In the words of the artist’s wife, Victoria Mary Clarke, “Shane spent a lot of time drawing and painting album covers and potential album and single sleeves, not just for The Pogues and The Popes, but also for The Nips, and for imaginary bands. He painted the image of leprechauns guarding a crock of gold on the cover of The Popes ‘The Crock of Gold’ album, but he drew many and varied crocks of gold. Most of the album ideas went through many iterations, including the ‘Hell’s Ditch’ series, most of which were drawn in Thailand, where the music was written. This particular design also features the ‘Bim’ character from his Bim and Dim cartoon series. The drawing which was chosen for the actual cover of The Pogues ‘Hell’s Ditch’ album was not one of his. Later that year he was sacked from the band after falling out of a bullet train in Tokyo."