Evolution of The Stance

The faceless image to the right was the one that appeared in BP issue 1, alongside the BOLD interview.

Going all the way back to Boiling Point issue one, in the layout of the BOLD interview was an image of a faceless dude in a stance. For some reason or another, that image always clicked with me and right off the bat I thought it was a very cool and iconic type image. I wasn't sure if the image had anything to do with BOLD, or if the Boiling Point guys just saw it as fitting for that particular layout, but never the less, from that point forward I associated that image with BOLD.


The classic Side By Side 7" cover.

Fast forward down the line and the Side By Side - "You're Only Young Once" 7" is released on Revelation Records. On the cover of that 7" are three faceless figures, all in a stance. Again, I instantly loved that cover. So simple, so clean and so powerful. It said so much without even showing much. There was a clear urban hip hop feel to these three dudes in a stance, but still I hadn't made any connection. Honestly, thinking back, I'm not so sure I even made any connections to the image I had seen earlier in the layout of the BOLD interview in Boiling Point issue one.


LL Cool J - "Radio", where the stance began.

At some point in the mid 90's I'm on the phone with my friend Ed McKirdy who at that point was working in Southern California for New Age / Conversion Records. Some how or another Ed's brings up how Dennis Remsing (Conversion Records / Outspoken) had mentioned that the Side By Side guys on the cover of the 7" had actually come from a photograph of LL Cool J that was on his debut release, "Radio". How that had never come together for me earlier, I have no idea. Considering how big of a fan I was of both Side By Side and LL Cool J, especially that "Radio" record, it just shocked me that I had never noticed the blatant similarities.

Eventually I had pieced it together that Alex Brown (Schism, Side By Side, PX, GB), while going to art school in NYC, had probably came up with the idea to outline the photo of LL Cool J and tweak it into a hip hop influenced straight edge hardcore looking dude of the time. Without talking to Alex about it, I can't be exactly sure of all the details, but I think it's fairly obvious where the image originated from, how it was originally used and finally where it ended up.

We've been hoping to pull Alex Brown into the pages of Double Cross at some point, so hopefully if and when that happens, we'll get the bottom of this. For now, check out the images I've compiled. -Tim DCXX


A great flyer designed by Alex Brown, with more detail added to the ordinarily faceless figures.