Grandpa's Cough Medicine "The Murder Chord"

A number of months ago, my friends in the band "Grandpa's Cough Medicine" approached BKD about creating a new look for a bluegrass band. While originally we had been leaning towards a depression-era 'Grapes of Wrath' feeling, the group decided we needed to go metal with it. And not just skulls-and-guitar-necks metal either... I mean DEATH-FUCKING-METAL!

So we drove the band, photographer Jenny Balsamo and a friend to play a living prop, out to the country where the band knew a family that owned some land. We quickly got to digging a shallow grave, wrapped their friend Matt in a sheet and put him in the ground; photographing the entire sequence as it happened. Here are some photos from the session.

After we had completed that shoot, we brought GCM's guitarist, Brett Bass, over to the house and shot the image that would become the album cover. Brett made the blood himself in our kitchen out of corn syrup and food coloring and that's my machete sticking out of that stump.

I was even interviewed by a reporter about the art direction of "The Murder Chord", which you can read here: http://outlawbluegrass.com/paradoxical-purists/

I'm also really pleased to affirm that the genius of the band outshines the artwork 10 fold... You would do well by going over to iTunes and picking up your copy today!

  

I Wear Your Shirt

Friday, February 10th, Black Key Designs was the featured spot on the IWYS calendar. If you're not familiar with IWearYourShirt.com, then you should probably check out their "About Page" on their website; but sufficed to say, they are pioneers in progressive marketing.

BKD was proud to have the VIP slot in the day's festivities and they even made a cool little video spot about the company, which you can see here:

Jason and Sean also put on another one of their awesome daily webcasts, where they entertained a loyal online-audience, all the while wearing a Black Key Designs shirt, and intermittently mentioning the strengths and services of BKD! You can watch their webcast here:


Many thanks to Jason Sadler and IWYS!