Bothering: Jessica Rotter

Jessica Rotter (that's her, in the middle) is not only one of the sweetest people I know, but she draws some of my favorite stuff on the planet, and puts some of her designs on t-shirts for her company Rotter and Friends. She was kind enough to answer my questions. You should go to her site, and pester her about making haste on the Gene Clark design she mentions below.

So Ms. Rotter, whats new with you?

Well hello! Ohhh all is well in the land of me, cookie monster-eyed as usual. Been working on a bunch of collaborations, new fun prints for various band merch, and spreading the word about some awesome projects coming out from Kemado and Mexican Summer.

Your t-shirt company is called Rotter and Friends. Who are the friends?

FRIENDS make up the whole company. It’s the vibes we get from the contributors, the customers, the visuals, and of course, the jams. Songs and pictures can hit you like a old bud sometimes-right?

John Philips, Karen Dalton, Bob Seger, Judee Sill, and Roky Erickson have all had the honor of being drawn up by you and put on your t-shirts, who is next?

I am definitely going to do a Jade Stone and Luv shirt because that album has been a big influence for the past year and we love the label that put it out called Subliminal Sounds. I do know for Fall 09 we are also going to throw a little Badfinger action out there and Betty Davis-oh no- I've already said too much!

Every time I wear your Ram shirt somebody asks me where I got it because the ram is their astrology sign, but I wanna say "oh, heh, it's actually a refrence to a Paul McCartney song, he was in this band The Beatles..." but I don't want to be a snob and make you lose a potential sale, how should I handle this?

HA! That's the beauty of visuals-it means something different to everyone. I did a Neil Young tee shirt in '07 that was an homage to the album On The Beach and the text read "Thanks, Neil". I got emails from so many people who bought it solely because someone in their family was named NEIL. Made no difference to me because in the end, it made them smile.

How do you go about picking who gets on your shirts?

I take suggestions from friends and customers a lot and compile a long target list which filters down to about 4 designs per season. I still have targets from back in '06 when we started the line. Gene Clark-you'll be there one day.

What have you been listening to lately?

Mike Harrison's self titled album has not left my player since it was turned on to me in February. It's a heavy whopper and includes a sweet Cats Stevens cover. HIGHLY recommended. Also recently spinning magical fun records by Epitaph, Stonewall, Norman Greenbaum, and Cold Sun. Good time island!

Summer is almost officially here, how do you plan to make this the best summer ever?

I can't WAIT to kick off summer with the Rotter and Friends + Anthology Recordings + Viva Radio event June 25th @ Rose Live Bar. We got psyche folk legend Bobb Trimble to play for the first time in NY, which is crazy because his original LP's go for almost $2k! Starry djs Turquoise Wisdom and Awesome Tapes From Africa Brian Shimkovitz are going to spin some amazing vintage jams. Should be a dreamy evening-we need it! I also plan on buying a bike and a kaleidoscope this summer. Friends reading this, don't laugh.