Ferry Gouw is a London-based art director, graphic designer, illustrator, and video director. He mostly works within the music industry. He is the art director and designer for the band Major Lazer including the Major Lazer cartoon TV show for FXX. He has worked with artists such as Paul McCartney, James Blake, Roxy Music, amongst others, as well as brands such as Adidas, Lacoste, Apple Music, and Stussy.
Featured image: Ferry Gouw artwork for Egypt Station by Paul McCartney, Capitol Records, 2018
Beat Drops Meets is a series of interviews with the folks we like that work on the records, in the grooves, behind the covers, at the stores, in the crates.
Ferry Gouw artwork for Free the Universe by Major Lazer, Secretly Canadian / Mad Decent, 2013
Name some of your favourite record covers
Spiritualized – Ladies and gentlemen we’re floating in space. This is kind of a cheat answer, cos the vinyl package is great, but the CD is the one. I remember buying it in 1997, and popping the CD out of the foil like a tablet. It’s the kind of tactile, physical sensation that is so memorable that you can’t recreate with digital media.
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – Plastic Fang. I love Chipp Kidd, who designed this campaign. Super fun, schlocky, lo-fi, colourful comic book stylings, right up my street.
Wham! – The Final. This could be my favourite Peter Saville cover? It’s a total distillation of his approach, it captures a lot of the band, who they are, what their music would sound like inside, without showing very much at all, just few very rigorous design choices.
Which album were you most blown away by when you played it for the first time?
Sonic Youth – Daydream Nation. I guess it was all in the context. I was the right age, on an art school trip to New York. On my day off I wandered into a record shop in the Lower East Side and asked the guy to recommend me something. He showed me this album, I walked out, put it in my discman, and walked around New York by myself for the rest of the day listening to it on repeat. I don’t think you can beat that set up.
Was there a person that introduced you to the music you love?
So many throughout my life. The most impactful was probably a punk girl in my art foundation class who thought my punk knowledge was thoroughly lacking and made me a mixtape. That introduced me to many bands like Crass, Dead Kennedys, that became the foundation of what I sought out after. But I now work mostly with music people, so I always get introduced to new things I end up loving, luckily.
Ferry Gouw artwork for Contact by TUAWKI, TUAWKI Sounds, 2023
There’s a specific moment in some tracks that can give us goosebumps. Name the track and the minute/second when this happens for you
Bruce Springsteen – Bobby Jean. Like most indie kids I got into Bruce firstly through Nebraska. I didn’t really understand Born in the USA at first, it just felt too big and poppy and happy on first listen. Then I was walking home listening to Bobby Jean, the last verse came on. Bruce is singing to Bobbie Jean who’s left town without saying goodbye. When they’re out there on some bus or train, or in some motel room, there’ll be a radio playing and they’ll hear him sing this song. And if they do, he wants them to know he’s just calling one last time not to change their mind, “but just to say I miss you baby, good luck, good bye, Bobbie Jean”. Then Clarence Clemence’s glorious saxophone solo comes in at 2:49. I swear I stopped walking there and then and started crying.
Tell us about the last gig you saw
The Lemon Twigs at the Brixton Electric. They are my favourite band right now. They are incredible musicians and singers, great performers, and they write the best songs.
Your favourite track to dance to
I love dancing and I used to go out dancing all the time. I met all my best friends including my now wife in a nightclub. I love dancing to music that’s also emotional, so the dancing is some kind of an emotional release. This is probably why I love 80s/early 90s synth pop. They’re super emo and camp, big emotions sung in a dramatic way over a disco beat. So I’d say something like Erasure – A Little Respect? Something like that? But there’s too many to choose from. Robyn – Call Your Girlfriend is a good dance song, Pet Shop Boys & Liza Minelli – Losing My Mind is incredible to dance to.
Ferry Gouw artwork for Bitter-Sweet by Brian Ferry and his Orchestra, BMG Rights Management, 2018
Your favourite movie soundtrack
Angelo Badalamenti – The Straight Story soundtrack by David Lynch. A beautiful, simple film, with a beautiful simple soundtrack.
Your favourite book about music
Straight Life – Art Pepper’s autobiography is one of my favourite books of all time. He is unflinching in his honesty and deeply eloquent in his appraisal of his own troubled life.
Ferry Gouw artwork for Egypt Station Traveller’s Edition box set by Paul McCartney, Capitol Records, 2019
The record you are most proud to own
This sounds so conceited, but stuff I’ve designed that turn out good. Like the Paul McCartney Egypt Station super deluxe package we designed in the shape of a suitcase, full of travel ephemera, a map, playing cards, a diary. It was a dream job.
Do you have a favourite record shop?
I used to live in Notting Hill, so I’d love to say the OG Rough Trade. But most of my records actually came from the Notting Hill Exchange, a janky second hand record shop where indie kids, drunks, and old prog rock nutters mingle.
