How’s it going dude?
Pretty good.

You’re in San Diego right?
Yep. Pretty close to downtown.

How’s that going? Did you grow up there?
Yeah. I grew up in… uh, is this being recorded right now?

Yeah it’s… I’m recording.
Oh, okay. Yeah, I grew up in San Diego. It’s cool. I mean for the most part it’s pretty mellow. There’s not a ton of stuff going on in San Diego. There’s the city and there’s San Diego county and it’s pretty boring, just a big suburb for the most part. Even downtown is pretty mellow. Since high school I’ve been into metal and hardcore and the scene here’s always been kind of pretty tame.

But Rob Halford lives out there.
Yeah, ha. I’ve actually seen Rob Halford walking around like three times. My wife and I live right on the border of Hillcrest and North Park. Hillcrest is the big gay part of San Diego. I’ve lived in the same place for a few years and it’s pretty much like the best place to live in San Diego. It’s a little more expensive but you can walk to anything you need. It’s not like you have to drive but, yeah dude I’ve seen him a few times. Like four years ago I was at this tattoo shop just standing there and this guy comes walking in and I thought “Wow man that guy looks just like Rob Halford.” And I’m not like star struck or anything, but it was pretty cool to see Rob Halford. I wish I had, I don’t know what kind of person carries around their Judas Priest records with them everywhere, but I guess if I did, I would’ve had him sign it. I’ve seen him a few other times just walking around. It’s totally weird.

That is weird. So, yeah, I guess we should talk about art. You make art things.
I make art. It’s weird to consider myself an artist, just calling myself that. So when people ask me what I do I just say I draw. I was having a conversation with Molly, my wife, last night and I was talking about calling myself an artist and it just seems so weird to me. Basically I’m an artist for hire. I mean I’ve done a few shows but most of the stuff I’ve been doing lately has just been client work. So I don’t have a lot of time for my own [work]. Which sucks. So I’m an artist for hire, but not really an illustrator. I think I put a lot more time into my work, even from a personal side, than just having a regular illustration job. I’ve had a few of those. I used to work for a company that did graphic design so I know the whole business side. When I put a lot of time into my work it becomes a little more than just illustration. But when you do it for someone then it’s not really purely art. There’s no reason for art really. You just do it.

You’ve had work in shows before, but you’re not really a gallery artist.
No. The reason why I’ve had shows has probably been because of my relation to the music world. Or, specifically, drone bands and metal stuff. It’s mostly because people know my work through album covers or t-shirts. Even a few years ago I never would’ve thought that I’d be having shows with my art at all. It just kind of happened.