November '09
Artist Spotlight: Richard Z
of Rammstein
September '09
Interview: Shaun Glass and Dirge Within
Artist Spotlight: Doc Coyle
of God Forbid
August '09
Artist Spotlight: Will Adler (Lamb of God)
July '09
Artist Spotlight: Page Hamilton of Helmet
Winner's Circle: Mayem Sweepstakes
AVAILABLE FALL 2009: The new James Hetfield Truckster... now in black!
ESP and Spinefarm Records bring you Children of Bodom Fall 2009 North American Tour
Download Native Instruments Guitar Rig 3 Go for free and enter for a chance to win an LTD KH-602
Coming Soon: ESP Artist Podcasts
June '09
Hot New Models Coming This Fall!
Winner's Circle: "No Fear" Music Tour Sweepstakes
Get Rockin Now with an LTD Guitar or Bass Pack!
April '09
ESP Congratulates Metallica for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction
ESP Artists Top Guitar World Reader's Poll!
New ESPs at 2009 Musikmesse Show!
March '09
Will Adler Appearance at Sam Ash Hollywood
ESP Gets in the Game with Guitar Hero: Metallica
February '09
Artist Interview: Ted Aguilar of Death Angel
ESP mourns the loss of Metal Mulisha rider Jeremy Lusk
January '09
ESP Announces New Models for 2009
New Kirk Hammett & James Hetfield Signature Series
ESP's Signature Series Gets 18 New Models at NAMM 2009
Artist Spotlight: Fred LeClercq of DragonForce
20 Years With ESP: Page Hamilton
ESP Artists Receive Grammy Nominations
ESP Artists Featured in Upcoming Comic Series
ESP on MySpace: Are you our friend?
Graphic artist and musician Llexi Leon is only 22 years old, but he’s already developed an impressive resume of work. Combining his love of both heavy music and comic artwork, Leon is creating a comic book series that features several of ESP Guitars’ most popular artists. So far, artists who have signed on to the “Eternal Descent” comic include Dan Jacobs and Travis Miguel of Atreyu, Doc Coyle of God Forbid, Rob Arnold of Chimaira, and others.
Taking the project further than the boundaries of a printed comic, Leon is also partnering with legendary engineer/producer Eddie Kramer (Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, KISS) to develop a soundtrack for expansions of the project into film, television, and video game offshoots of the comic.
The “Eternal Descent” comic uses these real-life rock stars as characters in an epic fantasy realm, where their ESP guitars offer them superpowers. All of the ESP artists involved are aficionados of comics and graphic arts. To create the highly-realistic look of the comic, Leon approached artists who have contributed to well-known DC and Marvel Comics, and they signed on to the project immediately.
“We are thrilled to have our artists and guitars involved in the Eternal Descent project,” says Allen Steelgrave, Director of Marketing and Artist Relations at ESP, and a comic fan as well. “Llexi Leon is tremendously talented, and has a viable plan to take this project far beyond the limitations of a comic book. He’s confident that the project will expand to film and video game media, and we’re happy to help support his efforts.”
Llexi Leon was still a teenager when he created his own self-produced album, which went on to sell a respectable 4,000 units as an independent release. As an artist and a huge fan of musicians like George Lynch, Rammstein, and Metallica, he’d wanted to put together a project which combined his love of music and comic art for years. He wrote the plot line and created the storyboard for the “Eternal Descent” comic as a result, with real artists and their signature guitars interacting with characters in the story.
While Leon’s first goal is to complete the comic series, he’s already taking steps to move ahead on expanding his epic tale into the world of film and games. But how did a legend like Eddie Kramer get involved? “Eddie just got it. He was on the ball,” says Leon from his home in London. “I had a mutual friend, session guitarist Rob Chapman, who said that Eddie might be interested, and one day he phoned me from Los Angeles. He realized the potential of the project, saying that no one’s done this yet. The first thing he said, though, was that there’s more we could do than just create the comic, and he immediately signed on to produce the music for the cinematic versions, in film and games.”
