If any band put costumes, theatrics and stage shows first, it was Kiss. This is actually Timothy’s anniversary toon for the site, I think you’ll see there was a lot of work in it to take him some extra time finishing it.This well-known glam-rock band was founded in the early 1970′s by Stanley Eisen & Gene Klein (now known as Paul Stanley & Gene Simmons). The two of them even own all the makeup designs that appear on the band’s faces. Hope they don’t mind our artist’s portrayals of the band, we don’t want Gene Simmons coming after our poor artists.
Here’s Kiss performing Rock & Roll All Night on stage in 1978:
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Some more Swedish death metal, Opeth was started by Peter Lindgren and Mikael Ã…kerfeldt in Stockholm seven years ago. They are tooned at RockToons now for a second time, this time by Maria.
Also stay tooned as we get some new artists lined up for 2007, watch this space for them real soon. Also we will start rolling out new guest art, so if you’ve ever wanted to submit some now is a good time.
Opeth performing Harvest in the studio:
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In all the excitement, we totally forgot to post one of the 10th Year Anniversary toons from our newest artist Aizat R. So here is another anniversary toon as well as being the first toon for 2007. He’s drawn Rockstar Supernova, from the reality television show where rock musicians Tommy Lee, Jason Newsted and Gilby Clarke judged contestants in search of a winning lead singer. A shining little star named Lukas Rossi would take that title. Be sure to check out other stuff by Aizat at his .
Here’s a video of Rossi performing Radiohead’s Creep followed by some encouraging words from Lee, Newsted, Clarke and Dave Navarro.
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I can’t believe RockToons has been around for over ten years now. I guess we’ll see if we can do it another ten. This is the last of the 10th Anniversary toons and the last toon of 2006 (actually, a couple more 10th Anniversary toons may trickle into the new year, you know how us artists are). RockToons is a fun project to do and contribute too but many of the artists end up moving on to other projects that take up more time, even sometimes just the project of life. You may have noticed the toons lacking a bit lately but 2007 has some fresh new artists in store and we are going to kick the guest art back into gear too.
Anyway, back to the toon, I don’t think Johnny Cash needs any introduction, he’d be a living legend today if we hadn’t lost him just a few years ago.
RockToons Artists, Where Are They Now?
Where is Tyler Martin? I’m right here, and going to be much moreso in 2007 getting areas of the site back in order and new content rolling out. Another project of mine I put a lot of energy into is my webcomic, , about a lost polar bear in Antarctica with a quirky little penguin buddy. If you like stuff like Calvin & Hobbes you should give it a try, it’s free to read.
Alright, have a safe evening and we’ll see you next year, going to leave you with Johnny Cash’s video cover of Nine Inch Nail’s Hurt…
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Felix brings us a new toon of the classic grunge band Nirvana. At a time when alternative rock was sitting in the back seat of the music world, with only a three-man lineup, Nirvana came from the underbelly of the Seattle music scene and forever changed the mainstream music industry by popularizing post-punk and indy rock. Unfortunately, after a bumpy ride with drug addiction, manic depression, attempted suicides and an interesting marriage with Hole’s Courtney Love, front man Kurt Cobain took his life in April of 1994 after “escaping” a clinic.
RockToons Artists, Where Are They Now?
Where is Felix Laflamme? He’s right here with us, on fire and flaming out many of the most recent toons on the site in his own fitting and energetic style (All Apologies for the puns). He is also a freelance illustrator based out of Canada, . His clients include music industry companies such as Pro Tone Pedals, Halo Guitars and Monster Guitar Picks as well as the magazines Lollipop, Brave Words and Bloody Knuckles.
Among his guitar pick designs he has done a collaboration with including a collection of Psycho Clowns and Shred Heads. Be sure to check them out, you can order them right there at .
Felix also just opened a with his original designs, so be sure to check that out too.
Hey, do you guys smell that? Smells Like Teen Spirit:
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Oldschool RockToons artist JJ McCullough pays RockToons a visit with a brand new toon of OK Go. You are no doubt familiar with this hipster quartet and some of their catchy songs as they have found internet stardom with their addictive and much mimicked choreographed music videos.
RockToons Artists, Where Are They Now?
J.J. McCullough resides to this day in Canadaland… and what better country to live in when you make jokes about politics. He continues to express his views and humor in his popular political comic: , which can be found both online and published in conservative Canadian magazine: “Western Standardâ€. For the last three years, his work has been featured in the annual collection: “Best Canadian Political Cartoons of the Year.”
Let’s finish this off with some OK Go dancing, do it boys:
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Here’s a video from 2003 (ignore the false 1997 label, Avril wasn’t born yet, kidding kidding!) from MTV’s Icon Metallica show. Avril and her band do a decent cover of Fuel, compared to some of the other pretty mediocre offerings of other bands performing. Haters just move along please.
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Felix has tooned the legendary rock composer Frank Zappa. In addition to guitar-heavy 70′s rock, Zappa also did a lot of humerous and satirical music. He got his start joining a band in 1964 called the Soul Giants, later known as the Mothers. Zappa released several albums over the years both with the Mothers and solo on his own record label. His complex music would go on to be used by rock musicians in developing their skills. Sadly Zappa died from cancer in 1993.
This is a disturbingly funky claymation video done in 1979 for Zappa’s “City of Tiny Lights”:
Kamelot formed in 1991, but it wasn’t until four years later that they recorded their debut album. They have their own style of melodic power metal lead by Roy Khan’s vocals. Tara has done a beautiful and detailed job on this piece with colors made from pure eye candy.
Okay, we need to get the new year started off around here. We’ll start off with another toon by Juan, this time of the Dresden Dolls. Actually he finished it up at the end of last year just after his Muse toon… it’s just now making its way to the site. If you haven’t heard them before, the Dresden Dolls are an eccentric little band or rather duo consisting of Amanda Palmer on vocals and piano as well as Brian Viglione on drums. Their music is a unique mix of rock and jazz, hard and slow, and the songs are very story telling. They have a cult following that continues to grow as they work on their second album. If you like music in the style of Tori Amos or PJ Harvey then you should give them a listen.