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When was the last time you went to a record store to listen to a local rock band play while a couple of artists paint live with their finished pieces displayed around the store?
Can’t recall? Then perhaps you should scoot out to No Van Gogh at End of an Ear this Friday. CockVanDyke will provide the soundtrack while local surrealist Nique Bilbo and urban graphic artist Jim Darling paint. Darling’s work has caught the attention of LucasFilms, MTV and Vans, among others, and he employs a wide range of techniques, from sculpture to ballpoint sketches.
This event is one of the first public showings of Bilbo’s work. His paintings are often centered around a musical theme and have eye-catching surrealist elements (a recurring motif is music notes with eyes.) To Bilbo, music and painting aren’t as dissimilar as they seem.
“When I create a piece, I usually focus on only one artist or group at a time, using their music as a score,” Bilbo said. “However, once in a while, the overall feeling or positive nature of an event can hijack a piece.”
The striking combination of brightly colored backgrounds with black-and-white people is a hallmark of Bilbo’s work.
“I had always been drawn to the black and white photo’s ability to remove the viewer’s focus on race and at times gender,” he said. “This frees up room for me to focus on the universal expressions and emotions associated with music.
It also allows the audience, especially other artists, to be relieved of the inner dialogue associated with individually ingrained stereotypes.”
Bilbo and the members of CockVanDyke have a longstanding friendship so when presented the opportunity to display his work at End of an Ear and to invite a band to play at the event, CockVanDyke was an obvious choice.
“Nique and I met sometime in Middle School, and we’ve been close friends ever since,” said Carson Barker of CockVanDyke. “We’ve collaborated through various mediums throughout the years, mainly music and art. We’re both in a pivotal point in our creative outlets right now, because we both found a medium and style that we feel comfortable with and excel at. It’s an exciting time for both of us.”
- The Daily Texas
Discography
Black Horse E.P.
Bloody Piss Machine
Photos
Bio
Consider the well-defined line between punk and metal music. The bitter, street rage of Minor Threat and The Refused, the blind angst of Slayer and Mastodon, the social unrest of Fugazi and The Jesus Lizard -- titans from opposite worlds share the same energy: rage. Yet the wolves never breed outside their packs, and the line of loyalty between punk and metal is never crossed.
CockVanDyke has erased that line. Hailing from Austin, Texas, the home of legendary bands such as The Butthole Surfers, ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, and The Sword, CVD are blazing a fire lit from the spark as the aforementioned, but with new paths to burn. Their sound culminates punk, metal, rock and all that is hardcore, returning to the primal energy that made the first "war ensembles," and giving it an innovative twist and turn of the screw. Originally, penned songs like "Laser Falcon" are instant classic punk anthems, while other hits like "Wrath of the Surf God" mix Dick Dale guitar lines with pulverizing metal drums, inevitably creating a completely new genre of their own.
CockVanDyke was founded in 2006, and is Carson Barker on guitar and vocals, Damien Shores on Drums, Mike Simmons on drums, and Jess Dale on bass. Armed with two drummers and a sick string section, CockVanDyke have planted their seed firmly in the Live Music Capitol of the World, by packing music festivals like Texas Rockfest, Beats N' Treats Music Festival, Weirdstock '08 and many others. CockVanDyke released "Black Horse E.P." in December 2008, which was recorded live at the Mohawk in Austin, Texas during the Beats N' Treats Music Festival. They are currently finishing up their debut full length CD, titled "Bloody Piss Machine" which is set to be released in 12/09 through Triple B Records. CockVanDyke continues to storm the scene with their diehard metal riffs, carried by true punk undertones.
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