As the winner of the No Label Needed Contest and Series, Iron Thrones received several merch designs based on The Wretched Sun EP artwork done by Sons of Nero. With item options ranging from baseball caps to booty shorts, the band opted to keep it simple, going with T-shirt and a zip hoodie.
This being the No Label Needed series, we could show how bands could screen print their own shirts but truth be told, if you’re an active and touring band or you have full time jobs that don’t give you the freedom to print your own merch, you might need some help. Much like the chat with Will and Machine from The Machine shop, we’re taking you inside the process, and MerchNow – as you can see from the video below, was happy to walk through the steps that go into creating merch.
As with everything else in this series, Iron Thrones oversaw the process to make sure everything was as they wanted.
Both t-shirt and hoodie are available individually or as part of pre-sale bundles at the Iron Thrones webstore via MerchNow.
Metal By Numbers is a weekly column in which we look at the top metal sellers and debuts of the week.
Not surprisingly, Ozzy Osbourne scores the highest rock related debut this week. Though the Price of Darkness’s new album is arguably his best in a long time, Scream sold just a little less than half of its predecessor Black Rain. Either way though, it’s still an impressive debut and ranking for Ozzy, especially considering other major releases from Eminem and Drake hitting the scene around the same time. Releases from Danzig and Vince Neil also have impressive debuts, making this week seem to be ruled by famous frontmen’s solo projects. It should be noted that the whopping 741,413 copies that Eminem sold is the most albums sold in a single week since AC/DC, way back in October of 2008.
Notable Debuts:
Ozzy Osbourne, Scream (Epic) #4, 81,500 sold
Even though Eminem’s sample of Black Sabbath’s “Going Through Changes” technically put Ozzy on top of the charts, you’ll still wish Mr. Shady left the song alone when you listen to it.
Danzig, Deth Red Sabaoth (Evilive/The End) #34, 11,700 sold
The Prince Of Darkness might have sold more copies in total, but the former Misfits singer actually sold more than him at New England record chain Newbury Comics. Great job for both Danzig and The End.
Vince Neil, Tattoos & Tequila (Eleven Seven) #53, 7,500 sold
Guess he’ll be talking a walk on the “Wild Side,” cuz it doesn’t look like he’s gonna be driving anywhere! Read more »
Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune is reporting that Illinois Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan might be in the midst of conducting an antitrust investigation against the promoters the Lollapalooza Festival. The issue at hand is whether or not the festival’s exclusivity clauses they have their performers sign are overly restricting.
Exclusivity clauses, which prevent bands from performing in a venue within a certain mile radius of the festival for a long period of time, are nothing new or unusual in the world of major destination festivals. In a coinciding piece, Kot breaks down each American festival’s stipulations. With Lollapalooza specifically, performers are not allowed to perform from 180 days prior to 90 days after the festival within a 300 mile radius of the Grant Park site in Chicago, unless given written permission from C3 (the promoters). Many club owners in the Midwest are claiming that these clauses are cutting their business for more than half the year. “If I put 300 million, trillion dollars into a festival I would want these clauses. But as a small club that lives and dies by the talent that’s available, it would be nice to present these acts without those clauses restricting them,” claims Bruce Finkelman, owner of the Empty Bottle.
This tends to become a bit of a sticky situation. While it’s awful to see clubs suffering from this, you also can’t blame big festivals for wanting to cover their asses. The amount of cash Lollapalooza probably had to shell out just to get Lady Gaga is probably unfathomable. And major acts like the reunited Soundgarden lose a bit of their draw if you can see them perform somewhere else. Clearly though, there needs to be some sort of compromise between the club owners and promoters (and street festivals as many club owners have pointed out in addition). We’re already feeling the heat from low album sales, let’s not add on to our list of troubles.
Bring Me The Horizon has been forced to miss today’s show in Phoenix and tomorrow’s show in Las Cruces on the Warped Tour due to recording commitments.
Whether they’re barbecuing out of old kegs, buying vans in hotel parking lots, or just writing some of the sludgiest music to recently come out of Savannah, Black Tusk have been turning heads all over the metal realm. Labelled “Mastodon’s backwater brethren,” Black Tusk have establishing their own identity as one of this year’s bands to watch with their Relapse debut Taste The Sin. Metal Insider recently talked with drummer/vocalist James to get a better idea of who Black Tusk are and what’s in the water down in Savannah to foster the scene you’d be crazy to ignore.
The one thing that kept popping up was looking at bios for you guys was ‘swamp metal.’ What is swamp metal like, in your words?
Well, everyone always asks you to describe your music and we listen to all kinds of things. You know, we don’t just listen to metal and we didn’t really know how to describe it. It’s usually just a lot easier for other people to describe your band than you. So it just came out one day— swamp metal—it was just kind of a play off of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s swamp music and we thought it kind of described it cuz it’s heavy. You know, the sound just makes you sweat. It just came out one day and it followed us. It went from one interview and then it just spun out of control. And then we made patches that said it so after that, you know.
Do you guys mind being lumped together with all the other Savannah “Swamp Metal” sound or do you think it kind of hinders you a little bit?
I mean, every band, being Black Tusk, Baroness, Kylesa, those being the main ones coming from Savannah, we all take pride in Savannah. We all don’t mind being lumped into a Savannah sound category. We’re like a big family out there. We all hang out. I mean aside from all being in a band, we’re all friends. So that doesn’t really bother us but everyone has their own interpretation of it. You can’t compare Black Tusk to Baroness or Kylesa and the same for them. Everyone has their interpretation of that Savannah sound.
Do you think it’s like a marketing thing or are there other bands we can expect to hear that you guys are friends with?
Well, you know, this sound didn’t just start with us. There were other bands before us that were in Savannah, older guys that we used to pal around with when we were younger. They’ve all moved on with the bands and have families and stuff now. They kind of taught us what was up. Like Damage, Das Criminal, Hank 18—these are all bands that no one might have heard of but they were around before we were. Homage is really paid to them and they deserve a lot of respect as far as musically. Read more »
The Scorpions have been forced to cancel their show in Columbus, Ohio on June 30 due to singer Klaus Meine suffering from a chest cold. The band will be unable to reschedule the date.
Did you love hearing Anvil’s new song “Mankind Machine”? Then stream the Canadian thrashers’ new album Hope In Hell in its entirety before it’s released on May 28 over at Loudwire.
Kylesa’s new album, Ultraviolet, is streaming online at Pitchfork. Check out the album, as well as some pretty awesome visuals, here. The album will come out on May 28 on Season of Mist.
Unsigned & Streamed vets Anciients, who’s Season of Mist debut Heart of Oak is out now, have landed the opening slot on the Lamb of God tour. They’ll be playing from May 16 – June 10. Check out the dates here.
Sinestra Studios (who very often provides Metal Insider with some killer live photos) is hosting its very first art galleria and metal show on Saturday, May 25, at The Knitting Factory in Brooklyn, NY. Tickets for the event are onsale now.
Louna has premiered a new music video for the song “Business” with Crave Online. The extravagant and politically themed music video comes in support of the Russian hard rock group’s new album, Behind The Mask, available now via Red Decade Records and MEG/RED.
Whether they’re barbecuing out of old kegs, buying vans in hotel parking lots, or just writing some of the sludgiest music to recently come out of Savannah, Black Tusk have been turning heads all over the metal realm. Labelled “Mastodon’s backwater brethren,” Black Tusk have establishing their own identity as one of this year’s bands to watch with their Relapse debut Taste The Sin. Metal Insider recently talked with drummer/vocalist James to get a better idea of who Black Tusk are and what’s in the water down in Savannah to foster the scene you’d be crazy to ignore.
Posted by marc on Wed, Jun 30, 2010 at 3:15 pm
No Label Needed