![]() Their likeness has gone on to become a symbol. They’ve adorned bumper stickers, toys, patches, T-shirts, posters, skateboards, keychains, costumes, tattoo designs, countless memes, and an ocean of bootleg merchandise. They’ve been called Weedians, Lungsmen, Weed Priests, Herbsmen, and Creedsmen. ![]() ![]() The song itself speaks of a journey to deliver bales of weed to a sacred location, and a grow-room temple where the air is thick with sacramental smoke and the chanting of “drop out of life with bong in hand.” These mystic figures walk an endless sandy sea in search of the divine. Leading a herd of alien pack animals across the sand, an alien ship hangs in the clear blue sky behind them. Their faces obscured by hoods, these figures hold strange breathing tubes connected to tanks on their back. These are some of the opening lyrics to the title track “Dopesmoker.” The cover depicts a single-file line of robed figures crossing red-sanded dunes. “ Follow the smoke to the riff-filed land… caravan migrates through the deep sandscape… procession of the weed priests to cross the sands.” The New York Times referred to it as “one of the most formidable recordings of the last 20 years.” Together with the music, the art Roper developed for the 2012 version has endured 10 different vinyl pressings on at least 14 different types of wax, some with foil covers, etched vinyl, even pressed with actual cannabis leaves, (during that process, Doghouse Farms said the presses got so gummed up with resin that they had to stop every few copies to clean the plates). Since the recording’s initial release as a bootleg in the ’90s, the album is considered to be a masterpiece by critics, musicians, and record collectors alike. Countless examples of Roper’s work have become widely recognized, but perhaps none have gone on to create such an impression as the final album artwork for Sleep’s Dopesmoker. It’s a collection of sketches, illustrations, and more, that tell the story of a talented individual who carved out his own place in pop culture, providing imagery for Ozzy Osborne, the Grateful Dead, Mishka’s Sesame Street collab, a Thundercats cartoon, and his own book on exotic mushrooms.Īlongside the drawings and stories in Vision of the Hawk is part of the history of how Roper came up with all three editions of the art for the band Sleep’s highly revered second album. In April, Strange Attractor Press in London released Roper’s book, Vision of the Hawk, which is a retrospective of the last 20 years of the artist’s vast career. If music dedicated to weed had a Sistine Chapel, its hallways would be painted by him. The wild, sci-fi fantasy feelings that Roper’s work evokes have made him a household name in both the music and design world.Ī graduate of the School of Visual Arts in New York City, Roper’s lettering and art have helped forge an artistic schema for the genres of stoner metal and stoner rock. His instantly recognizable illustrations look like a cross between something from an old pulp fiction novel and Heavy Metalmagazine. Keep on truckin’ describes continuing to do as one is doing in order to succeed at something.Arik “Moonhawk” Roper has been essential in helping define a visual style for countless bands and projects that use the word “stoner” in their description. I just want to keep trucking and keep doing what I can to attribute and play as hard as I can.” – Providence Journal I’m getting too close to what my goal is in life. The second article uses the expression in a quote to explain that an athlete won’t give up. After the celebrated “Fare Thee Well” concerts this past summer in Chicago and Santa Clara, Calif., a few former Grateful Dead members decided to keep truckin’.This excerpt from an article about a popular band uses the expression to say that the band decided to continue touring even after they said they had finished. Son: I tried to do that already, but I feel hopeless. I need this class to graduate, and if I can’t pass it, there’s no reason why I should waste my time with these other classes.įather: Don’t say that! You can do it. Son: I think I’m going to fail this math class.
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