Andrew Cremeans has created a haunting new piece for the 72 Seasons poster series. Here, he explains its motivations and meanings, plus what his own 72 seasons were like.
 

BACKGROUND & CREATION OF THIS ART

A couple of us were asked to pick a lyric off the new album and create our own interpretation, which is an artist's dream gig. My brain immediately went to, “Misery, she loves me, oh, but I love her more.” It’s such a perfect gut punch of a lyric. “Inamorata” is by far my favorite song on the album, and I was so glad to be able to choose it. The song speaks to my soul and experiences because the realm of mental health and mental wellness has always been important to me. I’ve been navigating my way around those areas for a long time, and the idea of depression, anxiety, or even addiction being personified as a mistress is such a great concept for a song. That attractiveness… that pull of being comfortable in such spaces just because they’re familiar – even though they’re pulling the life out of you – is very, very real. Comfort in the routine is ultimately less scary than a life in the unknown, so it becomes such an easy track to be on. I think it’s fair to say that a lot of creative types fall into those areas, and as soon as I heard the song, it spoke to me.

James’ lyrics in “Inamorata” and essentially James as a person have been pretty “big” to fans in this regard. He’s embraced that hard road, and he’s moved on from the “unbreakable METAL MACHISMO” that we all had in some form, and shown that there are times to say, “Hey, I’m not ok right now; I need help,” which is a great thing. I’m so happy about the stigmas being broken in that regard. I’m actually quite jealous – and impressed – by the younger generation’s willingness to seek help compared to my generation (and the older “just suck it up” generations), where we’ve felt it was shameful or that “suffering in silence” is something to be proud of. That’s obviously not been working out for us very well, so all of these moves towards openness and not being afraid to seek help are just great.

I originally wanted the piece itself to feel like an old horror novel or a comic book cover… the old EC horror comics, but it evolved. I wanted the man looking a little drained of life and being embraced by the ethereal “Inamorata,” where all the areas that were touching or overlapping were slowly poisoning or killing him. I changed it while working on it because it felt like it was running a little close to a romance novel instead! So, I went into the later stages of the relationship, where the destruction is in full swing. That gave it a little bit more of a “death” and “heavy metal” feel overall. The rest of the poster is more open to interpretation. Are those souls that she’s trapped in the web in the back? Is it the demons in his head that he’s struggled with? That’s up to you, the viewer.



ANDREW’S “72 SEASONS” & BEYOND

As for the whole 72 seasons concept, man, the idea that you live your first 18 years in real-time and then spend the rest of your years navigating and reshaping yourself from those first 18 is a pretty brilliant concept. I'm still working on mine for sure. Those first 72 seasons were a lot at times, but I wouldn't change a single thing. There was a tremendous amount of love in those first 18 years, and they have all made me who I am as a person. I view them with a whole lot of gratitude.

Being a dad and watching my daughter navigate through her 72 seasons has been pretty eye-opening with regard to my own life. It's made me keenly aware of certain situations from my youth that I'm grateful to have lived and learned from, but I also want to try to steer her away from them if they’re avoidable. It's tough knowing how much growth comes from adversity but also loving your kid so much you want to shield her from it as much as you can.
It's that “pendulum of parenthood” that swings back and forth.

As for 2024, there’s a lot of really cool stuff happening. I make video games for a living, which is super fun, but getting to do artwork for your ride-or-die favorite band since childhood is pretty hard to top. I’ve also got another project in the works that I can’t talk about just yet, but I’m really excited about it!