NOMEANSNO

Released in the fall of 1989, Wrong was—and shall always remain—my favorite Nomemanso album. But then I am not alone in that, judging by the pre-orders for the soon-to-be reissued vinyl release of the band’s fourth full-length album (on Alternative Tentacles Records). The dearly loved Canadian trio of brothers John (drums, percussion, and vocals) and Rob (bass, guitar, and vocals) Wright, and Andy Kerr (none of your fucking business) were a great band before they recorded Wrong (Sex Mad and Small Parts Isolated and Destroyed, along with The Day Everything Became Nothing EP are absolute genius records—but those are for another day). They became a legendary band with the release of Wrong. Live, no one could touch them. As with a couple other Alternative Tentacles bands at that time (Alice Donut, The Beatnigs), they made their name touring in Europe. Audiences loved them. American audiences only really started paying attention to Nomeansno after Wrong came out.

I relocated to the States to work for Alternative Tentacles in 1988, having done some freelance for the London office while still living in the UK. The timing could not have been better. I look back on that period from 1989 until about 1995 as the golden years of the label (Dead Kennedys era aside, but I wasn’t there then), and feel extremely privileged I got to work with what I regard as some of the best bands of that period.

At that time, Alternative Tentacles was located in a warehouse on Shipley Street in the south of Market district of San Francisco. We shared an old brick building with our distributor Mordam Records, and the Maximum Rock’n’Roll project Blacklist Mailorder. If I am remembering correctly, it was there that I first met John, Rob, and Andy, when they visited the office to pick up tour merch, and talk with me about the artwork for their next album, Wrong. John typically handled artwork stuff, and presented me with the elements that would go on to become the album cover. And the rest is someone else’s story.

When I was asked to reproduce and update the cover artwork into a shirt for Bifocal Media, I was thrilled to revisit the original. I had just completed the cover for the upcoming Nomeansno book (Nomeansno: From Obscurity to Oblivion, published by PM Press), which involved John redrawing the Bob character for it. It was so nice to be working on something involving the band again after some 28 years since I last did so. Be Strong Be Wrong. —John Yates

LIMITED TO 300. Printed on Bella Canvas Soft Spun Cotton Apparel. LADIES’ SIZES RUN REALLY SMALL. Check the size chart.