Bio:

Dennis Loren was born in 1946 in Detroit, Michigan. He has been creating concert posters, album covers, CD packages and music-related graphics for over 50 years. He has served as art director for the music magazines Blitz!, Goldmine, R.P.M., Cream and Metal (1977 - 1992). Throughout his career, Dennis has created packaging designs for numerous record labels and recording artists ranging from Frank Zappa to Brian Wilson. Dennis began creating concert posters in 1967. His first three posters were for Muddy Waters, The Youngbloods, and Jimi Hendrix. Over the years, Dennis has designed concert posters for The Matrix, The Fillmore, The Avalon Ballroom, The Great American Music Hall, The Warfield, and The Whisky A Go-Go among many other legendary venues.

Designing Posters For Moonalice:

When I lived in Oakland, California, I used to regularly visit my friend and fellow artist Chris Shaw's studio. On one of those visits he showed me some of the posters that he, David Singer and Alexandra Fishcer had designed for Moonalice. Chris eventually called and asked if I would like to design a Moonalice poster. He and the band had decided to expand the number of artists that created posters, to include Ron Donovan, Chuck Sperry, Stanley Mouse and myself. I was really happy to be included. A freelance artist can always use another client. At this point I have designed 53 Moonalice posters, as well as an additional 14 posters for The Doobie Decibel System and Roger McNamee, including 3 themed designs.

These days, Alexandra Fischer contacts me via email with an assignment. Designing a concert poster for Moonalice is always a challenge, but also great fun. Unless an idea suggests itself immediately, I always use the same technique of visualizing numerous possibilities. I quite literally stare at a blank template and begin imagining various ideas and themes. I create vector illustrations using Adobe Illustrator. Occasionally, I use some "placed" Adobe Photoshop images for backgrounds. My designs are often symmetrical. I love the balance that symmetry creates. With a Moonalice poster there is always a series number and a printing deadline. I always send a proof for final approval. Thankfully - "knock on wood" - none of my designs have been rejected.

Moonalice has a poster for each concert and gives them away free at the end of the concert. This certainly helps build "brand" loyalty. After the show the posters are available for sale via https://store.moonalice.com/. Moonalice now uses over 20 artists in rotation. Moonalice also creates poster sets for the annual "420 Gathering Of The Tribe." The sets include as many as 16 posters by 16 artists, It is always great to see this outpouring of creativity from a variety of artists. Many of my favorite Moonalice posters are for the 420 event. I often use a native American theme to represent the "Gathering Of The Tribe" theme.

2016-04-20 Slim's - San Francisco CA - Dennis Loren