Novels from the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s
I started visiting Seattle in the early 90s and then moved there in 2000. The city changed a lot over the years, and not for the better IMO. I moved away in 2021, though I still visit often. The version of Seattle depicted in Kato (set in the late 90s/early 2000s) no longer exists as far as I can tell.
Photo taken at Gas Works Park in Seattle on a rare sunny day!
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We took a lot of our design inspiration from album covers, and as you can see Soundgarden’s Louder Than Love was a big reference point. I bought the album on vinyl when it came out in 1989, but it looks like one of my kids “borrowed” it at some point…
This cover is an especially appropriate influence for Kato, which is set in Seattle in the late 90s.
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The Ibanez Tube Screamer is mentioned on page 10 of Kato:
The room was literally crammed wall to wall with band equipment. … There were two giant Marshall stacks, numerous sticker-covered guitars and basses, a few duct-taped mic stands, a PA and a battered-looking four-track. The floor was covered with cables and cords and various distortion pedals (on my first trip downstairs, I’d practically twisted my ankle on a bright green Ibanez Tube Screamer pedal).
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I had a lot of fun working on the cover designs with Geoffrey Bunting. I wanted them to be inspired by and refence some of my favorite punk rock covers from the 80s.
Did you know that Grant Hart of Husker Du designed the cover of Hootenanny?
