When he’s not playing drums in the punk band METZ, drummer Hayden Menzies dedicates himself to art, drawing, painting, and design work. For Menzies, art and music are tied together intrinsically. Good album art, “involves curating a conversation between a listener musically and a spectator visually,” Menzies says. “If those two things can be married in a successful way, it creates a dialog. There have been times when I’ve sat down with a record, taking time to slowly and meticulously take apart the record, the sleeve, and look at the vinyl labels…a whole package is an incredible thing to witness. I love when people take the time to develop that to its fullest potential.”
Growing up as a kid, Menzies studied his parents’ record collection, poring over records by The Beatles and Little Feat. The latter wasn’t his thing musically, but the cartoon duck on the cover of the band’s 1979 album Down on the Farm intrigued him. Eventually he started finding his own music. He cites End Hits by Fugazi as a big influence. “I love the collage element,” Menzies says. That sense of disparate elements combining to create a unified whole informs his own art as well.
METZ and Preoccupation perform Thursday, November 18 at Crescent Ballroom. Get tickets here. Be sure to follow Menzies on INSTAGRAM and check out his site for more art. His work is also available via Shirtkiller.
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