Interview: Dusty Peterson

I recently got to do an EMail Interview with Dusty Peterson, the artist who got to work with such awesome bands as Bloodbath (The ‘Unblessing The Purity’ art pictured above), Six Feet Under and Cattle Decapitation.

Continue to read after the jump.

Dusty Peterson took his time to do an EMail interview with me. I have been talking to Dusty via Twitter for a couple of months now, so it was just natural for me to ask him for my first interview for the site. Let’s dive right into it.
For your info ‘DoM’ stands for ‘Dose of Metal’ and ‘DP’ for ‘Dusty Peterson’ (not Double Penetration).

Dose of Metal: First off, tell us a bit about yourself.

Dusty Peterson: I’m a 31 year old artist from Seattle, WA. I’ve been a professional artist for about 11 years now, but only just recently started to pursue my heavy metal dream of doing album covers.

DoM: You’ve worked with such great bands as Bloodbath, Six Feet Under and Cattle Decapitation so far. Are you personally into Death Metal aswell? If so, which are your favorite bands of said genre?

DP: I am very much into death metal. I like bands from pretty much every sub-genre of metal, but my favorite death metal bands are Deicide, Cannibal Corpse (old and new), and Krisiun. I listen to a lot of metal, so it’s very hard to pick, but I always gravitate to those 3. Other than death metal, though, my favorite band is Judas Priest.

DoM: If I remember correctly, you got the deal to work for Bloodbath through a competition. Can you tell us a little more about it?

DP: Sure, back in 2007 they had a competition announcement on their website that they were going to make an EP after a very long hiatus. So to generate some interest they wanted to give fans a chance at designing the cover. At that point in my life I was sort of stagnant, artistically. I was working at a job that was grinding me to the bone with work and I never felt motivated to do any artwork for myself. So, I figured this would be a good way to motivate me to finish a painting. Even if I didn’t win, I would still be happy with myself that I finished something. And as it turned out, I did win and it has completely reinvigorated my interest in painting (and also got my foot in the door with the album covers, obviously).

DoM: How did you get the deal to work on Six Feet Under’s ‘Graveyard Classics III’?

DP: Blind email. It was right after I had finished up Bloodbath’s “The Fathomless Mastery”, and I decided that if I wanted to keep this going then I need to just start putting myself out there. So I just started going to my favorite bands’ websites and sending emails if they had a direct contact. I sent off about 50-60 emails, got 3 replies, and 1 actual job…and that was Six Feet Under. At first, the piece that I did for them was just supposed to be a T-shirt, but they liked it so much they decided to use it for the cover.

DoM: You recently completed work on a shirt for Cattle Decapitation and album artwork for Oceano, what are you working on currently?

DP: A lot of stuff for Six Feet Under. I just finished a design that I believe is going to be used for a DVD and then I’m also working on their next album cover and some more T-shirts. So they are definitely keeping me busy for now. Due to the fact that I have a day job, I really don’t have the ability to juggle a lot of different bands at once. I receive a lot of inquiries but unfortunately I have a little bit of a queue due to that. I just kind of take one thing at a time and when I finish something up, something else usually comes along. So other than that, I don’t really have much to share that is totally set in stone. There’s possibilities, but too early to say.

DoM: For how long have you been doing art?

DP: Professionally, 11 years. In general, since I was 5.

DoM: How often do you shower?

DP: When I had long hair, I was a lot lazier about it that’s for sure! Since I decided to shave it all off, though, I take one nightly.

DoM: Showering is overrated. Agree?

DP: If I could have a super power, it would be to be magically clean. That way I wouldn’t have to waste time out of my day for this kind of crap. Same thing for sleeping and eating. They always get in the way of things, too.

DoM: Is doing art your primary job or do you also do “normal” work?

DP: I do have a day job…but it’s also art-related. I am an environment artist at a small game developer in Kirkland that makes family friendly Wii games. It’s kind of a polar opposite to what I do when I get home, of course, but it’s all art…just different wrapping paper.

DoM: What would you do if you found yourself inside one of your gory artworks?

DP: Well, I’d be the master of that domain wouldn’t I? So I’d probably just paint a never-ending bottle of Corona next to me and chill out on my self-made throne.

DoM: Who would you really like to work with (Cannibal Corpse aren’t an option cause Vince Locke owns)?

DP: Rotting Christ. Rotting Christ was the first black metal band that I got into and I’d love to work with them. Also, I think Gwar would be ridiculously fun because they are so over-the-top. And finally, Immortal. I think I could make a very grim and frostbitten cover.

DoM: Are you a fan of Married… with Children? If so, would you join Al Bundy’s group ‘NO MA’AM’?

DP: Not really. I didn’t hate it when it was out, but it never really enters my thoughts. Sorry!

DoM: Of all album artworks you’ve seen, which one would you like to claim to be your own work?

DP: Anything by Par Olofsson. That guy is awesome and very prolific. Also, I’d claim anything by Travis Smith. He’s got such an impeccable composition sense that I’d love to pretend that I have.

DoM: Have you worked with Chris Barnes personally?

DP: Yeah, I talk to him all the time! So far we have a really good artistic relationship.

DoM: He looks like a bearded, death metal version of Gisele Bündchen. Does he ever eat?

DP: I picture him eating Cuban food all day long.

DoM: If you were gay, which metal musician would you hit on?

DP: Eddie.

DoM: Do you think he’d react positively?

DP: He’s kinda rotten, I bet he’d be flattered to be hit on.

DoM: What do you think of our site?

DP: Badassery!

DoM: Will you keep checking us out, or use us once for this and then dump us like a $10 hooker?

DP: I don’t dump $10.00 hookers. I recycle them and use them as pots for plants and clothes. So yeah…that.

DoM: You’re our first interviewee, do you feel honored? You should!

DP: I’m definitely honored! It’s still a new and weird thing to me.

DoM: Any last things you want to tell the people who read this interview?

DP: I can’t think of anything that doesn’t make me sound like a complete asshole.

DoM: Thank you for your time and keep on killing people (on paper)!

DP: Thanks, man!

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