       
When The Lights Go
Down
Behind every album cover there is
a story to tell.
Graphic artist Paul
'Vitamin P' Tippett gives his side to the new live album design and
explains how It Bites and himself came to the cover that was chosen.
Words: Paul Tippett
Inspiration's a strange thing and it can come from the
most unexpected sources... Leonardo da Vinci had the beautiful and
enigmatic Lisa Gherardini as his inspiration when he created the Mona
Lisa. For me (though I certainly don't put myself in the great
Leonardo's league!) it was a humble paper plate that inspired the cover
of It Bites' latest live release, When The Lights Go Down...
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"Having worked with a number of bands on a range of album
covers now, I know the process each and every time is very
different.
I guess it's the same with any creative process whether
you're composing a song, writing a book or producing a
painting. Sometimes an idea or a theme comes instantly. But
more often than not you have to work long and hard at the
"creative coalface" before uncovering a rich seam that will
lead to a good idea.
The cover for When The Lights Go Down was no different.
As the band set about the long task of sifting through desk
tapes and audio files of the UK gigs, I set about trying to
create the artwork for the live album package.
The Band had given me carte
blanche on the album artwork but at this point I had
absolutely no visual direction to go in at all... not even
so much as a working title for the album which can often
spark some ideas.
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Despite being a relatively
short tour, we had accumulated a vast library of live shots
of the band thanks to a number of talented photographers.
I was, however, very reluctant to use a live shot for the
cover. In a way, it's the easy way out and I wanted to
create something with a bit more of a story behind it.
Even with just a six date tour, the band and their crew had
to cover literally hundreds of miles in all sorts of
conditions and my first thought was to try and reflect
this... A rain spattered windscreen and mile after mile of
featureless motorways was my first port of call.
I thought it would be a good opportunity to play with one of the titles of
the new tracks (Memory of Water) and simply call the album
'Memory of Winter.' |
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| Another idea was to take one
of the band's flight cases and use that as symbol of a band
on the road.
I had always loved Bill Bryson's book
title 'Notes From a Small Island" and I thought this would
make a great title for a live album recorded exclusively in
the UK.
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We met up to sift through the live shots
and talk over the initial ideas.
After a long meeting and quite a few
beers, we decided that there were other avenues that could
be explored.
"How about the paper plate?"
enquired Dick.
-"we could have the paper plate as the cover."
Touring is a long and arduous process and it had clearly
taken its toll on the four guys!! Some bands watch films,
read books or simply catch up on sleep during the downtime
of a tour...It Bites it seemed like to while away the hours
releasing their artistic urges on anything to hand...in this
case self-portrait doodles on a paper plate!
Many people say "never work with children or animals." - my
only stipulation when creating an album cover is "never work
with any items you might find in a picnic set!"
I was really struggling to embrace the plate concept and
simply said, "it's your round Bob, let me go away and have a
think..." |
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The plate idea was simply a dead
end in my eyes, so I started focusing in on the doodles and
thinking how we could use these in an interesting way. I
starting blowing them up and separated them into individual self
portraits which then lead to the idea of placing them in a
gallery.
I did a very rough visual which I sent through to the band. We
still didn't have a title but they liked the direction.
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I played about with the
lighting in the gallery, taking it from a highly lit room
into a darker, moodier environment as if it was just about
to close for the evening.
Someone had been telling me about the film, 'Night at the
Museum' which I thought sounded like a cinematic
interpretation of Plastic Dreamer (but obviously set in a
museum rather than a toy store).
Inspired by the lyrics from the song, I
scribbled down "It Happened One Night" as a possible title
and almost at that very minute, Bob called me and said "I
know, why don't we call it "When The Lights Go Down" ?
It was a Eureka moment and I now had the ending to the
story...
On the front cover would be the art gallery just about to
close...and on the back, an empty gallery with blank
canvases where the portraits have seemingly come to life and
disappeared, taking the curator with them...
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So thanks to a few doodles on
a tour bus and that paper plate, we have a cover.
I guess in the next few weeks
we'll start having some initial conversations about the
cover for the new studio album. We don't yet have a working
title but having worked with a paper plate, I'm ready for
whatever inanimate objects the band send in my general
direction..."
Words: Paul Tippett |
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