March 1990.
An early shot of echolyn and friends. I was still two months from college graduation and yet to get involved. The next five years with echolyn were priceless. I gained immeasurable business experience,
much, much, more than if I choose to accumulate debt obtaining a post graduate degree I would never need.
We were always having fun,
and it seemed like we were always together
which is probably true because we lived together, hung together, and dreamed together.
The best part is that we succeeded together,
many times, and did so ...
amidst tons of laughter.
Part of being in a band is taking your show on the road, and we did this quite often. We got rather strategic about where the band played, always conscious of expanding our market, pushing the boundaries, and making new friends. One of my favorite locations will
always be Quebec City,
although there are countless memories in a hundred different zip codes.
Inspired painting after returning from New Year's fun in Boston. (early Jan 1991)
Laid paint on canvas with a knife rather than a brush.
After moving toward the carved apple heads for the cover, I imagined more of a theme. This included trying to exhibit a "carving" although the cover apples were already photographed. I was also trying to incorporate a "human element". Two things on this photo stand out to me, one, the puckered shirt button, and two, the forearm into the hand holding the knife.
This one happened. I wanted to photograph the stump with the flowers but was inclined to add an object. The object became the baby shoe. Then my grandfather's foot was incorporated ... and I had something to present: the passing of time (which seemed to be the biggest theme to me during the ATW era).
Local tracks that enabled many "walk and talks". We could be loud and vanish from the day. I scheduled a day to gather images for ATW. This was our first location. This photo was taken early before the sun burned away the fog.
If you count ... there is actually six.
Same apples minus one. These are the 5 you see on the cover.
A lot could be said about “apples" ...
ask Adam, or Steve Jobs, or Isaac Newton, or the doctors kept at bay, and so on and so on.
All that aside, in the autumn of 1994, I sat on the banks of a reservoir in Green Lane, PA.
Instead of eating an apple, I carved the apple into a face.
Liking it, I carved more and showed the band.
Considering these carved apples, the ones actually photographed for the cover
of echolyn’s “As the World” album, are now 30 years old ...
I don’t think they look as bad as one might expect a 30 year old apple to look.
(the cotton in which they were kept, funny enough, gives them a bit of white hair)
The aging was forced by “dehydrating” the apples. This aligned well with “A Letter to My Age”, which I had just written to my future self.
The letter then manifested itself into “Best Regards”, a song for "As the World”.
we all get old ... even the carefree
We use cookies to analyze website traffic and optimize your website experience. By accepting our use of cookies, your data will be aggregated with all other user data.