Sonny Kay is a visual artist and musician.

Biography

Kay was born in London, England on March 13, 1972, and raised in various locations including the UK, Barcelona (Spain), and Johannesburg (South Africa). His family relocated first to Los Angeles in 1979, and then to Colorado in 1987. He is the son of "

Spaghetti Western The spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's filmmaking style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most o ...

" film director, Gilbert Lee Kay (aka José Briz). In 1993, Sonny founded the cult independent record label Gold Standard Laboratories, known also as GSL, while attending the University of Colorado at Boulder. During that time he was a member of the pre-

screamo Screamo (also referred to as skramz) is a subgenre of emo that emerged in the early 1990s and emphasizes "willfully experimental dissonance and dynamics".Jason Heller, "Feast of Reason". ''Denver Westword'', June 20, 2002 Access date: June 15, 2 ...

band Angel Hair (

Gravity Records Gravity is an underground independent record label from San Diego.Trevor Kelley, "California Screaming". ''Alternative Press'' 17 (2003), pp. 84-86. It was formed in 1991 by Matt Anderson, a member of the influential underground band Heroin. It ...

).Hahn, Lance. ''Screaming for Change: Articulating a Unifying Philosophy of Punk Rock.'' PM Press, 2009, p. 102. In 1996, Kay (and GSL) relocated to Berkeley, California. By this time, he was vocalist with the influential "proto-futuristic" punk band, The VSS. Kay founded the independent music distributor Bottlenekk Distribution in 1996, which resulted in a rapid acceleration in releases and notoriety for GSL. The label soon became synonymous with bands such as

The Locust The Locust was an American hardcore punk band from San Diego, California, known for their mix of grindcore aggression and new wave experimentation. The band has been noted for their use of insect costumes when performing live. History Prio ...

, !!!, and

The Mars Volta The Mars Volta is an American Rock music, rock band formed in 2001. The band's only constant members are Omar Rodríguez-López (guitar, producer, direction) and Cedric Bixler-Zavala (vocals, lyrics), whose partnership forms the core of the ban ...

. Kay moved to San Diego in 2001 and to Los Angeles in 2003. Between 2003 and 2006 he was vocalist for the punk band Year Future. After GSL ceased operations in October 2007, Kay began devoting his time to making art and graphic design. From 2008 until 2013 he was creative director of Rodriguez Lopez Productions, a record label dedicated to releasing the works of guitarist

Omar Rodríguez-López Omar Alfredo Rodríguez-López (born September 1, 1975) is a Puerto Rican guitarist, songwriter, record producer and filmmaker. He has formed or played in several bands, including The Mars Volta, At the Drive-In, Antemasque, and Bosnian Rainb ...

and various other artists related to The Mars Volta, as well as its "parent" company,

Sargent House Sargent House is an American management company and record label based in Los Angeles. It was founded in June 2006 by Cathy Pellow, who is a music video commissioner for Atlantic Records and also owns a music video production company called Ref ...

. Kay's digital collage illustrations and/or graphic design have appeared on album sleeves for artists including

(for whom he designed over 25 albums), The Mars Volta, RX Bandits, The Locust, Zu,

Shooter Jennings Waylon Albright "Shooter" Jennings (born May 19, 1979) is an American musician and Grammy award winning record producer. He is the son of country singers Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter. In a career spanning three decades, Jennings has explore ...

Le Butcherettes Le Butcherettes is a Mexican Garage punk (fusion genre), garage punk band formed in 2007 in Guadalajara by Teri Gender Bender. History Le Butcherettes was created by vocalist/guitarist Teri Gender Bender, who later recruited drummer Auryn Jolene ...

The Glitch Mob The Glitch Mob is an American electronic music duo from Los Angeles, California. It consists of edIT (Edward Ma) and Ooah (Josh Mayer). Boreta (Justin Boreta) was a member of the group from its formation until 2023. Chris Martins of ''LA Weekly' ...

Red Sparowes Red Sparowes is an American, Los Angeles-based post-rock band, comprising current and former members of Isis, Marriages, The Nocturnes, Halifax Pier, Angel Hair and Pleasure Forever. Their sound is characteristic of soundscape-influenced exper ...

And So I Watch You From Afar And or AND may refer to: Logic, grammar and computing * Conjunction, connecting two words, phrases, or clauses * Logical conjunction in mathematical logic, notated as "∧", "⋅", "&", or simple juxtaposition * Bitwise AND, a Boolean ope ...

Thavius Beck Thavius Beck (born July 31, 1979) is an American record producer and rapper. He has been a member of Global Phlowtations and Lab Waste. He has also put out solo releases under the moniker Adlib. He is a certified trainer of Ableton Live. Biograph ...

, The Drowning Men,

Sun Ra Le Sony'r Ra (born Herman Poole Blount, May 22, 1914 – May 30, 1993), better known as Sun Ra, was an American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, and poet known for his experimental music, "cosmic" philosophy, prolific ou ...

, Bosnian Rainbows, 311 and others. In November 2010, Kay and painter Jeff Jordan presented a joint show of their work in Los Angeles, entitled Parallel Universes. Kay was also a member of the bands Savalas (1991–1992), Subpoena the Past (1997–1999), and Optional Body (2008). He is credited with backing vocals on early releases by the San Diego grindcore band,

Cattle Decapitation Cattle Decapitation is an American deathgrind band formed in San Diego, California, in 1996. The band's current lineup includes vocalist Travis Ryan, guitarists Josh Elmore and Belisario Dimuzio, and drummer David McGraw. Since 2001, none of th ...

. In 2007, Kay appeared in the feature film, '' The Sentimental Engine Slayer'', written and directed by Omar Rodriguez Lopez. Kay's IMDB page also credits him with production design and title design for the film. In 2017, Kay's first book, ''Headspaces: Surrealistic Album Art & Collage by Sonny Kay'' was published by Bob Rob Medina's Robot Enemy Publications.

References

External links

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InstagramArtistaday.comInterview with Sonny Kay from Conversations with Bianca blogInterview with Sonny Kay from Sound Bites Dog E-Zine
Living people American graphic designers American rock singers American record producers 1972 births 21st-century American singers {{graphic-designer-stub