Seven Deadly Sins in Wearing Band Shirts

Music has indelible influences inked on the heart of it’s enthusiasts, band shirts and concert shirts are one of them.  For a loyal music fan, they are sacred.  There has been unwritten rules in wearing them that only true fans telepathically constructed amongst each other during concerts, shows and festivals.  If people stare at your band/concert shirt, it’s either you are wearing it right or you have just committed one of the deadly sins of wearing band shirts.

But first, definition of terms:

Concert shirts:  These shirts have a list of tours on the back and the name of the tour in front.

Band shirts:  Everything else that does not describe a concert shirt.

So here are the sins we all might be guilty of committing.

1.  Hey ho. Wearing a Ramones shirt is a no no.

Let’s face it, you wont reach the benchmark of cool that The Ramones have set.  Unless you have the credentials to do so, you don;t have the permission of the whole music community to wear them.  The same applies to Rolling Stones.  Unless you have the move like Jagger you are not allowed to wear the most iconic music tee of all time.

No. No. No.

2. Wearing the shirt. Not listening to the music.

One must at least know three albums of the band before you wear their shirt.

Although I’m guilty, at one occasion I wore an Alkaline Trio shirt, all because I sort of fall in love with the logo. In my defense though, Radio is one of the songs that get me through teenage years.

I once asked a guy wearing a Misfits shirt what’s his favorite Misfits song and he can’t even name one.   I could smell the ugly stench of music’s fake death.  I feel horrible.  I wanted to cry and give music an official funeral.

On the brighter side, if those posers are trying to kill the sanctity of music, there are kids out there who remains true to the traditions. But they just don’t wear their band shirts  in public anymore.

3.  Wearing the band shirt, to the band’s concert.

Alright. I wore an Incubus shirt to an Incubus concert. So? Most music fans don’t know this anyway.

Theory is, wearing a band shirt of the band that is actually playing is considered overkill of declaration of one’s fandom. It’s like you can shout it to the world without actually shouting it. Just being there, means you are a fan. Do not over glorify it. Or purists will kill you.

4.  Wearing the concert shirt, the day after the concert.

Because it would only mean that you did not wash it.

One is allowed to wear a concert shirt eight years after the concert, otherwise, just let it sit and gather dust in the corner of your dresser first.  The more vintage the shirt, the more “stick to the rules” it gets.

However, when you wear a Shea Stadium Beatles concert shirt, make sure you went to that show.  Which I actually did not, I was born three decades after.

Now, this you can wear.

5.  Wearing a Straylight Run shirt to a Taking Back Sunday concert.

Obviously because those guys had a little feud for sharing two members.

You can’t wear a band shirt of a members side project. Do not wear a Velvet Revolver shirt to a Guns n’ Roses or Stone Temple Pilot show.  Never wear a Jane’s Addiction shirt to a Red Hot Chili Pepper s’ show.  You get the jist.

6.  Wearing your brothers concert/band shirt.

This applies if your brother is listening to Slayer and you are into All Time Low.  In the Venn diagrams of musical genre, this two are Mercury and Pluto away from each other.  So no.

Wearing YOUR band’s band shirt.

Now, what did we say again about overglorification? Most metal bands are fund of doing this which unwittingly giving them away as pretentious fans but in all metalheads defense that’s what made them metal, the fact that they loudly proclaim everything that they stood for.

Aside from the aforementioned fact, no one wears th shirt of their own band.  Because really they just don’t.

If you see Mick Jagger wearing a Rolling Stones shirt, you can get back to me and I’ll have this erased on this blog.

Alright.  We all have been warned. So go get your band/concert shirts and wear them correctly.

Daily Music Dose: Ben Kenney

Previously(Daily Music Dose: Breach of Fate). 

You prolly know him as the free spirited bassist of Incubus.  Ben Kenney is a true artist and his four albums prove it.

The other day he posted a link on his Facebook page letting people download his records. Go click the link and get off or you can continue reading while I try to profoundly give you a written sneak peak of what you are about to hear. If you havent encountered his own project, let me give you a little guide.

26 
Contains nine alternative tracks similar to Make Yourself. This album should make you realize how huge Ben’s contribution is to Incubus. Key tracks worth looping are the cryptically titled “4.2.3″, the catchy “Hoopdie” and the painfully romantic love song, “Breathe” ( where he sings “I dreamt you were crying but you’re happy”). “You Wont Like the Sound” sounds sung by Brandon Boyd that is somehow an opposite of its title.

Maduro 
Tracks could all be the underrated B- Sides to the previous album but this is the album where the songs are at the height of Ben Kenneys musical evolution. Best songs are “Girl” (I have soft spot for sweet rock songs), “The Moment” and “Wrong”. Damn in fact listen to the whole album.

Distance and Comfort 
To summarize the album, it is a mixture of alternative sounds, synthesized, mainstreamish rock. He is obviously not experimenting on this one since most of the songs are quite complicatedly created. This actually reminds me of Fueled by Ramen bands Jimmy Eat World, Fall Out Boy and Forgive Durden, only not pop sounding. Listen to “Comfort” its radio friendly, potential jamming session song.

Burn the Tapes 
Now this albums gets a little heavier than the previous one. “Worlds Collide” is easily my fave with modern alternative sound.

Have you listened to his music already? What are your thoughts?

Also, here’s my fave track from Ben Kenney:

Ruptured VII: Beers, Bands and More Bands

While everyone in Manila is confused of what concert to watch, Anthrax or Switchfoot.

If you live in a city away from the mecca where international bands hold huge concerts, rock music is kept alive through traditional battle of the bands. Ruptured is a proud and loud yearly event organized by Upsilon Phi Sigma and is sponsored by Manila Beer and Coca Cola. April 30 is a fateful Saturday night of men in black band and frat shirts, bottles of beer (and Coke), growling kids who looked like lost Brokencyde members, pale rocker chics and a lot of sweats. Fans from all walks of rock gathers.

I was avoiding a personal tone on this but the beer still is in my head and I cant write straight. Hangovers and writing dont go together. But thats another blog.
Fifteen bands with two songs each battled it out for the affirmation of the judges and to rock the boredom off of the sleepy nine o’clock crowd. If you’ve been to a lot of shows like this you dont expect anything but repeat performances. Which actually surprises me since all the bands didnt bore me. Yes, there were still the customary styles attempting to impress the crowd but it all appeared entertaining to me for both positive and negative reasons. Probably, the best song of the night is Story of the Years ‘Till the Day I Die’ done smoothly by Breach of Fate. It may lack the splendid difficulty of any heavy metal song but it was dilevered effectively for whoever listens to it could connect. It is more important than the incomprehensible death growls of those head spinning heavy metal bands with Satanic names. On the hand the worst song of the night was a cover of a cover, a screamoer Misery Bussiness by some kids who’s band name is a rip off of As I Lay Dying and We the Kings, they smartassly named their band, We Lay Dying. It’s not just their name but they sound like a combination of those two bands too. They just need more polishing, good choice of songs and a better bandname. I talked to one of the judges, he gave them high score because they have four vocalists which is fairly not an easy thing. While the bands that won cheers was Lip Curse because of their growling chic vocalist and the all chic metal band Mara Clara because of their clever band name.  Overall, most bands have potentials including the fifteen year old kid who sung(or screamed rather) the Imbue No Kudos and Valley of Chrome songs.

The crowd was patient and responsive enough considering the waiting they did for the show to start.
What is magical about rock concerts is that ritual they do when the bands start to play heavy metal, they gather in front of the band,  bang there head endlessly and exchange sweats by rubbing their body against each other.  It’s sort of like a secret brotherhood thing.  Which is somehow amusing.  

Hopefully there are more events like this.  Rock music needs more help because Lady Gaga is taking over the world.

PS:  Justin if you happen to see this, thanks for the photos, I know you’ll let me use them without permission.