The Staff’s Favourite Covers
We’ve been printing magazines for twenty years. Twenty fucking years.
That’s over 150 covers. There’s a few we’d rather not look at again but most of them - the ones with surfers, skaters, designers, photographers, artists, musicians and weirdos we are lucky to call our friends on the front, well they’re the reason why we print two versions of the things every time. Most of us in the office have a couple of red hot stories from our time here at Monster Children, and of course, a story behind our favourite cover. Some silly, some simple and some even a little bit sentimental. Read them below.
Issue #28
Think my favourite cover, just because it was a 'weird as fuck' situation would be Issue #28, the one with the monkey and a gun to its head. We photographed her at the Standard hotel in LA and I remember we were so hungover and organised for a monkey to come to the hotel room. So I went out and met Suzy (who was wearing a fucking diaper) and her trainer in reception and then swiped them into my room where we proceeded to give Suzy a beer, smoke cigarettes and then put a gun to the poor primates head - Chris Searl, OG Founder.
Issue #36 and #34
Steph’s first cover with us. I like the design of it, and the story behind the image is funny. Todd Jordan did such a great job on the photo. And I think it was just a great representation of who Stephanie was and is - super stylish. The simplicity of black and white on the cover is timeless. I’d organised this shoot in New York as Steph was there for something, not sure what. Todd Jordan, who is now the Supreme TM, had done a couple of things for us, and I really liked his work so we got him on to shoot, and Crombie had just come on as Ed (I think) and he went along as like our man on the ground. I get a call at like 2am (Sydney time) Jason’s freaking out because we didn't have hair and makeup organised. My fault, as up until then we had mainly shot artists and skaters etc, no makeup needed so I just didn't even think of it. Anyways after a mad rush around Jason found one (it’s NY thankfully). Crisis solved, images amazing. I’m not even sure where the outfit came from, and if that's the thing we organised, but it’s all just perfect. Or this Ryan Allan photo of Dylan, just because it's him and again timeless. I like the design, we did a silver under print of that cover and it looked rad - Campbell Milligan, OG Founder.
Issue #16
The Dave Grohl cover for Issue #16 is my favourite. Not only because photoshopping Dave’s head on a monkey suit and running it on the cover was a very funny thing to do, but also because he sent a framed and signed copy to the office a couple of months later - Rachel Blackley, Boss.
Issue #47
Great Chevy Chase reference - Matt Pike, Vision.
Issue #08
Unruly fun - Ben Murgatroyd, Dad Joker.
Issue #65
The layers and chaos of the type is great - Myles McAlister, Motion Editor.
Issue #23
Kate Moss by Hedi Slimane cover. No explanation needed - Georgia Shenton, Sexy Accounts.
Issue #35
Having skated seriously my whole life—but having multiple interests outside of skating—this was the cover, issue, and video feature that really sealed the deal for me. I read MC before this, but this issue put it all in perspective that there really was a non-cheesy way to bring skating, surfing, art, and travel together. Team Average got the heaviest hitters on a trip and made everyone wish they did it first - Kevin Duffel, The Guy That Fixes Everything.
Issue #26
First one I worked on. Wrote some shit copy with poor grammar. Sold some ads. Campbell printed the US barcode on the Australian issue. Chris, Campbell and Lucy were in the US and I was stuck in Australia dealing with a proper cluster fuck. Fourteen years later I'm still dealing with cluster fucks - Kieran Burke, Bad Dancer.
Issue #64
The Travel cover from Issue #63. I love the clean design of the intense red borders surrounding an absurd image. A metaphor for Monster Children. Looks fucking great, but doesn't take itself too seriously - Jamie Brewer, Deals Man.
Issue #18
Because scrapbooking is the ultimate pastime - Rachel Moody, Wizard.
Issue #42
Can I just shock you? They’re all quite good, and it’s hard to pick one. But for sentimental purposes, it’s Issue #42. Growing up in the Southern California surf mag print pool (sobs) I had more large-titled, product-forward, commercialised covers than I cared to reach for. But the moody blues here caught my eye so I bought it from the local magazine store (sobs harder) without thinking much, read it cover to cover, and bought as many Monster Children back issues as my high-school bank account could actually financially handle literally the next day - James Royce, The Best Surf Writer We Got.
Issue #38
Bon Scott and Angus Young in the dressing room. I’d honestly go to hell if I didn’t choose this issue. I’ve ripped this photo off so many times it’s not funny. Whenever I deliver a photo of a band in the green room, sitting on the desk, with the lights behind them, they always select it as a favourite and I always say, ‘Thank you Rennie Ellis, thank you’. I also remember seeing this issue on the stand at the Cabarita News Agency, picking it up and buying it immediately without even opening it - James Adams, Music Photographer.
Issue #45 and #47
So many of the Monster Children covers mean different things to me, making it hard to single out one. There's the first cover I ever saw when I was 15, that was of Issue #02 and it has all of the drawings of stuff in a skate photographer camera bag, which meant a lot to me and made me want to march into the office and see what was going on with this magazine and try to weasel my way in there. I’ve since been lucky to be involved and peak behind the curtain of how these covers have come about a lot of the time. When I see the covers of Issues #45 and #47 they make me smile and also say to myself, damn, they nailed it with these images. Strangely I also have the thought, damn, I wish I shot these! Which in turn, makes them my two favourites. The cover of Issue #45 is shot by Curtis Buchanan, featuring Andrew Allen and Tino Razo. They are all the best dudes and I look up to them all. Andrew and Tino were roommates at the time and both truly embody the skate rat for life kinda mentality. This photo perfectly tells the story of, we’re two bros, out skating and having a good time, dorking around, but at the same time getting pretty mondo. This is not easy to accomplish on a skateboard or in a picture. This is all the stars aligning in a photograph, it’s not super technical but it’s perfect. The cover of Issue #47 with Austyn in the diner is so damn nice in every way. A lot of the covers and photos the end up in Monster Children are products of chance and wonder. Planning a shoot with a concept for a cover is really, really tough to do in a classy and uncontrived way and I think they just perfectly nailed this one. I’m a little bias cause I love Austyn. I think this picture captures him beautifully. It’s simple and clean but there is a lot going on to make this picture work and that makes me love it - Andrew Peters, Resident Skate Photo Guy.
Issue #51
I originally wanted the Craig cover because I thought the air and type design was sick. But after looking into Andrew Allen and his skating and interviews, I'm glad I got it this one – he's fucking rad. Going- sober and still cruising. Plus, looking at this one takes me back to a simpler time when I was surfing every day - D’Arcy Laycock, Designer.
Issue #36
For my twelfth birthday, my friend Harry bought me this issue of Monster Children. It was my first time hearing of the magazine, which he described as a skate, surf and porn magazine. The ‘porn’ part was a picture of a topless woman that I think was a surf ad. Being my birthday present, I brought the magazine home with me and of course, my mum wanted to have a look at it. She opened the magazine and low and behold landed straight on the page with the topless woman. She wasn’t happy at all, calling Harry’s mum and telling her about what she had just seen. The next time I saw Harry, she forced me to give the magazine back to him.By default, this is my favourite cover of Monster Children. Puberty Blues? I never watched it. This story? I’ll never forget it. Sometimes I wonder if my mum remembers that or will ever put the two and two together, that’s who I’m writing for - Josh Sabini, Beloved Skate Writer.
Issue #35
Team Average because of nostalgia and because it feels like us at our dumbest and best - Naz Kawakami, Editor.
Issue #36
Issue #36 with the GOAT, Stephanie Gilmore. At the time female surfers still weren’t making the covers so as a tomboy grom I was instantly beside myself. Got every issue after that and practically dreamed of working for Monster Children every night. Now look at me, still don’t know what the fuck a kickflip is but I did just get off the phone with Steph last week - Sam Hetherington, Editor.