All music was created by REPTIEL, and REPTIEL is Alec Way guitars, keyboards, lead & backup vocals / Brian Weaver bass guitar, lead & backup vocals / Jason Gonzales - drums, percussion, backup vocals / Jason Yakich guitars, backup vocals; lead vocals on "Longing."
The Planet of Progkp was recorded and mixed at Light Rail Studios in San Francisco by Elton Cunniffe from 2015 to 2017, except for track 1 which was recorded by REPTIEL and assembled by Brian Weaver at Cubby Control in the Outer Mission of San Francisco. All tracks were mastered by Jason Gonzales at his O-Town Mastering studio in Oakland, CA, during November, 2017. All songs written by REPTIEL, © 2018.
The following artists were asked to create artwork based on a song, or songs, they most wanted to illustrate...
Billy Janes created the artwork for track #1, "Sine (Such a Weird Star)." Digital collage. "Inspired by the journey into unconscious waters or space in its vastness, both internal and external. Witnessing the rearrangement of this space into a coherent life-giving and life-serving function, a boon, within an often cold and mechanistic void."
Jorge Heredia created the artwork for track #2, "The Spirit Usher." Jorge is a former artist turned assembly line worker at your favorite cartoon factories. He is originally from Oakland, California but can now be found under a bridge in Portland, Oregon shouting riddles to passersby in exchange for their safe passage. "When I first heard the story of the spirit usher I immediately pictured a battle scarred being, perhaps a little playful in their demeanor but that clearly meant business."
Anselm Yew: For track #2, "'Relativity/Deranged', I had in my mind the idea of the Forest boy from Hobbitozz becoming the new entity Sine. In this transformation his being is refracted, reconstituted, and reborn as a baby through time and space into the world of Progkp. Obviously, relativity is deranged!" For track #9 "'The Man Who Played the Sound Waves', the man who tended the tree of life on Hobbitozz, is, on Progkp an all powerful being capable of altering the universe simply through his musical manipulations. His identity is hidden behind his pressure suit. And for track #13, "'Hallowed Bones of the Alien Elven Souls (Temple of the Avian Aliens)', I went through many iterations on this one. I knew that I wanted the temple to be massive in scale, but struggled to find a way to make it look at once ancient, alien, technologically advanced, and wise. I didn’t want to literally make the temple out of bones, so first I decided the desiccated alien corpses would simply be mounted on massive columns, but that ended up looking too Roman. Then there was the question of what the avian aliens would look like...and how would they look in skeletal form?! How would that even be recognizable? Finally, I came upon images of Buddhist monks who have allegedly simply died in mid-meditation, and used that as inspiration. Some technological-looking wing structures attached to the back made it both ‘avian’ and technologically advanced, and some massive floating boulders completed the scene. My work can be seen here: Anselmyew.net ...or here: Instagram.com/anselmyew."
Daniela Yew created the artwork for tracks #4, "Shadow People"; and, "Feel the Atoms." "I draw inspiration for my mixed media art from the natural world, my love of patterns, compulsive reading and a bit of horror vacui. For “Shadow People” I imagined that, like an alligator flushed down a New York City toilet, a tiny tardigrade left in space can grow to enormous size in the dark matter of space and vacuum up planets for food. “Feel the Atoms” was a bit of a departure for me since I digitally altered a watercolor painting inspired by the particles inside an atom. You can see some of my artwork on my blog daniyew.blogspot.com or on instagram.com/daniyew."
Brian Weaver created the artwork for tracks #5, "It's a World"; and #6, "See Level" (2) & (3). Brian Weaver is proprietor of Cubby Control Records, bassist in REPTIEL, and creator of this website. He refers to himself as "a non-artist who likes to try to create art, and a non-musician who likes to try to make music." He explains, "My pieces are digital collages for which I utlized images available free for download and repurposing from the NASA/JPL photo library. 'It's a World' is a digital collage using image "PIA04241: Artist's concept of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter as the basis and then I added the spirits of Sine and The Spirit Usher who are ariving on the surface of Progkp, '...a world unlike any other', and behind them in the sky is a large darkened sun, even though the lyrics are 'the sun has set forever,' but perhaps that description is just figurative. For 'See Level' I produced a number of mockups attempting to show the Spirit Usher leading Sine down to sea level where she challenges him to 'see level', represented visually by the horizon being vertical instead of horizontal. Both 'See Level' pieces use NASA/JPL image PIA18094: Endeavour Crater Rim From 'Murray Ridge' on Mars, False Color as the basis"
Phil Watkins created the artwork for track #6, "See Level." Phil is a long-time graphic designer who has had his own studio in Kansas City since 1992. He works on primarily business-to-business projects (boring to most), but has broken out now and then with album cover designs, posters and T-shirt graphics. www.wadcorp.net.
Avionic created the artwork for track #7, "Clarity, Clarity." Image(s) by Avionic: avionicmedia.com.
Tom Kovach created the artwork for track #8, "Longing" and ""The Hallowed Bones of the Alien Elven Souls (Temple of the Avian Aliens)" " (2)
Roger Carvey created the artwork for track #11, "There's a Star in Your Mind." "I was approached by Alec and Brian to submit an illustrative reaction to one of the tracks of Reptiel’s newest science fiction mind excursion, and though there were only three tracks remaining to be claimed, I immediately KNEW it had to be 'There’s a Star', after one listen, and did not hesitate to start sketching an idea (- - how’s that for inspired? - - ). The final drawing was executed using a Kuretake brushpen with Platinum Carbon ink, for all the black lines, attempting a retro-Underground comix appeal, with added digital coloration, showcasing Sine beginning to grasp his new sub-atomic and ultra-atomic knowledge, foreshadowing the “Mind Expansion” of the next track. The 'There’s a Star' illustration is exactly the type of work I’ve enjoyed doing for 40-plus years, in addition to Graphic Design “day” jobs, and my Thanks to Brian, Alec, and the band, for the opportunity to interpret a slice of their cosmic story. For more of my illustration and artwork, please follow me over at Instagram for my most current feed (@Aquiresville), or also over at Tumblr (aquiresville.tumblr.com), and older work parked at Flickr (www.flickr.com/photos/aquiresville/)."
Rani Goel created the artwork for track # 12, "The Cosmos of Your Mind Is Expanding." Rani is an animal-loving, mystic and soul-centric, multidimensional visual and sonic explorer navigating the beauty and horror of western civilization. Re art...medium: digital collage (aka photoshop) (rather not explain too much, prefer to let people interpret.) https://www.facebook.com/ranigoelart
Doug Welch created the artwork for track # 14, "Aleph Adept." Doug Welch has been on the run from "the Church" for some time now. He was last seen working at the UC Berkeley campus and will soon be a regular feature in our state's capital. He worked at VMS a long time ago, and then National Geographic before changing careers to preserve old things that are falling apart. His favorite color is red and his turn-offs include anything associated with the current US president.
Cye Tornatzky created the artwork for track #15, "Progkp."
John Izzard created the artwork for track #15, "Progkp" (2). Stealing the moon: Though I’ve previously worked as a graphic artist, for the most part these days my occasional dips in the visual pool are to come up with images to accompany both my own and others’ music projects. In this instance, I used a quick shot of the moon that I’d been able to take using my son’s new telescope (it was as planet-like as I could get). Working quickly till the happy accidents happened, combined with a little alchemy, the calcium white bone-like surface of Progkp itself gradually emerged. Perhaps the very hallowed bones of the alien elven souls form its surface. I’ve always thought the best music is as visual as it is sonic. This album by REPTIEL will definitely put pictures in your head. To that end, the images chosen to illustrate the respective tracks are only a starting point. More info: www.johnizzard.com.
This website was created by Brian Weaver during the winter and spring of 2017-18 and was published on Summer Solstice (June 21), 2018, to coincide with the release of The Planet of Progkp CD.