Attention Deficit Delirium

Phill Baker with his son Dylan at the opening of his Art Bar exhibit, October 28, 2009. (Photo ©2009 by Bryan Reesman.)

You may have seen Phill Baker’s artwork outside of CBGB’s. Or online. Or in line at an event like the Heaven & Hell in-store at Sam Ash in NYC last summer, where I first met him. Known as The Rock ‘N’ Roll Painter, a title he says was bestowed upon him by Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler, Baker has made a name for himself among rock’s elite. Working for reference from photos or other iconic images of his subjects, Baker has created some striking paintings of the most famous faces in rock ‘n’ roll — everyone from Lemmy to Robert Plant to Bono — and many of them have signed his creations. Phill has even tackled some Hollywood heroes.

Over the years Baker has painted a plethora of pictures thanks to his raw talent and fast hands. The mural that he made for the aforementioned Heaven & Hell in-store (see the link above) took him only three hours to do. He also does not work for profit but for the love of music — he says he does not sell any of the paintings that he has had signed by their subjects. But the artist is working on a book to be published in the near future.

The Rock ‘N’ Roll Painter currently has an exhibit (“Rock ‘N’ Roll Art Show’) being displayed at Art Bar in the West Village in Manhattan. It runs through the end of December. Check it out. And enjoy ADD’s one-on-one with the man himself.

Can you identify them all? (Photo ©2009 by Bryan Reesman.)

How long have you been a painter?
I have been painting ever since the day I first saw Bozo the clown on TV. It’s all his fault! I drew and painted Bozo all the time. Then one day I tore off Bozo’s head — no, wait, I think I hung him — when I first seen Alice Cooper on Wolfman Jack’s Midnight Special. [laughs] True!

What are your larger pieces like and how many have you done?
Larger  works — I have many sizes. I have a Debbie Harry in front of CBGB’s that is 6 feet high by 62′ across, a Dead Boys and a Beatles that are 6 feet x 6 feet, but the bigger ones are mostly 48′ x 34′ on average. Almost all of my bigger ones are all color. I only went black and white last year. I have over 400 color [ones] and about 270 of them are autographed by the musicians themselves. Have a look at a few that I have up [online]. I can’t put up 300 pics on a site. That’s where my art book comes in — www.myspace.com/rocknrollpainter.


Have you sold any of your works?
Sell my works? I never thought I was ever good enough to sell. I still don’t. I am still teaching myself. I never had art training. It was all out of the love for rock n’ roll and art. I wish I had schooling. I would be a better painter, and I’d have a teacher to thank. But I never sold a painting for I always painted for myself, hoping to get the painting autographed by the rock star. And if word got out I was selling an autographed painting, I think that they would stop signing my works. I am known by a lot of musicians. I made the circle. Well, that is what Chris Robinson told me one day, that he was wondering when he was going to meet me. Flipped me out. But I never sell a signed painting. That’s why my collection is sooo huge and worth millions today as a lot of them have now passed away. The paintings that are not signed, sure I sell. Or someone will ask me to paint whomever. I’m raising twins on my own, and we all have to eat.  But I paint murals in clubs, in football players homes, and I may be doing a mural for Joe Piscopo’s place.  Elvis, Sinatra, Brando, Monroe — he likes all that.

Phill (center right) holding court at Art Bar. (Photo ©2009 by Bryan Reesman.)

Who are some famous rockers that you have yet to paint?
Well, I can do the Rock n’ Roll Alphabet forward and backward. A is for Aerosmith and so on to Z equals Zeppelin, and then Z equals Zappa back to A for Allman Brothers. It will be in the book. But I am always interested in hearing what people have to say. As in who I should paint or who they would like for me to paint, people have told me to paint Tom Waits and William S. Burroughs. I did and have them both signed, so thanks for the suggestions. Keep them coming!

The scarf-loving frontman who named The Rock 'N' Roll Painter. (Photo ©2009 by Bryan Reesman.)

Is true that Steven Tyler gave you your nickname?
Yes, Steven Tyler did give me the name “Rock n’ Roll Painter”. At first it bothered me all the time, when he would shout at me, “Hey Rock n’ Roll Painter, whatcha got now?” Over and over. He knew my name was Phill, and he told me he knew that! But he kept on calling me Rock ‘N’ Roll Painter. One day I was at a Pretenders/B-52′s show — I think it was at Radio City — and he got out of a limo saying, “Rock ‘n’ Roll Painter, how the hell are you?” And I told my brother, who was with me, “He knows my name, what is with this guy?” My brother said to me, “Lil’ bro, if that’s what Steven wants to call you, then let him. After all, it ain’t that bad that he calls you that, and after all, you have now been named by  Rock n’ Roll Royalty!” How true it is! So that’s what has stuck, and I kept the name and [now] introduce myself, “Hi, I’m the Rock n’ Roll Painter.”


Following are more images from the Art Bar show.

More famous faces. (Photo ©2009 by Bryan Reesman.)

Rock idols from the '60s and '70s. (Photo ©2009 by Bryan Reesman.)

A portrait fit for a King named B.B. And he approved. (Photo ©2009 by Bryan Reesman.)

Blues Brothers and a blues master. (Photo ©2009 by Bryan Reesman.)

Hollywood icons. (Photo ©2009 by Bryan Reesman.)

A collection of wise guys. (Photo ©2009 by Bryan Reesman.)

Opening night laminate. (Photo ©2009 by Bryan Reesman.)

A spooky Art Bar at Halloween. (Photo ©2009 by Bryan Reesman.)

The cover of the first Anvil album, which I bought on vinyl as a teen. Imagine classic blues-rock given a thrash kick in the pants, and you'll get the idea of where it's coming from.

I am surprised, and quite pleased, that Anvil! The Story Of Anvil has managed to capture the hearts and minds of music fans across the globe. Called the real-life Spinal Tap, the Canadian heavy metal act that has been perennially manned by frontman Steve “Lips” Kudlow and drummer Robb Reiner has been banging heads for 32 years but never made a large mainstream impact. Until now. Sacha Gervasi’s bittersweet, heartwarming documentary has created such waves that this past summer Anvil were invited to open three stadium shows for rock legends AC/DC — two in the U.S. and one in Canada before 72,000 people. That’s big. As one Canadian music exec tells the boys in the film, there’s money in their history.

In the film, rock stars like Lars Ulrich, Scott Ian, Lemmy and Slash give props to Anvil while also wondering why they never made it. (Yet I don’t recall any of them touring with or covering the band at all.) They state or imply that the Canadian rockers should have gotten their due since they were part of the influential thrash movement of the early to mid-Eighties. Ian is puzzled as to why they never got big, Ulrich praises Reiner’s drumming, while Slash ponders how seemingly few bands have lasted for 30 years, citing the Rolling Stones, The Who and Anvil.

Let’s get real: Slash is giving them props for their longevity, but seriously, I can name a lot of bands that have been around that long. AC/DC, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Aerosmith, KISS, Black Sabbath, Saxon and Manowar, to name a few. And the truth is that Anvil have always stayed true to their thrashy roots and often raunchy lyrics and never pushed themselves too far outside of their established style and comfort zone. But that’s fine. AC/DC have been doing their thing for over 35 years and people still love it. Further, listen to a rambunctious, early Anvil number like “666,” and it’s technically more sophisticated than most thrash of its day. That made it a great choice for Rock Band 2, for which it was re-recorded.

Anvil dominating the cover of legendary British metal mag Kerrang! back in the day. (Image courtesy of Slamxhype.com.)

If there’s one group that deserves to mine riches (musical and otherwise) after busting their asses for so long, it’s Anvil. And their latest release, the Chris Tsangerides-produced This Is Thirteen, serves up solid songs like “American Refugee,” “Feed The Greed” and “Bombs Away” that show they have some serious issues on their minds, while tunes like “Flying Blind” and “Should’ A Would’ A Could’ A”  clearly express the angst and anxiety that Lips and Reiner have undoubtedly felt throughout all of their struggles to finally make it. It’s a sincere and genuine album in the way that the film is genuine and sincere (and brave).

There is a cruel irony behind the “there’s money in your history” line. While Anvil deserve respect for their contributions to early thrash, for slagging it out so long and for having diehard fans stick with them through thick and thin, the real truth of the matter is that it was a long-time fan that made it in the film industry, and who really understood and empathized with them, who gave them their big break. If their former roadie Sacha Gervasi — who wrote the screenplay for Steven Spielberg’s film The Terminal and is working on a movie about the late Hervé Villechaize, who portrayed Tattoo on TV’s Fantasy Island — had not possessed the resources and time to devote to this project, it never would have been made or turned out as it did. And in the end the wonderful success of Anvil! The Story Of Anvil reaffirms the harsh reality of the entertainment business: If you don’t know someone important or have a way in, you can have all the talent in the world but never make it.

Thankfully for Anvil, they had Gervasi. From here on out, the rest falls on their shoulders.

For my interview with Lips and Robb, click here.
For my interview with Sacha Gervasi, click here.