-titled - no. 3 - ...Trail of Dead’s Conrad Keely (Page 56) self-titled - no. 3 - ...Trail of Dead’s Conrad Keely (Page 57) self-titled - no. 3 - cLOUDDEAD (Page 58) self-titled - no. 3 - cLOUDDEAD (Page 59) self-titled - no. 3 - cLOUDDEAD (Page 60) self-titled - no. 3 - cLOUDDEAD (Page 61) self-titled - no. 3 - cLOUDDEAD (Page 62) self-titled - no. 3 - cLOUDDEAD (Page 63) self-titled - no. 3 - cLOUDDEAD (Page 64) self-titled - no. 3 - cLOUDDEAD (Page 65) self-titled - no. 3 - cLOUDDEAD (Page 66) self-titled - no. 3 - cLOUDDEAD (Page 67) self-titled - no. 3 - cLOUDDEAD (Page 68) self-titled - no. 3 - cLOUDDEAD (Page 69) self-titled - no. 3 - cLOUDDEAD (Page Cover4)
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