I write about random things a lot. I write about random things. Did you know that album cover art dates back to 1909? The general belief was that a designer named Alex Steinweiss invented the practice in 1938 with a Columbia Records release, but as music geek Alan Cross posted on his website recently, that isn't completely accurate. At all.

Actually, it seems that a collector named Michael Biel gave a presentation at the Association for Recorded Sound Collections last year that featured at least 200 examples of albums decorated with pictures, graphics and text that all predate Steinweiss' work. Ever judging books by covers, artists put a lot of time and effort into the way their music is represented visually, fueling all manner of insecurity and frustration.

More frustrating than anything, however, is when artists have the opportunity to produce an album but are unable to release it. It can be frustrating for the artist, of course, because their work and livelihood hang in the balance. Of course, it can be frustrating for fans, too.

Currently feeling such a sting is Whitby's Hello Beautiful, a hybrid rock band who rose to prominence after the release of their debut album Soundtrack For Scenario in 2008. Although they completed their followup effort I Wanna Die Like This! early last year, legal issues have kept them from releasing the album widely.

Instead, they've had to settle for releasing singles, like last year's “Superstar” and the coming single “Tick Tock,” for which the band recently shot a video with the aid of a grant from MuchFACT.

Hello Beautiful already has a history of note when it comes to music videos; their first album yielded two singles and videos: “Virginia Symphony” and “Saint Andrew's Bridge,” the latter also produced with a MuchFACT grant. The former peaked at number two on the Much On Demand Daily Top 10, while the latter peaked at number five, and, due to fan support and heavy airtime rotation, Hello Beautiful was the only unsigned act to chart that year.

It continues — the band's video for “Superstar” last year was a highly successful prank-style video in which the band gave impromptu performances at wildly different locations, a large generator in tow to power their equipment.

“Some people got really pissed off, but we thought everyone would get mad,” recalled Charlie Royal, the band's lead vocalist, laughing. “See, we shot the marathon part first, and then we were stuck there for three hours; we snuck in, but by the time we were done there were a bunch of spectators and vendors. We had our van and all our gear, so we couldn't sneak out!”

“They made us stay there for three hours, and we were like, ‘Shit, this whole weekend is just going to be pissing people off,' but it wasn't too bad.”

Their luck improved, and the reception warmed somewhat. “Some people were loving it, some people were hating it. We got run out of Newmarket when Darrell (Wallace, lead guitar) our guitar player jumped on the counter at La Senza — the manager's boyfriend was a construction worker, and he jumped in his pickup and chased us out of town!”

According to Royal, the new video is more of a performance video, where the band is playing an important showcase — filmed at The Garrison in Toronto — and frontman Cole Kidd is late and having trouble getting to the gig. Although Royal didn't want to give too much of the video away, he did hint at a car crash and Kidd having a body double.

Plans for the summer for Hello Beautiful — rounded out by Dan Bradimore on bass and Kevin Walsh on drums — include a string of festival concerts in support of the coming video, including a stop here in London sometime in May or June, returning from an East Coast tour later this month.

For more on Hello Beautiful or their coming video for “Tick Tock,” visit them online at hellobeautifulmusic.com or follow them on Twitter @hellobeautiful_. And between us, while there's no official release in the works for I Wanna Die Like This!, the band does have copies available with them at shows if you're interested in hearing more.

For the latest in music news, views, streams and more, follow this column on Twitter @fsu_bobbyisms or via Tumblr at bobbyisms.com. It's been another great year at Interrobang and Fanshawe, thank you for reading. Be safe and have a great summer.