The postermaker

It may be under a railroad track of staples. Or occasionally under layer after layer of paper, photocopied and sized to 11 inches by 17 inches. But it is there. Drive anywhere near the LSU campus, and the telephone poles morph from a dark industrial brown into all colors of the pinwheel like beacons for a music scene stitched together with smoke, sweat, and concert posters. Many are for shows produced by Bullhorn Bandits, the local booking agency dominating the indie rock and hip hop scene in South Baton Rouge. The vintage, hand-screened look of most of these posters is distinct because they come from the same graphic artist, Scott Campbell.

Campbell made a name for himself as the drummer for Bones and Harlan before moving to Atlanta this fall. But Campbell being an integral part of the fabric of the Baton Rouge music scene, his trademark designs will continue to be the face and the feel of Bullhorn Bandits concerts, even from hundreds of miles away. That’s the beauty of the Internet, and that’s how much Aaron Scruggs, co-owner of Bullhorn Bandits and talent buyer for Spanish Moon, appreciates Campbell’s work.

Scruggs calls the artist his secret weapon. “Scott goes all-out and captures the perfect image of a band,” Scruggs says. “It’s never cluttered, and he creates almost every font he uses. I’m really into his ’40s, ’50s and ’60s designs.”

Campbell’s work results from extensive research and can take visual cues from specific lyrics or a band’s overall sound, image, or album art. The final product is a textured, lived-in poster composed of scanned photographs and diagrams from old magazines and textbooks mixed with Campbell’s own illustrations and hand-drawn typography. “I basically just use the computer as a layout tool,” Campbell says. “I’d really love to screen-print all my posters, but that’s usually not in the budget, so I design it to look like it’s been printed by hand.”

Campbell may be pursuing graphic design in Atlanta, but his work still touts many of the local shows and touring bands that make Baton Rouge’s music scene more vibrant. He is developing a Web site for his design work, but until it goes live, his posters can be viewed at gigposters.com/designer/88333_scott_campbell