Welcome to Almerica

Marco Almera’s artwork has likely played a part in your life without you ever knowing. It may have been right under your nose for years – literally. At some point his art was likely on your chest as you strutted your way across the playground. Growing up, you may have attended a rock show after having seen one of his posters. Sublime, Incubus, Primus, Voo Doo Glow Skulls – ring any bells? You may have lusted over one of his pinup girls or 50’s hot-rod pieces featured in magazines. Marco Almera is a true product of Orange County, San Diego and Southern California in its entirety – the good, the bad and the ugly. You may not agree with everything he says or even like him for that matter.  Regardless, his artwork has earned its place in our Californian culture.  
Almera recently sat down to speak with SurfShot magazine about his life, his work and his future.  

To start us off, I need to know – do you go by Mark or Marco?
My first wife started calling me Marco and my friends soon caught on; it pretty much stuck back in ‘96. Those guys were all my buddies left over from the Grateful Dead scene. We all stuck together because we weren’t exactly hippies. We were more into selling t-shirts, art, weed ‘n shit – having money and being pimps. Marco actually means Mark in German. My first wife was German, so that’s where Marco came from. My next wife is going to be from Sweden. I’m flying to Stockholm next Sunday; her and I are gonna make it happen.
I heard you have a new art agent overseas. Is this the same woman?
Yeah, her name is Helena. She’ll be my agent domestically as well in the future. Her professionalism, will allow me to act as the muscle and the engine while she can be the shine and the finesse. I always end up pissing people off. I have a tendency to offend people because I’m a fuckin’ redneck and I don’t mind speaking out about it.
What do you hope to achieve by bringing in an art agent?
Well first of all I plan to get a lot of pussy. I mean c’mon that’s the real reason I’m bringing her into this whole deal. Second, is so that I can drive in the carpool lane on the 405 in Orange County. Third reason is I’d like somebody barefoot and pregnant in my kitchen. The fourth reason is simply that she’s firmly established in Sweden, especially Stockholm. My work has been well received in many of the Nordic countries-- hell, I’ll say it-- Aryan countries, because they’re the ones who love my shit. The same can be said for Japan and Mexico. I plan to focus on Mexico, I speak Spanish: Japan, I speak Japanese; Germany, I speak German – and now Sweden. I’m learning Swedish pretty quickly because it’s very similar to German.
Tell me about your involvement in the surf industry?
I fell into the whole hot-rod scene while working in the surf industry. I’d been designing for a company called World Jungle back in ‘94 when I really fell in love with the hot-rod art and the rock posters. Artists like Frank Kozik and Robert Williams sparked my interest in all of this. An old client wanted me to go in that direction so he gave me a whole bunch of art books. These books exposed me to a whole new world of modern pop art I’d never seen. Volcom was getting big at the time and the industry was starting to weed out all the gay ass hip hop shit from the early 90s when everybody had a blunt and a lame t-shirt company. I remember back at ASR in ‘95 every kid was wearing baggy pants, a chain and walking around saying “What up yo?”  You know what I’m talking about; these kids all Blink 182 fagged out? “Oh man I’m so down with the Kottonmouth Queens!” We all knew none of these kids knew how to surf and you can bet your ass no one was going to support their brands or finance them. Today we’re starting to see smaller companies like Factor 54 and Vestal who are able to bring in investors who can really launch a brand. I’ve been a freelance artist for most of my life. So when a company like World Jungle goes under I’ve been able to move on to a Volcom or whatever else.  
What brands have you worked with in the past?
I’ve worked with just about everybody in the surf industry. Quik, Volcom, Hurley, Rusty and MCD back in the day. I learned a lot about the industry, man.
What’d you learn?
That it’s fueled by what 13-year-old kids are going to buy. That bugs the shit out of me because I hate 13-year-old little kids.  
What exactly were you doing for these companies? T-shirt designs?
Companies would typically come to me for specialty projects. For example, Volcom came to me for their Scout line. They knew I did some Native American-type work that involved nature, so I was able to incorporate that into the line with a variety of designs. Volcom really took that Scout series a long way and I enjoyed it because it wasn’t the same little kid shit you saw everywhere else. My art has always been a bit more adult than what the surf industry wanted. That’s why I gravitated towards rock n’ roll and hot-rods. I wasn’t going to sit around and pick some little kid’s brain, who’s making the transition from Pokemon to surfing, in hopes of figuring out what graphics he likes. I decided I was better off waiting ‘til that same kid starts drinking and he’s been beat up a couple times, then he’ll understand my art. If he’s still surfing when he grows up, he’ll truly understand my art. The whole Southern California surf culture is truly priceless and there’s no way in hell it’s going anywhere. The old timers down the street at Windansea have been there since the 60s. It’s amazing to think that we are the next generation of Windansea and that our kids will be hooking up and starting an entirely new generation after their own. There’s always going to be that love, that brotherhood. Surfing, skateboarding, snowboarding, hot-rods and rock n’ roll all share a common bond in that you can easily differentiate what’s legit and real from the flashy Hollywood shit and marketing. We grew up saying fuck you to everything, listening to punk rock and idolizing the Dead Kennedys. Now these kids can just turn on the computer, download some music, have mom buy them some hair dye and they’re instant punk rockers. Before you know it the kid thinks he’s all bad – until he gets cornered by some jocks. And what does he do? He folds.
I discovered your work through the rock poster scene. I’ll never forget the Turbonegro poster with the S&M chick dressed in leather. Tell me about some of these rock posters.
Oh yeah, I’ve been listening to them for years. Turbonegro is a band that has really embraced our raw Southern California Mexican culture despite the night and day difference with their own image. The second poster I ever designed was the one for Sublime. I knew the band inside out. I’d seen other Sublime posters, and they sucked – they were done by people who were not part of the family, not from Southern California, not surfers. Mine captures Sublime. It’s got Long Beach in the background. It’s got a local dude and a Mexican chick, the hot rod with flames and surfboards in the back. Sublime was written in old English type. Its rough, even gang-oriented, but it has the right roots in reggae music, surfing and hanging out at the beach.
Why have you chosen to go back to school?
I was a great artist but a lousy businessman. I was easily frustrated and the old me would get drunk and ruin people’s days. I didn’t know how else to approach it ‘cause I grew up in the streets making art. I didn’t grow up in high society, learning the process of how to build a business. I was the artist who needed to pay the rent and eventually buy a house and support my family. School has allowed me to sharpen my weapons as I come back into the art industry. Now I’m armed with contracts, everything is copyrighted and I have a business sense I never had before. I used to let my street instincts control me in the past and that landed me in jail. I’ve been fucked over in this business. That won’t be happening again.  
What kind of trouble have you fallen into in the past?
I almost did four years in prison. I’m a convicted felon. The cops tried to make me out to be some kind of right-wing terrorist. I’m not a white supremacist, but I’m definitely white pride. I collect a lot of Nordic artwork, Iron crosses and all that. I avoid all Nazi shit because I hate Nazis. You sure as hell won’t find a swastika in my house. Anyway, they tore my condo apart, kicked down all the doors, pepper-sprayed me, searched for guns, but all they found was three-and-a-half pounds of weed. I’ve been a big part of the anti-crank, straight-edge Christian movement in Orange County. I have been my entire life. It’s nice to see that a lot of bands and companies in the industry are coming together and embracing a cleaner lifestyle. I’ve been fighting Nazi skinheads since I was 13 years old. They’re bad for the white race. Nazi skinheads are the reason why the whole hip-hop scene is so big right now.
How can you identify with the phrase “White Pride” without feeling like you’ve turned your back on your Mexican heritage?
First off, I’m half Irish, three-eighths Mexican and one-eighth German. My family was legalized into this country long ago when they were called Californios after the gold rush back in the 1850s. My family was here before California was ever a part of this country. Instead of staying within their Hispanic culture, they decided to stay in America, learn English, go to the good schools, join the military, get their shit together and play by whitey’s rules. Generation after generation, all of the men in my family have married white women. All of the women in my family have married white men.
Do you consider that playing by the rules?
I consider it establishing my family as an American family rather than a Mexican family. Now we have to play by white California’s rules because that’s what it is – a white state. We speak English in this country. If you want to talk about the brown California that’s only 20 miles south of here and it’s called Baja. I want to have an English family with ties to our Mexican heritage. I won’t say white pride, I’ll just say family pride – yeah, let’s say that.
Looking back, what turned you on to art?
Here’s the perfect example of my ties to Mexican culture. I was a 10-year- old altar boy in the Catholic Church. I’d constantly stare off into the beautiful stained glass windows. You had Jesus, the Virgin Mary, magic and fire. To me, this was God shining light down upon me, blessing me. These were some of the first things burned into my mind. I associated these bright colors with God and it lit me up like a flame. I’ve been like this ever since. My father also pursued art. There were always art supplies at home; I remember opening up and smelling all my dad’s permanent markers. Years later in high school I had my first silk-screening class, my first real good technical experience. We were smoking pot and creating stuff, listening to metal, Iron Maiden, Metallica. We were printing grim reapers and Iron Maiden Eddies and everything else we thought was cool.
Tell me about your company Almerica.
Within Almerica is my new clothing line I’m coming out with called Illmerica. Try to picture a sub-culturally fragmented Dickies. I plan to include a variety of clothing lines aimed at all different types of people.  Surfers, outdoorsmen, motocross riders, frat boys - everybody.  It’ll be a family company; a glorified lemonade stand of sorts. I’ve already employed several of my family members here at Almerica. This way I’m surrounded by people I trust. I’m in this for the soul. One quote that carried me through my years of alcoholism and being an asshole was “Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called sons of God.” When I got out of jail, the first thing I did was pray for those who’d wronged me in the past. I’m moving forward.