TURBO COMICS 'HEAVY METAL TURBO TEES' are brought to you in part by the immensely talented and ultra cool artist extraordinaire CappO! We are incredibly excited to share a quick interview we did with him last week where he shared with us his artistic and musical inspirations, favorite albums, and his legit cred as a die-hard STAR WARS fan!
💥 HOW DID YOU BEGIN YOUR JOURNEY AS AN ARTIST?
It started probably at the age of 7 years when I bought my first Superman/Batman comic (Neil Adams) at the station kiosk: endless tracing of all frames.
But artist is really too big a term for me, I try to combine my passion for music, film and comics with my modest means to express it, t-shirt garment is the best medium for it to my taste.
💥 WHAT LED YOU TO BEGIN MAKING T-SHIRT DESIGNS?
I've always admired heavy metal tour shirts!
💥 WHICH ARTISTS AND ART MEDIUMS ARE YOU MOST INFLUENCED BY?
Artists:
Neal Adams, Moebius, Rick Griffin,Jim Fitzpatrick, Gosciny/Uderzo, Scott McCloud!
Movie Directors:
Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick (both NO OSCARS for Direction, what a shame!), Tarantino, Sergio Leone, Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola...!
💥 HEAVY METAL & ROCK MUSIC IS CLEARLY AN INSPIRATION IN YOUR WORK! WHO ARE SOME OF THE ARTISTS THAT HAVE INSPIRED YOU THE MOST AND WHY? ANY FAVE ALBUMS YOU LISTEN TO WHEN YOU ARE CREATING YOUR ART?
In 1984 I was really lucky. I won a competition for the MONSTERS of ROCK in Germany. There I had the opportunity to meet my idols as a 15 year old boy. Mötley Crüe, Accept, Gary Moore, Ozzy, Van Halen, AC/DC and above all DIO .
So as a huge fan I had the pleasure to meet my biggest idol Ronnie James DIO and interview him for a local radio station, a formative event in my young years. Today exactly 10 years ago Ronnie died much too early, as a really nice and generous person who shaped me during the one hour interview for the rest of my life.
My first great loves were RAINBOW and Black Sabbath!
Favorite albums:
RAINBOW - Rising
BLACK SABBATH - Heaven and Hell & Masters of Reality
OZZY- Blizzard of Ozz
JUDAS PRIEST - Defenders of the Faith
AC/DC - Powerage
THIN LIZZY- Renegade
💥 HAVE YOU EVER HAD THE CHANCE TO DESIGN HEAVY METAL ALBUM COVERS?
And again I was lucky, during my studies to become a social worker I worked in a record store where I met the tour manager of U.D.O. (the band of the former ACCEPT singer) and got the chance to illustrate several covers for U.D.O:
- REV REPTOR the whole album artwork
- STEEL HAMMER pure cover design
- CELEBRATOR pure cover design
- LIVE IN SOFIA pure cover design
- DECADENT pure cover design
💥 ANY MEMORABLE SHOWS OR TIMES WHEN YOU HAVE MET SOME OF YOUR HEAVY METAL IDOLS?
As already told, I had the pleasure to meet and interview Ronnie James DIO in 1984. Also David Lee Roth (What a chatterbox!) During the time in the record store but also Steven Tyler & Joe Perry from Aerosmith, Lemmy, Udo Dirkschneider (the German Tank) and more!
My first concert was 1983 MOTÖRHEAD NO SLEEP TILL HAMMERSMITH tour and the same year in summer the first MONSTERS of ROCK in Kaiserslautern, Germany. There I saw THIN LIZZY on their Farewell Tour, the second last concert they ever played. I consider Phil Lynott to be one of the greatest rock poets of all times.
💥 WE KNOW THAT YOU'RE A HUGE STAR WARS FAN, TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT HOW YOU BECAME A FAN AND WHAT YOU ENJOY THE MOST ABOUT IT?
My friend had a big sister, it must have been in the summer of 1979 and when I was hanging out with him he had to get something from his sister's room, I went with him. We opened the door and above her bed hung a huge poster of Episode IV, I had never seen or heard of Star Wars before, all my senses exploded, I was completely flashed. She had to tell me the whole story of the movie in detail, several times, my boyfriend was completely bored, I didn't give a shit, over and over again I asked for the protagonists. One year later I saw episode V in the cinema, it was all about me!
I love everything about Star Wars, just everything, but especially the mythological and religious approach, THE FORCE MAN; THE FORCE!!!
Thanks George Lucas!
💥 DID YOU ENJOY THE NEW STAR WARS TRILOGY?
I was very excited when I saw the first trailer of Episode VII, like all Star Wars freaks, the expectations were huge and as I loved J.J.'s SUPER 8 and his 2 Star Trek adaptations, so I was very hopeful. Despite the same story of Episode IV I liked the movie, it had its great moments, as well as the sequels. The constant comparison with the old movies gets on my nerves, of course the movies don't have the same spirit, how should they. I would not have wanted to take the responsibility for such an unsolvable project. If you want to see oldschool Star Wars, THE MANDALORIAN is for you...
💥 TELL US ABOUT YOUR FAVORITE COMIC BOOKS? WHAT WERE SOME OF YOUR FAVE WRITERS AND ARTISTS? ANY RECOMMENDATIONS?
FRANK MILLER: DARK NIGHT
MOEBIUS/STAN LEE: PARABEL
MOEBIUS/JODOROWSKY: THE INCAL
ALAN MOORE / DAVE GIBBONS: WATCHMEN
BRIAN K. VAUGHAN / FIONA STABLES: SAGA
UDERZO/GOSCINNY : ASTERIX (everything)
SCOTT MCCLOUD: Understanding Comics & DESTROY
💥 DO YOU HAVE ANY NEW PROJECTS THAT YOU'RE WORKING ON? WHERE CAN WE FIND YOUR KILLER ARTWORK AND STAY UPDATED ON ALL THINGS CAPPO?
Definitely 10 shirt designs started, but too many commissioned works at the moment, METAL/ROCK meets Star Wars, what else….?
INSTAGRAM: Cappovision
www.cappovision.de
