The Doom Blog

The Black Axe

Kevin — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 22:56:30 GMT

The Black Axe has dropped! After months of planning and tons of last minute freak outs, we launched our new company this Friday: a new design firm consisting of Richard Minino (Horsebites), Derek Deal, Skull W/ Hair, and Joey and me.

We had to keep this secret for months. It was killer.

Along with The Black Axe's new Web site, we also launched The Axe's blog. Here, you're mostly going to find ramblings and weird videos we found, but also info on our latest work and some cool tutorials. If you have any ideas of what you would like to see some tutorials on, holler@theblackaxe.com.

On top of all that, our new store is stocked with a bunch of limited edition items. Buy some Axe gear before it's gone!

What?!

Joey — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 19:42:30 GMT

Merry Christmas!

Kevin — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 15:52:59 GMT

Santa is looking oddly annoyed in this picture. Anyway, Merry Christmas! For anyone wondering about my Christmas Carol marathon: so far I've watched 4 versions, and the best is the 1984 George C. Scott version. Have a good one!

A Christmas Carol(s)

Kevin — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 19:11:12 GMT

Christmas means a bunch of different things, but most notably: Home Alone, hot chocolate, Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, A Christmas Story looping 24 hours a day, awesomely cheesy Christmas sweaters (made my own this year; I might post a pic), killer food, Christmas music everywhere (perhaps that happiest genre of music that exists), and, my favorite: A Christmas Carol is always on TV.

I've always loved the story of A Christmas Carol, but what's cooler is that there are an insane number of versions of it. From Muppets to Bill Murray's Scrooged to serious theater versions to lazy sitcom versions. So this year, I decided to watch as many different versions as I can.

Here's my list so far:

A Christmas Carol w/ George C. Scott (1984)
A Christmas Carol w/ Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard!)
The Muppet Christmas Carol (2002)
Scrooged w/ Bill Murray (1988) -- stoked t watch this one again!
A Christmas Carol: The Musical w/ Kelsey Grammer (2004)

Not too stoked on the musical version, but I'll deal.

So far I've watched the 1984 version with George C. Scott. It's honestly the best version I can remember seeing. I'll post the winner once I finish watching them all.

If you have any suggestions, let me know! I don't want to miss out on a good one. Also, I remember a Family Matter's version with Urkel. If anyone can track that video down, send me a link!

Mortal Kombat!

Kevin — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:39:37 GMT

Team Doom pretty much revolves around Mortal Kombat. Joey and I have been kombatting each other mortally since we were around 11, so it made sense that when we started our own company, before worrying about the little stuff like legal entity formation, taxes, etc., we first made sure that the ability to play this wonderful game would be a part of out day to day. Well, it made sense to us at least.

And so it has been. For the past 2 years, we have been rocking Mortal Kombat: Armageddon. We've played so much that we have each character's -- all 63 of them -- combos and special moves locked up in muscle memory. Wow, I guess it took typing that out to realize how sad that is. Yikes.

Anyway, this past Sunday the new Mortal Kombat came out: MK vs. DC. As if a new Mortal Kombat wasn't eventful enough, DC?! Really?! It's as if Midway has been listening in to our arguments over who would win in a fight, Batman or Superman? Now we get to test it out.

So, yea, we've been playing. It's amazing. Second only to my computer screen, this is the bad boy I've been staring at the most:

If you're a fan of Mortal Kombat, DC, awesome, or us, please go buy it. Then, email us and fight us online.

Speechy Keen

Kevin — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 18:00:52 GMT

We at Team Doom don't believe in forcing our political views on others. In fact, a lot of the time we don't have political views; our memory is too full with every single kombo in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon. But hey, regardless of who you voted for, we elected a new President last night. And that was one hell of a speech.

NEWS FLASH

Joey — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 04:36:37 GMT

This just in: we haven't updated in forever.

sorry!

Definitely Sold Out!

Kevin — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 00:51:14 GMT

The infamous Biking Viking shirt is officially sold out! Will we be printing more? A Viking never gives warning, but attacks like a thief in the night! So...maybe. If you missed out and want us to print another run, let us know!

Almost Sold Out!

Kevin — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 19:17:54 GMT

The Biking Viking is almost sold out! We only have 3 mediums and 2 XLs left, so hop on over to Horsebite's store and ORDER NOW! And yes, that is an actual bad ass BV shirt up there. Here's a close-up...

BIKING VIKING: Sneak Peak!

Kevin — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 02:16:15 GMT

Our buddy Jimmy (Heartcore Clothing, Printmytees.com) just posted a new video blog, showing us what's going on at the Heartcore Farm. Notice anything? A sudden urge to to eat raw salmon? Perhaps an overwhelming need to hop on a wooden ship, travel for months, and wash ashore in some strange land with only a battle axe and a thirst for blood? Yep, that's the Biking Viking shirt they're printing! These suckers are almost sold out so BY ONE NOW!

Tee of the Day!

Joey — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 17:00:07 GMT

The shirt we did for Santi School just got Tee of the Day at Emptees today! Stoked! If you are into tee shirts and have no idea what Emptees is, you're doing something wrong.

The Fest 7

Kevin — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 18:29:20 GMT

Last night we launched The Fest 7's new Web site. If you don't know what The Fest 7 is, go directly to the site, buy a ticket right now, and don't make any other plans for Halloween weekend. Trust me. It will be the most fun you ever had. For those who do know what The Fest 7 is, I'm assuming you already went the Web site to buy your tickets and that you aren't reading this sentence.

This year, just like last, Richard Minino (Horsebites Design) did some KILLER work, handling all of the illustration for The Fest 7. We've worked with Richard on a few Web projects now, and each time, when the project is over, I think to myself, "This shit rules! Wait...is that because we did a good job, or because we had amazing illustrations to work with?". I'd like to think it's both.

For me, the best part of this project was getting to hear a ton of awesome new (to me) music. Since every band has their own profile page on the Web site, we were sent all of their information, including mp3s. Early on, I promised myself that I would listen to each and every band that is playing The Fest. Best decision I've ever made. Here's just a few of my new (again, new to me) favorites:

There's so many more. I may do a few updates.

Anyway, October 31st through November 2nd, Team Doom will be in Gainesville, FL getting sloshed and having the best time ever. You should too.

The Office of Doom

Joey — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 22:17:16 GMT

The Office of Doom! from Team Doom on Vimeo.

Tonight We Progress

Joey — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 20:54:51 GMT

Usually when I'm working on a project, the end result is pretty similar to my initial idea. However, that is not always the case. Submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society, I call this story THE TALE OF TONIGHT WE RADIATE.

From the get go, Fallen From The Sky wanted something simple and timeless for the cover art. They were sick of everyone's cd being a bright illustration of an octopus and a tyrannosaurus rex battling it out over a monster truck rally. They were looking for something in the vain of the covers for Rage Against The Machine, Deftones, Foo Fighters, etc.

The first couple of attempts were based on photographs we had taken around Orlando.

After some discussion with the band, we changed the concept to something a little different.

(some color options)

So those were more on the right track, but they felt that it still wasn't iconic enough. They were looking for a strong image that could stand alone and still make people think of the album. After a little while we came up with this.

They were pretty stoked on this, but didn't want a skull to be the cover of the album. They felt skulls were getting a bit cliche and wanted to try something more. So running with the album name, we ended up with this for the final cover image.

At the end of everything, we were super duper stoked with how it came out. It looks nothing like the original image we had, but I think that is for the best.

Work Update!

Kevin — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 22:17:14 GMT

It's been a while since we posted new work, so I thought I'd talk about a couple of the cooler projects we've been a part of in the past couple months. Click on that good ol' "Continue Reading" link for more.

Recently, we started working with Island Def Jam Music Group. Our first project was to revamp the band Ludo's MySpace profile. Ludo released the album Your Awful, I Love You (their first on Island Records) earlier this year, and the label was looking for a new layout to match the record's album art.

On a personal side note, while we were working on the new layout, I heard Ludo's song, "You're Awful, I Love You", on a commercial for the new season of FOX's House. Being a House fan, I was especially stoked to have some sort of weirdo six-degrees type connection with the show.

Anyway, there's definitely more Island Def Jam projects coming up, so keep checking back.

Desoto Jones! These kids are cool. When you work on a band's website or MySpace layout, its really easy to get sick of the music. Fortunately, this wasn't the case with Desoto Jones. I thought they were a solid band from the beginning, but by the time our projects were over, they were in my regular rotation. DON'T FAIL NOWWWW, DONT FAIL ME NOWWW...ok, I'll stop (sorry, guys).

Back to what we did -- the band needed a new website and matching MySpace layout. They were also between releases and so they wanted a completely fresh design. After a bunch of phone calls and emails, we were able to nail down exactly what the band was going for. You can check out the resulting website here and MySpace layout here.

What else? Ah, we also posted a bunch of merch designs on our work page, so be sure to take a gander at those.

Coming soon: One Block Radius (Island Def Jam) MySpace layout, Innerpartysystem (Island Def Jam) MySpace layout, Media Made MySpace layout and merch, Gear-Up website, All Aboard (Johnny Cash Tribute) CD packaging, and tons more.