"As a newborn, Ernie Parada was abandoned on the benches of Union Square Park in downtown New York City. The local squirrels, well known for their outwardly friendly demeanor, took him in as one of their own. It was there that he developed his love for illustration, design, and unsalted nuts. "...at least this is what you can read on Hellgate's site. Absolutly no reason to doubt it's true.If you are familiar with Jay Ryan art, you may know that squirrels are, maybe, the most important animal in the Rock Poster world. How do you find yourself involved in the NY Hardcore scene when you come from a squirrel family is another story we have no space here to speak about. Maybe in a next interview ?
Right now I'm on shuffle, but I can tell you in this session
it had, Sick of it All, Riverdales, Iggy, Teenage Bottlerocket, Agnostic
Front, Snapcase, Stereo State...
Can you tell us more about yourself, who are you, where are you from, what do you do?
My name is Ernie Parada. I am a born and bred New Yorker who
grew up in the NY Hardcore scene. I've been in at least one band every
day of my life for over 30 years now (I started young - first gig at 14
years old.). The reviews say that I'm "seminal", which is a nice thing
to say, but I don't know, it always sounds disgusting to me. The bands I
started and were for lack of a better term "mine" were Gilligan's
Revenge, Token Entry, Black Train Jack, Grey Area and the Arsons. I'm
married and have two kids and live in Astoria NY.
When did you start drawing?
As far
back as I can remember. I remember getting coloring books and rather
than color them in, I would try to reproduce the line drawing on a clean
sheet of paper with a pencil. In school I used to draw things for kids
to receive payment in loose doritos.
both.
I would take the drawing advice of anyone who would give it. I would go
to Pearl paint and just ask the guy behind the counter as many
questions as I could until I became annoying. In school i would spend
all my time drawing skatebord decks, and try to recreate perfect dead
kennedys and circle jerks logos from memory.
Today are you living from your art, or do you do something else for a living ?
I'm
a freelance advertising art director. Mainly digital. I've been in the
Advertising world for a long time now - about 15 years. I started in
publishing, I was the art director of Guitar Magazine, and then one day
the focus became "online".
I learned all that I could about the web (which was in its infancy
at the time.) and its been paying the bills and keeping the lights on
for about 15 years.
Are you collaborating with magazines/fanzines, regularly?
No, but I'd be happy too.
As
a kid, my dad had me completely schooled on Picasso, Gaudi, and other
spanish artists. I was always surrounded by wood carvings of Don
Quixote, wailing saints, and suffering, anguished christ figures, and I
loved the twisting and rolling of the forms and how they were defined
with such severe, deep cuts. I didn't manage to get any of this into my
work at such a young age, but the whole thing clicked for me when I
first saw Sean Taggart's Agnostic Front-"Cause For Alarm" cover. That
for me was ground breaking. From that day on a copy of that cover hung
over my desk for years. The way an arm, or a leg can go back and twist
around some other things and come back and turn again, or the way an
open mouth can be such a giant cavern you can almost hear an echo. it
reminded me of the craziness in the picasso's like guernica, or other
stuff from the 1930's.
I met sean at a SHOK gig and grilled him for tips. His influence on
me is obvious in stuff I did for Cornerstone, In Your Face, and other
stuff early on. The more current stuff that I love is the Heads of State, Scrojo, Justin Hampton, Horsebites and Sal Dellaquila. Their
stuff just blows me away.
What are the principal steps in your work ?
The
first thing is getting the idea that I think will work. I have to start
with some semblance of an idea. Once in a while I get backed up against
a wall for time and I end up doing something that I feel has less that a
well formed idea, and I always regret it. I think that the concept
should mirror something about the personality of the band. It's my work
and it should "look" like me, but it should "sound" like the band. Next
step is reference. sometimes I take pictures and sometimes I download
them, and then cut them and arrange them until i have a rough idea of
the composition. Once I know (or think) I have a well rounded concept,
I get to drawing.
Depending
on where I am, I'll either do a rough sketch in a book, but usually I
just draw it into illustrator with a tablet. 99.9% of everything I do is
vector. I used to click everything out, but now It's all pen strokes.
It takes some getting used to, but for me it's worth it. I find that
very few people agree with me on this one.
How long does it take you to do a poster?
well,
there's that idea part that's hard to nail down. Sometimes I think I
have a good idea, and then three quarters of the way into the drawing it
occurs to me that it is indeed a terrible idea. But, once I get a good
one, and the ink is flowing nicely, and my hand isn't fighting me, it
could take minutes. The printing usually takes me a day. If I start 100
copies of a 4 color poster in the morning, I'll be done around 5:30.
You have a very distinctive style, are you doing
only what you feel like or if tomorrow somebody asks you an oil painting
with horses running out of water with a sunset backdrop, is it a
problem or are you up for it ?
For which band have you already worked for?
Counting everything? t shirts, CD and Vinyl covers included?
Bad
Brains, Bouncing Souls, Sick of It All, Samiam, Cromags, the Bronx, Foo
Fighters, NOFX, 7 Seconds, Wu Tang and a bunch more Im forgetting.
For which band would you love to work?
Thats
a tough one, given the list I already hit, but If I had to say "man,
I'd love to do something for them," I guess i'd say DEVO, or anything
with Ian Mackaye in it. Oh, and I'd love to do something for Social
Distortion. Unless of course, we could go back in time. That would
change everything.
yes and no. I chase down the ones I really want, but people do call me and ask me to do things for them too.
What is the most difficult part in designing a poster ?
for me it's color choice. I spend a hell of a lot of time
trying to decide what the color combinations should be. What color
should the paper be and where in the darkest to lightest, and warmest to
coolest scale should it sit? ugghh. there is no perfectly clear answer.
Do you think you are part of a "Graphic Scene", if so who else ?
I
would like to think that I'm part of a scene, because that's all I
really know. I've been part of a scene for my whole life. For better or
worse, it defined who I became, and who I was. If I could be considered
with any of the names I mentioned above, I would consider it an honor.
A bit of self-promotion, take advantage of it, it's free, where can we see your work , on the web or in real life?
you can see my illustration and poster work at http://www.hellgateindustries.
Dr. Know of the Bad Brains said to me "Erningham, I knew you were a talented bastard, but this is ridiculous."
another guy said to me "I went home with your poster last night and just stared at it for an hour."
What can we wish you for the future?
A healthy and happy life for my family, friends and myself and I wish it right back at'cha in advance.
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