PUTRID

Introduction…

Your imagination is a vast power that can lead you to an infinite amount of perceptions. Some realms are nice and neat as if they are quarantined from the pains of existence; wrapped up tight, sealed and labeled as safe from reality. Others can be like catacombs that ooze with ghastly visions of despicable violence and gore. What you choose to absorb and reflect in this world, whether good or evil, can lead to very dangerous behaviors. It is up to you to acknowledge the voyages of the mind as individual interpretations and project according to wise judgment.

Putrid’s gore art is some of the most brutal and vile illustration you will ever see. It gives us a portal to the farther reaches of a visual hell that can only be created by the most sinister of imaginations. After seeing some of his depictions of mutilation you might assume that he was some kind of greasy creep, but you would be wrong, Putrid is not at all the darkness dwelling deviant you might think. Yes, he may wear the metal head uniform and he might even look like he would stab you for looking at him wrong, but unless you want to try and argue why your favorite band is Lamb of God, he’s pretty harmless. In fact, Putrid is one of the most out going, hilarious and naturally energetic people you would ever meet and an absolute blast to be around. From the vast collection of horror films and memorabilia in his home museum, to the patches of his favorite metal bands adorning his jacket, Putrid lives and breathes in a world of artistic extremity. We are super excited to release the new 80’s Hades graphic he did for us, so we asked him a few really dumb questions…

Where did you grow up dude?

A fukkin suburb of HADES!!!!!!… Called Louisville Colorado, quite pretty.

And you were skateboarder right?

Oh yeah, I owe my formative years to the ancient craft… and many wrist breaks… and now alcoholism.

What was your local shop?

The local Boulder shop was called Brothers Boards and joining that team back then was the coolest damn thing that could have ever happened to me but then the shop closed and we all started skating for the new Denver shop Emage, probably around ’99 I think. They’re still going strong, stoked for those dudes!!

I’ve seen videos of you ripping! How do you feel about skateboarding now?

Hahaha that shit was hilarious right!? Just a dumb, dirty little toe head flapping around on a plank of wood without a care in the world, those truly were the days… Actually a pretty sad story that I’m sure we’ve drunkenly discussed at length, not even sure I should soil these kids ears with it…haha. Long story short; I filed my retirement papers several years back, a damn shame but something had to give, there was a lot of shit with skateboarding that I was not happy with in Colorado. Chicago brought me back to my roots through skating with the cretins; Grumpy, Hot Steve, Mat Arluck, Nate Ling, Lee Bender and you Madison maniacs of corpse! But with the brutal weather, full time jobs and a serious addiction to horror and Heavy Metal I just couldn’t do everything. I’ll totally be that 38 year old dickhead snagging some kids board trying to kick flip (while touching the nose with my hand of course) in combat boots haha…. Actually I’m really looking forward to that, bring it on life.

Growing up did you ever get shit from your teachers and/or parents when you started doodling death?

Oh most certainly, I’ll attach one of my favorite high school pieces and you can come to your own conclusions meheheheh…. After I carved Slayer into my arm the staff found me most repellent and beyond any sort of help.

What were the first horror movies that inspired you?

You know that question can be tricky as I watched so much horror growing up but if I were to narrow it down to a few I’d say, Evil Dead 2, The Thing, The Fog, Day and Dawn Of The Dead, Jaws, Alien, Predator and Re-Animator as I saw those when I was just a slithering larvae.

Have you had any training in illustration?

Just high school and a few night classes right out of high school. I LOATHE school and am too much of a spazz to conform to the curriculum so I just plop my booty down daily and try and learn all I can from the masters which it looks like I’ll be getting to below…

Who are your favorite artists? Who/what inspires you?

Phew, this could be super feckin’ long but I’ll do my best. Vince Locke was the first to inspire me to pursue metal covers, the first 3 Cannibal Corpse covers just disturbed the shit outta me in school and I knew right then and there that the gore front lines needed soldiers and I was gonna try and be the G.I.. Muther fuckin Joe of Putrid Filth. Also Pushead and Ghastly Graham Ingels (the dudes that inspired me to pick up a name that represented the horror) and the most obvious inspiration and the only GOD that exists to me, Bernie Wrightson! Changed my life when my mom bought me Cycle Of The Werewolf and Creepshow. Then throughout the years I discovered the masters Estaban Maroto, Raphael Auraleon, Tom Sutton, Frazetta, Richard Corben, Sanjulian, Bruce Spaulding Fuller, The Gurch, Chas Balun and a slew of others, that’s good enough for now haha.

Have you ever been to Madison?

Yeah I made out with a chick there once, it was cool.

You live in an absolutely amazing horror film and memorabilia museum. How long have you been collecting and where do you score most of it?

I’m just compensating for some major insecurity, must… mask the hate… Yeah been doing that since I was 12, that’s when I stumbled upon my first yard sale and I bought 14 VHS; C.H.U.D, Re-Animator, Halloween 1-2, Attack Of The Aliens Deadly Spawn, Piranha, The Clonus Horror, Junior (used to beat off to the juggs in that), The Thing and cannot think of the other few right now… From there I started up a Fangoria Magazine subscription and went bananas discovering new frontiers of horror for myself. I got most everything raiding little mom ‘n pop video stores and then I got some killer titles off Amazon in the early 2000’s when you could still get shit cheap. Not anymore, that ship has sailed unfortunately!

How complete is your collection? What are some the “unholy grails” out there that you’re missing?

Sooooo not even fuckin close to being complete, with a single tape selling for upwards of $600 it’s executed my collecting bug plus I make a living at the art crap and that barely covers my bar tab so I had to give it up in the past 4 years or so, but it’s cool cause I have plenty plenty plenty. Right off the bat an Unholy Grail (nice one!) would be the Midnight Video release of Gore Gore Girls, it’s fuckin stupid that I don’t own that by now.

What projects are you currently working on?

I’m working with some Bolivian black/thrash bands on a split “7, also Chicago’s own death dealers Cardiac Arrests’ new one then hopefully some art for Morpheus Descends, Grave Desecrator and an all Impetigo tribute ‘zine cover which should be pretty damn fun. I also want to do a Creepshow fan piece for myself to make prints out of but I don’t know where I’ll find the time for that right now.

Ale and kill!!!