I was folding and packing away my laundry this morning when I realized something - I have a lot of heavy metal shirts. I suppose it shouldn't come as any grand surprise either, I frequently buy shirts at shops, concerts and online. Over the years I've sold a few of the rarer ones on eBay, given a few to friends and even got store credit for trading in some shirts at a now defunct local metal shop that had a used shirt section (we hoped they were washed before being traded in). So, unfortunately I can't show you every metal shirt I've owned, but that might just be a good thing since this would probably go for about 35 parts before I'd finish it.
In any case, as ever I'm always looking to add interesting new features and making Lunar Hypnosis both informative as well as just metal geeky. I figure once a month for the next several months I'll take a few shots of some of my shirts and include a few comments to go with them. Let me know what you think of this sort of feature...
Goatwhore.Velonnic Sin.Sin Origin.GanzmordThe Goatwhore shirt I acquired at one of their gigs about three years ago and since then I've abused it a lot by slicing the sleeves off and making it a concert shirt as well as a regular one I wear at the gym. The part on the back about staying fuck (whatever that means) as well as the Hail Satan bit has had a few heads turn over these past couple of years. The following three shirts are all from American black metal bands I used to have really close contact with. Both Velonnic Sin and Sin Origin were fantastic, but quite ignored bands from Ohio, while Ganazmord a one-man project from Arizona made ridiculously raw and violent orthodoxy black metal and had one full-length album in 2005 titled, 'Monolithic in Darkness' before disappearing.
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Watain.Enslaved.In Flames.My Dying BrideThe Watain shirt is a fairly modern one and as much as I enjoy their music you really got to admit that they are merch whores. The Enslaved shirt was purchased during their 20th anniversary tour last year, in particular I saw them play in Chicago, Illinois alongside Alcest and some other schmucks. The In Flames I bought at least twelve years ago and has something of an interesting story behind it. I was just entering into a packed elevator and listening to the then new Dimmu Borgir record, 'Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia' for the first while wearing this one, when someone in the back of the elevator taped me on the shoulder. I turned around to find someone throwing the horns up in my face. Turned out to be some fella named Brian Werner who a few years down the road would play in Inferneon and nowadays as the lead vocalist of Vital Remains. I'm sure he doesn't remember this. Lastly the My Dying Bride shirt was purchased pretty much right after, 'The Dreadful Hours' came out in 2001. Obviously and simply because its one of the best albums ever.
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Amorphis.AgallochNo, no those are not vintage Amorphis shirts I bought years ago when they first came out. Sorry, I'm not that cool. Actually I bought both of them quite recently, 'The Karelian Isthmus' in early 2011 from Relapse Records online store, while the 'Tales from the Thousand Lakes' one I got in Helsinki a few months ago. The Agalloch shirt with the troll fella on the front I purchased during their mid-west mini tour back in late '09 while the other one, which has just the logo and some lyrics from 'Pale Folklore' on the back I got from The End Records back in '04 or '05, I think.
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Falkenbach.Grotesque.Satyricon.DismemberI'm fairly sure the Falkenbach shirt is the most rare shirt I own and I actually have two interesting stories to go with it. At the '03 Milwaukee Metalfest some dude kept bugging me relentlessly to sell it to him going so far as to actually offer me a $100, pull it out of his wallet and put it into my hand. I declined. I like my Falkenbach shirt. I had to buy it from a white power record label to get it. You don't give up shit like that so easy, haha. The second story goes back a few years ago when some lad at the local grocery store walked past me absolutely nonchalantly and said, "All hail Falkenbach." I was a bit tired, confused and didn't really care at that moment. Were friends nowadays. Both the Grotesque and Dismember shirts were purchased at Milwaukee's local metal headquarters, The Metalhaus, while the Satyricon I bought overseas in England at the Bloodstock fest for the unhip price of just 20 British pounds. Lots of people fancy this one.
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Pantera.Megadeth.Type O Negative.VenomThe Pantera shirt I bought sometime in 2000 during the bands 'Reinventing the Steel' tour. Although I've desecrated the fuck out of it since then its still one of my favorites since the show was one of my first big stadium gigs as well its just a rad looking shirt. The Megadeth shirt is most likely my oldest, which came with the 'Evolver' VHS in '95 as well as a copy of the, 'Youthanasia' album, which I already had. On the back it says, "Where the Hell is Megadeth, Arizona?" A nod to the then studio they were building to record future albums. Curiously I seem to remember having at least two or three other Megadeth shirts around this time which I either sold, lost or gave away. Lame. The Type of Negative is from one of the many times I saw those guys live, in this case on the 'Life is Killing me' tour, while the Venom one I think I bought during my senor year of high school or shortly there after.
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That's it for now, but I'll have many more to show in the coming months. Let me know what you think.
I actually had two of those Youthanasia shirts. The only thing different about them was the back. One was the one you had (came in a box set), and man, I can't remember what the other one said. I think one had writing way toward the bottom and the other one had it between the shoulder blades.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think it just said 'Youthanasia' towards the bottom. I seem to remember a friend of mine having that one.
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