Magazine Advert Analysis

This magazine advert is for the band Graveyard Johnnys advertising their new album 'Dead Transmission' and 2015. The Graveyard Johnnys are a three piece band who fuse 1950's Rockabilly and Punk Rock. They were formed in 2007 and have been touring all over the world since 2008. The band are made up of three friends with Joe Grogan on vocals and double bass, Callum Houston on guitar and Thomas E Lord on the drums. This band are the same genre as the Mojokings and have performed at the same events as them in the past. Analysing this poster will give me ideas and influences for what style I could make for my own graphics for the Mojokings.

The overall design of this poster is a mixture of 'smart' and 'rough' in the sense that parts of the advert are clean looking and are plain colour but there are also aspects such as the band title and edged of the poster which look like they have been damaged and are faded. This is generally a stereotype for the Psychobilly genre in terms of adverts they tend to be either ads. like the one above or ones which have been really artistically drawn in a tattoo style such as the adverts for The Peacocks (see left). The style of the poster is quite busy with lots of detail not always noticed on initial glance with the layered background and the print-style for the text which is based of the old fashioned style of poster making where they used to be printed blocks for the letters and images. The information on the adverts is quite diverse as well since it is promoting many things from the band themselves as well as their tour dates, sponsors and their most recent album (which the poster is styled off of). The first thing that draws your attention is the title and the photo of the band members above it. Key words have highlighted by making them bigger and changing the font colour to give emphasis on the album title and the name of the tour "DEAD TRANSMISSION". Something however that sets this poster apart is it modern feature of a QR Code which people can scan on their phones and it will then in turn direct them to a web address, most likely in this case to the bands merchandise.

In terms of the posters colour scheme it is not very generic which I believe is why it's so good, it goes against the conventions of the genre (much like the style of the bands music video). The majority of posters in the Psychobilly genre tend to have a red and black colour scheme like the event advert for The Peacocks at the Owl Sanctuary in Norwich; or they will have most likely a black and white colour scheme, it is very rare to see a poster which is majorly blue. The colour blue is mainly associated with the sea which links to the theme of the band due to their well known song 'The Wasted' and 'Bong On Captian' which have hints of the sea shanty style. With the colour blue being representative of the sea it could also link to power i.e. the power of the ocean which related to the energy and style of their music. The colour blue connotates depth and stability. It symbolizes trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence and truth. Things such as trust and loyalty could be reflective of the band members who are loyal and friendly towards fans and that despite their growth in popularity and getting signed to a record label they have not changed their core values. Black denotes strength and authority; it is considered to be a very formal, elegant, and prestigious color this is also a large feature of the poster. Black additionally incorporates connotations of fear and the unknown something which is heavily referenced in Psychobilly music in lyrics as the genre has very strong links with horror and science-fiction.

The image in the poster is a link to the band as it is one of their most recent and iconic photographs used for most promotional materials. They are using direct address in the photo making it seem like they are staring at/ watching you, this makes it seem personal but also it seems a bit intimidating giving the band a strong image as they are in a triangle formation with Joe (the double bass player) in front, it gives the image of comradery liking to fans of the band which are known as GYJARMY (the Graveyard Johnnys Army).

The poster is a twist on their album Dead Transmission with the style of having the radio masts in the background and the lightning bolts coming from them. The corners of the poster are styled like the album cover and this style is used across the board from their music video, merchandise, posters and their social media graphics.

On the right is an old poster/ advert for the bands previous tour which simply used the cover from their album and some tour dates below. This shows that the same style for their most recent adverts has reflection of their 'image' as an artist.

Looking back at the main Graveyard Johnnys poster they use a clever form of advertising which involve promoting mainly the bands commercial image i.e. people who don't know them might be intrigued by the large title and photograph, by keeping things simplistic it entices the audience more, there are no links to Facebook, Twitter etc. asides from the tour dates the only word on the poster are that "The album Dead Transmission is out now on CD, Digital and Limited Vinyl from all good stores" this leaves a lot to the viewer to research them and find them on platforms like social media and other websites such as YouTube and Vimeo. Again by having the QR Code on the bottom it allows them to fit more information on to the poster whilst keeping it simplistic as the code will link the viewer to more information about the band, therefore there is no need for lots of writing which would distract from the graphics and the art on the magazine advertisement.

In terms of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs the advert would most likely reach Esteem since from the friendly colour scheme it would give confidence of the bands loyalty to the fans and respect for them as a result. However some aspects like the black colours would actually subvert from other levels such as security as it is more likely to make the audience feel insecure.