UnCovered: DEAD QUIET Divulge Doomy Details About Their ‘Grand Rites’ Album Artwork

Vancouver, British Columbia’s riff-meisters, Dead Quiet, issued their new album Grand Rites on November 3rd, and continue to promote the nine new tracks of formidable fretwork and resin-ready rhythms. You can find digital, physical, and vinyl versions of the album via Bandcamp here. Also, grabs some buds and read on as we scored some dope info from singer and guitarist Kevin Keegan about the heady album artwork.

What was the inspiration for the album’s cover artwork?
Kevin Keegan: Cody and I discussed the idea of keeping the album artwork thematic. The first record was this floating sphere amidst a barren alien landscape and this time we’ve used a pillar-like portal amidst a similar landscape. We wanted to have a certain consistency and the idea of this variation in shapes from album to album. The notion of each record having a different shape and feel to it was something we wanted to portray visually.

Your new album cover is crazy-cool. Tell us about the artist and how you found him/her?
Keegan: Cody and I have been friends for over a decade and have always collaborated on various projects. He’s been my go-to guy for artwork every since I met him and saw how talented he was. He has this very fun and clever approach to everything he does and it was very infectious. At first, we would always focus on the more comical and fantastical elements of the artwork, ie. t-shirt designs etc. For the Dead Quiet records I wanted to challenge him to get darker with his work, something I knew he could do but hadn’t had him do for me before. He managed it just as well as the funner stuff he’s always excelled at.

What were the partnership’s dynamics like? For example, was a specific look given, or did the artist have full free range?
Keegan: We’ve always collaborated over ideas and concepts. I can’t draw for shit but have always had a vision of what I wanted to see. So, yes, for both records I had a direction that I pitched to Cody and he executed it in his own way. It’s a relationship of trust and respect on both ends for sure.

With the increasing popularity of digital music, most fans view artwork as just pixels on a screen. Why did you feel the artwork was important?
Keegan: I think for us as fans of vinyl, there’s always something so satisfying about holding a record and having the artwork that size. It’s definitely part of the reason people gravitate towards vinyl, the presentation itself is almost as important as the music inside. So many iconic album covers over the years that have left imprints in our minds create this desire to follow that up. So yes, I think artwork is very important, the visuals need to support and supplement the music.

Was the album art influenced by any of the themes explored on the band’s album?
Keegan: Definitely. There’s always been a theme of impending doom in our music. As cliche as it might be there’s something very unavoidable about pondering the end of the world and the overwhelming signs of it all around us. The idea of Grand Rites is our arrogance as humans and the manner in which we treat the planet we live on. The artwork reflects that. Both records portray a wasteland environment with an alien sort of shape hovering above, the shape representing some kernel of hope, some sort of salvation amidst ruin.

How do you think the album art will affect the listener’s perception of your album?
Keegan: I think there’s something very epic about the look of the artwork and I think it invites a certain vastness in the music as well. The notion that there is this isolation, a certain loneliness, as well as a bright portal like object might entice the listener on those levels because those relate to some lyrical themes as well. From the personal to the broader realities of our world, I’d like to think the artwork reflects that. A certain grandiosity in the songs was also in mind when thinking what could accompany that visually.

Get your doom on with a full stream of the band’s album Dead Rights.