It’s about time you meet one of the greatest artists in rock…
In this week’s Kerrang!, we’ve teamed up with Mike Cortada – the man responsible for A Day To Remember’s Bad Vibrations artwork – for an exclusive ADTR illustration. If you’re a fan of the band, it’s not to be missed!
Mike has worked with ADTR and bands including All Time Low, Pierce The Veil, The Wonder Years, Fall Out Boy, Sleeping With Sirens and more for over a decade now – you’ve probably got a T-shirt designed by him in your wardrobe – so we sat down with him to take a peek through his sketchbooks, and find out how one of rock’s most in-demand artists produces his iconic work.
HEY MIKE! PLEASE INTRODUCE YOURSELF TO THE KERRANG! READERS…
“Hello! My name is Mike Cortada, sometimes tagged under the name MikeC Hardcore. I’m an illustrator and designer for everyone in the music biz. I’ve been creating stuff for bands for 20 years or so, full-time for well over a decade.”
YOU WORKED WITH US ON OUR A DAY TO REMEMBER COVER FEATURE FOR THE NEW ALBUM, BAD VIBRATIONS. YOU’VE WORKED WITH THE ADTR GUYS A LOT; HOW DID THAT RELATIONSHIP START AND DEVELOP?
“The ADTR guys and I have worked on countless projects together – I would think at least a few hundred at this point – and they’re great guys to work with. I’ve designed hundreds of apparel pieces for them, worked with them on album artwork [Common Courtesy/For Those Who Have Heart/Killer B Sides/All I Want Single/ Violence Single/Homesick Special Edition], and I created the artwork for the new album Bad Vibrations. I’ve also designed most of their live stages, like the House Party Tour, and Parks & Devastation. I’ve even worked with them on their music videos, too – 2nd Sucks, Right Back at It Again, and so on. Working together has always been easy because we’re all basically from the same area. They were more north in Ocala, and I was here in Central Florida, the Orlando area, so we weren’t too far from each other. Back in the day, I was working on art for shows and bands in our area. I played in hardcore and punk bands and worked with a lot of bands in that genre. ADTR were playing shows all over and people were really starting to recognise them, and one day Josh and Jeremy hit me up and asked me to do a few designs. I had never heard their music before, and their style wasn’t what I was into at the time, but they were very cool and had some interesting ideas. We hit it off, and made some designs that went over very well, and we haven’t stopped since.”