One of the best things we get to do here is fight over covers. Every time we make an issue we get collect all sorts of amazing imagery and art and writing and the hardest part is finding the one single thing that represents the three months that it will encase. This issue was no different as we mocked up countless options, printed ’em out and tacked them to the wall. Most get torn down right away, a few last a week, and some get pulled out of the trash in deadline delirium just to make sure. But once we laid this Polaroid of Mark Gonzales shot by Mark Oblow in Hawaii circa 1989 on page one, the decision was made. And that’s always the feeling we have when we get “the one.” It’s one of those timeless photos — quite literally, it’ been sitting at Oblow’s for over 20 years, probably only being flipped through by a few friends at the house. It’s iconic and timeless, we can’t tell if it was 1972, 1989 or yesterday — and it’ll maintain that allure for the next 20 years.

It was pretty easy to piece this one together once we found the image. That bold red has been singing lately and it compliments the cool blue hues of the car perfectly. Logo big on top, let the image sing and keep it clean. This is the first time we’ve put the “Bummer” logo on the cover too (before we launched What Youth three years back, we told everyone the name was “Bummer” — still have a folder of images sent to us from Dane Reynolds titled: Bummer_Mag). It just felt like a nice cap to three years of jamming and is a fun reminder of how clueless we were before we started and still are today. —Scott Chenoweth 

Below are some mocks that made their way to the wall, but ultimately were replaced by Oblow’s Gonz Polaroid — and be sure to get your hands on the real thing here.

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