Spoiler

I first saw this WAR HUNGRY shirt design at United Blood 2007 in Richmond and instantly recognized the artwork. It was by the hand of Spoiler, also responsible for the VICTIM LP, tons of JUSTICE artwork and those really cool IRON BOOTS designs with the skinheads holding the globe. I vowed that I'd get in touch with him to talk about the graphic because it's totally sick, and so here I am, two years later, posting a blog about T-shirts. I managed to catch up with Spoiler to talk a little bit about the shirt. Keep your eyes peeled for DRUG DOGS ZINE #2 which will feature an exclusive interview with Spoiler.






So first things first, with the front design...I want to know, to the best of your knowledge how the exchange went in drafting the shirt.

Any War Hungry shirt I did was because of Hoodrack and me brainstorming over AIM. We'd come up with the best shit together. He always had great ideas but couldn't draw them. I don't remember who came up with what, but we decided they were going to have a mascot like Eddie for Iron Maiden, so that's the dude on top, cursing the world.

Hoodrack wanted a really metal looking shirt, but I made it borderline fantasy metal. I got a few of the ideas out of an art book. I wanted it to represent a bunch of different species being at war with each other, you know, “war hungry”, and their mascot standing over it all. Kind of a nerdy fantasy-land version of the real world.

It definitely reminds me of like...Jason and the Argonauts. Have you ever seen that? It has that theme...
I've never really heard of that before. Probably never aired in Europe where I grew up. Argonauts sounds pretty fantasy metal though.

Well War Hungry definitely has that kind of lyrical biz going on in their songs...like "Labors of Hercules" and stuff so maybe that helped…
I didn't go over any lyrics for this shirt, but maybe Hoodrack got some ideas from it. I'm sure it's all connected in his mind.

On the back design, it's kind of a remake of an old psychedelic flier that I've seen...with the skeleton holding the peace sign. I've seen it used on an old flier....I remember you telling me that your Mom was kind of a hippie and your Dad was a metal head...is that where you got the design from?

Yea that's from a Grateful Dead flyer, on the original it's a lady holding the sign. Hoodrack sent it to me. It's not actually related to my parents though it could very well have been. I don't think they were into the Dead though, my mom is more into shit like Blue Cheer, the Who, and Black Sabbath. Way cooler than most hippies. But yea, there was plenty of weird psychedelic art and record covers in my house growing up, so that's why I like to incorporate it every now and then.

What is "EU" on the back? Is it Latin for "United States?" I know in Spanish U.S. is "Estados Unidos.." was it for an American tour?
It's commonly used as short for Europe, thought I believe it actually stands for European Union. But yea, the art is from the back of their first EP and the EU was added into the art for their European tour shirts.

Check out more of Spoiler's art and War Hungry.