I’ve been following Rob Sheridan on Twitter for some time.  If you’re not familiar with Rob he’s the creative director for the band Nine Inch Nails.  Now some of you may be saying…an industrial rock band has a creative director?  Well, if you’re familiar with the work of NIN and the band’s leader Trent Reznor, you know that they are more than just a band.  They are an art project, whose central focus is music, but whose work also encompasses design, video, photography and reality games.  Rob has been a big part of all of these projects since he was hired by Trent Reznor at the age of 19.

Rob recently posted an article on his site about the making of the art for Trent’s most recent project the soundtrack for the film “The Social Network”.  I thought it was a very interesting look at how a designer and an artist approach a project of this type.  So when you have a moment check it out.  I’d also recommend you check out Rob’s site and follow him on Twitter.  He’s a talented artist and a perfect example of how integral a good designer is to a band’s overall esthetic.

I got to know Sam Thurman when I stumbled across a post on his blog called “Fake Bands, Real Danger.  And Posters.” Sam is a talented young illustrator and designer who recently relocated to Brooklyn, NY, and is interested in creating gig posters for bands.  Great idea right?  After all, you can’t swing a dead hipster without hitting a musician in Brooklyn!  Well, not so fast, as he explains there was a hitch, “I felt I could make some good band posters, but I don’t know any bands or band people…”  Well, that is a problem isn’t it!?  So what’s a young talented designer to do?  Well, make some up, that’s what!

And thus his posters for the fake bands Teeth and Calm Kids were created!

In addition, he’s working on a new project called “How To Be Happy”, that he describes as “a minicomic writing/illustration instructional series on improving your life by isolating yourself and alienating everyone you love.”  Sounds like the perfect holiday gift to me!

So support a fellow fake band creator by letting him know what you think, and if you know of a band in need of a good poster designer pass em’ along to Sam!

I talk a lot about marketing your bands on Figment, and over the years I’ve tried to give you some help and tips on how to get your bands in front of more people.  After all, marketing your band is key if you hope to build a fan base and truly establish your band among the top bands on Figment.

That’s why a recent video posted by frizbee hyping the upcoming release of his band Eccentric Arcade’s new album caught my eye.  Not only is this video adventure a novel way to hype an album, but it also plays right into the album’s concept and therefore is the perfect way to market this album.  This is the type of creativity I love to see, and is in essence a game within the bigger game of Figment.  So set aside some time and embark on this adventure, because it is truly epic!

Well, it’s the day after Hallow’s Eve and I for one stand amid the wreckage of another night of ghoulish fun.  Candy wrappers, toilet paper blowing in the trees, forlorn jack-o-lanterns awaiting their inevitable trip to the trash can, and of course a stomach ache from indulging in too many bite size Snickers.

But there is a bright side to my post-Halloween malaise and that’s the Halloween figments that were dropped in our site’s candy basket last night – starting with the incredibly cool Figment Pumpkin that frizbee carved!  Thanks friz – WE LOVE IT!

And then there’s the new albums that dropped last night, clearly inspired by the evening’s festivities, and full of all kinds of devilish fun!

Werewolf Concerto not only headlined the first annual Halloween-Fest, but also dropped their latest “Vampirella” and it’s chock full of all that ghoulish goodness we expect from this band.

Nordic extreme metal masters Törnekrona returned with the excellent “Cinder”.

The Forgotten Falling also played Halloween-Fest 2010, and their label gave their fans a treat by releasing the rare “EP” that until now had only been available in Japan.  Don’t forget to catch the band on their “Aphelion World Tour”.

Extreme metal newcomers The Angel’s Sin continue their inevitable climb to the upper reaches of the metal stratosphere with their best yet, “Lucifer’s Rebellion”.

And last but certainly not least, what would Halloween be without some good old fashioned Death Metal!  Well fear not, Cryptic Rage emerged from “Out of the Depths” with their latest!

So if you didn’t receive any of these new releases in your treat bag last night, don’t fret they’re all on Figment for the taking!  We hope you all had a Happy Halloween!  Horns up!

Time for the latest installment of “Cleaning out the Bookmark List”, so let’s get to it!

• Stumbled on this incredible blog post on FontFeed while reading another of my favorite blogs – HardFormat.org – it’s a rundown of the album art on some of the newest releases with special attention paid to the font and typefaces used.  I know this something that Will Schaff pointed out as being very important in his selections for the 2010 Album Cover Design Contest, so give it a read.

• HardFormat also had a link to this incredible new documentary “Taken By Storm” that is being made about the legendary album cover designer Storm Thorgerson and Hipgnosis, the team that designed famous covers for Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Bad Company, Yes, Scorpions, Peter Gabriel and many more.  Check out the trailer, it looks fantastic, or visit Storm’s site.

• If you like Def Leppard you’ll love this set of blog posts by Andie Airfix, the designer behind all of their album covers since Pyromania.  Check out the original designs, etc.  It’s going to be part of a show at the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame opening in December of 2010 and running through 2012.  Speaking of Def Leppard, Hipgnosis designed their “High N’ Dry” album cover.

• Love Black Sabbath?  Then you’ll love this!

• While not technically what we’d call a fake band (since they actually recorded & released music) Sex Bob-Omb does have some famous members (no pun intended).

Hey it’s that time again, time to clear out ye olde bookmark list and share some cool odds and sods with you!  So here we go -

• How important is a band name?  The NY Times ran an article on this subject, and how even classical groups are getting creative with their names.

• If you want to check out a really cool graphic design project, check out Michael Deal’s exploration of The Beatle’s work through infographics.  It’s fascinating.

• Don’t believe that you can get people to believe in a fake bands, albums or concerts?  Guess again! Even the art community is getting involved – whether it’s creating fake bands or record stores!  So imagine it and they will come!

• Sleeveface rocks…it simply rocks.  I dare you not to agree.

• Change the Thought is a great design blog, but I particularly liked this article on gig posters.

• 7 Deadly Sinners are 7 artists who among other things seem to like to create gig posters for fake bands!

• Nylvi’s Best Vinyl Cover Art of 2009 is worth a look!

• Cool video about the packaging design for MGMTs new album “Congratulations”.

• frizbee pointed this Wired article out to me.  A must read for Lost fans.  BTW frizbee I’m still working on getting a hold of them…I’ll keep you posted.

• Congratulations to our good friend John Coulthart (last year’s guest Album Cover Design Contest judge) for winning the 2010 Spinetingler Best Book Cover Award.

• Michele Catalano wrote a great post for her Sound System column on True/Slant.  She writes about “Albums I Forgot I Loved” and talks about how she created a fake band, Pond Scum, with her sister and a few friends.  Unfortunately the band broke up over their fake direction, but it goes to show you how many people create fake bands based on their love for a real group.

That’s it for now.  Until next time…

With our Figment Concert Poster Contest in full swing I thought I’d clean out the ole bookmark list and give you some relevant links to check out.  So here it goes -

1.  Having trouble figuring out how to create an authentic rock poster?  Here’s a tutorial.

2.  Minneapolis truly is a rock poster design mecca with Lonny Unitus, Aesthetic Apparatus, FLORAFAUNA and Chuck Ungemach among others calling it home.

3.  It’s also great to read about a band like Os Tornados, a six-piece 50′s & 60′s inspired rock band out of Porto, Portugal, whose keyboardist prefers to draw or paint the band’s posters as a way of translating the band’s analog esthetic. While you’re at it check out their music, it’s great.

4.  And speaking of other great rock poster design mecca’s Portland, OR is no slouch either!

Well that’s it for now.  We have some great interviews coming up, so stay tuned.  In the meantime, if you have an article, site or other piece of interweb flotsam jetsam that you’d like to share let us know about it by posting it as a comment.  Until next time!

I’m an internet pack rat, scouring the interwebs for stuff I think will interest, inspire, and entertain all of my Figment brethren.  The only problem is that I often fail to bring this great stuff to your attention!  So today I’m cleaning up my list of bookmarked internet flotsam and jetsam, and posting links to some stuff I think you’ll really find interesting.  So check them all out when you get a chance.

Pitchfork has a great new featured called “Take Cover” that looks at album cover design by talking with the designers themselves.  In the first installment, they interviewed William O’Brien about his design for Grizzly Bear’s newest album “Veckatimest.”  Check it out.

In the “Do Not Try This At Home” file I found this beauty of a story!

I’ve always gotten a kick out of parodies, especially song parodies and this one by Cody Johnston of Cracked.com is a terrific send-up of The Decemberists.  So give “Hampshirefields” a listen.

And in the “We Are Not Alone” file I found this great Guardian.co.uk column by Michael Hann on…you guessed it “Imaginary Bands.”

I first read about Arik Roper’s new exhibit at Fuse Gallery in NYC on Arthur.com, but I found even cooler stuff on his blog.  Looking forward to seeing the gallery show.

Love feedback infused rock n’ roll?  Well then pray at the altar of Blue Cheer!

Well that’s it for now, but if you’ve got something you stumbled across that you think would be a good fit – let us know and we’ll work with you to get it up on the blog.

I was mucking about on the interwebs the other day and I came across this great Aussie blog devoted to album cover art called Sleevage.  From the early 60′s to the digital artwork of today, Sleevage spotlights album cover art with a dash of the cover’s history and a little of their own take on what makes it special.  From Andrew W.K. to Iron Maiden and XTC they’ve got it all.  So when you get a moment check out Sleevage, it’s a great source of inspiration for your own designs.

Spärhusen, the so-called “almost greatest band from Sweden” were almost at the top of their game when their plane the “Swedish Fish” crashed on July 25, 1974.  For 35 years fans have wondered what might have been.

Well, wait no longer, because Spärhusen is back and in a far-reaching conversation with Figment News, keyboardist Olf Nystrom brought us up to date on band’s past, present and future.

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Spärhusen is a mock-u-mentary web series from actress-writer-producer Ileana Douglas, and co-creators/co-stars Rob Mailhouse and Todd Spahr airing on My Damn Channel.   The program also co-stars Keanu Reeves and Wallace Langham.

In addition to the web series, Spärhusen’s long-awaited album, “The Best of Spärhusen”, will be available on iTunes and MyDamnChannel this fall.  You can also follow Spärhusen on Twitter and Facebook.

So if you’re looking for more fake band inspiration make sure you watch Spärhusen!