13 artists covering 13 songs by the 13th Floor Elevators & their mastermind Roky Erickson. The briefing the label Gruselton gave me for "I Think of Demons": it's a tribute sampler that should look like a tribute. As usual for Gruselthon, it should come with gadgets. As the first vinyl LP I bought was the Elevator's debut, this was a very special project.

While the cover artwork works as a collage of the first two records by The 13th Floor Elevators – the sun from the "Easter Everywhere" cover finds it's way as well as the eyes of the debut, which also lends the color scheme. As Erickson somehow had a faible for pyramids, they also play a significant role in the artwork and as a gadget there is a build-your-own-pyramid craft sheet. The pyramid / egyptian / preastronautics theme continues on the inside of the gatefold CD cover and nicely fits the overall pulpy atmosphere of all Gruselthon releases so far.

In addition to the craft-sheet there is also a simple, yet terrifying sticker and a small portrait print featuring the sampler's credits included.

The debut album of my band Mother Bear is called “Zamonian Occultism”. Like many of the songs on the album, the title refers to the Zamonien novels written by Walter Moers (“13 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear”, “Ensel and Krete”, “Rumo” and so on), which is why we had the illustrator Sarah Gräfingholt draw us a cover picture featuring a character from the books.

Otherwise, the design is based on 70s horror films and thus the design typical of the stoner/doom metal scene - raw and with Art Nouveau touches. I drew a logo with three pipes (for us three musicians), which Sarah Gräfingholt incorporated into the cover, as well as a lettering of the band name, which is used on posters and the cassette side, among other things.

In the course of the release, stickers, posters and shirts were also created as merchandise.

Illustration: Sarah Gräfingholt
Portrait: Sebastian Beierle