For the last four years, punk photographer Mark Beemer’s Shirts For A Cure project has raised money towards the fight to defeat women’s breast cancer. Over 140 bands have donated their name to exclusive shirt designs, with the proceeds going towards various charities. We caught up with Beemer to talk about how the organization formed and the logistics of running the organization. Shirts For A Cure has a BITPOM design, which is the only way to get merch from us right now. While the shirts can be purchased here (and should be, since it’s supporting a charity), we’re also giving a few shirts away. Leave a comment between now and January 5 to be registered to win.
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Metal By Numbers is a weekly coluimn in which we look at the top sellers of the week as well as what’s getting played at Metal Radio courtesy of radio trade magazine FMQB, whose metal panel consists of about 80 college and commercial stations, as well as SiriusXM, Music Choice, and more.
In case you didn’t get the memo or pay attention to the news, we’re in a recession. Apparently, the record buying public hasn’t gotten the memo or paid attention to the news either, as the holiday shopping season leads to an increase in sales for a decent amount of albums. With FMQB off for the year, and no new metal releases to speak of, our last regularly scheduled Metal by Numbers of the year will take a look at significant sales for the week in metal.
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Our friends at Relapse Records sent BITPOM a gigantic list of top five and top tens of the year from a bunch of artists on their excellent roster. Instead of parceling them out, like we’d initially planned, we’re going to just give you one gigantic list of year-end goodness.
Kevin Hufnagel / Dysrhythmia
1. Extra Life, ‘Secular Works’
2. Krallice, s/t
3. Ocrilim, Annwn
4. Cynic Traced in Air
5. Portishead Third
6. Meshuggah Obzen
7. Virus, The Black Flux
8. C-Section s/t
9. Fennesz Black Sea
10. Zevious s/t
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Dillinger Escape Plan guitarist Benjamin Weiman has a new side project, but it’s not a band. He’s launched a company called Garmutt that makes T-shirts and sweatshirts for dogs, With shirt designs like Black Labbath, Def Shepherd, Linkin Bark, and The Defbones’ White Puppy, Weinman is definitely going after the rock fan that’s also an animal lover. We caught up with Wienman to talk about his new pasttime and found out just how big a fan of pooches he is.
Are there plans for a Dillinger doggie shirt?
I think so. The Dillinger Escape Pug may have to be produced at some point.
How are you able to sell these shirts? Are you concerned about copyright infringement or are you protected under parody?
I am protected under parody law. I am not trying to trick anyone into thinking that this is official merchandise of any of the bands that I am honoring. And none of the designs are actually the same. They are just designed to have the vibe of certain bands. I did check with a lawyer on this however because I didn’t want to risk crossing the legal line. I would hope that maybe Garmutt would inspire bands to make dog merch with their bands on it. I would love to buy that stuff if it was available.
Why just dogs? Don’t other animals need clothes too?
Well I suppose a cat could certainly fit into a smaller one of these shirts. But that may be a conflict of interest for them. Cats and dogs are not suppose to like each other. I think all cat owners need to squash this beef by putting their cat in a Black Labbath shirt hahah!
Are you doing the design work, or just coming up with the puns?
A friend has been doing most of the design work and me and all my friends help with ideas. It’s just fun to sit around come up with funny puns on bands. Everyone usually comes up with something killer.
You credit your dog Blix for inspiring the line. How did that happen? Were you spending your free time dressing him up with designs you made just for yourself?
Blix has been an inspiration more in the way that I just love spending time with him. I love dogs. They are just so cool. Think about it? These things used to be wolves and now they sit on your lap and greet you at the door when you come home. That rules! I also was sick of trying to put a shirt on Blix in the winter and only having a bunch of pink lame shirts to choose from. I just make stuff that I would want to put on my dog I guess.
BITPOM parent company The Syndicate has capped a busy and rewarding year by being awarded the title of “Metal Radio Promoter of the Year” by radio industry trade magazine Friday Morning Quarterback (FMQB)’s “Metal Leaders 2008 Awards.” The awards were voted on by metal radio programmers and music industry executives.
In addition, a number of companies and bands the Syndicate works with also dominated the FMQB Metal awards.
Label of the Year: Roadrunner Records
Album of the Year: Slipknot, All Hope is Gone (Roadrunner)
Best Up-And-Coming Independent Label: The End Records
Veteran Act of the Year: Metallica
Most Promising Artist: Five Finger Death Punch
Our friends Jose Mangin at SiriusXM and Jackie Kazjer at Indie 103 in Los Angeles also picked up awards. The full list of winners can be seen here.
Metal By Numbers is a weekly coluimn in which we look at the top sellers of the week as well as what’s getting played at Metal Radio courtesy of radio trade magazine FMQB, whose metal panel consists of about 80 college and commercial stations, as well as SiriusXM, Music Choice, and more.
For those of you that aren’t in the music industry, as far as new music is concerned, with the exception of a few big releases, labels are pretty much done after Thanksgiving. As a result, there aren’t any notable chart debuts this week. FMQB‘s also finished for the year, but they have released their list of the 100 most-spun albums at metal radio in 2008, which we’ll look at before recapping the week in metal sales.
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With the holidays drawing closer and almost all the new music that’s coming out released by now, it’s time to take a look at the first in a series of what some artists and music industry types liked the most in 2008.
Jeremy Spencer/Five Finger Death Punch
Top 10 Albums of ’08
1. Disturbed Indestructible (Reprise)
2. Nickelback Dark Horse (Roadrunner)
3. Scars On Broadway (Interscope)
4. Slipknot All Hope Is Gone (Roadrunner)
5. Coldplay Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends (Capitol)
6. Trivium Shogun (Roadrunner)
7. Beck Modern Guilt (Interscope)
8. In This Moment The Dream (Century Media)
9. Metallica Death Magnetic (Warner Bros.)
10. Guns N’ Roses Chinese Democracy (Geffen)
Neil Fallon/Clutch
Top 5 Albums of ’08
1. Otis Taylor, Recapturing the Banjo (Telarc)
2. Various, Nigeria 70: Lagos Jump (Strut)
3. Various, Roots of Chicha (Barbes)
4. Menahan Street Band, “Make the Road by Walking” (Daptone/Dunham)
5. Kool Keith, Dr. Dooom 2 (Threshhold/Traffice Entertainment)
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Chances are, you might not know the name Sons of Nero, but you’re almost definitely familiar with their work. The graphic design firm, which formed in 2000, is behind many iconic album covers, T-shirts, and Web sites, including acts like Bring Me the Horizon, In Flames, Unearth, Protest the Hero, and 36 CrazyFists. Started in conjunction with Ferret Records and now part of Channel Zero Entertainment, Sons of Nero founder (and Nora guitarist) Matt “Portland” Hay answered some questions for us.
Anyone that posts a comment or follow-up question for Portland between now and December 31 will be entered to win a signed and numbered limited edition (only 25 made!) three color silkscreen.
Do your designs come to you from listening to the bands’ records first, or is it more of them coming to you with a concept?
Our designs ideally start with an initial concept from the band or client that we expand on. Sometimes they will just give us a sentence to go off of, sometimes its a line in the lyrics or simply the title of the album. If the band doesn’t have anything in mind, we’ll come up with between 1 and 3 concepts that we let them pick from. We like to work directly with the client so the more feedback they give us the better. When working on an album layout, we know that our art is there to represent the music and ideas of the band. Our job is to bring their ideas to life.
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Posted by Bram Teitelman on Thu, Dec 18, 2008 at 4:34 am
Interviews