ACTIVE: 1980-
Now here’s a band I’ve followed… a long time. I think since their Under the Influence album, which was released in 1988.
Overkill is one of those bands that have been there with me all along. No matter which album I listen to from them, I feel like coming home. They’ve never felt the need to experiment with different styles of composing but have delivered good, catchy thrash metal since day one. A band that in that sense reminds me a lot of another of my favorite thrash bands, Testament (which I’ll definitely be presenting here in the future).
I did the sketch in 2013, and the actual graffiti a few months later. I painted the skull mascot, Chaly, next to the piece. Both the color scheme of the painting and the skull character itself are based on the cover art from Immortalis, the 2007 release by Overkill.
The artwork was done by Travis Smith, who has created covers not only for Overkill but for many other metal bands as well. And if you ask me, he’s one of the best cover artists out there — his work has been a huge inspiration for me.
About the graffiti, it was quite large, about 30m2 in total. I spent the whole day painting it, and to this day it remains one of the biggest graffiti pieces I’ve done entirely by myself.
OVERKILL | spraypaint on plywood | 2013
OVERKILL | pencil & fineliner on paper | 2013