Gutter Brothers CD artwork

Not too long ago I was asked to design the artwork for “El Krusho,” the latest release by UK band the Gutter Brothers. 

I put a blank CD into the toaster, put it on a medium setting and 5 mins later out this popped. Actually, it was a little bit more involved than that…

The guy on the cover is the now-deceased founding member Dennis Johnson, and this CD includes songs posthumously developed with his last lyrics. So the brief was to illustrate his life in pictures without being over-sentimental and cheesy.

Dennis (known affectionately as El Krusho) was a diamond geezer and a colorful character, so the cover needed a vibrant design to reflect that. The dot-screen/Warhol effect illustrates his standing in pop culture amongst those who knew him, and the type treatment has an air of 70’s cop show mixed with a generous helping of Mexican gang culture about it - something you’d have tattooed on your forehead in the clink if you were unlucky enough to have been caught by Huggy Bear.