Su Casa (and Art Studio!): Michael Michael Motorcycle

This is basically a double-feature! It's a quick interview combined with a rad house and studio tour, featuring the amazingness that is Michael Michael Motorcycle. Michael combines the likes of love, romance and art nouveau with blood, the exploitation of power and a love of music. Pretty heavy. It's no wonder the art that comes from this inspiration is incredibly beautiful while also being slightly sinister. He got his start as an artist by creating artwork for bands, promoters and music festivals (including All Tomorrow's Parties!)

Did you start out making band flyers for smaller bands you knew? How did you expand to working with bigger bands?

I started making flyers for my own bands when I was a teenager. My wife and I ran a street team for a Los Angeles concert promotion company called Goldenvoice. It took me a couple of years to get up the courage to ask them to let me make posters for their shows.

What were some of the first bands you worked with?

Most of my early work came from promotion companies. In addition to Goldenvoice, I worked for a U.K.-based company called All Tomorrow's Parties and a company in Denver Colorado called Nobody In Particular Presents.

Are there bands out there right now you really love and would like to work with?

I'd love to try my hand doing posters for some R&B acts like Lupe Fiasco, The Roots, Kanye West, Maxwell, John Legend and Corrine Bailey Rae. I also would like to make posters for Fleet Foxes and Midlake.

If you had a time machine, what bands from the past would you want to design for?

Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Black Sabbath, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, Billie Holiday.

Posters and prints are available on the Michael Michael Motorcycle website. I own this piece of radness. The Motorcycles (aka Michael and his super sweet wife!) just relocated to Philadelphia to be closer to the fine art scene in NYC. Take a peek at where all of this artwork magic happens: