This was a very fun 6 panel digipak (with 16 page booklet) project for Christian rockers Jesus Band Los Angeles, which is putting out this debut record this spring.  Their vision of the message of the Bible is not exactly a happy one for those “not in the fold,” so this artwork was intended to show a dramatic, somewhat terrifying world in which the cross appears as a saving grace.

No matter what your religious bent, you are sure to enjoy the heavily manipulated original images and photo collages I created for this package, showing famous LA landmarks (Capitol Records, City Hall, Union Station, the Hollywood Sign, etc) with crosses blazing out their windows and key Biblical verses replacing the familiar lettering, all underneath extremely forbidding and stormy skies.  It is a rare thing to see as much as a shred of cloud in Los Angeles, so of course there was a need to replace the skies with something more interesting. There was also some interesting touches thrown in at the suggestion of the band, including a plane flying over LA with a banner reading “Jesus loves Los Angeles,” a carpenter tacking up an addition to the Hollywood Sign, and lots of lightning.  You’ll see flaming letters, a blue planet crashing into the Earth, and more.

The band that will be touring the project is different from those heard in the studio (except for singer Pat Rettig), so there were two separate musician credit sections with pictures to be shown.  Sadly, we had only low res pictures to work with on the musicians, so there was a fair bit of editing that needed to happen to bring them up to snuff.

The LA landmark shots were originally photographed to be displayed in large format on the walls of a Los Angeles legal practice, and it was great to be able to extend their use here.  The shot of Union Station with the palm tree shadows is not a digital manipulation (though the landscape behind is of course) — I just caught the right moment of sunset when the tree aligned exactly with the clock.

The CD face has an aerial shot of the Los Angeles grid screened over black, and the letters of the band name cut through to the silver disc — a very powerful, impressive looking disc to hold in your hand.  Around the edge are the names of all the tracks, also cut through to silver.

Christian rock fans, keep your ears peeled for JBLA!