Confessions Of A Band T-Shirt Addict
I have been collecting band t-shirts for many years. I currently have seventy or more. When I move they fill their own suitcase. They are all colours including the ubiquitous black band tee-shirt and from all kinds of artists, from the most popular to the very obscure - everything from Aerosmith to Melt Banana. I wonder if there is one for every letter?
Some are screen printed some are not, one is just a hastily bought t-shirt from a thrift store of a small regional band. They stuck a transfer on it on the road then sold it me that night in the venue. (It still had that musty charity shop smell.)
Some are screen printed some are not, one is just a hastily bought t-shirt from a thrift store of a small regional band. They stuck a transfer on it on the road then sold it me that night in the venue. (It still had that musty charity shop smell.)
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Each t-shirt is a way of pledging my allegiance to that act, telling the world I am the type of person who likes that kind of music. It also says I buy merchandise. I will gladly act as a billboard for the band particularly if I feel it does something to enhance my own status.
If you see another person wearing a band tee you recognise - particularly an obscure one - then there is a chance you will get on with them - you will have at least one thing in common. More often than not that one thing becomes many more, very quickly. They like Jeff Lewis, so chance is they like beer, they like the outdoors, they perhaps are quite ecologically minded, probably a socially aware person, quite possibly creative in their own way... that sort of thing. The wearing of a tee shirt can attract like-minded souls. An eye-catching or unusual band t-shirt can be a great conversation starter much the same as a neat button badge. However if I go to a show wearing an Extra Life tee (no identifying name) then only those in the know, will recognise it: now I belong to an exclusive club. |
Band t-shirts can be categorised: tees where you went to the gig, saw the band, bought the tee. Acquired/gifted the t-shirt. It's possible you might get one given as a present by a really good friend, or even direct from the band as a groupie gift. Bought the t-shirt in a store somewhere but have never actually seen the band live. My Floyd, Zep and Joy Division tees all fall under the latter banner.
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T-shirts
bought at gigs generally come in S M L XL sometimes you might get a ladies
small or medium or even a ladies slim-fit, for when you want to pull of that
confident figure-hugging statement. Prices differ anywhere from £5 - £15.00 in
my collection, the higher priced ones tend to be those from acts outside the
UK.
It is quite possible that band t-shirts are the only garment that is bought under the influence of alcohol. True not everyone drinks and some fans will hit the merch stall before the bar but more often than not, it is after consuming a few pints (insert favoured tipple) that you get your hands on your latest one. If limited by finances I will buy the t-shirt over the music (I will also buy vinyl over CD but that's another collection all together) particularly now when a lot of the music is available online. Also at many venues the band is selling the merchandise cash only and you can't realistically carry wads of cash on you. |
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I have an NME t-shirt - Oxfam shop purchase - that is falling apart with a mildewed shoulder, scissor-ripped and torn, adorned with strategically placed safety pins holding it together - customising era - that could be as old as thirty years or more. It has the Led Zep cover design with Plant and Page in full rock pose, from a 1977 edition of the magazine: admittedly it could have been made and released at a later date.
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Similarly torn and ripped is a homemade tee with the band's name in silvery purple letters across the breast: a beginners printing job. The band didn't have an official t-shirt but I was that enamoured of them I was moved to fashion one myself.
My band tees come in all colours not just different primary colours, but in between shades too. I have dark purple, lilac, then one in maroon - a number of red ones and then red/orange ones, the darker red and brilliant bright fire-engine red. Then there are the blacks, new jet black, slightly worn faded black and black that was once black, but can now only be properly described as dark grey. It's the same with white t-shirts; there is bright white, dirty white, white going on cream, cream going on beige... and so on, right across the spectrum. |
Looking at each t-shirt conjures different memories. Not just of the band and the music they play, but also the people who you were with, the things you were doing, the person you were. The me in long coat DM boots with Closer emblazoned across my chest, is very different from the me in velvet suit jacket, wearing a Thomas Truax t-shirt for instance. Each t-shirt becomes an entry on a timeline, marking place, passion and identity.
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Each is like a physical diary entry:
Today I am nineteen I am wearing a Joy Division t-shirt. I am laying in the grass drunk on cheap cider... Today I am twenty-five I am wearing a Pink Floyd t-shirt. I am laying in the grass smoking too much... Today I am thirty I am wearing a home-made Ernest t-shirt. I am asleep on the tour bus after a London trip. Today I am thirty-five I am wearing a bright orange Melt Banana t-shirt. I'm looking hip attending some creative gathering. Today I am forty I am wearing, who knows? You can rest-assured that there will be a carefully considered reason behind the choice. (I'll be seeing my mother so I'm guessing not the Arabrot Norwegian black metal one depicting a fully naked man drop kicking a baby... |
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Some band t-shirts get relegated to the nightie drawer, particularly the big baggy ones - when they only had XL or L sizes left by time you got to the front of the queue: they fit very well into night-time attire. There are some t-shirts that get relegated even further, to the never wear pile because they represent a past version of you. Some will continually jump from pile to pile along with shifting trends, friends and fashions.
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When do you become too old to wear a band t-shirt, is there ever a time? If they are comfortable why can they not be a part of your wardrobe until you die? Perhaps we should wear one all the time instead of the obligatory vest: in the case of accidental death everyone would know that you were a serious music fan; that you had a passion in your life.
Stranger died, quiet, bit of a loner, nothing remarkable... Or today a die-hard Curtis Eller fan sadly passed away. That information is just as important and representative as any other that you care to mention. I'm not now, nor ever likely to be a parent so it wouldn't be 'Mother to..' it might say 'loving sibling...' but that gives no real detail about the person; they are catch-all phrases and don't help create a picture of who they were. If you went to meet your maker wearing one - there might be a stipulation in your will that reads 'place me in the ground clothed in my favourite band tee (don't know my favourite band tee? You didn't really know me) A last disruptive act proving you still have the ability to upset the apple cart. Maybe that prized garment will be incinerated along with you in the flames of cremation; one last glorious hurrah. |
That is my brief history of band t-shirts, no doubt my collection will grow even more over the coming months and years.
It would be good to have them all on display telling their individual and collective stories... this could be the start.
It would be good to have them all on display telling their individual and collective stories... this could be the start.
Article written by Michelle Dee, a freelance journalist, blogger, and a regular face on the local Hull arts and music scene, as well as a self confessed band T-shirt collecting addict.
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