My initial idea while creating the album cover was to combine elements that weren’t so much random as they were totally ridiculous in relation to one-another. As a musician, I’ve seen hundreds, if not thousands of odd band names, trippy cover-art and strange album titles; it’s niche bands and indie artists that typically show the best free-thought creativity. I chose the name “Qatar Stars League” from the random wiki-page generator because it sounded odd (this is the name of the Qatari soccer league). In fact, it sounded so odd that almost NOTHING would blend with it successfully. It sounded like other odd band names; The Mars Volta, The Dillinger Escape Plan, God is an Astronaut, Porcupine Tree, The Mountain Goats, etc. The background image was the third item on flickr, and it was just creepy enough to evoke thoughts of early Black Metal album covers from Norway in the 80’s and 90’s, which connects IN NO WAY with anything from Qatar or their Soccer League. The serif-laden text looks great for titling, and the red text for the end of a vague Benjamin Franklin quote (again, little connection to other elements in the picture) served as the cherry on top of this visual sundae.
Alex Haler 