I was recently asked to design a limited edition poster for tonight’s Death Cab for Cutie’s show at the Mann in Philadelphia. The chosen design (pictured left) is a 2 color screen print on 100# Construction Steel Blue French paper, and was printed by ABNRML. These were limited to a run of 40 and were a gift to the band from AEG. I have a few copies of these that will be available for purchase in the next few weeks, so stay tuned if you’re interest.
Now, originally, I had the idea of doing a Death Cab poster that was a direct parody of ACDC’s infamous Highway to Hell album cover, because when I realized the band’s initials were DC4C, it seemed like too good of an idea to pass up, and one that I thought for sure that someone else must have used (after a couple hours of solid research though, I never found anything). And, honestly, you couldn’t get a greater contrast in sound or attitude than between these two bands, which is why I thought it was funny. Plus, I figured that, given the age of the Death Cab guys, they were probably into metal at some point of their pre-treen lives, so they would get the joke. Unfortunately, AEG passed on the design, wanting to go with something much less cartoony, which is totally their perogative, no hard feelings, we’re all professionals here, etc.etc – but I was happy enough with the general idea and execution that I figured it was worth sharing here. Consider it an unreleased B-side. Enjoy.
I love the DC/4C one. I guess AEG wanted to play it safe.
What were the origins of the design they chose? Top-notch design. The DC/4C would make a great band illo on a music review site or something else also along the lines of the illos Spin and Rolling Stone use(d) to accompany their articles.
so want to buy that DC/4C one. did you have any printed?
Hi Rich – unfortunately, we never printed any of the DC4C posters. I’ve been thinking of doing a short run of them though, just to have them. I’ll let you know if that happens.